UCLA coach Mick Cronin was beside himself as he begged his players to show more toughness.
So-No. 25 Iowa made short work of the visiting Bruins in the first half of a 74-61 victory Saturday — a game in which UCLA trailed by 24 points. The Bruins will look to regroup and produce a better performance when they conclude their two-game road trip against Wisconsin on Tuesday in Madison.
UCLA (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) had won three in a row and five of six heading into Saturday’s visit to Iowa City, where the Hawkeyes took a double-digit lead in less than eight minutes and took a 38-14 advantage.
Cronin ripped off his suit jacket and threw it on his bench while putting guard on Trent Perry.
“It’s disappointing how soft we were for the first 20 minutes – extremely disappointing to have to throw off my coat and rip a suit to get guys to play with some stamina,” Cronin said after the loss.
The Bruins allowed 56% shooting from the field in the first half before launching their counterattack. They cut the deficit to four, but committed 23 fouls, allowing Iowa to go 22 of 26 from the line.
The offense was rare outside of leader Donovan Dent (25 points, 12 of 19 shooting) and Tyler Bilodeau (10 points). Bilodeau (18.3 ppg) and Dent (13.5 ppg, 6.5 assists per game) are UCLA’s leading scorers.
Skyy Clark also scores 13.5 per game, but left the second half of the Iowa game with a hamstring injury. His status for Tuesday is unclear.
The Bruins’ next opponent is coming off its second straight conference loss and third loss in five games overall. Wisconsin (9-5, 1-2) hosted No. 5 Purdue on Saturday and led for part of the first half before the Boilermakers pulled away, 89-73.
Badgers coach Greg Gard said he told his team “We’re so close, but yet we’re so close” — first making a small pinch with his fingers, then indicating a much wider gap between his hands.
“We have things to improve on and we talked about it before the game, you have a plan, you have to work on your plan, you have to commit to your plan,” Gard said. “When you deviate a little, the elite teams will make you pay for it.”
Wisconsin was helped by Nick Boyd (24 points, 10 of 10 shooting) and Nolan Winter (18 points, 10 rebounds). Boyd paces the Badgers with 19.5 points and 3.1 assists per game.
The Badgers have shot 62.5% or better from inside the arc in each of the last three games. UCLA allowed 14 of 21 2-point shooting against Iowa (66.7%).
–Field level media
