2025-26 has been a rough season for UCLA basketball so far, as Mick Cronin and company have not quite met expectations as they get into Big Ten play. That troubling trend continued on Saturday as UCLA took a discouraging 74-61 loss to Iowa on the road.
The Bruins didn't have it right from the start in this game, as they fell into a 24-point hole in the first half against a gritty Iowa team and a raucous home crowd. Cronin's group battled back in the second half, but the big deficit proved to be too much to overcome as UCLA got its first conference loss of the season.
After the game, head coach Mick Cronin was understandably very upset with his team's effort and performance in a big game. He ripped the Bruins for the way they came out and competed, according to Ben Bolch of the LA Times.
“It’s disappointing how soft we were the first 20 minutes–extremely disappointing that I have to throw my coat and rip a suit to get guys to play with some toughness,” Cronin said.
This was billed as a big game coming in because of a blockbuster point guard matchup between Iowa's Bennett Stirtz and UCLA's Donovan Dent, and the two of them lived up to the billing. Dent logged 25 points on a very efficient 12-for-19 shooing with five assists to lead the UCLA offense that was helpless without his production, while Stirtz led all scorers with 27 points for the Hawkeyes to go along with five dimes of his own.
UCLA now has four losses on the season and will have to find some improvements, especially offensively, before getting too far into a very challenging Big Ten schedule. The Bruins will continue conference play on Tuesday with a road trip to Wisconsin before hosting Maryland on Saturday.
After recovering from some early-season injury troubles, especially with his calf, Dent is living up to the hype that he got this offseason as one of the best transfers in college basketball. Now, Cronin is trying to get the rest of his squad playing up to that level so this team can compete for a conference title.
