![\"(Aidan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/web.B.sp_.mbb_.nbk_.8.27.25.AGS_.jpg\")
Senior guard Donovan Dent dribbles the ball in his left hand while junior forward\/center Xavier Booker guards him. (Aidan Sun\/Assistant Photo editor)<\/p>\nMick Cronin attributes last year\u2019s season-ending loss to his team failing to do the little things. <\/p>\n
\u201cI told our guys this game was going to be won by other things,\u201d the UCLA men\u2019s basketball coach said. \u201cWho gets a ball when it comes off the rim, who\u2019s strong with the ball, they screen better than we screen.\u201d <\/p>\n
But the Bruins\u2019 nine-point loss to No. 2 seed Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA Tournament exposed a lot more than attention-to-detail deficiency.<\/p>\n
The Volunteers proved that the Bruins were streaky shooters, and that their March Madness struggles stemmed from a lack of size, strength and firepower to match the nation\u2019s top talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day last year, we weren\u2019t big enough,\u201d Cronin said. \u201cWhen the rubber met the road against Michigan, against Tennessee in the second round, they were just too big and strong for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior guard Donovan Dent dribbles the ball in his left hand while junior forward\/center Xavier Booker guards him. (Aidan Sun\/Assistant Photo editor)<\/p>\n
To address the issues presented to him, Cronin turned to the transfer portal.<\/p>\n
The seventh-year UCLA coach fortified the squad\u2019s talent first, adding one of the top-ranked players in the country in guard Donovan Dent. The 2024-2025 Mountain West Player of the Year is one of six AP All-American selections to return to college, and he may propel the Bruins to new heights. <\/p>\n
Dent averaged a team-high 20.4 points and 6.4 assists, while shooting 49% from the field and 40.9% from beyond the arc. The Riverside local will not only bring elite scoring to the Bruins\u2019 roster, but Dent is also a proficient playmaker, which could service efficient production from the entire squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an All-League player for a reason,\u201d said junior guard\/forward Eric Dailey Jr. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely showing us what he\u2019s going to bring to the table this year for us. And honestly, it\u2019s the same thing we have seen when we played against him. \u2026 We know what he can do, and we know why he\u2019s here, and we know what we need him for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dent has focused on improving his shooting during the offseason despite the relatively high clips he posted last year. Cronin said it was Dent\u2019s lack of pure shooting at the time that prevented UCLA from recruiting him out of high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have just been shooting more confident,\u201d Dent said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I was a bad shooter last year, I shot 40%. He (Cronin) wants me to shoot at a higher volume and he preaches that to me like he knows I can get downhill. He knows I can make plays, he has been having me shoot the ball more and that\u2019s what I have been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cronin acquired fifth-year guard Jamar Brown from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he averaged a team-leading 17 points per game on a 40.2% 3-point clip last season, to address the team\u2019s shooting struggles. <\/p>\n
Brown should elevate the team\u2019s efforts from beyond the arc after a 2024-2025 season, when just one Bruin shot at least 40%.<\/p>\n
And when asked if the team\u2019s shooting has improved, Cronin kept it simple. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe shoot it way better, it\u2019s not even close,\u201d Cronin said.<\/p>\n
The Bruins\u2019 head honcho also brought in 6-foot-11 junior Xavier Booker to bolster the roster\u2019s strength and size. The forward\/center served as a wing for two seasons at Michigan State but has transitioned to the \u201cfive\u201d in Westwood. Booker averaged just 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds across 33 games last season, but played only 12.8 minutes a game. <\/p>\n
Steven Jamerson II will join Booker in the frontcourt. The redshirt senior averaged 10 points and 7.8 boards per contest at San Diego last year. Cronin added that St. Mary\u2019s coach Randy Bennett named Jamerson one of the most underrated players in the West Coast Conference last season. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe can screen, he can defend, he can rebound and he\u2019s got legitimate size as you saw \u2013 he\u2019s every bit of 6-foot-10,\u201d Cronin said.<\/p>\n
![\"(Aidan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/web.C.sp_.mbb_.nbk_.8.27.25.AGS_.jpg\")
Redshirt senior forward\/center Steven Jamerson II holds the ball behind the 3-point line (left), and fifth-year guard Jamar Brown holds the ball near the top of the key while sophomore guard Trent Perry defends him (right). (Aidan Sun\/Assistant Photo editor)<\/p>\n
Most importantly, the Bruins sought players who did the little things.<\/p>\n
Jamerson not only posted the second-most rebounds in the WCC, but he also finished among the top 20 in both blocks and steals per game. Booker \u2013 who is more of a skilled wing than a traditional center \u2013 is still learning how to assume the center position. <\/p>\n
And Brown could also be one of the best rebounders on the team, leading his previous squad in boards with over seven per contest last season. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very rare for a shooter to average seven rebounds a game,\u201d Cronin said. \u201cBut, he\u2019s a football player. He used to play, so intensity and toughness aren\u2019t an issue, and his attitude is unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Complementing Brown\u2019s mental toughness and resiliency are redshirt sophomore guard\/forward Brandon Williams and redshirt freshman guard Eric Freeny. After playing in 32 games \u2013 and starting 14 \u2013 his freshman season, Williams opted to redshirt his sophomore year after an influx of transfers came to Westwood last season. <\/p>\n
Similarly, Freeny \u2013 a four-star prospect out of high school \u2013 decided to redshirt his freshman season and return to UCLA despite an already packed backcourt.<\/p>\n
Williams and Freeny\u2019s continuous belief in themselves and UCLA may reflect the program that Cronin is trying to build \u2013 one that focuses on the little things.<\/p>\n
Contributing reports from Aidan Sun, Assistant Photo editor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mick Cronin attributes last year\u2019s season-ending loss to his team failing to do the little things. \u201cI told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-101281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}