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Sebastian Aho scored early in overtime to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 win over the Kings on Sunday.

Brandon Bussi made 11 saves to continue his dominant rookie season, while Jordan Staal and Alexander Nikishin also scored for the Hurricanes, who have earned at least a point in eight straight games (6-0-2).

Samuel Helenius and Quinton Byfield scored for the Kings and Anton Forsberg made 31 saves. The Kings wrapped up their road trip with a 3-1-1 record with one game (last Monday at Columbus) postponed because of severe winter weather.

A winter storm dumped snow all around North Carolina but Raleigh was mostly spared, which made it easier for about 14,000 fans to make it to the arena for the afternoon start.

A day after squandering a three-goal lead in a 4-3 overtime loss at Washington, Aho made sure the Hurricanes didn’t blow a 2-0 lead against the Kings. He beat Forsberg 1:25 into the overtime period after the Kings’ goalie had made two tough saves on Seth Jarvis.

Bussi, a 27-year-old rookie claimed off waivers four days before the season started, continues to be a revelation. He has won 21 of his 25 starts (21-3-1) to help the Hurricanes to first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Nikishin put the Hurricanes up 2-0 with 7:03 to play in the third period. Helenius responded 24 seconds later to cut the lead to 2-1. Byfield finished a beautiful pass from Adrian Kempe with 3:11 left in regulation to tie the game at 2-2.

Staal tipped in Andrei Svechnikov’s pass for his third power-play goal of the season at 6:25 of the first period. Staal has matched last year’s scoring output with 13 goals but in 23 fewer games.

Up next for the Kings: vs. Seattle at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night.

MILAN, Italy — Two years before the Los Angeles Olympics, the United States is already dominating the narrative in the run-up to the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.

International Olympic Committee officials, including President Kirsty Coventry, couldn’t avoid questions relating to ICE and the Jeffrey Epstein files at a news conference in Milan, Italy, on Sunday.

Coventry tried to fend them off by saying it was not the IOC’s place to comment on the issues, but when pressed remarked it was “sad” that such stories were deflecting attention away from the upcoming Olympics.

“I think anything that is distracting from these Games is sad, right? But we’ve learned over the many years … there’s always been something that has taken the lead, leading up to the Games,” Coventry said. “Whether it has been Zika, COVID, there has always been something.

“But what is keeping my faith alive is that when that opening ceremony happens and those athletes start competing, suddenly the world remembers the magic and the spirit that the Games have and they get to suddenly remember what’s actually important and they get to be inspired, and so we’re really looking forward to that.”

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Saturday in Milan to protest the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during the upcoming Winter Olympics, although agents would be stationed in a control room and not operating on the streets.

Meanwhile, the latest collection of government files released on Epstein includes emails from 2003 between Casey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, and Epstein’s one-time girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

“From all the information that we have and I believe that the U.S. authorities, as the other authorities, have made all the clarifications needed, so from our side that’s not for us to further comment on that part of the security. But we’re really looking forward to the Games,” Coventry said when asked about the presence of ICE agents in Milan.

She was even less responsive when asked about Wasserman.

“We didn’t discuss it yesterday and I believe Mr. Wasserman has put out his statement and we now have nothing further to add,” said Coventry, who was elected just over 10 months ago as the first female IOC president.

The upcoming Olympics run from Friday through Feb. 22. U.S. Vice President JD Vance will lead an American delegation to the Milan-Cortina Games and attend the opening ceremony.

Matar writes for the Associated Press.

To say that DeAndre Cole inherited a difficult challenge when he became the boys’ basketball coach at Compton Centennial this season would be an understatement. The team went 1-23 last season and had a streak of seven consecutive losing seasons since finishing 13-13 in 2017-2018.

“The expectation was to bring the winning culture, to bring some excitement,” the 44-year-old Cole said.

Incredibly, Centennial has already finished its regular season with a 12-12 record and represents one of the biggest turnaround stories in Southern California. The .500 record means Centennial is eligible for a Southern Section at-large playoff berth.

This is a program where UCLA assistant coach Rod Palmer once had teams competing against the best when alumnus Arron Affalo was bombing in threes and delivering dunks before going on to UCLA and the NBA. Centennial won the 2004 state Division III championship. This year’s team went 1-6 in the Ocean League, where Inglewood and high-scoring Jason Crowe Jr. won the league title.

Cole once served as an assistant coach at Washington Prep and Manual Arts. He was set to be head coach at Morningside until the school closed last year.

He’s a Crenshaw grad who says he was kicked off the basketball team by legendary coach Willie West. Asked what he learned, Cole said, “It takes hard work and being dedicated buying into the program and no player is bigger than the program.”

He said his problem was not listening to West and thinking he was the next Stephen Curry.

Even though Centennial had only six players available much of the season for varsity action, Cole created a junior varsity team, so help is on the way if the team gets a playoff spot. The team’s best two players have been guards Jaden McDonald, a transfer from Detroit, and Edward Johnson, who used to be home-schooled.

Five of the six players have played football, including Joshua Crathers, who was the school’s quarterback for two years.

Asked what he learned after winning one game last season, Crathers said, “Don’t give up. When you lose, you get better.”

Cole had to be creative when he lost a player against St. Bonaventure, leaving the Apaches with four players. A student who was a friend of a Centennial player with minimal practices was asked to join the team for a single game.

“We need you to show up,” Cole told the student.

Cole remembers him being so out of shape that he needed a water break after the first play of the game. Centennial won 63-58.

McDonald said the team has no choice but to be in their best shape knowing players have to play the entire game.

“I feel everything that comes to us is deserving, but we have to work hard,” McDonald said.

There’s no reason the program can’t continue to grow considering the Compton area is filled with talent. Remember the city is where DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Christopher, Tyson Chandler and Corey Benjamin once played. It’s about keeping the neighborhood kids home and showing players can develop and explore their basketball dreams.

Considering how far Centennial plunged, a 12-12 record at this point is a stunning reward for the school, players, parents and fans. Let’s see where Cole can take them.

The school is about to go through a rebuilding phase, with the gym being torn down and replaced on a whole new campus.

The straight outta of Compton story is in its beginning stage, but it sure looks like things are changing fast.

WASHINGTON — The “competitive edge” Lakers coach JJ Redick requested from his players showed itself right away in the form of dominance from Luka Doncic, more outstanding play from LeBron James and an impressive outing from center Deandre Ayton.

By the time Doncic, James and Ayton completed their night, they had combined for 85 points and 27 rebounds in helping the Lakers build a 38-point lead en route to a 142-111 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday. The Lakers improved to 4-2 on their season-high eight-game trip.

And it centered around the brilliance of Doncic, his triple-double of 37 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds the catalyst for the Lakers winning for the fifth time in their last seven games. He was efficient too, shooting 13 for 21 from the field and six for 13 from three-point range.

Ayton was a tower of strength with 28 points on 12-for-14 shooting, 13 rebounds, three blocked shots and three assists.

James had the crowd engaged all game with his play that led to 20 points and six assists.

The left ankle soreness that had Doncic listed as questionable was not an issue for the All-Star guard, his first half showing that he was playing at another level with a triple-double of 26 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes against the overmatched Wizards.

LeBron James passes the ball around Wizards guard Bub Carrington during the first half.

(Nick Wass / Associated Press)

Doncic dazzled with no-look and lob passes along with three-pointers that seemed to impress even him, considering he looked over to the Lakers’ bench after several spectacular threes.

The 41-year-old James put on a show, throwing down lobs for dunks, drawing cheers and applause from the fans inside Capital One Arena.

There was the lob from Ayton that James threw down left-handed, making teammates leap off their seats and fans gasp and cheer. For added emphasis, James stared at his left hand as he made his way down the court, a knowing look on his face.

There was the lob from Marcus Smart that James threw down for a reverse dunk, again bringing fans and teammates out of their seats.

There was the moment James drove by Washington’s Alex Sarr and threw down another dunk, causing teammates to jump out of their seats again and fans to cheer even louder.

The Lakers (29-18) lost their previous game in Cleveland on Wednesday night by 30 points, an embarrassing effort that they wanted to rebound from against the Wizards.

In building a 77-48 lead at the half, the Lakers demonstrated that they were listening to Redick’s orders. It was the third time this season the Lakers scored 77 or more in a half.

“Yeah, I think playing with a competitive edge and playing together on both ends of the floor,” Redick said. “We’ve talked a lot recently just about doing your job. If you’re supposed to be the low man, be the low man. These guys all have shown they can do it and I think the theme of our season has been the ups and downs and sort of the consistency that we’re searching for on a night-to-night basis.”

Etc.

Though Austin Reaves (left calf strain) was upgraded to questionable for the game, the Lakers guard did not play. He has missed 18 straight games since suffering the injury on Christmas against the Houston Rockets.

Reaves has been working out as he progresses toward a return. The Lakers play again Sunday at the New York Knicks.

“He continues to progress. He hasn’t had any setbacks,” Redick said. “Yesterday was five weeks from the injury. He’s right on schedule, if not a little bit ahead of schedule. So it’s just him being fully confident in his body. And he continues to get great work on the court.”

Heading into one of the most critical games of the season, UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close believes the adversity her team overcame during an 80-67 win at Illinois on Wednesday will help the mindset going into Sunday’s home contest against No. 8 Iowa.

UCLA (20-1 overall, 10-0 Big Ten) is on a 14-game winning streak and moved up a spot to No. 2 in this week’s polls behind unbeaten Connecticut. All-American center Lauren Betts had 23 points and nine rebounds despite early foul trouble versus the Illini, and the Bruins won despite shooting one for 10 from three-point range.

“Illinois was a tight game and I actually thought there was some great value in that we were challenged,” Close said after practice Friday at Mo Ostin Basketball Center. “They cut it to five in the second half and we had to practice poise and make some adjustments to how they were playing. They’re the first team that’s played us one-on-one in the post. We had to make some adjustments in our defense in the second half.

“I could’ve coached better. I could’ve made adjustments in the first half to disrupt their rhythm. We got challenged, we had to respond with less margin for error and had to do it quick in a pressurized, hostile environment. That’ll be a lesson that bodes well for us as we go down the stretch to possibly a more contested game against Iowa.”

Senior guard Kiki Rice reflected on the Illinois game: “They had a great crowd. Everything’s not going to be easy. Illinois has a really good young core and is going to be really good in coming years. They made it difficult for us.”

Iowa (18-3, 9-1) lost 81-69 to unranked USC on Thursday night to fall into a second-place tie with No. 9 Michigan in the conference. The Hawkeyes will be the ninth ranked opponent UCLA has faced and the highest since its lone defeat to Texas in Las Vegas on Nov. 26. Iowa had won eight straight before being upset by the Trojans.

“I like the trajectory, the coachable spirit and the desire to put winning first from this group,” Close said. “Illinois was probably our worst execution of a scouting report in awhile. We did not play with the same urgency, focus and connectivity that we had been leading up to that. Every game teaches us something different and that one had some painful lessons. We did not take care of things under our control and we did not have the same level of urgency to execute the game plan.”

What was the coach’s message to her team?

“Get better,” Close said matter-of-factly. “That’s the answer to every question — find ways to improve, to use every day’s experiences to make improvements in your game.”

Guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, a graduate student who played four years at Washington State and hails from New Zealand, anticipated a difficult game at Illinois.

“That’s what we expect from most teams — they’re going to take a good swing at us,” she said. “They threw some different things at us that we haven’t necessarily seen this season. We can learn from that. It helps prepare us for what other teams may try to do to us.”

Close expects a competitive game Sunday.

“Both teams have arguably been playing the most consistent basketball in the conference,” she said. “They stumbled last night against USC, but I have so much respect for the job Jan [Jensen] has done with that group. They’re disciplined, they know their identity and they play to their strengths really well.

“I shouldn’t have to motivate too much for Sunday’s game. It’s pretty much the top two teams in the conference having the chance to battle it out on our home court. It’s two very different styles of play. Who can assert their will and play the game the way they want to play it? This is another opportunity to develop more consistency and get closer to where we want to go.”

If the teams’ last meeting is any indication, Sunday’s game at Pauley Pavilion could be decided on the final possession. The third-ranked Bruins edged unranked Iowa, 67-65, in Iowa City last February behind 22 points and 12 rebounds from Betts and 12 points from Rice.

“Iowa is a really good team,” Leger-Walker added. “Everyone in the Big Ten is really strong. It’s on us to be prepared and to make sure we’re locked in to what we want to do in terms of scouting and our own strategy. They’re going to come hard and we have to be ready for that.”

Iowa freshman Journey Houston scored a career-high 16 points and Ava Heiden added 13 against USC. The Hawkeyes have won 17 of their last 20 regular-season Big Ten games.

Close cited Rice and Leger-Walker as examples of players who have valued loyalty.

“Kiki and Charlisse are both absolutely committed to work ethic and growing and it is a joy to coach them,” Close said. “Kiki stayed four years and paid her dues but so did Charlisse. She stayed four years and then happened to have a COVID year and an injury situation she responded to. Two kids who were committed and loyal and stayed the course, and I want to honor them because less and less people are doing that.

“The reality is that we are not going to have as many four-year players as we used to. I can’t build only from the freshmen out anymore. I don’t like that. I wouldn’t prefer that, but my job is to lead in the landscape I’ve been given. Instant gratification is something you’re always trying to battle. The way we’ve chosen to attack entitlement or instant gratification is to practice gratitude and to serve selflessly. I want players to maximize their opportunities, but there’s also a lot of value in having to work long and hard for what you want.”

On Thursday night, the Palisades High boys’ basketball team savored something it had not experienced since midway through last season: homecourt advantage.

Hosting a game inside their own gym for the first time in 388 days, the Dolphins did not let their fans or their classmates leave disappointed, beating Fairfax 75-28 to stay on track for their first outright league title in 30 years.

“It’s great to be back … it was cool,” junior center Julian Cunningham said. “We haven’t had a game here in over a year. There’s no way we were gonna lose. It was a great atmosphere and we beat ’em by 50, so that’s pretty good.”

Palisades’ boys had last taken their home floor for an official contest on Jan. 6, 2025 — one day before the Palisades fire broke out and dealt severe damage to their campus and community. First-year coach Jeff Bryant had to scramble to find someplace — anyplace — to practice for what would turn out to be 42 games.

“I never thought it would be this long,” Bryant admitted. “When the fire happened, I was thinking we’d have some access to our gym in the summer. I remember at a parent meeting saying we’ll 100% be playing our league games at home. When the new [school year] started we were told September, then October, then November, then the start of the second semester. It kept getting pushed back.”

The team held its first practice at Palisades on Monday and students returned to campus Tuesday morning after attending classes for nine months at what came to be known as “PaliHi South,” the old Sears department store building in nearby Santa Monica.

Fans were treated to a blowout win in the Palisades boys’ basketball return to the school gym for the first time in 388 days.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“UCLA, Memorial Park, Paul Revere, St. Bernard …” Bryant said, rattling off just a few of the sites his team practiced at while waiting for the green light to return to campus. “We’ve been road warriors for over a year now and I definitely think it’s been an advantage, but now we’re looking forward to being home and we’re going to feed off that energy starting tonight.”

Pacing the Dolphins on Thursday were 6-6 junior twins OJ and EJ Popoola, who got the home crowd cheering by combining for six dunks. They were raised in Las Vegas and transferred to Palisades in June. Two of the most highly touted prospects in the 2027 class, the brothers shined in their first game at their new school, scoring 19 and 16 points, respectively.

“It was amazing — I’ve been thinking about this game for so long,” said OJ, who had 10 points in the first quarter as Palisades stormed to a 45-14 halftime lead. “Even though we weren’t here last year, we feel like it’s our community too. EJ and I have been playing with each other for so long and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

EJ Popoola is averaging 21 points per game, OJ Popoola is averaging 18 and junior Jack Levey, the most outstanding player in the Western League last winter, is the section’s most dangerous long-range shooter, averaging 45% from beyond the arc.

Another reason Palisades is one of the favorites to win the Open Division is the all-around play of freshman guard Phillip Reed, who is averaging 17 points, six assists and six rebounds.

“It felt surreal — I was really nervous,” EJ Popoola added. “The energy was there, the fans showed up and we’re finally finding our rhythm as a team. It’s a work in progress, but me and OJ have been through it all together and I thank God I’m a twin!”

OJ Popoola soars for one of his two dunks in the Dolphins’ first home game since the Palisades fire.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

AJ Neale scored 13 points and Reed added 10 for the Dolphins, who scored 10 seconds into the contest on Levey’s alley-oop to EJ Popoola and never trailed.

Guards Kameron Augustin and Jomari Marshall scored seven apiece for the Lions (15-8, 5-2).

Palisades went 12-7 in its last 19 games of 2024-25, falling to Chatsworth in the City Section Open Division semifinals before reaching the Division III regional semifinals (hosting three games at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa). The Dolphins are off to a 13-11 start in 2025-26 while playing the toughest schedule of any team in the City. They have grown accustomed to playing in hostile environments and hope their “us against the world” mentality works in their favor once the playoffs start.

Thursday’s win kept the Dolphins alone atop the Western League standings at 8-0, 2½ games ahead of Fairfax with only four left. If Palisades seals the deal, it will mark the program’s first league crown since it finished in a three-way tie for first place with Westchester and Fairfax in 2011-12 under then coach James Paleno.

What a difference a year makes. Westchester, which beat Palisades twice on its way to winning league and capturing the City Open Division title last February, is fifth in league at 4-5 and lost its first meeting with Palisades by 38 points.

“The environment was amazing and I was a little stiff on my shots for the first 20 minutes or so, but after that I was feeling it,” said Levey, who swished two of his team’s 10 three-pointers. “This was personal. We can’t lose our first game back. Winning City is the standard, but [state] is what we really want to win.”

Palisades High’s Phil Reed makes a layup against Fairfax in the first half Thursday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Palisades lost 10 of its first 13 games, including six straight while several key players recovered from injuries — but Bryant never lost faith. “That losing streak strengthened us,” he said. “I could’ve lost the team. Instead, guys stuck to the plan. Now we’re trending in the right direction. We haven’t played our best game yet. Our biggest challenge is what’s next.”

Through this ordeal, Bryant has learned patience and perseverance.

“The hardest part has been communicating with the parents,” Bryant said. “You have to go with the flow. They want answers and sometimes you honestly don’t know. When games are canceled, it hurts the younger kids most because lower-level games aren’t going to be made up. So they really miss out.”

The Popoola twins are motivated to lead Palisades to its first undisputed league championship since their father, Chris, helped the Dolphins to a third consecutive Western League title in 1995-1996. One of Popoola’s teammates that year was Donzell Hayes, who piloted the program from 2016-23 and attended Thursday’s game.

Palisades is chasing its third City title and first since winning Division I in 2020. Chris Marlowe, who captained the USA volleyball team to the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, led the Dolphins to a 21-1 record and the City Section basketball championship in 1969, beating Reseda in the final at Pauley Pavilion under the program’s first coach, Jerry Marvin.

Jack Levey celebrates a big win in the Dolphins’ return to their home court against Western League rival Fairfax.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Lauren Betts overcame early foul trouble to score 23 points and pull down nine rebounds, leading No. 2 UCLA to an 80-67 win Wednesday night over Illinois.

Betts, the Bruins’ 6-foot-7 AP All-American center, picked up her second and third fouls — the latter on a technical foul — with 1:29 left in the first quarter.

She sat out the rest of the first quarter and the second quarter, returned to the court after halftime, and ended up playing nearly 24 minutes. She had just six points at halftime.

Angela Dugalic scored 12 points for UCLA (20-1, 10-0 Big Ten), which won its 14th straight. Gabriela Jaquez had 11, and Kiki Rice, Gianna Kneepkens and Sienna Betts — Lauren’s sister — each added 10.

Cearah Parchment had a career-high 26 points and seven rebounds for Illinois (15-6, 5-5) before fouling out with 36 seconds left. She was 10 of 13 from the field.

Destiny Jackson had 15 points and six assists, Maddie Webber scored 12 points and Berry Wallace had 11 for the Illini.

Illinois, which played without injured Gretchen Dolan, has lost five of seven after an 11-game winning streak.

UCLA led 45-31 at halftime. Illinois cut the lead to five points twice in the third quarter, but didn’t get any closer.

The Bruins won despite making just one three-pointer, going one of 10 from distance. They had 48 points in the paint to Illinois’ 24 and also doubled the Illini in bench points, 24-12.

UCLA hasn’t lost since it fell 76-65 to No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas.

In the 10 games before facing Illinois, the Bruins beat their opponents by an average of nearly 40 points and scored an average of more than 91 points a game.

The Chargers are turning to a familiar name to guide their defense.

Chris O’Leary, who worked as the Chargers’ safeties coach in 2024 under coach Jim Harbaugh before spending 2025 as the defensive coordinator at Western Michigan, was named the Chargers’ defensive coordinator on Wednesday night.

O’Leary helped guide Western Michigan to a 10-4 record and the Mid-American Conference championship. His defense ranked ninth in the Football Bowl Subdivision and was second in the MAC in scoring defense (17.4 points allowed per game).

Before his stint with the Chargers, O’Leary spent six seasons coaching in different roles at Notre Dame, eventually becoming a defensive backs and safeties coach. He worked under former Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter as a graduate assistant at Georgia State in 2014 and 2015. He played at Indiana State as a wide receiver from 2010-14.

The Chargers allowed just 17.7 points per game — the best mark in the NFL — under O’Leary and Minter in 2024. Led by safety Derwin James Jr., the Chargers had a 75.9 passer rating when targeted, third among NFL safety units in 2024.

The question is whether O’Leary can replicate the success Minter achieved en route to landing a head coaching job with the Baltimore Ravens.

After working together to win a national title at Michigan, the Minter-Harbaugh combination revived a Chargers defense that struggled under previous coach Brandon Staley. Inheriting a team that ranked 28th in yards allowed per game (363) and 24th in points allowed per game (23.4) in 2023, the Chargers moved up to 11th in yards allowed (324) and first in points allowed per game in 2024. Last season, the team was fifth in yards per game (285.2) and ninth in points allowed (20.0).

Helping O’Leary’s cause? Most of the Chargers’ top defensive players are returning.

The team has an estimated $80.5 million in salary-cap space, according to Overthecap.com, and general manager Joe Hortiz said he’s planning to use it. In their first big move of the offseason, the Chargers re-signed Teair Tart to a three-year contract Monday, keeping their anchor on the defensive line.

Re-signing outside linebacker Odafe Oweh will be among the Chargers’ priorities, especially if pending free agent Khalil Mack opts for retirement.

O’Leary isn’t as high-profile a hiring as Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, but he stands to take over a defensive unit that could make him look better than a $12,000 designer jacket.

EUGENE, Ore. — Tyler Bilodeau had 18 points, Eric Daily Jr. had his second double-double this season, and UCLA beat shorthanded Oregon 73-57 on Wednesday night to extend the Ducks’ losing streak to seven games.

Dailey finished with 14 points and a career-high tying 11 rebounds. Donovan Dent scored 11 of his 15 in the second half for UCLA (15-6, 7-3 Big Ten) and Trent Perry, who was scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting before halftime, added 12 points.

The Bruins have won three in a row and five of their last six.

Kwame Evans Jr. led Oregon (8-13, 1-9) with 24 points, which included four three-pointers, and nine rebounds. Nate Bittle, Jackson Shelstad and Takai Simpkins — who are first (16.3 per game), second (15.6) and fourth (12.4), respectively, on the team in scoring this season — did not play for the Ducks due to injuries.

Evans made a layup to open the scoring 10 seconds into the game but UCLA scored the next eight points to take the lead for good. Bilodeau scored seven points in a 13-2 run that made it 26-13 with 7:08 left in the first half.

The Ducks, who started one-of-11 shooting, shot just 25% (eight of 32) from the field, four of 17 (24%) from three-point range, in the first half.

UCLA has won four straight in the series and is 98-42 against the Ducks.

Dailey threw down an alley-oop dunk that gave UCLA its biggest lead at 44-24 with 16:46 left in the game. Evans scored the Ducks’ first seven points in a 12-2 run that trimmed the deficit to 10 about 3 1/2 minutes later, but Oregon got no closer.

UCLA made 20 of 23 from the free-throw line, where the Ducks went six of nine.

CLEVELAND  — He hears it in nearly every arena the Lakers enter.

“We want Bronny. We want Bronny.”

But on Monday night in Cleveland’s Rocket Arena, where the familiar chant reached arena-filling decibels, it felt different. It felt like home.

Bronny James provided some of the few Lakers highlights in the team’s worst loss of the year — a 129-99 drubbing by the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday — to turn an emotional homecoming for his father into a happy return for the 21-year-old. James scored eight points with two rebounds, an assist and a steal. He knocked down two three pointers and slammed a one-handed transition dunk to elicit a roar from the crowd that welcomed back a son they watched grow up.

Laker Bronny James #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers shakes hands with the Cavliers’ Larry Nance Jr. Wednesday.

(Jason Miller / Getty Images)

“I was just excited to go out there and play,” James said. “I’m always ready to go out and play, whether that’s when the entire arena is saying ‘We want Bronny‘ or no one is. I was just really, really grateful that they put me in at that time and I was able to go out and get a few buckets.”

With the Lakers trailing by 20 by the third quarter, the chants for James started early. “We want Bronny” chants occur at nearly every Lakers game, almost turning the young guard’s playing time into a sideshow instead of much-needed opportunities for a developing player trying to find his footing in the NBA.

James hadn’t played in a game since Jan. 18 and hadn’t scored since Jan. 12. But he got on the scoreboard in thrilling fashion Wednesday night, tipping away a crosscourt pass and taking the ball in transition for a dunk that left even his dad nodding approval from the bench.

“He handles all of it so well,” said guard Gabe Vincent, who called Bronny “a light” in the Lakers’ otherwise forgettable blowout. “It’s incredible. His maturity through it all is incredible. … It’s great to see him have a moment like that.”

The former USC guard who also scored his first NBA points in Cleveland as a rookie last year has bounced between the Lakers and the team’s G League affiliate this year as he hopes to make strides as a shooter and on-ball defender while “building up his tolerance for being in elite shape,” coach JJ Redick said. James has had some promising moments, especially when the Lakers were short-handed earlier this season, showing quicker decision making and increased confidence shooting the ball.

Monday was just the second time in his career that he made two threes in a game.

“He’s as level headed and just as normal of a 21-year-old as I’ve ever been around,” Redick said.

When the Lakers got to the arena Monday, James was welcomed home by a childhood photo of him on a screen outside the visiting locker room. It showed him on stage in 2016 during the Cavaliers’ championship celebration wearing a championship hat and white T-shirt, holding up one finger.

LeBron James glanced at the championship banner from that team before the game Monday, fueling the intense emotions of what could be his last game in his hometown against the team that launched his NBA dreams in 2003.

The Cavaliers, wearing navy blue throwback uniforms, showed a tribute video for LeBron James during the first quarter, highlighting James’ takeover of Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals in which he scored 25 consecutive points. Bronny was 3 years old at the time. Almost two decades later, he remembered all the afternoons he spent at the Cavaliers arena after school.

“It’s literally my entire life,” Bronny said of the city of Cleveland. “So just really appreciative of all the people that show some love. I just remember being a kid and being here pretty much every day after school. It’s a bunch of nostalgia coming back and being here.”

The James family was prepared for the occasion. LeBron scanned the arena before the game to find his mother in a suite. She once watched him begin his career in this very arena, now she was watching both her son and her grandson play in the same game. After saying it out loud, the elder James struggled to process 5 idea.

“I don’t even know how to even, like, wrap that all in one in my brain,” LeBron James said. “It’s so weird and so cool and so surreal. My mom gets to watch her son and her grandson play in the NBA at the same time.”

Gloria James waited in the hallway outside the Lakers locker room to take photos with her son and then her grandson. Bronny was the last Laker out of the arena, stopping to take dozens of photos with family members dressed in purple and gold Lakers jerseys. His grandmother told him to “act right.” He promised to oblige.

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Lakers teammates and coaches clapped. LeBron James stared stoically at the video board. Instead of acknowledging the Cleveland crowd showering the Lakers star with applause after a video tribute on Monday, James lifted his jersey over his face.

He wiped his eyes.

Recognizing that the end of his illustrious basketball career is closing in soon, returning to where it all started stirred up emotions in James that surprised even him. He scanned the arena before the game to look for his mother in a suite. He glanced up at the championship banner he helped win in 2016. Then he had one of his worst games as an opponent against the Cavaliers, finishing with just 11 points, five assists and six turnovers in the Lakers’ 129-99 blowout loss.

It was the team’s worst loss of the year.

The Cavaliers (29-26) played a video tribute for James in the first quarter, focusing on the highlights of him scoring 25 consecutive points in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. James said he remembered it “like it was yesterday.” The video finished with the message “Welcome Home.” James clutched the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the final image.

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Lakers box score

NBA standings

Cleveland court is a known hazard

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Luka Doncic grabbed at his left leg. He immediately thought of Dru Smith. The Miami Heat guard’s knee injury suffered in 2023 when he slipped off the side of the Cleveland Cavaliers court haunted Doncic while he winced in pain near the Lakers bench.

The Lakers superstar avoided serious injury after falling off the side of the Cavaliers’ raised court on Monday, but the threat of a player being hurt by Cleveland’s unique 10-inch drop off between the court and the arena floor came into focus again during the Lakers’ 129-99 loss to the Cavaliers.

“It is absolutely a safety hazard,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after Doncic was able to return later in the first quarter. “And I don’t know why it’s still like that. I don’t. You know, you can lodge formal complaints. A lot of times you don’t see any change when you lodge a formal complaint.”

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UCLA women win 14th in a row

Lauren Betts overcame early foul trouble to score 23 points and pull down nine rebounds, leading No. 2 UCLA to an 80-67 win Wednesday night over Illinois.

Betts, the Bruins’ 6-foot-7 AP All-American center, picked up her second and third fouls — the latter on a technical foul — with 1:29 left in the first quarter.

She sat out the rest of the first quarter and the second quarter, returned to the court after halftime, and ended up playing nearly 24 minutes. She had just six points at halftime.

Angela Dugalic scored 12 points for UCLA (20-1, 10-0 Big Ten), which won its 14th straight. Gabriela Jaquez had 11, and Kiki Rice, Gianna Kneepkens and Sienna Betts — Lauren’s sister — each added 10.

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UCLA box score

Big Ten standings

UCLA men rout Ducks

Tyler Bilodeau had 18 points, Eric Daily Jr. had his second double-double this season, and UCLA beat shorthanded Oregon 73-57 on Wednesday night to extend the Ducks’ losing streak to seven games.

Dailey finished with 14 points and a career-high tying 11 rebounds. Donovan Dent scored 11 of his 15 in the second half for UCLA (15-6, 7-3 Big Ten) and Trent Perry, who was scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting before halftime, added 12 points.

The Bruins have won three in a row and five of their last six.

Kwame Evans Jr. led Oregon (8-13, 1-9) with 24 points, which included four three-pointers, and nine rebounds. Nate Bittle, Jackson Shelstad and Takai Simpkins — who are first (16.3 per game), second (15.6) and fourth (12.4), respectively, on the team in scoring this season — did not play for the Ducks due to injuries.

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UCLA box score

Big Ten standings

USC men lose close one to Iowa

Bennett Stirtz scored 20 points, including two free throws with 4.6 seconds remaining, as Iowa survived USC‘s comeback bid to win 73-72 on Wednesday night.

The Hawkeyes (15-5, 5-4 Big Ten) led by as many as 17 points in the second half, but a rally by USC put the Trojans ahead by one point with eight seconds to go. Stirtz was fouled by USC’s Jerry Easter II, and made both free throws to put Iowa back ahead.

A 20-4 run early in the second half gave the Hawkeyes a double-digit lead, but Kam Woods single-handedly got the Trojans (15-6, 4-6) back into the game with a solo 12-0 run. Woods scored 19 straight points for USC before Jacob Cofie made the go-ahead layup. Woods finished with 33 points on 12-of-17 shooting after playing all 40 minutes. His previous season high was eight points.

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USC box score

Big Ten standings

Bob Chesney is impressing high school coaches

From Eric Sondheimer: As far as first impressions go, new UCLA football coach Bob Chesney has been hitting the ball out of the park, according to high school coaches who have been receiving visits since Chesney started focusing on introducing himself to local coaches when the college transfer portal closed on Jan. 16.

“He’s a high-energy guy who has a clear vision,” St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said. “He’s going to bring some excitement back. I was highly impressed. If he’s going to execute what his plan is, he’s going to have immediate success.”

There are so many Chesney sightings at high schools around Southern California, you have to wonder if he’s also scouting for a new house, but that’s probably left to his wife. On his visit to St. John Bosco, his driver was former St. John Bosco assistant Marshawn Friloux, a holdover in the Bruins’ recruiting department from the previous staff.

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Will Gary Patterson ride to the rescue?

From Ryan Kartje: When Gary Patterson resigned as coach of Texas Christian in October 2021, midway through his 21st season with the Horned Frogs, the now-65-year old coach decided to take a step back and reevaluate where he and the college game were headed.

“I’d had a job since I was 9 years old,” Patterson said. “Just kind of wanted to take a break.”

For decades, football had been at the forefront of his and his family’s life, so much so that his wife joked she was merely his “mistress.” He wanted to spend time with her, with his grandkids. Plus, after a few seasons, he knew he’d be eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame, which was important to him.

Patterson ended up filling that time with football, anyway, biding his time for the right opportunity to come along.

It came earlier this month, four years after his departure from Fort Worth, in the form of a text message from USC coach Lincoln Riley, whom he knew from their days coaching across from each other in the Big 12. The Trojans’ defensive coordinator, D’Anton Lynn, had left in late December for the same job at Penn State. Riley needed a replacement.

“He wasn’t going to jump back into this for anything,” Riley said Wednesday. “It had to be the right opportunity, the right kind of place, the right kind of setting. I know he knows and believe he’s found that.”

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Sydney Barros steps up for UCLA gymnastics

From Anthony Solorzano: UCLA gymnast Sydney Barros was not prepared to be a part of the rotation during their meet against Michigan State on Sunday. Leading up to the meet, she was ready to watch from the sidelines as she was recovering from a minor ankle injury.

During the previous competition against Nebraska on Jan. 17, when the Bruins came out with a win, Barros’ only action came with performances on the uneven bars and floor exercise.

Due to illnesses to some of her teammates, it was her turn to compete.

“When I realized I might have to step up this weekend, I had to mentally put myself in that position really quickly,” Barros said. “… I made sure I was in the best mental space possible and just trusted my training that I did have.”

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Bill Belichick is not a first-ballot Hall of Famer

From Chuck Schilken: Bill Belichick is one of the most successful coaches in NFL history.

He won’t be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

ESPN broke the news Tuesday that Belichick won’t be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Multiple media outlets have since confirmed the report. The Hall of Fame has declined to comment on its class of 2026 before it is announced Feb. 5 at NFL Honors in San Francisco.

Belichick won six Super Bowls and nine AFC championships as head coach of the New England Patriots from 2000-2023. He’s a three-time coach of the year. He has more postseason wins (31) than any other NFL head coach and his 333 wins in the regular season and playoffs — counting his five seasons as the Cleveland Browns’ head coach from 1991-1995 — are the second most to Don Shula’s 347. He also won two Super Bowls as the New York Giants defensive coordinator.

“I don’t understand it. I mean, I was with him every day,” former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who played 20 seasons under Belichick, told Seattle Sports 710-AM on Wednesday. “If he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, which is completely ridiculous because people deserve it.”

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Super Bowl Sunday

Sunday, Feb. 8
at Santa Clara
Seattle vs. New England
3:30 p.m. PT, NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, KLAC AM 570
Halftime show: Bad Bunny
National anthem: Charlie Puth
Odds: Seahawks favored by 4.5 points
Over/Under: 45.5 points

This day in sports history

1950 — In an Associated Press poll of sports writers and broadcasters, Jack Dempsey is voted the greatest fighter of the last 50 years. Dempsey received 251 votes to 104 for Joe Louis.

1958 — The St. Louis Cardinals give Stan Musial a contract for $100,000, making him the highest paid player in the National League.

1963 — Eleven players and six officials are elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, Bronco Nagurski, Sammy Baugh, Dutch Clark, Johnny McNally, Ernie Nevers, Mel Hein, Pete Henry, Cal Hubbard and Don Hutson are the players. The six officials are Bert Bell, Joe Carr, George Halas, Curly Lambeau, Tim Mara and George Preston.

1971 — Hal Greer of Philadelphia becomes the sixth player in NBA history to score 20,000 points as the 76ers lose to Milwaukee 142-118.

1985 — Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders scores his 1,000th point with a goal in a 4-4 tie with the Minnesota North Stars.

1994 — Julio Cesar Chavez suffers his first loss in 91 fights when Frankie Randall knocks him down in the 11th round and wins the WBC super lightweight championship on a split decision.

1997 — Brian Himmler rolls two perfect games to take the lead after the first two rounds of qualifying at the PBA’s Columbia 300 Open.

2000 — Utah’s Karl Malone becomes the third player in NBA history to score 30,000 points when he makes a layup with 8:53 left in the third quarter of a 96-94 loss to Minnesota.

2005 — Serena Williams fends off six break points in the fifth game of the second set, then wills herself to overcome an aching back in a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Lindsay Davenport in the Australian Open final.

2005 — Irina Slutskaya joins the elite company of Katarina Witt and Sonja Henie by winning a sixth title at the European Figure Skating Championships.

2006 — Roger Federer wins his seventh Grand Slam title, overcoming an early challenge from unseeded Marcos Baghdatis to win the Australian Open 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2.

2010 — Bernard Lagat wins his eighth Wanamaker Mile at 103rd Millrose Games in New York. Lagat, who finishes in 3:56.34, had shared the record with Irish great Eamonn Coghlan.

2012 — Lydia Ko becomes the youngest person ever to win a pro golf tour event by winning the Bing Lee/Samsung Women’s NSW Open on the ALPG Tour. She is 14 and 8 months, one year younger than the previous youngest person ever to win a professional golf tour event, Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa.

2012 — Novak Djokovic outlasts Rafael Nadal to defend his Australian Open title in the longest ever Grand Slam final and becomes the fifth man to win three straight majors in the Open Era. Djokovic completes a 5-hour, 53-minute 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory over Nadal at 1:37 a.m.

2014 — Ben Scrivens sets an NHL record for saves in a regular-season shutout with 59 in a spectacular performance that help the Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks 3-0.

2017 — Roger Federer wins his 18th major title by beating Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to capture the Australian Open.

2018 — Australian Open Men’s Tennis: Roger Federer beats Marin Čilic 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to win his record 20th Grand Slam title.

2018 — Cleveland Indians announce they will remove “Chief Wahoo” caricature logo from uniforms in 2019.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

When Gary Patterson resigned as coach of Texas Christian in October 2021, midway through his 21st season with the Horned Frogs, the now-65-year old coach decided to take a step back and reevaluate where he and the college game were headed.

“I’d had a job since I was 9 years old,” Patterson said. “Just kind of wanted to take a break.”

For decades, football had been at the forefront of his and his family’s life, so much so that his wife joked she was merely his “mistress.” He wanted to spend time with her, with his grandkids. Plus, after a few seasons, he knew he’d be eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame, which was important to him.

Patterson ended up filling that time with football, anyway. He watched the game from afar, helping out as a consultant on staffs at Texas and Baylor, even working with Amazon Prime’s football coverage, just to score a subscription to Catapult, all along biding his time for the right opportunity to come along.

It came earlier this month, four years after his departure from Fort Worth, in the form of a text message from USC coach Lincoln Riley, whom he knew from their days coaching across from each other in the Big 12. The Trojans’ defensive coordinator, D’Anton Lynn, had left in late December for the same job at Penn State. Riley needed a replacement.

“He wasn’t going to jump back into this for anything,” Riley said Wednesday. “It had to be the right opportunity, the right kind of place, the right kind of setting. I know he knows and believe he’s found that.”

No one is more invested in that than USC’s head coach. Whether Patterson turns out to be the right fit at the right time for the Trojans may ultimately determine the trajectory of Riley’s future with the program. Patterson will be Riley’s third defensive coordinator in five seasons at USC.

“I think it’s an unbelievable hire by Lincoln,” said David Bailiff, who worked with Patterson at New Mexico and TCU. “For him not to be intimidated with Gary’s background, that all he wants to do is get USC better — a lot of coaches probably wouldn’t hire Gary because he’s been a head coach for so long.”

For Patterson, who never beat Riley in seven meetings while at TCU, it was a particularly ideal partnership.

“Any time that I was ever part of a team that had a great offense and scored a lot of points, we won a lot of ball games,” Patterson said.

Patterson, however, hasn’t been a full-time assistant since the turn of the 21st century. He last served as defensive coordinator under Dennis Franchione, who brought Patterson with him from New Mexico to TCU in 1998. He was promoted to head coach in 2000, when Franchione left for Alabama. A week later, across the country, USC hired Pete Carroll.

That’s how deeply entrenched Patterson was for more than two decades at TCU, where his tenure, by any measure, was a staggering success. Over 22 seasons, Patterson led the Horned Frogs to 181 wins and six conference titles. Throughout, defense remained his calling card. Five different times during his tenure, TCU finished No. 1 in the nation in yards allowed, as Big 12 offenses struggled for years to adjust to his multifaceted 4-2-5 scheme.

But by 2021, while Patterson’s TCU defense had largely remained strong, the luster of his long tenure in Fort Worth had faded. The bottom fell out that fall, as the Horned Frogs started the season 3-5. Informed that he wouldn’t be back the following season, Patterson instead resigned with four games left.

Now he returns not as a head coach, but as a coordinator, a step down that Patterson seemed just fine with when asked Wednesday.

“I love it, to be honest with you,” Patterson said.

The entire landscape of college football has also been turned on its head since Patterson last coached, with the advent of revenue sharing and the rise of the transfer portal. But he didn’t seem all that concerned by those changes Wednesday. Mostly because he doesn’t expect it to affect what USC is asking him to do.

Trojans fans hope Gary Patterson’s hire leads to more of this, when three USC players brought down a Northwestern running back last season.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“My job is defense,” Patterson said. “I don’t deal with NIL. I don’t deal with all those different things.”

His reputation as a mastermind on the defense certainly precedes him, and at USC, that’s where he’ll be needed most. Bailiff, who worked with Patterson at New Mexico and served as his first defensive coordinator at TCU, said that hisability to diagnose what a defense needs is “superior from any person I’ve ever seen.”

His signature 4-2-5 defense was designed, in part, to allow for such adaptability. With five defensive backs on the field most of the time, Patterson’s scheme is intended to adjust to any offense, allowing for his defense to limit substitutions and match up against most personnel groupings.

That scheme, after four years away from the game, is likely to be different by the time it’s installed at USC. Patterson said he plans to marry his original 4-2-5 at TCU with concepts he learned at Texas and Baylor. He also plans to integrate some of what USC’s defense was already doing, with most of the assistants from last season expected to remain on staff.

“Instead of just coming in and saying, well, ‘This is how we’re going to do it,’” Patterson said, “it’s been a little bit more work of trying to put it all together.”

It’ll be up to Patterson to put it all together on USC’s defense, which in four seasons under Riley, has never put things together for long.

“Hopefully,” he said, “[I can] be that last piece to help SC get over the bar, get into the playoffs, to bring out a championship.”

Junior Kaleena Smith of Ontario Christian has upped her scoring average this season. She’s No. 2 in the state with an average of 32.8 points a game. Virtually any college team in the country would welcome her with open arms.

There’s others making an impact in the scoring department this season, according to stats posted on MaxPreps.com.

Aryanna Reyes of Whittier Pioneer is at 30.1 points for 14 games.

Leqi Zhen of L.A. Lincoln is averaging 28.9 points in 10 games.

Rancho Christian freshman Addison Archer is averaging 27.0 points in 22 games.

Darby Dunn of Canyon Country Canyon has had some big scoring nights and is at 26.2 points over 25 games. Tatyana Aubry of Leuzinger is averaging 24.8 points over 25 games.

Ventura’s Kailee Staniland is averaging 23.3 points. Savannah Myles of Westchester is at 22.2 points through 19 games.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.