On Jan. 13, UCLA had a six-hour flight home that felt even longer. The Bruins had just lost their fourth-straight game in a seven-point defeat to Rutgers in Piscataway, New York. Mick Cronin didn’t seem overly optimistic about his team’s prospects.
“We’re struggling,” Cronin said at the time. “It’s pretty obvious.”
That was obvious to his players, too — so much so that they held a players-only meeting after the loss in order to figure out how to turn things around. Since then, the Bruins have won six in a row and improved their record to 8-4 in Big Ten play and 17-6 overall. They claimed their biggest win of the season on Tuesday night over No. 9 Michigan State in Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins were listed as a No. 7 seed in Brad Wachtel’s latest Bracketology heading into the Michigan State game will continue to rise with every win. “We had a new team coming in, all new guys,” junior guard Dylan Andrews said. “It wasn’t going to be pretty at first, but I feel like we’re starting to click.”
Much of the turnaround is due to the emergence of Eric Dailey Jr. The 6-foot-8 sophomore transfer from Oklahoma State has led UCLA in scoring in three of its games during the current streak and has gone for 20 points or more in two of them. Tuesday night’s win over Michigan State saw Dailey Jr. go for just nine points, but he made the game-winning bucket with 7.5 seconds to play.
Dailey Jr. missed UCLA’s Jan. 4 loss to Nebraska due to a facial injury. He appeared to be affected by the injury as he went 3 for 9 from the field in each of the next two games, but he averaged 15.2 points on 59.7 percent shooting over his next six games. “It doesn’t surprise me when I see him do this,” Cronin said. “Eric Dailey spends more time in the gym, on his shooting, he’s the most dedicated guy that I’ve ever coached on his diet, his rest, his commitment to what he’s trying to accomplish in basketball. …The guy lives in the gym.”
The biggest catalyst for UCLA’s recent turnaround has been 7-foot-3 sophomore center Aday Mara. Through his first 17 games, Mara averaged just 4.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in 9.0 minutes. Then he exploded for a career-high 22 points (on 7 for 7 shooting) in a Jan. 21 home win over Wisconsin. He has averaged 11.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in 25.0 minutes over his last five games and is giving the Bruins’ a much-needed defensive presence at the rim. “Mick has done a great job bringing that kid along,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said after Mara had six points, three rebounds and two blocks in 24 minutes. “I saw him early in the year and I didn’t think he was very good, and then I saw him in the last four or five games and I think he’s really good.”
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In the new era of college basketball, talent is too often prioritized over cultureMara and Andrews, who has scored in double figures in four of UCLA’s last five games after doing it just five times before that, have formed a capable supporting cast to Dailey Jr. and leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau. It didn’t always appear that all of this would all come together through UCLA’s losing streak—and Cronin’s subsequent ranting—but if UCLA’s recent stretch is indication, Cronin’s messaging has had its intended effect. “Slowly, but surely we’re getting better,” Dailey Jr. said. “I think we’re gonna peak at the right time.”
Izzo agreed. “They lost four in a row and were pronounced dead,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “[Cronin] won six in a row now. Better hope he keeps yelling.”
