CHICAGO – As the NCAA Tournament bracket rolls out Sunday, UCLA basketball will focus on one piece of information.
Not who it’s playing.
Not where it plays.
If it plays.
The Bruins want to play on Friday, not Thursday.
Any extra time would be welcome for a team trying to get its top two players back from injury after UCLA finished the Big Ten tournament without Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau.
“You better hope we don’t play until Friday,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin said Saturday after his team’s 73-66 loss to Purdue in the tournament semifinals at the United Center.
If the theory that Boilermakers coach Matt Painter shared with Cronin after the game is correct, it will be.
What did Painter tell Cronin?
“Put it this way, you just thought we were going to play on Friday,” Cronin said. “I don’t know if that is about the teams playing on the weekend, I don’t know where you got that from because in Cincinnati I always played on Sunday in the American Conference Championship, we played a lot on Thursday.
“But Matt is smart, so I hope he’s right.”
Cronin suggested he expects Dent and Bilodeau to return whenever his team next plays, ignoring the need to contact the NCAA tournament selection committee about their status.
Three years ago, Cronin was worried his team would be hurt after forward Jaylen Clark strained his Achilles and center Adem Bona went down with a shoulder injury in the Pac-12 tournament.
“It’s not that complicated,” Cronin said. “Tyler could have played. Donny could have played. They would have played badly. But there’s this — there’s no point — I wouldn’t play them in a regular season game. I just tried to take care of the guys.”
Dent did not return after leaving midway through the first half with a strained calf. Bilodeau is sitting out after spraining his right knee Friday against Michigan State.
Cronin indicated that the medical staff is ready to have a conversation with him about Dent’s availability to return during the break.
“I said there’s no need to play,” Cronin said. “Next week is very important.”
In an encouraging development, the Bruins didn’t fold after Dent joined Bilodeau on the bench. They were tied with Purdue with less than four minutes to play before the Boilermakers pulled away for a win that sent them to the championship game to face Michigan.
Meanwhile, the Bruins (23-11) will await their NCAA Tournament berth. Most of the predictions have them ranked as number 7 or number 8 after they almost won another game in a while.
“I’m very proud of my team, down to two top players, but we have other top players,” said Cronin. “They came up with a heroic and heroic effort.”
Taking Bilodeau’s place in the starting lineup, Xavier Booker made several uber athletic moves – including a dunk drive – on his way to 12 points. Backup center Steven Jamerson II also made nine plays around the basket.
Guard Eric Freeny did his usual yeoman job with eight points, five rebounds and two assists. Brandon Williams played solid defense to go with his three points.
Together, they showed the ability to compete regardless of who was present in the game.
“This team has a lot of depth,” Dent said. “Like, our depth is the opposite as a team and we played…. I’m proud of everybody.”
Cronin’s one lament was the lack of repetition from his hundreds. Booker and Jamerson combined for two rebounds in 40 minutes, which won’t happen against a physical team like Purdue. Boilermakers big man Oscar Cluff had 14 rebounds, helping his team win the rebounding battle by 11.
“There’s a problem,” Cronin said. “We have to get rebounds at the 5 point.”
Still, Cronin said his team was better by playing more players against the Boilermakers.
“The experience that Steve and Brandon and Eric Freeny got today – and Book played a lot of minutes,” Cronin said, “can really help us next week when those [other] the boys are back.”
Especially, it seems, if that return comes on Friday.
