{"id":107269,"date":"2025-12-24T03:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T03:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/107269\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T03:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T03:29:13","slug":"mick-cronin-tinkers-with-lineup-during-uclas-rout-of-uc-riverside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/107269\/","title":{"rendered":"Mick Cronin tinkers with lineup during UCLA’s rout of UC Riverside"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Facing an overmatched opponent that allowed him to freely tinker with his lineups, UCLA<\/a> coach Mick Cronin<\/a> tried plenty of mixing and matching Tuesday afternoon. <\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest takeaway was that a three-guard lineup might be the way to go after the continued struggles of centers Xavier Booker and Steven Jamerson II.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find a way to play our best players and win, whoever they are, because it\u2019s not Little League,\u201d Cronin said after his team\u2019s 97-65 victory<\/a> over UC Riverside at Pauley Pavilion. \u201cYou\u2019ve either got to give us some rebounding and defense or somebody else has got to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The leading candidates for a larger role based on what happened against the Highlanders appear to be reserves Trent Perry<\/a>, Jamar Brown and Brandon Williams.<\/p>\n

Perry was a playmaking force with his scoring and smart passes. Brown did a little bit of everything in an energetic fashion. Williams showed plenty of toughness as the second big man in small lineups also featuring Tyler Bilodeau, who was an offensive juggernaut against a team that provided little defensive resistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing I care about is winning,\u201d said Bilodeau, who finished with a career-high 34 points while making 12 of 19 shots to go with six rebounds. \u201cSo whatever we need to do to get that done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cronin joked afterward that Bilodeau shouldn\u2019t have missed any shots because he needlessly took fadeaway jumpers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t double [team],\u201d Cronin said of the Highlanders, \u201cso I said, \u2018Buddy, you\u2019ve got one night here where they\u2019re just going to let you keep dribbling until you shoot, so go have fun. Keep going at the rim until you score.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Guard Skyy Clark added 14 points to help UCLA (10-3) post its third consecutive victory going into an extended winter break. Forward Osiris Grady finished with 20 points for the Highlanders (6-8), who shot 42.6% to the Bruins\u2019 50%.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA guard Skyy Clark drives against UC Riverside guard De\u2019Undrae Perteete Jr. during the Bruins\u2019 win on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

(Jan Lim \/ UCLA Athletics)<\/p>\n

The game\u2019s biggest revelations came off the UCLA bench. Perry might have been the biggest, running the offense at a high level while finishing with 14 points, seven assists and zero turnovers in 24 minutes. Cronin went with some lineups in the second half featuring Perry alongside starting point guard Donovan Dent (seven points and three assists in 19 minutes).<\/p>\n

\u201cThree-guard lineup, we\u2019ve been pushing in transition a lot more,\u201d Perry said. \u201cI mean, we\u2019re just finding the groove before Big Ten\u201d play.<\/p>\n

Brown contributed across the board, tallying four points, seven rebounds and four steals in 24 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA tremendous portal find,\u201d Cronin said of the transfer from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. \u201cGreat toughness. He\u2019s a winning player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 biggest factor was his defense during a performance in which he had three points, one rebound and one steal in 18 minutes. The big question was whether he was providing more than the player whose spot he took.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Booker finished with six points and one rebound in 13 minutes, unfurling a second consecutive subpar showing after being limited to three minutes against Cal Poly because of matchups. Jamerson played only seven choppy minutes, once being yanked after an 11-second stint because of an inability to keep the Highlanders from reaching the rim with ease.<\/p>\n

\u201cGot to get better,\u201d Cronin said of his centers. \u201cI just talked to them about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

UC Riverside repeatedly made the mistake of leaving Bilodeau open in the first half and the forward made the Highlanders regret their decision by making five of nine shots on the way to 13 points. After having been UCLA\u2019s primary center last year, Bilodeau said he was happy to go back to that role if that\u2019s what his coach needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cTyler would probably tell you he gets more open shots when he\u2019s playing the five,\u201d Cronin said, \u201cbecause the other team\u2019s five man is guarding him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Cronin said the issue that arises when going small is the need to be an elite offensive team \u2014 territory the Bruins might be approaching. Their offensive efficiency is ranked No. 27 nationally by the metrics of basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy, their best since they were No. 21 during the 2022-23 season that ended in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament after season-ending injuries to Jaylen Clark and Adem Bona.<\/p>\n

If this is the best version of the Bruins, Cronin appeared ready to roll with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that matters is who you become, not in the last game or the game previous to that, so we\u2019re on a search,\u201d Cronin said. \u201cJust like every team, it\u2019s not who you are now, it\u2019s who you are at the end and can you get enough wins along the way?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facing an overmatched opponent that allowed him to freely tinker with his lineups, UCLA coach Mick Cronin tried…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[36398,8932,36399,48,52,51,6131,47,50,49,8750,5463,46033,24026,1417,7556,19178,29084,49210,1092,8843],"class_list":["post-107269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-brandon-williams","tag-bruins","tag-jamar-brown","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lineup","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mick-cronin","tag-minute","tag-perry","tag-plenty","tag-point","tag-rebound","tag-scoring","tag-tyler-bilodeau","tag-uc-riverside","tag-ucla","tag-way"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}