UCLA coach Mick Cronin was initially surprised that his 83-year-old father was traveling from the Midwest to see the Bruins host Minnesota on Tuesday night in Big Ten play in Los Angeles.Hep Cronin then spilled the beans — informing his son that he will be attempting to post career win No. 500.”I was wondering why he was coming to this one and not the Michigan State game,” Mick Cronin said during his press conference on Monday.The Michigan State contest on Feb. 4 turned out to be Mick Cronin’s 497th career win. He notched No. 499 with Friday’s 72-68 victory over Indiana to get in position for the milestone win.Mick Cronin, 53, said he never could have foreseen accumulating this many wins when he first became a head coach at Murray State for the 2003-04 campaign. He coached three seasons at Murray State and 13 at Cincinnati before spending the past six at UCLA. He is 499-231 overall.”When you’re young, you’re thinking can I get a job and make enough money before I get fired?” he said. “How do I survive?”Cronin’s current squad is faring well. The Bruins (19-7, 10-5 Big Ten) have won eight of their past nine games and are a solid 13-1 at home.UCLA ranks 23rd nationally in scoring defense (64.8 points allowed per game) and sixth in turnover margin (plus-5.3). Tyler Bilodeau leads the Bruins with a scoring average of 14.2 points per contest.Minnesota (13-12, 5-9) lost its first six Big Ten games before winning five of its past eight. The Golden Gophers continued their improvement with Saturday’s 69-66 road win over Southern California.