With every verbal jab, the expletives flying like sweat off his players’ bodies, Mick Cronin reinforced a message about the way his team needed to play.
“Knock somebody on their ass!” the UCLA men’s basketball coach yelled during practice Thursday.
“Arizona’s gonna … wipe you guys out!” Cronin bellowed.
“You guys who are afraid to hit somebody, you’re not gonna play tomorrow!” Cronin continued.
As if taking his coach’s cue, forward Eric Dailey Jr. told teammates to “wake the … up!” before repeating the phrase for emphasis.
Only a few minutes into practice, it became deafeningly clear that the Bruins weren’t preparing for West Georgia anymore.
Next up on their schedule are the No. 5 Wildcats, who have shot up the national rankings just as the No. 15 Bruins tumbled a few spots after uninspiring performances to start the season.
While Arizona defeated national champion Florida in its season opener, UCLA struggled to hold off Eastern Washington. The Bruins (3-0) went on to beat Pepperdine and West Georgia but head into their early season showdown against the Wildcats (3-0) on Friday night at Intuit Dome with plenty to prove.
“We have to be more physical,” Cronin said in something of a preview to his remarks during practice.
The coach said he wanted center Xavier Booker to show he could rebound against the likes of Arizona counterpart Motiejus Krivas.
“He’s huge and he’s physical,” Cronin said of the 7-foot-2 Wildcats center. “He’s everything you would think a guy from Lithuania would be — tough as nails, big, strong.”
What does Cronin want to see from Dailey? Maximize his toughness and his 6-8 frame now that he’s downshifted one spot to small forward. Donovan Dent? Protect the ball from handsy defenders in his return from a muscle strain that forced the point guard to miss the last game.
Shooting guard Skyy Clark said the Bruins need to win the 50-50 battles to beat a team as talented as Arizona.
“Who’s gonna be the first on the floor for loose balls?” Clark said. “Who’s gonna be boxing out, getting offensive rebounds? Fighting through screens, stuff like that.”
UCLA beat Arizona last year in Phoenix in another neutral-site matchup of the former Pac-12 rivals, but this version of the Wildcats features two of the nation’s top freshmen in forward Koa Peat and guard Brayden Burries. The 6-8 Peat announced his arrival with 30 points against Florida in his college debut, going on to win national player of the week after he added 18 points against Utah Tech.
“He’s got great hands, he can really handle the ball, he’s crafty, he’s got great feel, he’s a big-time player,” Cronin said of a player he recruited for years. “But he has been. Like, literally, he could have come to college two years ago because physically he was ready, he was that size the first time I saw him.”
Continuing with the toughness theme, Cronin compared playing Arizona to “World War III,” “a bloodbath” and a fight that would let his players know how they measure up against another heavyweight team.
“You’ve got to figure out the truth,” Cronin said. “Your guys have got to get the truth. Like, you can only carry a fighter for so long, eventually he’s got to get in the ring against somebody else that’s ranked.”
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