UCLA Basketball: Mick Cronin Lays Out Specific Reason Bruins Lost to Utah

Mick Cronin details what led to the Bruins dropping a close loss to Utah.

The UCLA Bruins dropped a close one to Utah last night, as a last-second go-ahead basket led to Utah taking home a 70-69 victory. This snaps the Bruins' six-game win streak, and might ultimately be the loss that keeps them out of the NCAA Tournament. 

After the game concluded, head coach Mick Cronin told reporters what happened to the team in this razor-thin loss. 

"Two things that I already said," Cronin continued. "Too many bad fouls. Egregiously unintelligent fouls. And terrible scouting report defense against Deivon Smith. Terrible. Not keeping him out of the paint all the way to the end. It’s not like we didn’t know that he has been starting at the point since we played them, since (Rollie) Worster got hurt."

via Mick Cronin, UCLA Communications

The Bruins were not their normal selves last night. The team has played well with one another, but the fouls got to be out of hand. So much so, that Sebastian Mack was ejected after receiving a flagrant 2 foul. 

Losing Mack hurt the team's ability to muster the same plays they would have used with him on the court. Clearly, the fouls led to second-chance baskets for Utah, and the game would fall to them. 

Cronin has praised toughness all year, but maybe that toughness led to sloppy play last night that hasn't been the case in the last six victories. The Bruins will have a chance to rebound against USC on 2/24.