Mick Cronin apologizes to player for ejecting him and say he needs to do better at representing UCLA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — UCLA coach Mick Cronin said Friday he apologized to Steven Jamerson II for sending the center to the locker room late in a blowout loss at No. 15 Michigan State after he committed a hard foul.

Even before the referees reviewed the play and assessed Jamerson with a flagrant-1 foul, Cronin grabbed Jamerson’s jersey and pointed for him to leave the court in the waning minutes of Tuesday’s 23-point loss to the Spartans in East Lansing.

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“I don’t think, to be honest, the entire world has ever seen that in a game,” Bruins guard Trent Perry said.

“I already apologized to Steve, OK?” Cronin told reporters before UCLA’s practice. “It’s the only reason I sent him to the locker room. I thought he literally made a dirty play and tried to wipe the guy out. Once I saw the film, I mean, he still got an F-1. To be honest with you, I don’t even know if he deserved that.”

Cronin said Spartans coach Tom Izzo “thought the same thing when I communicated with him.”

Cronin joked that Jamerson “asked me for $10,000 more in NIL because of that.”

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He went on to speak glowingly of Jamerson, who played three seasons at the University of San Diego before transferring to UCLA last summer for his final year of eligibility. Jamerson has started once in 26 games, averaging 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.3 minutes. He was unsuccessful in walking on at Michigan State earlier in his career.

“Steve is everything that’s good about college basketball,” Cronin said. “He’s everything that I believe in about college basketball. That being said, I’m trying to protect, like I take it really seriously. Our guys don’t get techs. We’re not taking guys out in the air.”

Cronin said he’s sometimes too candid in his comments. He has complained about travel and tipoff times since UCLA joined the Big Ten last season, and been harshly critical of his players at times after games. After the Michigan State loss, he also had a testy reply to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mick-cronin-apologizes-player-ejecting-214627670.html

Author : BETH HARRIS

Publish date : 2026-02-20 21:46:00

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