UCLA suffered its second straight 20-plus-point defeat Tuesday night at No. 15 Michigan State, a game that saw Bruins coach Mick Cronin seemingly eject one of his own players.
With the Bruins trailing 77-50 and 4:26 left to play in the 82-59 loss, UCLA center Steven Jamerson II, a former Michigan State student, was called for a flagrant for fouling Carson Cooper from behind on a dunk attempt.
Cronin then sent Jamerson to the locker room.
“You know, true toughness is how you compete and how you go to work every day. Steve’s a good kid. He made a bad decision,” Cronin explained after the game. “But if you want to be a tough guy, you need to do it during the game, for a blockout, for a rebound.
“So, I was thoroughly disappointed; the guy was defenseless in the air. I know Steve was trying to block the shot, but the game’s a 25-point game. You don’t do that.”
The odd scene was a first for Spartans coach Tom Izzo, whose team improved to 21-5, 11-4 in the Big Ten.
“I guess he upgraded that to a flagrant 2, huh?” Izzo joked. “That’s the first time I saw a coach do it, but that sounds like Mick. So, he’ll get that straightened out.”
UCLA, coming off a 30-point defeat Saturday at top-ranked Michigan, has lost consecutive games by 20-plus points for the first time since the 1944-45 season, according to Sportradar. Coming into the weekend, the Bruins (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) had won five of six.
Jamerson’s hard foul wasn’t the only development that had Cronin riled up Tuesday night.
During the game, Michigan State fans chanted the name of Bruins center Xavier Booker, a former five-star recruit who signed with Michigan State before transferring to UCLA in April after two underwhelming seasons in East Lansing. Booker logged two points and two rebounds in 25 minutes.
Cronin had a fiery postgame exchange with a reporter who asked about the Booker chants, saying, “I could give a rat’s ass about the other team’s student section.”
“I would like to give you a kudos for the worst question I’ve ever been asked,” Cronin said. “You really think I care about the other team’s student section?”
Cronin then accused the reporter of “raising your voice at me.”
“Yeah, you are,” Cronin said. “Everybody is standing here listening to you. Everybody. This is on camera. They can hear you. I answered the question. I can give a rat’s ass about the other team’s student section.”
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
