Eric Freeny provides toughness to UCLA Basketball

All season, after almost every loss, UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin has repeated the same lament about his team.

It lacks defense, rebounding and toughness.

Fortunately for the Bruins, those just happen to be Eric Freeny’s specialties.

The redshirt freshman guard has infused his team with a heavy dose of each trait off the bench over the last two weeks, sparking a late-season resurgence for a team that appears to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament.

Against Illinois, Freeny butted heads with Kylan Boswell and shrugged it off.

Against USC, Freeny took a ball off the face and didn’t flinch.

And against Nebraska on Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion, Freeny made one heads-up play after another, leading his team with four offensive rebounds and three steals in only 18 minutes.

“Toughness, buddy, toughness,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said of what his super sub brought during a 72-52 victory over the No. 9 Cornhuskers. “I’m a big believer in it; it’s why I signed him. Toughness.”

The one game Freeny barely played in during this recent stretch?

UCLA absorbed a deflating road loss to Minnesota, suffering from its usual deficiencies while logging only 10 deflections — an all-time low for a Cronin team.

While enduring what he described as “the worst film session I’ve ever watched with a team,” Cronin said he apologized to Freeny for not playing him more than a 20-second stint against the Golden Gophers.

“My excuse was, we were scoring and we were winning, and the game was slow and nobody was tired and they were playing zone,” Cronin said, “but our defense was so bad in spite of our shotmaking, I should have got some guys out and put them — and definitely Eric Freeny should have got in.”

Freeny said he appreciated his coach’s mea culpa.

“He’s doing what’s best for me, just trying to push me to my max,” said Freeny, who has averaged 15.6 minutes during his team’s last three wins, far above his season average of 9.9 minutes. “I just got to keep on going. Keep on pushing every day.”

Freeny’s uptick in playing time has coincided with some of his team’s best basketball of the season. It also dovetailed with Cronin’s recent message during what he called “a heart-to-heart” conversation with his players about what’s needed to become a great team.

“I said, ‘Look, guys, here’s a team [in Nebraska] — their record is what it is because of their attitude and their effort and their commitment to doing hard things,” Cronin said. “I am so impressed with them. Tonight we were great; if we would just have their attitude, we would have their record — that’s my opinion.”

Cronin then immediately referenced Freeny’s six deflections and ability to direct loose balls to teammates, leading to layups. Freeny also played lockdown defense on Nebraska guard Pryce Sandfort, who managed only nine points three days after scorching USC for 32.

“Just a game-changer,” UCLA guard Trent Perry said of Freeny’s defense and offensive rebounding from the guard spot.

Even more inspiring might have been Freeny’s non-reaction to the ball being flung off his face by USC’s Chad Baker-Mazara last week while the Trojans guard was falling out of bounds.

“Very tough to get hit in the face with the ball and not flinch, like, come on, that’s a tough guy,” Bruins forward Eric Dailey Jr. said. “And he brings that every day in practice, like what we see, this what he does every day. He works hard. He’s in the gym early, and all that, all the work that he’s done in the dark is coming to light.”

Said Freeny: “Got hit with the ball, just got to keep playing. It’s part of the sport. That’s part of what happens. So just got to forget about it and win the ballgame.”

What’s made UCLA’s lack of defense, rebounding and toughness all the more startling this season is that they are the traits that usually define Cronin’s teams.

That’s why being able to turn to a player who embodies them like Freeny is essential.

“See, in coaching, you can’t talk about stuff and not be about it,” Cronin said. “You’ve got to be about it – you play defense or you come out. If you’re not about it, nobody’s going to believe you.”

Freeny is producing a growing legion of believers, with his coach leading the way. Referencing one of his measures of toughness, Cronin posed a hypothetical scenario: If a ball was dropped from the ceiling with both teams gathered in the middle of the court, who would come away with it?

“On our team, it’s Eric Freeny – that’s who I’m betting on,” Cronin said. “You gotta have some guys like that.”