LOS ANGELES — Mick Cronin loves to draw inspiration from his mentors and peers, then share their advice with the world.
He’s quipped that if he had Rick Pitino’s money he’d be soaking up the sun in Cabo San Lucas instead of coaching basketball. He credits Bob Huggins with teaching him the value of winning the possession battle. Real programs, Huggins instilled in a young, pre-balding Cronin, win when they don’t make shots. When Cronin first interviewed for the UCLA men’s basketball head coaching job, he told former athletic director Dan Guerrero that, if he got the job, he’d build a program like Michigan State because he admired how Tom Izzo ran his.
Cronin has gleaned numerous lessons from Izzo since then as UCLA joined the Big Ten. The two spoke amid UCLA’s four-game losing streak earlier this season and Izzo commended Cronin for holding his players accountable.
“Players are a little more difficult to deal with in this day and age and sometimes they need a jolt,” Izzo said Tuesday. “Better hope he keeps yelling.”
Situations have certainly changed since their conversation. With a 63-61 victory on Tuesday night, UCLA (17-6 overall, 8-4 Big Ten) extended its win streak to six games and handed the ninth-ranked Spartans (18-3, 9-2) their second consecutive loss. Both coaches said they expected an old-school, physical Big Ten bout for different reasons. Izzo pointed to the defensive foundation Cronin has built at UCLA, while Cronin felt Michigan State would be hungry after sustaining its first Big Ten loss to USC on Saturday.
Fittingly, they got a grudge match that was decided when Eric Dailey Jr. bullied his way into the lane for a go-ahead floater with seven seconds left.
“I was highly concerned with the physicality in the game,” said Cronin, whose team moved into a fourth-place tie with Wisconsin in the Big Ten as it chases a coveted top-four seed and a double-bye in the conference tournament. “I thought our guys handled it well enough to get the W.”
The Bruins would have made Cronin’s own Yoda proud as they dominated the possession battle with a plus-13 turnover margin and scored 19 points off 16 turnovers. The Spartans controlled the boards, grabbing 45 rebounds to UCLA’s 27, 14 of which came on the offensive side.
Dailey scored nine points, struggling for much of the night, before his game-winner. Skyy Clark led the Bruins with 14 points, and Tyler Bilodeau added 13.
Throughout much of the season, Clark has played the role of a consummate point guard. He controls UCLA’s pace, defends each opponent’s best guard and finds teammates for open shots. In the first half on Tuesday, though, he hunted them.
He dribbled into a pull-up from the right wing early on and hit a step-back on the left side that gave UCLA a 34-26 lead 1:18 before the break. His willingness to look for his own opened up passing lanes. He hit Lazar Stefanovic for a corner 3-pointer, and two possessions later, he drove into the paint, acted as if he was going for a layup, but instead threw a lob to Aday Mara for a dunk.
“He’s been doing a great job just keeping us together,” Dailey said of Clark.
The Bruins had regularly deployed man-to-man full-court presses, but on Tuesday, they fluctuated between multiple zone configurations. Cronin explained the obscure press was intended to prevent the Spartans from breaking off of made baskets, rather than leading directly to steals.
It was UCLA’s ball-screen defense which disrupted MSU’s offense. The Bruins’ big men hedged and jumped ball-handlers, eliminating pocket passes and allowing guards to recover. The wings oscillated from providing help to anticipating swing passes.
“We looked a little bit dysfunctional,” Izzo said. “That’s because they’re a pretty good defensive team.”
Behind their patient point guard and their defense, the Bruins held an 11-point lead with 15:12 remaining. The Spartans adjusted, though, holding Clark without a field goal throughout the second half and finding openings in the nuanced UCLA defense.
They scored with the clock stopped as they shot 8 for 10 from the free-throw line within a 17-6 run over the next eight minutes, which tied the score at 54.
“When games are really fought hard like that, physically,” Cronin said. “It’s hard for guys to make shots.”
As Michigan State surged, UCLA seemingly grinded for every look.
The score was tied three times in the final seven minutes. With 2:50 left, Clark found a wide-open Stefanovic for a right-wing 3-pointer that put UCLA ahead, 61-59. With 23 seconds left and the game tied at 61, UCLA created another turnover as Jaxon Kohler missed in the lane, grabbed the rebound and travelled. That set the stage for Dailey, who had averaged 15 points over the last five games but went cold and uncharacteristically hesitant on Tuesday.
“I decided during the timeout to go to Eric on the last play,” Cronin said. “I got a lot of confidence in him.”
Dailey had shed his protective mask when his nose fully healed last week. He might as well have traded it for a cape as he rescued the Bruins and lifted them to their sixth win over a Quad 1 opponent.
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