For 20 minutes at Murrayfield last weekend, little was going right for Damian McKenzie.
The 30-year-old, 5ft 8in, 12 stone, fair hair, fresh face, looks a little out of place among the flying breeze blocks elsewhere on the pitch.
Initially, after coming off the bench in the 44th minute against Scotland, he felt it too.
“Kyle Steyn had just scored for them when I came on,” he said.
“We kicked off, they put up a box kick from nine, I went up to catch it and wasn’t able to. I knocked my head as well.
“Blood started pouring out. We were most of the time on defence. We got a scrum, I kicked it out, but didn’t make too many metres.
“Then I missed a tackle on Darcy Graham, luckily Cam Roigard saved the try in the corner, but I cut my chin. That started bleeding and I thought, ‘here we go, it’s going to be a long last 15 minutes’.”
It was a crucial 15 minutes as well.
At that point, the score was 17-17. The All Blacks were a man down via Wallace Sititi’s yellow card. Scotland were sniffing history.
In 120 years of trying, a first win over New Zealand was a single point and a quarter of an hour away.
DALLAS — James Harden scored four of his 10 overtime points in the second extra period and finished with season highs of 41 points and 14 rebounds, along with 11 assists, as the Clippers beat the Dallas Mavericks 133-127 in an NBA Cup game on Friday night.
Harden had the 82nd triple-double of his career and Ivica Zubac added a season-high 27 points and 11 rebounds as the Clippers (4-8) snapped a six-game losing streak and improved to 2-0 in the NBA Cup.
Naji Marshall, making his first start of the season, and D’Angelo Russell, coming off the bench, scored 28 points apiece to lead the Mavericks (3-10), who are 0-2 in group play. Dallas has lost three straight games and seven of its last eight.
Harden, who had two three-pointers in the first overtime, followed two made free throws with a driving basket to give the Clippers a 129-125 lead with 3:07 left in the second overtime.
It appeared the Clippers took a 125-123 lead with 1.4 seconds left in the first overtime when Dallas’ Daniel Gafford was called for goaltending on a Harden shot, but video review reversed the call.
The Clippers’ Bogdan Bogdanovic had five three-pointers and 21 points — both season highs — off the bench.
Dereck Lively II, who missed the previous nine games with a sprained right knee, returned to the Mavericks’ shorthanded frontcourt. Lively, coming off the bench on a minutes’ restriction, had four points — all in the fourth period — and five rebounds. Dallas played without big men Anthony Davis (eighth consecutive game missed with a strained left calf) and P.J. Washington Jr. (left shoulder strained in Dallas’ previous game).
The Clippers played their second game after Bradley Beal was lost for the season with a fractured hip on Saturday. Kawhi Leonard missed his sixth consecutive game with a sprained ankle.
Italian Sinner has warned that Alex de Minaur “doesn’t have a lot to lose” in their semi-final.
Sinner advanced to the last four without dropping a set or a service game, showcasing his clinical touch against Shelton by converting two of his three break-point opportunities in the first set and sealing the win in the tie-break with his second match point.
Efficient on serve throughout the match, he shut down Shelton’s only break point – he has now saved all eight he has faced in Turin – and gave up just seven points in six second-set service games.
The 24-year-old, targeting a third consecutive appearance in the final at the end-of-season showpiece, boasts a 12-0 record against seventh seeded De Minaur but is unwilling to underestimate the Australian, who upset Taylor Fritz to clinch second place in the Jimmy Connors Group.
“I’m very happy for [De Minaur],” Sinner said. “Props to him for coming back with that performance [against Fritz]. It’s one of the best matches I’ve seen him play.
“I have to be very careful – he doesn’t have a lot to lose. It’s going to be very difficult.”
In the doubles, a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 victory for Henry Patten and his Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara over Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic means there will be five British players in the semi-finals – the most from a single nation since 1992.
British duo Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, who had already qualified, maintained their 100% record with a 7-5 6-3 win against Christian Harrison and Evan King and will face fellow Britons and year-end number ones Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool in the last four.
NEW ORLEANS — LeBron James is making progress in his return from injury, and that’s a good sign for a Lakers team that has performed unevenly over a five-game trip.
Before the Lakers’ 118-104 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Lakers coach JJ Redick said James, who has been dealing with sciatica, took part in an individual workout on Friday following consecutive days of five-on-five practice with the South Bay Lakers.
The Lakers finish their trip against Milwaukee on Saturday night. James will then practice with the Lakers on Monday. If all goes well, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer could start his league-record 23rd season Tuesday against Utah at Crypto.com Arena.
When he does return, how will James, who turns 41 next month, adjust to the chemistry the Lakers have established with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves at the center of the offense?
“I’ve certainly thought about it,” Redick said about how James’ return will affect the team. “The reality is, next week will be a great week for all of us to assess where we’re at and figure out what we want to work on. It’s rare that you have one game over the course of a week, so probably will think about it more then. But typically when you’re playing every other day, you’re using your time until 3 a.m. to review the game that you just played and then using the time the next day until 3 a.m. to get ready for the next game.”
Last season, James averaged 24.4 points per game, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists last season, while shooting 51.3% from the field and 37.6% from three-point range.
Lakers players don’t think James’ return will cause any issues.
Jarred Vanderbilt said James “can bring an element that we need, essentially, knowing that he can provide that.”
“I know it’s probably tough,” Vanderbilt said. “But even just the integration, trying to integrate himself as a player, as a team mid-season is kind of tough. But we’re excited for his return, whenever he comes back, and I know he can provide exactly what we need for this team.”
Reaves led the way against the Pelicans, finishing with 31 points and seven assists as the Lakers (9-4) improved to 2-0 in NBA Cup play.
Doncic scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half and finished with 12 assists and six rebounds.
Deandre Ayton was a force for the Lakers inside with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Trey Murphy III led the Pelicans (2-10) with 35 points and six rebounds.
Etc.
Lakers rookie Adou Thiero, who has been out all season recovering from left knee surgery, was activated, but did not play against Pelicans, but did not play. Redick said he hopes to potentially give Thiero some playing time against the Bucks.
Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise interests Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United eye Borussia Dortmund forward Karim Adeyemi, Newcastle among the clubs chasing AZ Alkmaar midfielder Kees Smit.
Liverpool view Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise, 23, as a possible replacement for Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, 33, and are prepared to break the bank to sign the France forward. (Fichajes in Spanish), external
Arsenal have entered the race for Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi, 23, with Manchester United also keen on the Germany forward. (Teamtalk), external
AZ Alkmaar will allow 19-year-old Dutch midfielder Kees Smit to leave but want in excess of £22m with Newcastle, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich all interested. (Sky Sports), external
Paris St-Germain aim to sign Brazil forward Vinicius Jr on a free transfer in 2027, when the 25-year-old’s contract with Real Madrid ends. (Fichajes – in Spanish), external
Arsenal and Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus, 28,has outlined his desire to return to former club Palmeiras in the future. (Mirror), external
Newcastle are pushing to sign James Trafford, 23, in January, with the English goalkeeper struggling for game time at Manchester City. (Teamtalk), external
She doesn’t have a driver’s license. Often doesn’t get movie references. Reminds many of their little sisters.
There’s always some story or tidbit involving Meila Brewer that will make her teammates laugh or gush about playing alongside the freshman center back who’s believed to be the youngest athlete in UCLA history.
Why, it wasn’t so long ago that Brewer floored everybody else on the women’s soccer team when each player shared how old they were when the pandemic hit. As almost everybody ticked off one year or another in high school, all eyes turned to Brewer.
“Oh,” she announced, “I was in fifth grade.”
Meila Brewer extends her arms, smiles and runs to embrace her UCLA teammates during a match against Stanford.
(UCLA Athletics)
That doesn’t mean that she’s easily identifiable. Coach Margueritte Aozasa has made an informal game of asking anyone who inquires about having a 16-year-old on her roster to pick her out when scanning the players on the field.
No one has gotten it right on the first handful of attempts.
“They’ll point out three or four players,” Aozasa said, “and I’ll be like, ‘No, it’s probably the one you would least expect.’ ”
Being one of the tallest players on the team at 5-foot-8 provides some cover, but it’s also her precocious nature and the skills she developed while training with a professional team and playing for the U.S. youth national team that give her a veteran presence.
There’s been no underage shrinking, Brewer living up to every moment as fourth-seeded UCLA (11-5-3) prepares to open the NCAA tournament at 6 p.m. Saturday at home against Pepperdine (11-6-2).
Meila Brewer dribbles the ball while playing for UCLA during the 2025 season. Brewer, 16, is the youngest athlete to ever compete in a sport at UCLA.
(UCLA Athletics)
OK, maybe a hint of her youth emerged when she was asked how she felt about playing on college soccer’s biggest stage.
“Freaking out,” Brewer said. “Like, when you think about it, I’m soooo excited, that’s like the only way you can put it.”
This will be just her eighth game with the Bruins as a result of her recent participation in the FIFA under-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, where the Americans won their group before losing to the Netherlands on penalty kicks in the Round of 16.
Her UCLA teammates followed the action from afar, one posting a picture of herself shedding celebratory tears in a group chat after Brewer scored in the opening game. After the competition ended, Brewer boarded one flight for Atlanta before getting on another one bound for Los Angeles, only to hop back on a third plane a little more than 12 hours later to accompany her Bruins teammates to West Lafayette, Ind., for the Big Ten tournament.
“Coming back from Morocco, I had missed a decent amount of games,” Brewer said, “but I feel like the girls have been so supportive of helping me get reintegrated and getting right back into the flow just because we’re in tournament time and we want to succeed.”
Aozasa said she’s reminded her players that there’s a 16-year-old on the team and to behave appropriately. Brewer’s roommate, Payten Cooper, is two years older than her even though she’s also a freshman. Lexi Wright, a redshirt senior forward, is seven years older.
But those age gaps aren’t a big deal to Brewer considering she’s already spent a year and a half training with players in their 30s on the Kansas City Current, a team in the National Women’s Soccer League.
“It’s no surprise that she’s gonna be able to fit in right away and be successful at that level at UCLA,” said Vasil Ristov, the coach of the Current’s second team who was also Brewer’s youth club coach, “because she’s seen some of the top talent in the world and she’s participated in training sessions with them.”
Just reaching UCLA at such a young age was a major triumph.
Having taken a heavy class load in middle school and her first two years of high school to lessen the academic burden on her later, Brewer had reclassified once by the time she visited UCLA last spring. That’s when her love for a place she had long considered her dream school truly took hold, Brewer feeling the pull to play immediately even though she had more than a year of high school remaining.
“She was like, ‘What if I just come in this fall?’ ” said her father, Austin Brewer, who was also on the trip. “And I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t think it works that way.’ ”
After checking it out, the family realized it was a possibility. Meila (pronounced MEE-luh) worked nonstop from April through the end of July. She didn’t get to participate in high school graduation ceremonies but was rewarded with something greater — a chance to play for the Bruins.
UCLA freshman Meila Brewer controls the ball while playing Tennessee during the 2025 season.
(UCLA Athletics)
Her schedule includes nearly as many parent check-ins as classes. Austin and Shelly Brewer routinely call in the morning, midday and evening, sometimes adding oldest daughter Sasha, a freshman defender for the University of Miami women’s soccer team, to FaceTime chats.
Classes haven’t been as hard as Brewer imagined, though she’s still trying to pick a major.
“Coming into college,” she said, “I was prepping myself for the worst, so I feel like I was ready for it.”
On the field, Brewer is known for a physical style that allows her to impede opposing forwards in her role as a defender and smart playmaking while on the attack. They’re all traits that could help her fulfill her goal of playing for the U.S. national team.
Having always played up one or more levels on club teams, sometimes alongside boys, Brewer developed a strong sense of self.
“I asked her once who her favorite player was, who did she want to be like,” Shelly Brewer said, “and I’ll never forget this — we laugh about it all the time — she said, ‘I don’t want to be like anyone; I want to be like me.’ ”
In a nod to her age and the fact that she’s still growing, Brewer sometimes gets tendinitis in her knees. She wants to be just one of the girls, her youth a novelty but not a defining characteristic.
“I want to be seen as an equal on the field or a leader on the field in what I can do besides my age,” she said. “I just want to be able to stand out for how I play and not on the age side of it.”
That’s not to say that someone who won’t turn 17 until March isn’t having as much fun as everybody else whenever the subject comes up.
“It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re a baby,’ ” Brewer said, “and I’m like, ‘Yep, I am.’ ”
Jannik Sinner stayed on course to defend his ATP Finals title, while Felix Auger-Aliassime claimed the last semi spot.
Published On 15 Nov 202515 Nov 2025
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Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the last four of the ATP Finals with a 6-4 7-6(4) round-robin win over two-time winner Alexander Zverev on Friday, and Jannik Sinner extended his indoor hardcourt unbeaten run by beating American Ben Shelton.
Germany’s Zverev and Auger-Aliassime both defeated Shelton and lost to Sinner to set up a winner-takes-all clash for the runners-up spot in the Bjorn Borg Group, and the Canadian clinched a place in Saturday’s semifinal against world number one Carlos Alcaraz.
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“You want to be in the final, but I’ll have to go through a great player to do that,” Auger-Aliassime said.
“I will take my chance if I have it.”
Zverev was left to rue his failure to take any of his seven break points against Sinner, and it was a similarly frustrating story against the Canadian.
The German held break points in both sets but again could not make them count, and the Canadian broke Zverev at 5-4 up to take the first set, before going on to win the second set tiebreak.
Auger-Aliassime was put under pressure in the opening set, saving break points at 2-2 and 4-4, while Zverev came back from 0-40 down only to lose serve and hand the Canadian the set.
Zverev spent much of the second set gesturing to his team, with Auger-Aliassime winning his first two service games to love before both players were guilty of throwing away chances to break.
Auger-Aliassime let slip a 2-0 lead in the tiebreak, but when Zverev stepped up to serve at 4-5, the Canadian came through to earn consecutive minibreaks and send the German home.
Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime celebrates after winning his group stage match against Germany’s Alexander Zverev [Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]
Sinner stays unbeaten
Sinner is unbeaten in 29 matches on indoor hardcourt after a 6-3 7-6(3) victory over Shelton in their dead rubber round-robin match.
There was a relaxed atmosphere in the Inalpi Arena as the Italian had already secured top spot in the group and a semifinal against Alex de Minaur.
Shelton was broken in the opening and closing games of the first set, unable to take advantage of a break point at 2-1 down, while Sinner was always capable of pulling out an ace at the crucial time, hitting two in that fourth game to hold serve.
The American put up more fight in the second set, serving to love on three occasions, rescuing a match point at 5-4 down and forcing Sinner into a tiebreak for the first time in the last two editions of the season-ending championships, before the Italian sealed the win.
Sinner’s chances of ending the year as world number one evaporated on Thursday when Alcaraz completed a clean sweep in the Jimmy Connors Group with a win over Lorenzo Musetti, leaving little at stake against Shelton apart from his unbeaten run.
Before Sinner and Shelton emerged, Alcaraz was presented on court with the ATP year-end world number one trophy, which the Italian won last year, and the pair may yet do battle one last time in 2025 in Sunday’s final.
“It’s a pleasure being the number one of the world. It’s something that I’m working really hard for every day. It is a goal, to be honest,” Alcaraz said.
“For me, it’s a great achievement. It means the world to me and I’m just really proud and happy.”
Sinner, right, shakes hands with Ben Shelton after winning their group stage match [Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]
The loss in the penultimate fixture in the campaign does still damage their hopes of making it to North America, however, as they will enter those play-offs in the lowest group of seeds.
Slovakia originally thought they had taken the lead in the 56th minute when Lukas Haraslin’s free-kick flew past Bailey Peacock-Farrell, but it was adjudged that Milan Skriniar had obstructed the view of the Northern Ireland goalkeeper.
Just eight minutes later, they had another strike disallowed by VAR after David Strelec was penalised for handling the ball when finishing from another Haraslin set-piece.
O’Neill felt that the decisions to rule out the previous efforts played into allowing the late winner.
“It was a clear push on Daniel Ballard at the corner, two hands in his back,” said O’Neill.
“The other goals that were disallowed should have been disallowed. The first one was offside, the lines show that clearly, and the second one was handball.
“You have to look at each incident on its own merit, you can’t go cumulative and referee the last incident differently to how you refereed the other two incidents.”
Following the winning goal, Ballard was sent off for a second yellow card offence and midfielder George Saville was booked with both players now ruled out of Monday night’s game with Luxembourg through suspension.
On Ballard’s second yellow, O’Neill said: “The Slovakian dug-out that caused that as much as anything.”
“The [second] yellow card for Daniel is a joke,” he continued.
“If you look at it back, it is poor. He is a top referee, he has refereed the Champions League final, he should have disallowed the goal.”
The victory, which keeps alive Slovakia’s hopes of qualifying automatically for next summer’s tournament, sparked huge celebrations from the hosts with O’Neill describing their reaction as “disappointing”.
“Everything was on the line for Slovakia. You could tell that by the way their technical area behaved towards the end of the game, which was disappointing.
“Disappointing for their coach not to shake my hand.
“Ultimately, we congratulate Slovakia because they can go to Germany and try to win the group.”
Kai Trump, a high school senior playing in an LPGA Tour event for reasons beyond her ability to hit a golf ball, went from “definitely really nervous” in the first round Thursday to “very calm and peaceful” Friday in the second.
All in all, an impressive improvement.
Still, Trump, 18, didn’t make the cut, not after finishing last among 108 players with a two-round total of 18-over par, 27 shots behind leader Grace Kim and 17 away from the projected cut line. The granddaughter of President Trump improved eight strokes to a 75 in the second round of the tournament hosted by Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla.
How dramatic was the improvement? Trump had nine bogeys, two doubles and one birdie Thursday. A day later she was briefly under par when she birdied the par-three third hole, but she bogeyed the fourth and triple-bogeyed the par-four fifth hole.
Trump rebounded to birdie three of her next six holes. How relaxed was she? She literally laughed off her triple bogey.
“Things are going to happen,” she said. “Once it happens, you can’t go back in time and fix it. The best thing I could do is move on. Like, I told my caddie, Allan [Kournikova], kind of just started laughing, ‘it is what it is.’
“We got that out of the way, so let’s just move on. It was pretty easy to move on after that.”
Especially on the par-three 12th where she nearly made the first hole-in-one of her life.
“I hit like a tight little draw into it,” Trump said. “Tried not to get too high because of the wind. Yeah, it was a great shot.”
What would she tell her grandfather about the round? “That I hit a great shot on 12 two days in a row.”
“I did everything I could possibly have done for this tournament, so I think if you prepare right, the nerves can … they’re always going to be there, right?,” she said. “They can be a little softened. So I would just say that.”
Critics among and beyond her nearly 9 million social media followers were relentless in noting her obvious privilege for securing a sponsor invitation. Dan Doyle Jr., owner of Pelican Golf Club, cheerfully acknowledged that Trump’s inclusion had little to do with ability and a lot to do with public relations.
“The idea of the exemption, when you go into the history of exemptions, is to bring attention to an event,” Doyle told reporters this week. “You got to see her live, she’s lovely to speak to.
“And she’s brought a lot of viewers through Instagram, and things like that, who normally don’t watch women’s golf. That was the hope. And we’re seeing that now.”
Trump attends the Benjamin School in Palm Beach and will attend the University of Miami next year. She is ranked No. 461 by the American Junior Golf Assn.
Stepping up to the LPGA, complete with a deep gallery of onlookers and a phalanx of Secret Service agents surrounding her, could have been daunting. Trump, though, said the experience was “pretty cool.”
It was an eventful week for Trump. She played nine holes of a pro-am round Monday with tournament host Sorenstam, who empathized with the difficulty of handling an intense swirl of criticism and support.
“I just don’t know how she does it, honestly,” Sorenstam said. “To be 18 years old and hear all the comments, she must be super tough on the inside. I’m sure we can all relate what it’s like to get criticism here and there, but she gets it a thousand times.”
Sorenstam recalled her own exemption for the Bank of America Colonial in 2003 when she became the first woman to play in a men’s PGA Tour event in 58 years. She made a 14-foot putt at the 18th green to give her a 36-hole total of five-over 145. She hurled her golf ball into the grandstand, wiped away tears and was hugged by her husband, David Esch.
“That was, at the time, maybe a little bit of a controversial invite,” Sorenstam said. “In the end, I certainly appreciated it. It just brings attention to the tournament, to the sport and to women’s sports, which I think is what we want.”
World number one Judd Trump won six frames in a row despite joking that he was only playing at “10%” as he claimed a 6-2 victory over Zhao Xintong to reach the final of the Champion of Champions in Leciester.
China’s Zhao, the world champion, made breaks of 50 and 72 to take the opening two frames, with Trump initially appearing well out of sorts.
However, the Englishman responded with runs of 68, 73, 77 and 66 as he reeled off the next five frames before sealing his victory with a break of 63.
“From 2-0 I felt I controlled the game. I scored heavily and didn’t miss much. I am happy to be in the final because I am still not 100%, I’m probably at about 10%,” said Trump.
“I have changed my tip from brass to titanium this season and I am really struggling.
“I don’t feel comfortable or fluent, I really have to take care over every shot.
“When I play my best I know I will win nine times out of 10, but over the last few years I have learned how to win more often when I am not at my best.”
Trump has won just one of his previous five finals in this event, will now face Mark Selby or Neil Robertson on Sunday as he looks to claim his first title since the 2024 UK Championship.
With just three weeks left in the college football season, Lincoln Riley finds himself in a place he hasn’t been since his first year at USC. His Trojans are still within reach of the College Football Playoff in mid-November. Their fate is still in their hands: Win out from here, and USC should be in the CFP for the first time.
The stakes are incredibly high. And Riley isn’t hiding that fact from his team as it prepares to face No. 21 Iowa Saturday. In fact, he says, he wants them to “embrace” the opportunity at hand.
“This game coming up this weekend, it’s not the same. It’s just not,” Riley said. “The more you win, the more important these become and the bigger the opportunities become. So our team is very well aware of that.”
Pressure hasn’t always brought out the best in Riley’s teams at USC. Last season, the Trojans blew five fourth-quarter leads and lost five of their last seven games in devastating fashion down the stretch. In 2023, they dropped four of five to close out the regular season. Even the 2022 run ended on a sour note in the Pac-12 title game after USC lost a second time to Utah, this time with a playoff berth on the line.
USC quarterback Jayden Maiava throws the ball downfield against Michigan on Oct. 11 at the Coliseum.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
The path ahead isn’t exactly smooth this season, either. Iowa boasts one of the nation’s best defenses and a ball-control style different from any team USC has faced so far. Lane Kiffin was USC’s coach when the Trojans last won on the road at Oregon (in 2011) — they’ve lost four straight there since. Even UCLA, in the midst of a strange season, is very capable of playing spoiler in their rivalry matchup.
It’s a delicate balance for any coach to strike at such a critical time of the season, emphasizing the larger stakes at hand while also keeping his team focused on the task ahead. But it’s a tightrope that Riley walked this week.
“I think the biggest thing is just being where your feet are, being in the moment, not getting too far down the road,” quarterback Jayden Maiava said this week. “Just focus on what’s happening right now.”
Here’s what you should watch when No. 17 USC takes on No. 21 Iowa on Saturday:
The British Basketball Federation says it will enter liquidation as the crisis engulfing the sport in the UK continues.
A statement from the BBF said it had ceased to trade “due to a significant and unanticipated reduction in income” and “unforeseen expenditure resulting in the company’s inability to meet its liabilities”.
It has been reported, external the BBF’s financial position had been affected by legal costs incurred during its battle with Super League Basketball (SLB).
In April, the BBF awarded a 15-year licence to run a new professional men’s competition – the Great Britain Basketball League – to GBB League Ltd (GBBL).
The BBF said GBBL, a consortium led by American businessman Marshall Glickman, would provide £15m funding in the first two years.
However, the existing nine SLB clubs claimed the tender process run by the governing body was “illegal and unjust” and refused to join the new league.
A week ago SLB reached an agreement with basketball’s world governing body Fiba to oversee the top-tier men’s competition in Great Britain.
Last month basketball’s world governing body Fiba suspended the BBF over governance issues.
The BBF statement added that the immediate priority was for domestic basketball stakeholders to work with Fiba “to ensure the ongoing stability and security of the Great Britain national teams”, including forthcoming Fiba competitions.
Fiba, which set up a taskforce in August to investigate regulatory non-compliance within British basketball, said it will continue to support the BBF to “restore its operations and secure its position as the basketball governing body in Great Britain”.
UK Sport said: “We have taken robust steps throughout this period of uncertainty to safeguard public funds and to help enable GB teams to continue to compete.
“We will now work closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the basketball community to establish a way forward for the sport.”
A spokesperson for GBBL told BBC Sport it was “working with its legal counsel to evaluate its options” relating to the status of the licence it was awarded by the BBF.
“In accordance with the terms of the licence, significant sums of money have been paid to the BBF and this is of grave concern to GBBL,” they added.
An arrest had been made in connection with the Thursday shooting of Laney College athletic director and former football coach John Beam, the Oakland Police Department announced Friday morning.
Beam was shot on Thursday on the downtown Oakland campus, the Peralta Community College District confirmed to multiple media outlets, and was transported to a local hospital. His condition has not been made public. The Oakland police had not publicly named Beam as the shooting victim, but said there would be more information on the arrest forthcoming.
On Thursday at a news conference, Oakland’s acting police chief James Beere had told reporters that police were attempting to locate a potential suspect.
“It’s a male unknown race wearing all dark clothing and a black hoodie that fled the scene,” Beere said.
Beam coached football in Oakland — first at Skyline High School and then at Laney —for more than four decades before retiring from that aspect of his job after last season. He and the Eagles were featured during the 2020 season of the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U.” The show depicted Beam as a mentor and father figure to his players, some of whom were facing significant challenges in their lives, as they navigate a football season.
“My thoughts are with Coach John Beam and his loved ones. We are praying for him,” Oakland mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement. “Coach Beam is a giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator, and a lifeline for thousands of young people. For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family.”
The Oakland Police Department responded to calls of shots being fired at or near Laney around noon Thursday and found a “a victim suffering from a gunshot wound,” Beere said, adding that his department was interviewing witnesses and looking at surveillance footage as part of an active investigation.
According to the Laney website, Beam was 160-33-3 with four undefeated seasons at Skyline High. He came to Laney as running backs coach in 2004, was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2005 and became head coach in 2012. He coached the Eagles to the California Community College Athletic Association championship in 2018
Another shooting occurred on Wednesday at Skyline High School. A student was shot and is said to be in stable condition. Two suspects, both minors, have been arrested by Oakland police.
Former world champions Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington will meet in a highly anticipated rematch on 21 February at Nottingham Arena.
Wood claimed a stunning knockout victory over his British featherweight rival in a classic first contest in 2023 that was mired in controversy.
Having dominated the WBA title fight until the seventh round, Warrington was floored by a trademark right-left combination from Wood and beat the count before referee Michael Alexander deemed that the Leeds fighter could not continue.
Wood, 37, from Nottingham was stopped by Anthony Cacace in his last bout in May.
Meanwhile, Warrington, 34, bounced back from a defeat to the Northern Irishman with a routine win over Asad Asif Khan in April after reversing plans to retire from the sport.
Tom Hofman is set for his 41st season coaching basketball at La Cañada High, including 39 as varsity coach. He’s a future Hall of Famer who keeps coaching at age 73.
The key is his wife, Cindy, still enjoying basketball, which means Tom gets to keep coaching. They’ve been married for 53 years.
“I like the kids,” he said. “My wife still loves it.”
This will be the final season of the Rio Hondo League. La Cañada has won 31 league titles under Hofman. The Rio Hondo will combine with the Pacific League next season.
“I don’t like it,” Hofman said. “It’s a shame.”
La Cañada has been running the same offense since Day 1, copied from the days of Bobby Knight at Indiana. “We tweaked it a little,” Hofman said.
That offense is the reason opposing coaches like to play zone defense against La Cañada. Players get beat for too many layups playing man-to-man against La Cañada.
Hofman is most proud of coaching neighborhood kids and making sure everyone knows he never has recruited players.
“We did it the right way,” he said. “I’ve never really made an initial contact.”
The Rio Hondo League held a media day Thursday at South Pasadena, with coaches paying respect to Hofman’s longevity at the same school.
“His passing game is amazing,” Blair coach Derrick Taylor said. “Going 41 years is a long time. He’s really amazing. He’s a first-class guy.”
He’s one of a kind as another basketball season begins next week. And he says this won’t be his final season as long as his wife keeps enjoying the game.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor has confirmed goalkeeper Hannah Hampton will be sidelined “for a few weeks” with a quad injury.
England international Hampton picked up the injury in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal and she was left out of the Blues’ squad for their 6-0 win at Austrian side St Polten on Tuesday.
“We’ll see if we can see her before the end of the year, but I’m not sure,” Bompastor said on Friday.
Asked if Hampton was likely to miss England’s upcoming friendlies against China on 29 November and Ghana on 2 December, the Chelsea boss replied: “Yeah, it could be the case. Yes.”
The 24-year-old’s injury comes amid controversy over comments made by former England goalkeeper Mary Earps in her autobiography.
Earps, who was dropped by Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman in favour of Hampton before Euro 2025, described Hampton as being a “disruptive and unreliable” character.
In response to the comments, Bompastor backed her goalkeeper Hampton, saying she had shown “class” and that she felt Earps had disrespected Wiegman.
Hampton was replaced in goal by Swiss goalkeeper Livia Peng for Chelsea’s mid-week victory in the Women’s Champions League.
Chelsea, who face Liverpool on Sunday, are second in the Women’s Super League – one point behind leaders Manchester City.
From Jack Harris: When it came to Major League Baseball’s history of the most valuable player award, there used to be Barry Bonds — then everyone else.
Over his 22-year career, Bonds won baseball’s highest individual honor a record seven times. Before this year, no one else had more than three.
But, like Bonds, accomplishing things no one else can has become the defining trait of Shohei Ohtani’s rise to superstardom.
And on Thursday, his career was elevated another notch higher, as he was named MVP for the fourth time by unanimous vote from the Baseball Writers Assn. of America to join Bonds in an exclusive club of winners with more than three.
“It’s an honor, of course,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “For me, being chosen unanimously was also very special.”
Like his three previous wins, which also came via unanimous vote, Ohtani was a virtual lock. As a hitter alone he led the National League by a wide margin in OPS (1.014) and slugging percentage (.622), was second in on-base percentage (.392) and, despite being outside the top 10 in batting average (.282, ranking 13th), set a career high with 55 home runs, trailing only Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber for the crown. His 7.5 wins above replacement, according to Fangraphs, just outpaced Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo and Philadelphia’s Trea Turner for most in the league.
And then there was his pitching.
In perhaps the most impressive aspect of his season, Ohtani returned from a second Tommy John surgery — the kind of procedure only a handful of pitchers have fully rebounded from — and flashed almost every bit of his dominant form despite missing the previous year and a half on the mound.
All-American Lauren Betts had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 3 UCLA to a 78-60 victory over No. 11 North Carolina on Thursday night in the WBCA Challenge, the Bruins’ second win over a ranked team this week.
UCLA (4-0) also topped No. 6 Oklahoma 73-59 on Monday in Sacramento. Coming off the program’s first trip to the NCAA Final Four, the Bruins are making an early case as one of the favorites to get back there.
Betts also had seven assists. Teammate Kiki Rice overcame an 0-for-3 first half to finish with 15 points on six-for-12 shooting as well as 10 rebounds. Angela Dugalic added 14 points and Gabriela Jaquez had 12.
From Sam Farmer: Read and react. That isn’t just what Cooper Kupp does on the football field, adjusting his pass route to get open. It’s what he does in his free time, too, tearing through close to two dozen books during the NFL season.
The Seattle Seahawks receiver, once a star with the Rams, is an enthusiastic reader of both nonfiction and fiction, and buys extra copies of some of his favorites — “Tuesdays with Morrie” and “When Breath Becomes Air” — to hand out to friends.
Just as when he’s poring over the playbook, the bearded bookworm reads with pen in hand or ready to note something on his phone.
“If I haven’t underlined anything in the first day or two, it’s hard to keep going,” said Kupp, 32, currently reading “Heart and Steel” by former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher. “I mark pages, highlight, screenshot.
“If I’m not learning something, a book better transport me.”
Kupp was transported last offseason, and not by his choosing. The Rams released him to make room for receiver Davante Adams, parting ways with one of their most popular players, an architect of rebuilding a fan base in Los Angeles, and Most Valuable Player of their Super Bowl win in the 2021 season.
From Kevin Baxter: Major League Soccer’s board of governors voted Thursday to push the start of the season from February to July beginning in 2027, matching the schedule used by most of the world’s other top-tier leagues.
The move also allows the league to better sync up with global soccer’s primary and secondary transfer windows and with FIFA’s international competition calendar, when teams are required to release players to their national teams.
“Our owners made a decision that I think is one of the most important decisions in our league’s history,” commissioner Don Garber said in a conference call.
Quinton Byfield scored on a one-timer 35 seconds into overtime to give the Kings a 4-3 victory over the injury-ravaged Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
Warren Foegele, Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere also scored for the Kings, who have won three in a row and four of five to improve to 9-5-4.
Darcy Kuemper made 12 saves, and Drew Doughty had two assists.
Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Ducks 6-3 on Thursday night to end a three-game losing streak.
DeBrincat has 18 goals and 33 points in 20 games against the Ducks.
Moritz Seider and Dylan Larkin each had a goal and an assist, and Axel Sandin-Pellikka scored his second career goal. Michael Rasmussen also scored after being a healthy scratch for Detroit’s 5-1 loss to Chicago on Sunday.
1943 — Sid Luckman of the Chicago Bears becomes the first pro to pass for more than 400 yards (433) and seven touchdowns in a 56-7 victory over the New York Giants.
1964 — Gus Johnson and Walt Bellamy become the first NBA teammates to score 40 points apiece as the Baltimore Bullets beat the Lakers 127-115. Johnson has 41 points, Bellamy 40.
1964 — Detroit’s Gordie Howe becomes the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring leader, including playoffs, with his 627th career goal. Howe beats Montreal’s Charlie Hodge in a 4-2 loss.
1965 — Gary Cuozzo, subbing for injured Johnny Unitas, throws five touchdown passes to lead the Baltimore Colts to a 41-21 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
1966 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Cleveland Williams in the third round to retain the world heavyweight title in Houston.
1970 — Forty-three members of the Marshall football team die when their chartered plane crashes in Kenova, W.Va.
1993 — Don Shula breaks George Halas’ career record for victories with No. 325 as the Miami Dolphins defeat Philadelphia 19-14. Shula’s record: 325-153-6 in 31 seasons with Baltimore and Miami; Halas, 324-151-31 in 40 seasons with Chicago.
2004 — Chicago’s 19-17 win over Tennessee marks the second time an NFL game ended in overtime on a safety.
2004 — John and Ashley Force become the first father-daughter combo in NHRA history to win at the same event in the season finale. John Force races to his 114th Funny Car victory, and his 21-year-old daughter takes the Top Alcohol class at Pomona Raceway.
2009 — Toby Gerhart rushes for 178 yards and three touchdowns as Stanford annihilates Southern California 55-21. It’s the most points ever conceded by the Trojans, who played their first game in 1888.
2009 — Daniel Passafiume sets the NCAA record for most receptions in a single game, catching 25 passes for Division III Hanover College. Passafiume finishes with 153 yards receiving and two touchdowns in a 42-28 loss to Franklin.
2010 — John Force wins his NHRA-record 15th Funny Car season championship, completing an improbable and emotional comeback from a horrific accident in Dallas three years ago that left the 61-year-old star’s racing future in serious jeopardy. Force becomes the oldest champion in NHRA history on the same day that the series crowns its youngest champion, 20-year-old Pro Stock Motorcycle rider LE Tonglet.
2010 — The New York Jets defeat the Browns 26-20 in overtime at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Jets, who won 23-20 in OT at Detroit’s Ford Field last week, are the first team in NFL history to win road games in overtime in consecutive weeks.
2015 — Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds breaks the NCAA record for career rushing touchdowns, upping his total to 81 with four scores in the No. 22 Midshipmen’s 55-14 over SMU.
2015 — Kellen Dunham scores 24 points and No. 24 Butler breaks four school records in a 144-71 trouncing of The Citadel. The 144 points are the most points scored by a team in a men’s college basketball game featuring two D-I schools since TCU beat Texas-Pan American 153-87 in 1997.
2017 — Grayson Allen — Duke’s lone senior — scores a career-high 37 points, freshman Trevon Duval has 17 points and 10 assists, and the top-ranked Blue Devils beat No. 2 Michigan State 88-81 in the Champions Classic in Chicago. Wendell Carter Jr. adds 12 points and 12 rebounds, helping Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski improve to 12-1 in his career against Michigan State.
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 [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Scotland: Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse), Darcy Graham (Edinburgh), Rory Hutchinson (Northampton Saints), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors, capt), Kyle Steyn (Glasgow Warriors); Finn Russell (Bath), Ben White (Toulon); Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh), Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh Rugby), D’arcy Rae (Edinburgh); Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), Gregor Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Rory Darge (Glasgow Warriors), Jack Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors).
Replacements: George Turner (Harlequins), Nathan McBeth (Glasgow Warriors), Elliot Millar Mills (Northampton Saints), Josh Bayliss (Bath), Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Jamie Dobie (Glasgow Warriors), Tom Jordan (Bristol Bears), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh).
Before she came to USC, it had never occurred to Jazzy Davidson how charmed her basketball upbringing had been. Growing up outside of Portland, nearly all of her years playing the game were spent with the same tight-knit group of girls — girls who’d been best friends since before the fifth grade and who, after all that time, could anticipate her every move before she made it.
“They’re basically my sisters,” Davidson says.
They’d been that way pretty much as far back as she could remember. Allie, she met in kindergarten. She and Sara joined the same squad in second grade. By 10, Dylan, Reyce and Avery were on the club team, too. For the next eight years or so, up through March’s Oregon girls 6A state championship, they were inseparable, the six of them spending almost every waking moment together.
But now, a few days before the start of her freshman season at USC, Davidson is in Los Angeles, while her former teammates are scattered across the Pacific Northwest playing with various other Division I schools. It’s an odd feeling, she admits, but a thrilling one, too — to be here with a new team, continuing her basketball journey without the girls who’d been there the whole way.
Reyce Mogel, left, Avery Peterson, Dylan Mogel and Jazzy Davidson played together on youth and high school teams.
(Courtesy of Reyce Mogel)
“Being here made me realize how comfortable I was with them,” Davidson said. “It’s definitely different now, definitely a learning experience.”
Within that well-worn dynamic, Davidson developed into one of the top women’s hoops prospects in the nation, all while she and her friends led Clackamas High on an unprecedented, four-year run of success. Now, early in her freshman season at USC, Davidson steps into circumstances that no one would have anticipated when she signed with the school.
At the time, the expectation was that she could be brought along as a talented No. 2 while the Trojans’ generational star JuJu Watkins commanded all the outside noise and nightly double teams. But then Watkins injured her knee in March, forcing her to sit out the 2025-26 season. Suddenly, the Trojans’ top prospect also became their saving grace.
No one, for the record, is saying that out loud at USC. Nor does anyone in the building expect Davidson to step seamlessly into Watkins’ shoes.
“Those are very unique shoes,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb says. “But the fact that Jazzy can step into our program and already just make a really unique and incredible impression on everybody is pretty wild.”
By her own admission, Davidson has never been the fastest to warm up with new people. Most outside of her circle would probably describe her as “quiet” or “reserved.” It’s only once you get to know her that you really see who she is and what she’s capable of.
USC got a brief glimpse Sunday, with the Trojans trailing by a point to No. 9 North Carolina State and 10 seconds on the clock. Coming out of a timeout, the 6-1 Davidson cut swiftly through two defenders toward the basket, caught an inbound pass and, without taking a step, laid in the game-winning bucket.
The stage gets even bigger on Saturday, when No. 8 USC meets No. 2 South Carolina at Crypto Arena in the first of several grueling tests awaiting on a slate that includes four games against the top three teams in the Associated Press preseason top 25 poll. Any hope of the Trojans reaching the same heights as last season hinges in part on their star freshman quickly finding her potential.
No one has seen Davidson fulfill that promise like the girls who have been there since the start. As far as they’re concerned, it won’t be long before the world sees what they have.
“If you know Jazzy,” says Allie Roden, now a freshman guard at Colorado State, “you know she can do anything she wants, pretty much.”
When Davidson’s mother saw that her 5-year old daughter was unusually tall, she signed Jasmine — who would later be known as Jazzy — up for basketball. Roden was on that first team. She has seen the video evidence of the two of them, both still in kindergarten, launching basketballs over their heads at the backboard.
“We were terrible,” Roden says with a laugh, “but we thought we were really great.”
Davidson moved down the street from Roden in the fourth grade, and by that point, she’d figured something out. Enough at least to catch the attention of Clackamas High coach Korey Landolt, whose daughter played for the same club program.
“I saw [Davidson] working with a trainer and just thought, ‘Huh, this kid is different,’” Landolt says.
From left to right, Avery Peterson, Sara Barhoum, Dylan Mogel, Jazzy Davidson, Reyce Mogel, Allie Roden played together for years, leading Clackamas High in Oregon to a state championship.
(Courtesy of Reyce Mogel)
Once the others joined forces a year later on the club team Northwest Select, there wasn’t much anyone could do to stop them. The six girls seemed to fit seamlessly together on the court. Off it, Roden says, “we were inseparable pretty much as soon as we met.” She doesn’t recall their team losing a game against their age group for two full years at one point.
It was around that time that Davidson separated herself from the pack as a prospect. She’d grown to 5-foot-10 by the seventh grade, only for the pandemic to shut down essentially the entire state, including all high school sports.
So Davidson threw herself into basketball. She and Sara Barhoum, who’s now a freshman at Oregon, started working out together during free time between online classes, doing what she could to add strength to her spindly frame. Then they’d shoot together at night, each pushing the other to improve.
“It was a big time for me,” Davidson says. “That was when I honed in on everything.”
Two or three times per month, the team would travel out of state to test themselves. On one particularly memorable trip, just the six of them entered a tournament in Dana Point. They ended up winning the whole thing, beating some of the nation’s best teams, despite the fact they’d stayed up late playing Heads Up and were sunburned from a beach visit the day before.
Those middle school trips only cemented their bond — as well as Davidson’s place as a top prospect. By her freshman season, with all of them together at Clackamas High, the secret was out. College coaches came calling. Gottlieb, who had just taken the job at USC, was one.
Even then, there was a certain grace with which Davidson played the game — as if it flowed from her naturally. “She’s so fluid,” Gottlieb explains. “She glides.” But there was also a fearlessness in getting to the rim against much older, stronger players.
“She had to hold her own,” Landolt says. “But people couldn’t stop her inside. They couldn’t stop her outside. She was just so versatile. She could do everything.”
As a gangly freshman, Davidson stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, eight rebounds, four steals, three assists and one block per game on her way to being named Oregon’s Gatorade Player of the Year. She won the award again as a sophomore … as well as the next two years after that.
When those four years were up, Davidson was the all-time leading scorer in Oregon Class 6A girls basketball history with 2,726 points. Still, some of her teammates contend she was even better on the defensive end.
“Jazzy is good at everything she does,” Barhoum said. “But she’s probably the best defender I’ve ever seen.”
USC guard Jazzy Davidson blocks a shot by North Carolina State’s Devyn Quigley on Nov. 9 in Charlotte, N.C.
(Lance King / Getty Images)
The girls played on the same team for six years when Clackamas made a run to the 6A state championship game. They’d spent so much time with each other, their coach says, that it could be “a blessing and a curse.” Sometimes, they bickered like sisters, too.
Landolt would urge them to hang out with other friends, only half-kidding. But all that time together made their connection on the court pretty much telepathic.
“There were so many passes I threw to Jazzy that no one else would’ve caught, but she was just there.” said Reyce Mogel, who now plays at Southern Oregon. “We were always on the same page. And not just me and Jazzy. Everybody.”
Davidson was on the bench, in foul trouble, for a long stretch of the state championship game against South Medford. But she delivered two key blocks in the final minute as Clackamas won its first state title.
Two years later, when they returned to the state championship as seniors, Davidson was again forced to sit for a long period after twisting her ankle. This time, her absence “took the wind out of everyone’s sails,” Landolt says. Clackamas blew a 19-point, third-quarter lead from there, even as a hobbled Davidson tried to give it a go in the final minutes.
The six girls found each other after the final buzzer, heartbroken. They knew it would be the last time.
Their final record together at Clackamas: 102-14.
“We all were hugging,” Barhoum says, “and just saying to each other, we’re all off to do better things. We all made history. And now everybody is going to make history somewhere else.”
They may live apart now, but the six girls, all now playing on separate for college basketball programs, still talk all the time.
“I FaceTime one of them at least every day,” Davidson says.
Her Trojan teammates are still getting to know her, still learning her tendencies. That will come with time. But the reason she ultimately chose USC, over every other top program, was how much it felt like home.
Through two games, Davidson seems to have settled seamlessly into a starring role at USC, inviting the inevitable comparisons to Watkins that Gottlieb would rather avoid.
USC guard Jazzy Davidson puts up a three-point shot against North Carolina State on Nov. 9 in Charlotte, N.C.
(Lance King / Getty Images)
“You do not need to be anything other than what your best self is,” Gottlieb insists.
Her friends have seen up close how far Davidson can take a team at her best. But no one, not even the six of them, understand the circumstances Davidson has stepped into quite like Watkins.
Her advice was simple. But it still resonated with Davidson on the doorstep of the season.
“She just told me not to be anxious about any of this,” Davidson says. “You’re good. Just go play how you play, and you’ll be fine.”
Just as when Eubank and Benn fought in April, there is a rehydration clause that both must adhere to – meaning neither man can put on more than 10lb between Friday’s weigh-in and Saturday morning.
Benn’s team feel the rehydration clause allows for a more level playing field.
The weight disparity, with Benn jumping up two divisions for this contest, has been a hot topic in the build-up to both fights.
In April, Eubank missed the middleweight limit of 11st 6lb by 0.05lb at the weigh-in- but came in comfortably below the rehydration limit the next day.
Fighters usually shed fat over the course of their training camp to get close to the agreed or stipulated weight limit.
Prior to the weigh-in, which takes place a day before fight night, they may dehydrate to lose the final bit of weight.
Losing water weight close to the fight allows them to refuel with food and water much more easily.
Eubank says he usually puts on about 14lb after a weigh-in.
