UCLA Basketball: Best wins of the Mick Cronin Era

Here are the ten best basketball victories of Mick Cronin at UCLA.

They are listed below in chronological order starting with the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.

UCLA 72, No. 20 Colorado 68 (January 30, 2020): The Bruins defeated the Buffaloes at home to get Cronin’s first victory over a ranked opponent as the head coach of UCLA.  Their win also got the Bruins above .500 and UCLA ended up defeating Colorado both times they played one another that season.

UCLA 65, Arizona 52 (February 8, 2020): UCLA defeated the top 25 ranked Wildcats on the road for Cronin’s first road win over a ranked opponent as the head coach of the Bruins. Cronin and UCLA beat the Wildcats both times they faced one another that year.

UCLA 69, Marquette 60 (December 11, 2020): This was Cronin’s first significant non-conference win as the leader of the Bruins. The win against the Golden Eagles was UCLA’s fifth straight win of the season.

UCLA 86, Michigan State 80 (March 18, 2021): The Bruins after losing four straight games defeated Michigan State in one of the First Four games of the NCAA Tournament. The game went into overtime and after they beat the Spartans, UCLA won their next two games to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the tournament.

UCLA 88, Alabama 79 (March 28, 2021): The Bruins defeated the No. 2 seed Crimson Tide which was UCLA’s first trip to the Elite Eight since 2008. It was also Cronin’s first career Elite Eight appearance.

UCLA 51, Michigan 49 (March 30, 2021): UCLA beat No. 1 seed Michigan to reach their first Final Four for the first time since 2008 and they were the fifth No. 11 seed to reach the Final Four in NCAA tournament history. The Bruins would lose in the round of four to Gonzaga in overtime to end their Cinderella run in the tournament.