UCLA Basketball: Mick Cronin Breaks Down Late Recruitment of Star Commit

UCLA men’s basketball secured the late recruitment of star local Harvard-Westlake product Trent Perry. Perry was initially signed to USC but switched his commitment to UCLA after former USC head coach Andy Enfield left to become the head coach of SMU.

Prior to UCLA surprisingly getting Perry, UCLA head coach Mick Cronin regretted not getting him. Cronin regularly attends Harvard-Westlake games and had to watch Perry shine in every game with the team.

“I never thought Coach [Andy] Enfield was leaving USC, but I got to see many, many times this year his team at Harvard-Westlake,” Cronin told David Woods and Tracy Pierson of Bruin Report Online. “I was upset that he wasn’t going to be a Bruin all season as I was sitting at those games. He’s got great size for a guard, he’s extremely intelligent, and he’s what I call a ++ player. A lot of guards coming into college, you have to get rid of certain habits. They’re high volume shooters or they get assists but they get just as many turnovers. That is not Trent, he’ll score, he’ll assist.”

Cronin was also impressed by Perry because he prioritizes winning rather than padding his stats to look good for recruitment. Perry helped lead Harvard-Westlake to two straight CIF State championships and was twice the Mission League MVP.

“When you watch him, he stands out like a sore thumb because this era there’s a lot of guards that score points, but they’re taking 25 shots to get 18 points in a high school. It’s just not who [Trent] is. He plays to win,” Cronin added.

Even with Perry focused on winning, he still put up great stats as he averaged 18.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game in his senior season.

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