EAST LANSING, Mich. – UCLA (17-9, 9-6) suffered another blowout loss on Tuesday against No. 15 Michigan State (21-5, 11-4) in an 82-59 defeat that was marked by some severely negative moments, including UCLA head coach Mick Cronin sending one his own players to the locker room after committing a foul.
The incident in question happened with just four-and-a-half minutes left in the second half, when UCLA was already trailing by 27 points. Redshirt senior forward Steven Jamerson II fouled Michigan State senior center Carson Cooper on the back while Copper went up for a fast break dunk.
Advertisement
Cooper was clearly unhappy with the foul and the two players got in each other’s faces before Cronin summoned Jamerson II to the sideline and pulled him by his jersey before sending him to the locker room for the rest of the game.
“Steve’s a good kid, he made a bad decision. If you want to be a tough guy, you need to do it during the game for a blockout, for a rebound,” Cronin said (via UCLA Athletics). “So, I was thoroughly disappointed. Guy was defenseless in the air. I know Steve was trying to block the shot, but the game’s a 25 point game, you don’t do that.”
The game fell apart for the Bruins quickly and their lack of scoring is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. The Spartans ran away with it in the first half with an 18-0 run where the Bruins failed to score for roughly eight minutes. From there the Spartans never looked back.
Advertisement
UCLA has scored less than 60 points in each of their last two games and has been outscored by 53 points total on their Michigan road trip.
“If you can’t score you can’t win. Real simple,” Cronin said. “You’re not going to be come in here, score 56, and win. That’s two games in a row.”
The Bruins seemed to lose their fight as the game went on and especially after suffering the 18-0 run. Cronin has spoken extensively this season about the lack of effort he’s seen from his team and after the loss to the Spartans said that, aside from senior forward Tyler Bilodeau, the Bruins are “patently, blatantly” playing below their abilities.
Advertisement
Effort and physicality are what makes teams like Michigan State standout and it’s what’s required to compete at the upper echelon of NCAA basketball. If the Bruins continue to have that deficit in their game, losses like Tuesday’s are more likely than not to keep piling up.
“We’ve just got to play smarter. Execute better, and we’ve just got to have guys making plays,” Bilodeau said.
