Donovan Dent, back to being himself, powers surging UCLA basketball

For several months, it looked like Mick Cronin was going to fulfill his preseason pledge. He really was going to ruin Donovan Dent’s senior year.

The UCLA basketball coach had said those curious words as a warning, a salvo of sorts. The point was to let the star transfer point guard know that if he didn’t play defense or take care of the ball at a higher level than he had at New Mexico, his would be a miserable existence.

Through the middle of January, Dent had little to show for his move besides a bigger paycheck and heartache. Along with the grimaces and finger-pointing on the court that marked the low point of his basketball career were less visible signs of frustration.

Dent pushed through not only foot inflammation and a torn muscle on the side of his abdomen but also painful messages from fans about his latest poor performance. A player who had been so beloved in New Mexico that he could have run for mayor of Albuquerque was being told he was worthless.

“Now all of a sudden,” said Josh Giles, who coached Dent at Corona Centennial High and remains a confidant, “you’re getting text messages and DMs where people are saying like, ‘I hope you kill yourself, I hope you tear your ACL tomorrow, I hope you blow out your Achilles.’ ”

As he sat in front of his locker inside the United Center late last week, Dent smiled when reminded of those messages. A lot has changed since then, including the tenor of fan sentiment toward a player whose big showing in the Big Ten Tournament spawned the creation of “Triple-Double Dent” T-shirts.

“I feel like that comes with the game now — everyone’s betting and gambling, so you’ve just kind of got to push it aside,” Dent told The California Post. “Like, sometimes you read it for sure and you’re like, damn, it sucks, especially after a bad game, but at the end of the day they’re watching you play, is my main mindset on that.”

What they’ve seen over these past two months is nothing short of remarkable from a player who is expected to return from a minor calf injury for the Bruins’ NCAA Tournament opener.

“Just wanted,” Dent said, “to get back to the way I play.”

Dent’s incredible run

Of all the great point guards who have come through the college game over the last 30 years, none has matched Dent over a recent six-game stretch.

Sixty-five assists. Four turnovers.

It’s the sort of efficiency Cronin was seeking from a player who averaged 3.1 turnovers per game in his final season at New Mexico.

“Nobody with his talent should turn the ball over, period,” Cronin said. “Way too talented.”

After the relative coddling he experienced under coach Richard Pitino at New Mexico, Dent initially pushed back against Cronin’s more demanding style. A recent relenting has benefited both sides.

“Once he realized that it was a fight he wasn’t going to win — which I told him when I recruited him,” Cronin said of Dent’s willingness to accept his coaching. “There’s only one person in charge. It’s not a democracy, and you’re going to take care of the ball.”

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The breakthrough came after a candid talk following a mid-January loss to Ohio State. Don’t just stand there and let your career crumble, Cronin told his point guard. Go down swinging. Throw punches. Find a way.

That conversation came around the time Dent sent Giles a text message about his injuries: “I finally feel like I’m close to 100%.”

The next game, it showed. Dent piled up 23 points and 13 assists, including an over-the-shoulder pass to Tyler Bilodeau for a late 3-pointer during an upset of then-No. 4 Purdue.

The performance earned Dent a return text from his high school coach.

“I haven’t seen this look in your eyes in a long time,” Giles told him, adding some advice. “Just get back to being that killer that you’ve always been, always on the attack, not worried about, are you going to get yelled at? You’re going to make mistakes but just go be you.”

Dent goes down

What Dent, who suffered the calf strain Saturday against Purdue, has unleashed recently is his game in its purest form.

Get everybody on the team involved. If a shot’s there, take it.

“I don’t need scoring to get going, but some people do,” Dent said, “so when I get my teammates involved early and they knock down a 3 early, it just gives them a different vibe and we go better on the defensive side. Like, we just pick up a better energy when everyone’s scoring, everyone’s involved. We’re just a different team.”

The free-flowing, fun-loving aura that has followed makes the Bruins a team capable of a deeper run than its NCAA Tournament seeding might suggest. Dent has been in the middle of his team’s recent surge, rising for jumpers without hesitation and getting to the rim with the confidence that no one can stop him.

His all-around excellence was reflected in a 12-point, 12-assist, 10-rebound performance against Rutgers that made him the first player to notch a triple-double in Big Ten Tournament history.

“His ability to break down defenses, it’s so fun to watch,” Bilodeau said. “It makes my job pretty easy when he gets me some wide-open shots. It’s just fun to see him slither around, get open, get in the paint, make great passes.”

He’s also playing the best defense of his career, having embraced Cronin’s mandate while giving rise to a mutual admiration society.

Said Cronin: “He’s come a long way, folks.”

Said Dent: “I’ll give credit to him; he just made me a better defender, for sure.”

The surest sign that Dent has become the player his coach wanted can be seen in his body language. He’s smiling again and playfully taunting fans of the other team when he makes a big play, a season saved, a career revived.