never one to hold back.<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe California Post is coming soon. Sign up for updates.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\u201cActually,\u201d Cronin said, \u201cI had a little talk, he listened. You know, you\u2019ve got to perform, man. You can\u2019t stand around when your team needs you. You\u2019ve got to get in there and throw punches. Who sits there and lets their career end?\u201d<\/p>\n
Cronin had a similar message for center Xavier Booker, who responded with nine points, four rebounds and three blocks in 35 minutes \u2013 more playing time than he had logged in his last four games combined amid one uninspired effort after another.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust foul somebody,\u201d Cronin said, relaying what he had told the big man. \u201cMiss a shot. Push somebody on the ground, bro. Do something to show your teammates you care. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau fires up the crowd after the team defeated Purdue in an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Tuesday. AP<\/p>\n
Cronin said he delivered those harangues in front of the entire team, something the targeted players suggested they appreciated.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says the same thing to the media that he says to us,\u201d Dent said. \u201cSo it\u2019s not anything different than what we hear. So it\u2019s like, when we hear it on the media, we really already heard it in person. So I think we\u2019re all kind of like, we\u2019re used to, like in a way, like we\u2019re just going to respond the way we want to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added forward Eric Dailey Jr., who contributed 12 points and seven rebounds: \u201cIt\u2019s mental toughness. Honestly, he\u2019s not doing it to drag us. He\u2019s doing it to challenge us. And when you\u2019re challenged like that publicly, you know you gotta respond publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n
UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr. goes up for a basket against Purdue guard Omer Mayer during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game. AP<\/p>\n
The Bruins (13-6 overall, 5-3 Big Ten) did just that, fighting back from 12 points down in the first half and six points down with less than two minutes in the game, Dent fearlessly burying a three-pointer and Dailey turning teammate Trent Perry\u2019s steal into a layup before Bilodeau added the biggest shot. C.J. Cox missed a three-pointer that could have won the game for the Boilermakers (17-2, 7-1).<\/p>\n
And so on a night intended to honor Wooden\u2019s alma mater as well as the school he later guided to 10 national championships, a showcase game turned into what might be the start of salvation for the Bruins, whose NCAA tournament resume previously lacked a signature victory.<\/p>\n
At halftime, former UCLA star Jamaal Wilkes told the crowd about Wooden being hard on players in practice, recalling the coach\u2019s use of the phrase \u201cGoodness gracious sakes alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a phrase that was worth repeating about an hour later.<\/p>\n
Goodness gracious sakes alive. The Bruins just might be back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just like the giveaway bobblehead that only vaguely resembled John Wooden, there had been something off about this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,160,217,231,772,1544,66,4262],"class_list":{"0":"post-551530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-college-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-ucla-bruins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115934641767651981","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}