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UCLA coach Mick Cronin apologizes after ejecting his own player from their blowout loss to Michigan State

· Yahoo Sports

UCLA coach Mick Cronin issued a long apology on Friday, just days after he threw his own player out of a loss for a hard foul and got into it with a reporter.

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Cronin said he apologized to center Steven Jamerson directly, and that he thought he had committed a dirty play late at the Breslin Center in the final moments of their 82-59 loss. Now, after seeing the tape and all of the pushback, Cronin realized that wasn't what had happened at all.

“It’s the only reason I sent him to the locker room,” Cronin said, via the SoCal News Group’s Aaron Heisen. “I thought he literally made a dirty play and tried to wipe the guy out … To me, that’s a bad play. You can’t be down 25 or getting your butt kicked, don’t try to take somebody out, hurt somebody on the other team, which is what I thought.”

Cronin threw Jamerson out of the game himself after Jamerson drilled Michigan State center Carson Cooper on a breakaway dunk late in the blowout loss on Tuesday night. Jamerson was called for a foul in the moment, though Cronin wasn’t having it.

He called Jamerson over to the bench, grabbed him by his jersey and started walking him off the floor. Jamerson left without much protest.

"I guess he upgraded that to a flagrant 2, huh? That's the first time I've saw a coach do that," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "That sounded like Mick, he'll get that straightened out.

Jamerson, a senior, finished with two points and two rebounds in eight minutes. He was hit with a technical foul on the play, was was Cooper for his reaction. Cooper split his free throws for the original foul, which put Michigan State up by 28 points at the time.

After the game, Cronin was still in a terrible mood. He got into it with a reporter who asked him about the Michigan State student section, and then asked if that reporter was raising his voice at him.

Cronin apologized for his behavior in general on Friday, too, and said he needs to “dial back some of my humor" after the wave of criticism he received this week.

“In this climate, you have to be careful with what you say," he said. "Because, I’m a good fit here because I know I’m not bigger than the brand. The brand matters here, the school matters. The last thing I want to do is bring negative publicity to our school. 

"Sometimes, because it’s not about me, I don’t care what people think about me, I need to do a better job knowing, ‘Well I am the coach here.’ I need to make sure I don’t do anything to embarrass our school. For that, I apologize.”

Cronin is in his sixth season at UCLA, which started the year out at No. 12 in the national rankings before falling out completely. Cronin holds a 155-73 record with the Bruins, whom he led to a Final Four in his second campaign with the school.

UCLA now sits at 17-9 this season after back-to-back blowout losses last week. The Bruins will host No. 10 Illinois next on Saturday.

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