Cronin spoke about the intensity of the team not reaching the level of their opponent. He is a very honest coach who does not sugarcoat things when there are problems. He announced this again after the match.

“We tried, but they don’t listen,” Cronin said. “They didn’t listen, they learned the hard way. But at the end of the day I don’t blame them, I blame the coaching staff. We have to make sure they are ready, we weren’t ready for the intensity of this .” You could see it clearly, it was very clear. I mean, Sebastian Mack made people take the ball away from him.

Mack is a second-year guard returning for an expanded role in his second year under Cronin. He finished with two points and three turnovers in nine minutes of action. He wasn’t the only Bruin to post a handful of turnovers.

“You get 21 turnovers, you lose by eight, what if you have 10, then you still have 11 possessions,” Cronin said. “I mean, Dylan (G Dylan Andrews) and Sebastian were throwing the ball away for layups and just giving it to them for layups. I told him ‘guys, we were better than last year,’ but we had a lack of talent.”

The junior guard, Andrewhad a team-high six giveaways, yielding just four points and two assists. Cronin definitely expects more from one of his veteran guys. Andrews and Mack will certainly learn from their early struggles and respond in a significant way.

Freshman guard Trent Perry did get some valuable minutes and was one of the few bright spots in the defeat. He scored eight points, three rebounds and a pair of assists with just one turnover. Perry showed his grit to be involved in every play, a big reason why he played 23 minutes.

“He’s (Perry) young, I thought he did a good job,” Cronin said. “I thought he went in there and mixed it up, tried to get some loose balls and some rebounds. He got into the fight, while other guys were standing around watching.”

The biggest takeaway from this brutal loss is the fact that it happened so early in the year. The Bruins still have three weeks to prepare for their first season in the Big Ten. Cronin and the rest of the coaching staff will analyze the issues and implement the appropriate change to be successful in the future.

“It’s good to have a game this early,” Cronin said. “To be able to assess where we stand and what needs to be done, I obviously just need to get a dose of reality.”

The Bruins will make up for the loss and advance to their next opponent when they return home to take on Boston University on Monday, November 11. Cronin’s group will certainly make adjustments and that will show over the next few games.

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