Telepeer

UCLA men look to ‘freshen up’ before NCAA Tournament opener in Philadelphia

March 16, 2026

LOS ANGELES — After a season of Midwestern road trips, the seventh-seeded UCLA men’s basketball team will make its longest trek of the year.

The Bruins (23-11) are headed to Philadelphia, to face 10th-seeded Central Florida (21-11) in an NCAA Tournament first-round game on Friday at 4:25 p.m. PT.

If the Bruins win that game, they could play second-seeded Connecticut on Sunday, a coaching staff Mick Cronin is familiar with as he and Huskies coach Dan Hurley “go way back,” and assistant Kimani Young is someone Cronin considers “one of my best friends.”

If UCLA reaches the Sweet Sixteen, it could play Michigan State for a third time this season. Then, there’s a chance for an Elite Eight matchup with Cronin’s mentor and St John’s head coach Rick Pitino. Overall, there are six coaches in the East Region with Final Four appearances on their resumes, four of whom have coached teams to national titles.

And while Cronin said he was on a phone call with Spartans coach Tom Izzo just before walking into Monday’s media availability, he and the Bruins aren’t concerned with the endless storylines.

“We’re not concerned with travel, we’re experienced with it,” Cronin said on Monday, at UCLA’s first media availability since learning of its NCAA Tournament draw. “We’re looking forward to getting healthy. We’re not upset with our seed. If we wanted a higher seed, we should have played better. We’ve been playing great as of late, and that’s all that matters.”

“We got a couple days here, and I told them, ‘don’t even think about basketball,’” Cronin added.

In fact, UCLA didn’t even congregate to hear its name called on Selection Sunday. The Bruins traveled back to Los Angeles from Chicago that morning. Cronin returned home so exhausted from the Big Ten Tournament to the point that he asked his partner, Chrissy, to wake him if he fell asleep before UCLA’s name was called. The Bruin players planned to watch the Selection Show together, “but got back at a weird time” and missed it, senior Skyy Clark said.

Then on Monday, after a recovery session and media requirements, Cronin implored his players to “enjoy the sun.” Cronin, too, intended on walking his dog at the beach, soaking up the Southern California weather before heading East, taking the opportunity to “freshen up.”

“It’s a long year,” Cronin said. “The most important thing at this time of the year is being healthy. We’re working on that. And I think, you know, having your mind fresh.”

Cronin is not worried about the bracket drama. He’s preoccupied with injuries to forward Tyler Bilodeau, who needs “another day or two” to recover from a sprained knee, and point guard Donovan Dent, who’s “feeling great.” He wants his players focused on their mental state, their fatigue, because he’s confident with where his team is at.

The Bruins have won six of their past eight games. They’ve scored 79.5 points, shot 49.1% from the field and 39.4% from 3-point range over that span. At the same time, they’ve allowed their opponents to shoot just 42.8% on field goals. They’ve settled into their three-guard lineup, and they’re defending with toughness and grit.

They proved they can beat a high-caliber team away from the Pacific time zone, with their 88-84 victory over Michigan State in a Big Ten quarterfinal on Friday.

“We played in tough games and have won a lot of top ranked games, and that builds confidence,” forward Eric Dailey Jr. “I think our team is ready, prepared.”

“Something just finally clicked, where we all bought in,” Clark added.

The players referenced the 72-52 win against Nebraska early this month as the catalyst. During a film session before that game, Cronin flashed the Cornhuskers’ defensive numbers next to those of the Bruins, asking his players how is Nebraska “top five in the country on defense” when its “best athlete is a 5-11 coach’s son (Sam Hoiberg).”

Cronin said then: “If we just had their attitude, we’d have their record.”

Since that moment, UCLA has had that attitude.

“That Nebraska game kicked it off for us,” sophomore Trent Perry said. “Our intent on the defensive end, the talking, rotations, all that.”

“We saw what we could do if we played hard,” Clark said. “We just carrying that forward.”

Cronin’s strategy for rolling that effort over into the NCAA Tournament is for his team to “get outside” and forget about it all for 48 hours.

“Get home, freshen up because we’re not planning on being back for a while,” he said.

Orange County Register

News Details

UCLA men look to ‘freshen up’ before NCAA Tournament opener in Philadelphia

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS