WATCH: Mick Cronin apologizes for ejecting Steven Jamerson II

Three days after UCLA head coach Mick Cronin made headlines for ejecting one of his own players, he apologized for his actions in the aftermath of a media firestorm that centered partly around his lack of sideline decorum.

Cronin said he addressed the team as a whole and apologized personally to backup center Steven Jamerson II, who he tossed from the bench in the second half of Tuesday’s loss at 15th-ranked Michigan State after committing a hard foul while defending a breakaway dunk.

Jamerson was assessed a flagrant-1 foul, and Cronin said before Friday morning’s practice that he misinterpreted his effort as a dirty play given the 27-point deficit with 4:26 remaining at the time of the play.

“First of all, I want you guys to know something: I already apologized to Steve, OK?” Cronin said in his opening statement before taking questions. “I thought that he took the guy out like the kid at Providence took the guy from St. John’s out. It’s the only reason I sent him to the locker room. I thought he literally made a dirty play and tried to wipe the guy out. Now, I don’t have the film. Once I saw the film — I mean, he still got an F1. To be honest with you, I don’t even know if he deserved that. When I watched it, coach (Tom Izzo) thought the same thing when I communicated with him.

“So anyway, I apologized to Steve. So it gives me a chance to tell you what a great guy Steve is. Now he asked me for $10,000 more in NIL because of that. But I told him I’d try to get him another commercial.”

In the immediate aftermath, opinions swirled and strongly backed Jamerson while criticizing Cronin for his blow-up. In addition to media personalities, generations of basketball players came to Jamerson’s defense and some openly wondered why anyone would sign up to play for Cronin.

Cronin added that Jamerson “is the best,” when asked how the apology was received, and insisted he is still a “good fit” at UCLA.

“I know I’m not bigger than the brand and the brand matters here, the school matters,” Cronin said. “The last thing I want to do is bring negative publicity to our school. And sometimes because it’s not about me, I don’t care what people think about me, I need to do a better job knowing, well, I am the coach here and I need to make sure I don’t do anything to embarrass our school. So for that, I apologize because that, I don’t want. I apologize to our people — school, students, everybody in our community because it’s important.

“It’s funny, you know, because it goes the other way, that nobody’s got their players’ backs more than me because what I would tell you is — and I’ve always said this to our guys — when you’re coaching, if you don’t love somebody enough to coach them and give them everything you’ve got…”

Jamerson was not made available to the media, but guard Skyy Clark and Trent Perry said the incident also led to a players-only meeting.

Clark said he was on the bench being treated for a cramp as Cronin pulled Jamerson off the floor and was not initially aware of what was happening in real time.

“But, you know, we stood by Steven,” Clark said. “We handled the matter internally. Coach gave a pretty sincere apology. So yeah, that’s it.”

Clark added that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Cronin, whose postgame press conference and in-game, emotional outbursts have delivered plenty of social-media fodder in recent years.

” I guess they’re not around him every day, so they just don’t see the full of him,” Clark said. “That’s just how he coaches. He was mentored under some some pretty similar coaches, and so that’s just his style of coaching.”

Perry elected to not divulge the details of the player-only meeting led by the older players on the roster.

Perry, who added that he’s never seen such an incident unfold before, said the matter was handled “internally.”

“Just kind of moving forward from the situation,” Perry said. “I mean, I’m just glad we were able to handle it as a team and become together.

“(Jamerson’s) been very mature about it. I mean, that’s my roommate so I’m just glad that he’s keeping his head, and I’m also checking in on him every single day.”

The press conference and practice included the attendance of athletic director Martin Jarmond and executive senior associate AD Erin Adkins. Jarmond and Jamerson shared an embrace as the early minutes of practice were getting underway.

Full UCLA press conferences 2/20

Watch the entirety of the media sessions with Cronin, Clark and Perry below: