It’s the time after Christmas and the basketball Gods are appropriately in a charitable mood! Or if you think that’s a disrespectful way of looking at it, let’s attribute it to UCLA’s hard work because the No. 22 Bruins just won 65-62 against No. 14 Gonzaga Bulldogs for the first time in the Mick Cronin era. Improving on the 0-4 record in almost six seasons was an important milestone, even if the head coach was still not over the loss to North Carolina. But it’s a win worth celebrating, as Rob Dauster would like to remind Cronin.

On The Field of 68: After Dark, the host dives right into praising the Bruins for their comeback performance. “Anytime that you can get a win over a program like Gonzaga, who you know their numbers are only going to go up once they kinda get into WCC playing and kinda roll over some opponents, it’s just another good win that you can stack on top of a win at Oregon, the neutral court win over Arizona.”

With this win, UCLA continues to stand at the top position in the Big10 Standings with a record of 2 conference wins. With this, they have a 11-2 run, spearating them from the next in line Michigan State at 10-2. Indeed, an early New Year Miracle.

“UCLA has put together a really nice non-conference schedule, I thought it was nice that they got Eric Dailey going.” Dailey led the team with 18 points, shooting 4 of 5 from deep, his practice on Christmas Eve at the Bruins’ practice facility paying off. The 6’8″ wing also had 4 steals and 2 assists with just one turnover, also taking the brunt of not one but two flagrant fouls from the Zags.

After the game, Cronin revealed, “I told all these guys, I told them it’s going to be World War III today. I told them it was coming.” And it did, even if it was more defensive than anything and lacking offensively. It may have confused analysts a little as Dauster said, “It’s been kinda hard to get a real feel for them…There were some moments that we’ve seen from them this season where it’s kinda hard to feel like just how good this team is.”

Even so, “We know that they’re good but it’s hard to get a feel for how good they were. And I think this was the kind of win where you can kinda put a bow on it and say, look this is something that’s gonna have a little bit of lasting and staying power when it comes to their resume on Selection Sunday.” Look out, Big 10!

Cronin knew it could have gone better because at any time the scales could have tipped to the Bulldogs’ side, especially because the Bruins had squandered a 12-point first-half lead. But the eventual win came, thanks to guards Sebastian Mack and Skyy Clark. But the star of the show was definitely Eric Dailey Jr., who was almost playing with a handicap.

Mick Cronin is proud of ‘gym rat’ Eric Dailey Jr.

Eric Dailey Jr. had just one game to practice with a mask on his face, thanks to receiving a shot to the nose last weekend. The mask arrived last-minute and Dailey couldn’t exactly be comfortable with it. But he didn’t let it stop his heroics. Result? His coach was nothing short of proud.

“Eric got his mask in today for his nose and hadn’t even practiced with it,” Cronin said after the game. “And goes 4-for-5 from three and 4-for-6 from the line. That’s what happens when you live in the gym. This guy lives in the gym.”

The player himself pitched in, “It felt a little different. It felt different, but I put in hours in the gym. Just finding the rim and putting the ball in the hoop, it’s the same objective every day so it wasn’t that bad.” Certainly, even though the last-minute practice did not go into the logs, Dailey Jr.’s muscle memory worked more than wonders in the close win.

Now that the streak has finally been broken against Gonzaga, it should only inspire the UCLA Bruins to improve more. Mick Cronin thinks it’s a team that could go undefeated, but even if losses have been incurred this season, it should not deter them.