UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin is used to blowing up.
Widely considered one of the most expressive and short-tempered coaches in the college game, Cronin had an all-time blowup Tuesday night in the Bruins 82-59 loss to No. 15 Michigan State.
Trailing by 27 with less than five minutes to play, Bruins forward Steven Jamerson II was whistled for a technical foul after committing a hard foul on Michigan State’s Carson Cooper. After committing the foul, Jamerson then came face-to-face with Cooper, resulting in the technical foul.
He was immediately subbed out by Cronin, and then came the drama.
Cronin was caught on cameras appearing to eject Jamerson from the game. While Jamerson attempted to plead his case, Cronin had no time for the 6-10 senior and ignored him. He then signaled to an assistant coach to take Jamerson back to the locker room.
Jamerson finished with two points, two rebounds, two assists and five fouls in eight minutes of action.
For Cronin and the Bruins, it’s hard to imagine how much lower this team can get.
After winning seven of their past nine games and climbing into the NCAA tournament picture, UCLA was blasted by Michigan and Michigan State by a combined 53 points over the past four days.
And now comes the fallout from Cronin’s viral moment.