Mick Cronin isn’t one to deal in excuses. But if he did, the Bruins’ sixth-year coach would have plenty to choose from.

A young roster.

A brutal schedule.

A conference switch that tossed routine into chaos.

“In the Pac-12, it’s a layup. You get in a routine,” Cronin said of his former conference’s weekly Thursday and Saturday game schedule. “From January on, you’re off Sunday. You got your routine of how you handle Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, how you handle your Friday in between. It’s just a routine. … I knew once they announced we were going to the Big Ten it was going to be night and day. You’re not in a routine. Every week is different.”

A stark contrast to the orderly structure of the Pac-12, UCLA men’s basketball has played every single day of the week this season – barring Thursday, which it’ll do this week in a rematch against No. 16 Oregon.

No three weeks have been the same for the Bruins. Erratic scheduling positioned a Monday and Friday slate one week, a Wednesday and Friday swing the next, then a lone Tuesday game followed by a Tuesday and Sunday stretch. It was then a lone Saturday game, a Tuesday and Saturday setup, and straight into back-to-back weeks of only Saturday games.

The Bruins stall for six days some weeks. On others, they’ve no choice but to flip the page in two days and scramble to reset.

And all of that isn’t even taking into consideration the effect of UCLA’s approximately 21,927 miles in the air so far this season.

But it’s not like the schedule shuffling is without reason. There are grounds behind it – just not the kind that makes the Bruins’ lives easier.

“The Pac-12, it’s horrible for your national exposure when all your teams are playing at the same time,” Cronin said after UCLA’s victory over Washington on Friday. “If you want big TV contracts, you want national exposure, you got to spend your games out, and this is part of it. The travel’s not easy.”

Cronin added that even West Coast competition isn’t necessarily close – the Bruins traveled a total of 2,272 miles to and from Seattle for their game at Alaska Airlines Arena.

And they flew back to Westwood that same night.

“We’re going to get home at two in the morning, three in the morning. We should have just had this game at midnight,” Cronin said. “When you sell your soul to television, that’s just the way it is. … I’m sure at some point later in the year it will go our way. I haven’t found that yet, but I’m hoping.”

The schedule Cronin alluded to carries the weight of a professional grind, save for back-to-back matchups. It could be considered a crash course of the NBA lifestyle, where recovery takes precedence over routine, practices are scaled down and some days are reserved for nothing but weight training and fine-tuning individual skills.

“Big Ten competition is every game basically, so it’s going to be a lot. It’s going to be very rigorous on our bodies,” said sophomore guard Sebastian Mack. “But I mean, with the practice and stuff, we just got to buckle down and pay attention.”

Cronin ensures his squad manages to adapt. But they often have no other choice.

Junior forward Tyler Bilodeau’s ankle let him down Friday against Washington and kept him on the sidelines for Monday’s clash against USC.

[Related: Backcourt shines in UCLA men’s basketball’s win over Washington]

A setback quickly morphed into another wrinkle in a season built on adjustments as the sophomore tandem of guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. and center Aday Mara patched the hole left by Bilodeau’s absence. And they reinforced it with steel.

Mara struck a third-straight double-digit night with a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double while Dailey’s 16 points on 60% shooting led all Bruins.

But their bigger impact?

Proving to Cronin that he doesn’t need to force minutes on guys who aren’t ready.

“You got to make sure you got guys out there that are being effective,” Cronin said. “They’re not just out there to be out there.”

With Monday’s game hanging in the balance – UCLA clinging to a 73-72 lead – both junior guard Dylan Andrews and senior guard Kobe Johnson were planted at the end of the Bruin bench. The former succumbed to full-body cramps, and the other fouled out for the third time in eight games – this time against his former school and a Trojan fanbase that booed him relentlessly all night.

“Got to give him (Andrews) credit – obviously had a rough start to the season. His experience is coming through right now,” Cronin said. “He’s playing better. His cramping could’ve easily – and almost – cost us the game.”

But just as Bilodeau’s absence did, Andrews’ cramps released the curtains for senior guard Lazar Stefanovic. For junior guard Skyy Clark. For Mack. And the Bruins’ backcourt got the job done.

When Cronin’s unit ultimately bid adieu to the rival’s lair, the Galen Center, they had done so without their starting point guard, their veteran leader or the luxury of a stable travel schedule. USC, meanwhile, had a five-day break to prepare for the crosstown showdown.

With Bilodeau potentially back in the lineup against the Ducks Thursday, the Bruins have learned they don’t just survive adversity.

They adjust. They adapt. They keep rolling.