This post was updated Feb. 24 at 1:28 p.m.
Ignoring outside noise often breeds success.
Despite the scrutiny surrounding coach Mick Cronin and UCLA men’s basketball (18-9, 10-6 Big Ten) after the head honcho ejected redshirt senior forward/center Steven Jamerson II in a game against then-No. 15 Michigan State (22-5, 12-4) on Feb. 17, UCLA bested No. 10 Illinois (22-6, 13-4) 95-94 courtesy of senior guard Donovan Dent’s buzzer-beating, up-and-under layup Saturday evening. Cronin’s squad is set to play crosstown rival USC (18-9, 7-9) for the first time this season Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins have embraced positivity ahead of the Los Angeles duel, rather than fueling the rivalry’s ostensible hatred, especially after criticism engulfed Cronin and his group this past week.
“One thing we’ve been trying to focus on is positive words towards each other, encouraging each other to do good when a player has their head down, pick them up,” said junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. “Talking positive – that’s really what we’ve been trying to bring, because there’s been a lot of negativity towards our program, towards everything. Those outside forces, we can’t let them get in.”
Sports pundits across the nation bashed Cronin for his treatment of Jamerson – whose complicated history in East Lansing includes being rejected as a walk-on and team manager for the Spartans – citing the toxic traits that have defined the hard-nosed coach’s UCLA stint.
But Cronin did not respond with fire to the controversy.
He apologized both publicly and privately to Jamerson, the seventh-year coach said.
Still, Cronin said his players seemed drained from the outside noise ahead of the Illinois matchup.
“I was worried before the game because everybody’s got all the answers behind the keyboard,” Cronin said. “These kids read that stuff, and I’m oblivious. I didn’t like the look on their faces before the game. It was almost like they had lost confidence.”
The coach’s observation rang true in the first half against Illinois, when UCLA mounted a 23-point deficit.
But Cronin’s squad gradually chipped away at its opponent’s lead. The Bruin defense helped spur the comeback, limiting the Fighting Illini – a squad that boasted the No. 1 adjusted offensive rating ahead of the Saturday matchup per KenPom – to a 29% clip from the field in the second half and a 22% mark in overtime.
The Bruins have been criticized throughout the 2025-26 campaign for their defensive struggles, especially since they ranked as the top defensive team in the Big Ten last season, before falling out of the conference’s top five in fewest points allowed per contest this season.
But Cronin said he believed his team had yet to reach its full potential on the defensive end.
“I hope it (the win over Illinois) helps our confidence,” Cronin said. “Don’t tell me … that we’re not capable of being a better defensive team. We did it to Purdue. We did it in the second half. We did it in overtime (against Illinois)”
Intensity often elicits defensive production.
And the matchup against USC may have heightened intensity this season beyond just the rivalry mania, especially since both teams sit on the bubble of clinching a March Madness bid. UCLA and USC rank No. 42 and No. 57 in the KenPom net rankings, respectively.
“That’s an easy one to have intensity for,” Dent said. “It’s a rivalry game. You get up for those games. You have to be ready. But for us, these last four games that we have left in the regular season, we have to have intensity for all of them. Our season’s on the line right now. We have to play with everything we have. We’re in desperation mode right now.”
USC has slipped recently, losing three straight contests, which included a 36-point defeat to Illinois on Feb. 18 and a one-point loss to Oregon, a team that had dropped 11 of its last 12 contests ahead of its USC affair, on Saturday. Across that span, Trojan coach Eric Musselman’s team forfeited an average of 87 points.
The Trojan offense will likely challenge the Bruins, since it averages the sixth-most points per game in the conference with 80.3. Auburn transfer guard/forward Chad Baker-Mazara has paced the offensive attack with a team-leading 18.4 points per affair.
But guard Rodney Rice sustained a season-ending shoulder injury Nov. 25 against Seton Hall, which has hindered USC’s offense. The Maryland transfer netted 20.3 points per game while shooting 38.5% from beyond the arc across six appearances this season.
The UCLA-USC rivalry can often elicit rash emotions, especially with opposing fan bases jeering at each other online or in person on the campuses that are less than 15 miles apart.
But just as the Bruins looked internally to mend the myriad of issues that plagued the team last week, they are seemingly approaching the Battle for LA in the same vein.
“We came together last night. This whole week, we’ve been together as a team,” Dent said. “Anything on the outside, noise and all that – everyone can speak, whatever. It’s all about what’s going on in the locker room. In the locker room right now, we’re at our highest point together as a team.”
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