UCLA head coach Mick Cronin looks at a basketball team as a collection of components. The mix of components, or players, each has to play a role in order to be successful.

Sophomore guard Sebastian Mack, despite coming off the bench, has emerged as the team’s closer.

“It’s nice to have a Mariano Rivera,” Cronin said Wednesday, likening Mack to the Hall of Famer and ex-New York Yankees reliever.

Mack’s late 3-pointer Monday propelled the Bruins (15-6, 6-4 Big Ten) to a fourth consecutive victory heading into Thursday’s visit from 16th-ranked Oregon (16-4, 5-4 Big Ten). Tip-off at Pauley Pavilion is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and will air on Fox Sports 1.

Much like Rivera, who devastated opposing batters with a cut fastball throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, it’s been no secret for two seasons now that Mack has his tendencies. Yet, Mack’s drives to the basket still get him to the free-throw line and the ball seems to find his hands late in tight games.

Mack’s other heroics include teaming with center Aday Mara to lead an onslaught from the two reserves in a recent win over Wisconsin and the go-ahead traditional three-point play with 33 seconds left in a December win over Gonzaga.

“I’ve been playing basketball since I was two. I mean, you just got to buckle down and just win the game. That’s all it comes from,” Mack said after his dagger against the Trojans. “So they just say you got to win the game. That’s all that matters.”

Others have had their moments, too, including point guard Dylan Andrews’ banked game-winning 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in early December against the same Ducks that the Bruins will see again Thursday.

But a fearless attitude, Cronin said, is what makes Mack a natural in the role.

“When you’ve got a guy like that, he believes he can score at any time,” Cronin said.

“It’s nice to have somebody get you a bucket when you need a bucket, and it’s in his DNA; it’s the way he’s wired.”

The more difficult and contested the shot, the better the results, too.

Cronin said Mack has a tendency to shoot a bit of a line-drive jump shot.

“His habit is to shoot out the window instead of through the roof,” Cronin said.

Against USC, though, Mack was crowded as the shot clock was winding down. Just mere feet from the UCLA bench, he rose and put more arc on the release because of the situation.

“He had to lift his elbow and finish high,” Cronin continued. “Therefore, he shot the ball with arc, the way he should have and the way we try to work with him on.”

Cronin had shared his countless gripes about the Big Ten travel, and at the same acknowledging it’s an impossible task for those in charge of the logistics.

The conference change also messed with a routine the Bruins enjoyed in the Pac-12, which mostly had a Thursday and Saturday league schedule and the occasional Sunday contest.

Now, UCLA has already played Big Ten games on five different days of the week and Thursday will be the sixth. Wednesday is the only day of the week UCLA has not had a league contest. As a result, no week is the same for the Bruins and tweaks have been made throughout the season.

Cronin said the recent stretch has him worried about the team’s mental “emotional gas tank” that has led to less rigorous practices and a recovery day Tuesday.

“As a coach, you’ve got to try to assess when you think they’re on overload,” Cronin said.

“Look, in the Pac-12, it’s a layup — you get in a routine. … You’ve got your routine of how you handle Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, how you handle your Friday in between. I mean, 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. … Now it’s just, how do you make sure they’re ready at game time and get some prep?”

Forward Tyler Bilodeau, who sat out against USC and played just three minutes last Friday at Washington, practiced Wednesday as he works his way back from an ankle injury. His official status will be revealed prior to tip-off in the league availability report.

In his place, Mara has continued to emerge as a force on both ends. The 7-foot-3 center has averaged 15.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.0 blocks over the last three games, including starting in Bilodeau’s place against the Trojans.

Cronin, though, threw water on the idea that he may have a nice problem on his hands when Bilodeau is ready to return.

“I think maybe the Boston Celtics have too many good players. I don’t see that we have anybody on the draft lottery board,” Cronin said.

“I know what you’re getting at — Aday’s playing better, OK — but I don’t see anybody picking us for the Final Four.”

Among the combinations could be Bilodeau and Mara playing together, but Cronin noted it would mean sliding Eric Dailey Jr. over to small forward and defending quicker players “which isn’t really his strength.” That would also send another regular starter — Andrews, Skyy Clark or Kobe Johnson — to the bench.

Cronin said the issue defensively would be against teams that play primarily play four guards at once.

“I think the more pertinent point of all that is, can Aday and Tyler play together? Defensively, can Tyler, he’s going to have to play out on the floor more from a mobility standpoint, which obviously Eric can do that. That’s the bigger issue, so that’s the problem,” Cronin said.

“It’s a bigger challenge if the guy they’re guarding is a really tough matchup of, extremely fast guy where Tyler gets caught in switches.

“If you want that lineup in and you want Tyler at the four, defensively, how are you going to handle that if he’s guarding the fourth guard and a smaller team’s playing four guards? Now, Oregon, they don’t do that.”