UCLA coach Mick Cronin was beside himself as he begged his players to show more toughness.
Then-No. 25 Iowa ran roughshod over the visiting Bruins in the first half of a 74-61 victory on Saturday — a game in which UCLA trailed by as many as 24 points. The Bruins will try to regroup and produce a better showing when they conclude their two-game trip against Wisconsin on Tuesday in Madison.
UCLA (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) had won three straight and five of six before Saturday’s visit to Iowa City, where the Hawkeyes took a double-digit lead less than eight minutes in and raced ahead 38-14.
Cronin tore off his suit jacket and threw it at his bench while laying into guard Trent Perry.
“It’s disappointing how soft we were the first 20 minutes — extremely disappointing that I have to throw my coat and rip a suit to get guys to play with some toughness,” Cronin said after the loss.
The Bruins allowed 56% shooting from the field in the first half before throwing their counterpunch. They whittled the deficit to as small as four but committed 23 fouls, allowing Iowa to go 22-for-26 from the line.
Offense was scarce outside of point guard Donovan Dent (25 points, 12-of-19 shooting) and Tyler Bilodeau (10 points). Bilodeau (18.3 points per game) and Dent (13.5 ppg, 6.5 assists per game) are UCLA’s top scorers.
Skyy Clark also scores 13.5 per game but left the second half of the Iowa game with a hamstring injury. His status for Tuesday is unclear.
The Bruins’ next opponent is coming off its second straight conference loss and its third loss in five games overall. Wisconsin (9-5, 1-2) welcomed No. 5 Purdue on Saturday and led for parts of the first half before the Boilermakers pulled away, 89-73.
Badgers coach Greg Gard said he told his team “We’re that close, but yet we’re that close” — first making a small pinch with his fingers, then indicating a much wider gap between his hands.
“We’ve got things to get more consistent at, and we talked about before the game, you have a plan, you have to work your plan, you have to be committed to your plan,” Gard said. “When you get a little off track, the really elite teams are gonna make you pay for that.”
Wisconsin got a lift from Nick Boyd (24 points, 10-for-10 foul shooting) and Nolan Winter (18 points, 10 rebounds). Boyd paces the Badgers with 19.5 points and 3.1 assists per game.
The Badgers have shot 62.5% or better from inside the arc in each of the past three games. UCLA allowed 14-of-21 shooting on 2-pointers against Iowa (66.7%).
