Mick Cronin and the UCLA Bruins are trying to play a basketball season, but they’ve got so much more on their mind as the area around their school has been affected by wildfires.
The first started on Jan. 7 in the Pacific Palisades and has been ongoing.
UCLA has played two away games since the fires started, and its next home game is scheduled to be on Friday against the Iowa Hawkeyes back at Pauley Pavilion.
Whether or not that game can be played as scheduled is still an open question, but after UCLA’s last game, a loss to Rutgers, Cronin revealed that he and the team are having a hard time focusing on basketball with how things are looking back West.
“No words. I just want to get home. I want to get home to my family, make sure — it’s tough when this is all going on and you’re not around your family. Making sure people are safe in times like this. So, it’s really, really hard,” Cronin said in the postgame news conference (h/t On3).
Being on the road has been tough for Cronin and his UCLA team because they’ve got so much to worry about back home. Cronin‘s family had to evacuate for some time, according to On3.
“They did, but they’re back for now. We’re on the edge in Encino,” Cronin said. “Look, there’s a lot of people who have lost everything. It’s horrible. I was telling [Rutgers head] Coach [Steve] Pikiell, he was asking, it’s like something from a movie. It’s hard to even describe. It’s hard for you and I because we’re not there. It’s hard to process.”
The Bruins are 11-6, but they’re currently riding a four-game losing streak.
