Los Angeles– UCLA troubled number 4 Purdue 69-67 on Tuesday night, but the win seemed to do little to quell Bruins coach Mick Cronin’s anger over the Big Ten schedule.
Five of UCLA’s first seven league games were on the road. The Bruins came into the Purdue game on two days’ rest after playing at Ohio State, while the Boilermakers had been in Los Angeles since last week, and played at USC on Saturday.
“I want to thank the Big Ten for giving us five of our first seven on the road, bringing Purdue here on Thursday night when we didn’t get back to L.A. until Saturday night, and giving us a team picked to win the league on two days’ rest after five of our first seven on the road,” Cronin said in his postgame news conference. “Really, I have the Big Ten to thank for that.”
He later said: “I don’t think he cares about basketball. Really. That’s just my opinion.”
UCLA is 13-6 and 5-3 in conference play. The Bruins have already played Washington, Iowa, Wisconsin and Penn State in addition to Ohio State, with their three conference losses coming against the Hawkeyes, Badgers and Buckeyes.
“We’re in a league in the Midwest. So that’s just what’s going to happen,” Cronin reiterated, “but you don’t get a chance to play five of the first seven on the road, and then come home and pick a team to win the league on two days’ rest.”
UCLA ends Purdue’s nine-game winning streak tyler bilodeau3-pointer with eight seconds left. donovan dent He had 23 points, 13 assists – including the winning basket – and three blocks to lead the Bruins. Bilodeau finished with 14 points, and Eric Daly Jr.. Added 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Bruins have won six of nine and improved to 3-3 this month as they try to move up from midpack in the Big Ten. Beating Purdue is their biggest win of the season, having already lost to then-No. 5 Arizona, then-No. 8 Gonzaga and then-No. 25 iowa.
Dent said, “We know what a good team we have, it’s just a matter of who shows up that night. We either play hard or we don’t, and that’s been our struggle all season. I think we can push it a lot and go big here.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
