Mick Cronin Ripped Refs After UCLA's Loss to Gonzaga
Mick Cronin was salty after his UCLA Bruins came up short against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Sweet 16 Thursday night. Cronin opened his postgame press conference by saying he didn't have an opening statement, then ripped tournament organizers for taking far too long to let him in. Then he went off on the officials.
Here's Cronin being ticked off about having to wait for Gonzaga to finish its press conference:
Mick Cronin's opening statement following UCLA's loss to Gonzaga legit killed me. Genuinely think Cronin is hilarious. pic.twitter.com/zmHYrT9xSL
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) March 24, 2023
And here's what Cronin said about why UCLA came up short, including complaining about the officiating:
Mick Cronin: "Lot of open shots didn't go down. There's no hindsight. Wide open shots and multiple times we got fouled, no call. Dave and Tyger didn’t get a basket in the second half and they had good looks. And Jaime got murdered on four layups, no calls."
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) March 24, 2023
Here's video of his remarks:
“We addressed why we lost – we got outrebounded by 24. We had a tough whistle and our guards didn't make a shot in the second half. Then I told them how proud I was of them because they didn't flinch.”
— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) March 24, 2023
Coach Cronin, speaking after UCLA’s 79-76 loss to Gonzaga pic.twitter.com/lxPNdeJDO6
Just to clarify, Gonzaga and UCLA were both called for 15 fouls on the night. It was a physical game but officials seemed to let things go both ways.
The Bruins actually lost because they went 11 minutes without making a basket in the second half, Gonzaga outrebounded them 50-26 and they let Drew Timme score 36 points. You can't do any of those things and hope to win a college basketball game.