This post was updated Feb. 17 at 10:26 p.m.

The Bruins’ trip to the Midwest last week gave them a taste of what Big Ten basketball is all about.

With more than 15,000 fans in attendance in Champaign, Illinois, and more than 17,000 in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, the Bruins got a glimpse into their future.

“The Big Ten is tough on coaches,” said coach Mick Cronin – who is on the brink of his 500th career win. “When you got 10, 11 tournament teams – nine, 10, 11, in that range, … it’s really, really hard. You got to be deep. You got to have some serious talent.”

But after splitting its trip to the Prairie and Hoosier states, Cronin’s squad is back in Westwood with a chance to earn its ninth win in 10 games as well as a milestone victory for the head honcho.

[Related: On the brink of 500-win milestone, Mick Cronin reflects on coaching career]

UCLA men’s basketball (19-7, 10-5 Big Ten) will face Minnesota (13-12, 5-9) on Tuesday evening at Pauley Pavilion. The contest will mark the first of the Bruins’ final five games of the regular season – just three of which will be played at home, with another journey to the Midwest on the schedule.

Ahead of the season’s home stretch, Cronin said he’s only concerned about one thing – progress.

“People get in their head and just see results,” Cronin said. “Whether you win or lose, you just have to improve and evaluate your team, your individuals because they want to get better. That’s at least part of how we do things – we are a truth-telling program, so whether we win or lose, you have to get better because ultimately we play in a one-and-out tournament.”

Minnesota ranks bottom five in the Big Ten and is outside the top 75 of the KenPom ranking.

However, the Golden Gophers’ presence in the cellar of the Big Ten comes despite the star-studded potential on their roster. In addition to boasting the oldest starting five in the country, forward Dawson Garcia is averaging 19.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game – all while shooting 49.4% and 36.4% from the field and 3-point land, respectively.

“When you watch them on film, defensively, when they should have help, their help man is always there – which tells me they’re really well-coached,” Cronin said.

Like the Bruins, the Gophers are highly efficient when it comes to passing – the two rank 29th and 30th in the nation, respectively, in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Before playing in Bloomington, the Bruins committed single-digit turnovers in five of their last six games. However, in a contest that ended 72-68, nine second-half turnovers against the Hoosiers almost led to the Bruins’ demise.

“It’s a game of runs – things happen, and we didn’t dwell our heads on that,” said sophomore guard Sebastian Mack. “We still fought out of the turnovers and little fouls that we had and the and ones that Indiana had, so I feel like we kept our head down and still fought, and that’s why we were victorious.”

On the other hand, efficiency from the charity stripe may be more important than winning the turnover battle, as the Bruins rank 220th in the nation with a 70.8% free throw percentage. On Friday, the Bruins missed three free throws, all of which were the front ends of one-and-ones.

Despite their woes from the line, the Bruins managed to convert in crunch time with two makes that helped seal their win.

“At the end of the day, you know you’re not going to make every shot, so you’ve got to stay confident, you’ve got to stay poised, and the team needed it – especially going down the stretch, we missed a bunch of free throws,” said junior guard Dylan Andrews. “I missed one front end. Bas (Mack) missed one front end. But I knew for a fact that if I got another shot to shoot free throws that I was going to make it.”

The Bruins will tip off against the Gophers at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night.