UCLA Basketball: Mick Cronin Struggles To Excuse Inexcusable 46-Point Utah Loss

This team just might not be very good.

The further we get into the 2023-24 NCAA season, the worse your UCLA Bruins men's basketball team looks.

On Thursday night, they hit a new low: a 90-44 road loss to the Utah Utes at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

Things really fell apart in the second half, as the Bruins' chippy defense managed to throw Lazar Stefanovic's old team out of its rhythm in the opening two frames.

Head coach Mick Cronin was hardly bereft of issues to blame when it came to explaining just what went wrong, per UCLA Communications. 

“Even in the first half it was a two-point game," Cronin said. "They got the lead on us. [Utah was] getting to the foul line because we didn’t rebound. So, that was my big concern Saturday. It was my concern [today]. As you get into this and it gets more physical, we haven’t met that challenge at all. [Center] Adem [Bona] has got two rebounds and three rebounds in our last two games. Look, they blew us out. We got our ass kicked. They made every shot. They got on a roll. They’re just letting us shoot. They’re just giving us target practice. Sometimes the game is not that complicated. This result aside, we got no chance if we don’t get Adem playing better. I have got to get him playing better. Starting with his rebounding, then second to his scoring.”