Seven games into his tenure as UCLA’s coach, Mick Cronin got exactly what he wanted — a matchup with Michigan State.
That was back in November 2019 at the Maui Invitational when the Bruins rolled over Chaminade to set up a third-place game with the Spartans, who had lost their opener to Virginia Tech before beating Georgia. Cronin, the long-time Cincinnati coach who had just taken over at UCLA, had a goal to reshape the Bruins in a more physical mold, one that looked a lot like what Tom Izzo had created at Michigan State.
“When Michigan State lost to Virginia Tech, I was like, ‘We need to beat Chaminade because we need to play Michigan State,’” Cronin said then in Maui, “because I talk a lot about them to our team since I've got the job.