Mick Cronin's technical foul motivates UCLA to huge win over Washington

LOS ANGELES - UCLA (17-7, 9-4) outlasted Washington (12-12, 4-9) 77-73 Saturday night, but it was UCLA head coach Mick Cronin who stole the show. 

Cronin set the tone in the second half after a string of controversial calls against the Bruins sent the Huskies to the charity stripe over and over again. The stands in Pauley Pavilion were furious and Cronin was irate. 

He ended up being hit with a technical foul for walking too far onto the court to give the referees a piece of his mind, a move that he was perfectly comfortable making despite the consequences.

Firing up the team

"At some point it's a joke," Cronin said of the officiating against the Bruins. "Are you gonna let your guys get that done to them? It's ridiculous. And it doesn't happen in other people's home gyms... You would think I've got 50 wins."

Cronin's foul certainly did the job of firing up his team. Before he stepped up to the referees, the Bruins' hard fought lead was at risk due to a 6-3 run by the Huskies that was fueled entirely by free throws. 

But after the technical, UCLA clamped down to outscore Washington 13-5 over the next eight minutes. 

"It gets you fired up," sophomore guard Trent Perry said of Cronin's technical. "In the moment I was like, 'Yo coach we don't need that.' And he was like, 'I did it on purpose.' So, it's all good. We went on a run and got the job done."

The Perry-Dent connection

The very first UCLA score after Cronin's technical was what sent everything in motion. Senior guard Donovan Dent picked up a steal underneath the Washington basket and took off down court. 

As he approached the paint, trailed by Huskies, he bounced the ball behind him to sophomore guard Trent Perry, who pulled up without hesitation and fired a three point shot that sent the Pauley Pavilion crowd howling and kicked off UCLA's much-needed run of insurance points. 

Perry and Dent were the heroes of Saturday's win. The back court pairing combined for 40 points and as they've played more and more together since the long term injury of senior guard Skyy Clark, their chemistry has hit new levels. 

Dent had a team-leading 10 assists on Saturday, with a handful of them setups to Perry's shots. According to Dent, the way that his fellow guard's been shooting makes it easy for the two to have great chemistry. 

"I think it's amazing right now. I find him [Perry] at all times... When someone's that hot from the three, kind of like how Skyy was before he got out, you've just got to find them," Dent said. "He's shooting the hell out of the ball from three."