Ten

Emergency responders carried patients out of a government hospital in Odisha, India, after a fire killed at least 10 ICU patients, according to officials.

CHICAGO — This was hardly a masterpiece of Big Ten basketball, what with the barrage of bricks and busted possessions. Nor was it the sort of night to convince you of UCLA’s chances as a surefire conference contender.

But amid the mess of its 72-59 win over 14th-seeded Rutgers on Thursday night, UCLA showed the sort of mettle it may need to keep its season kicking this March.

It started with Donovan Dent, whose masterful month continued with his first career triple-double — and the first triple-double in Big Ten tournament history. The senior tallied 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. He and Tyler Bilodeau, who added a game-high 21 points, were the rare bright spots on offense for the Bruins.

Otherwise, UCLA struggled to find any sort of rhythm. It shot just 38% from the floor, worse than it had in any win this season. And still, the Bruins were in control for most of the game after pulling away early in the second half.

None of that will fly against No. 3 seed Michigan State on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT, which beat UCLA by 23 points the last time they met.

But until Thursday it’d been quite some time since UCLA actually managed to win away from home. Not since Jan. 29 had it won outside of L.A., and only once this season had it won outside of the Pacific time zone.

For a while, it didn’t seem like UCLA intended to win Thursday, either. Even as Rutgers gave it every chance to pull away.

The Bruins did shut down Rutgers’ Tariq Francis, who was fresh off a 29-point performance in a first-round win over Minnesota. Francis didn’t score until the nine-minute mark in the second half. He finished with six points on two-of-11 shooting.

The two teams spent most of the first half trading wasted possessions and taking turns with their respective shooting slumps. Four minutes scoreless for Rutgers. Three scoreless for UCLA. Four scoreless for Rutgers. Then three scoreless for UCLA. Back and forth they went in their futility.

The Bruins had plenty of chances to build a lead early. While Rutgers struggled to find rhythm on offense, settling mostly for contested shots inside the arc, UCLA got its share of open shots all around the floor. It just wasn’t able to hit many of them. Both teams shot a meager 31% before halftime.

Those shots fell more frequently in the second half, as UCLA pushed its lead to 15. The Bruins still struggled to put the Knights away, until Dent took matters into his own hands late, pushing UCLA to victory.

CHICAGO — The eventual end of the USC men’s basketball season came the same way that it fizzled out during the past month, with yet another second-half collapse that featured the added pain of overtime.

Tuesday’s 83-79 overtime loss to Washington in the Big Ten tournament, the Trojans’ eighth straight defeat, brought to a close what USC coach Eric Musselman called the toughest stretch of his coaching career. It included not only USC’s longest losing streak in a decade, but a pair of 19-point losses to UCLA and the dismissal of leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara from the team in the past 10 days alone.

The Trojans led the Huskies by 13 in the second half and had chances to win at the end of regulation and overtime, only to miss all three potential game-winning or game-tying shots and go 2-for-5 from the free-throw line in overtime. For a team that was once in NCAA tournament consideration before stumbling, that failure to finish was a persistent flaw.

USC guard Alijah Arenas talks with coach Eric Musselman during the Trojans’ loss to the Huskies in the Big Ten tournament on Wednesday in Chicago.

(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

“That’s been the story of our last eight games,” Musselman said. “I think we’ve led at halftime four of our last eight games, and as a group, we haven’t figured out how to close games, the last 20 minutes with a lead. It’s a disappointing last eight games of the season. I thought up until that point we played good basketball.”

With the Trojans likely to decline any postseason invitation, Musselman said, he was headed to the team hotel Tuesday night to get back to work filling out next season’s recruiting class, starting with more freshmen before the transfer portal officially opens next month.

That group already includes two top-30 recruits in the Ratliff twins, Adonis and Darius, but if USC learned anything from the way this season ended, all too similar to the way last season ended, it’s that whatever depth and talent Musselman has assembled in his two years at USC hasn’t been enough, whether that’s freshmen or transfers.

“We want a blend of both,” Musselman said. “It’s early in our tenure, and we’ve got to figure out a way to get better than what we’ve done the last two years.”

Tuesday, the Trojans had no shortage of chances to fend off the end.

They had a double-digit lead with 13 minutes to play. They had the ball at the end of regulation with the score tied. They had a chance to win it in overtime and were gifted a last-chance shot to tie it.

They missed all three pivotal shots — the first two by Kam Woods, the last a 3-pointer by Jordan Marsh — to see a game they once led comfortably slip away again and again.

“On the last one, I feel like I missed Ezra [Ausar] on that cut,” said Woods, a grad transfer who joined the team in midseason. “Coach trusted me with the ball in my hands, and I feel like I let him down.”

Woods finished with 24 points while Jacob Cofie scored 14, Marsh 13 and Ausar and Ryan Cornish 10 each for 13th-seeded USC (18-14) as the 12th-seeded Huskies (16-16) beat the Trojans for the third time this season.

Freshman Alijah Arenas, who led the Trojans in scoring in both games without Baker-Mazara, was held to six points on 3-for-10 shooting and sat out the final six minutes of regulation and all but eight seconds of overtime. Musselman said that was his decision, as was the virtual absence of senior Terrance Williams, who played only one minute.

That left USC with what was essentially a six-player rotation to conclude a season that began without the injured Arenas and ended without Rodney Rice and Amarion Dickerson, both hurt, as well as the departed Baker-Mazara — all of which factored into Musselman’s position on any postseason plans.

“I haven’t had in-depth conversations with the administration yet about that, but I would assume we’re not going to play, just based on the number of bodies and how we played the last eight games,” Musselman said.

It was not all that long ago that USC was thinking about the NCAA tournament. Winners of the Maui Invitational, USC was 18-6 and above .500 in the Big Ten standings after a February 8 win at Penn State, solidly in a workable position on the NCAA tournament bubble.

But as the injuries mounted and momentum waned, second-half struggles just like the Trojans’ on Tuesday became an increasingly fatal flaw as they slumped to their longest losing streak in a decade. The loss to Washington compounded the misery of a second straight frustrating season, in familiar fashion.

“As a team, we faced a lot of adversity,” Cofie said. “I felt like we did a good job sticking with it and trying to play for each other. We had to deal with a lot of injuries. I felt like that played a huge deal in it. We still fought. We tried our best.”

INDIANAPOLIS — As it turns out, the UCLA women’s basketball team was more than ready for the moment.

After competitive games in their first two Big Ten tournament contests, the Bruins dismantled No. 2 seed Iowa from start to finish during a 96-45 victory from Gainbridge Fieldhouse to seal an NCAA tournament berth and win the Big Ten.

The 51-point win was the largest margin of victory in Big Ten championship history, eclipsing the 33-point mark Iowa set in its 2023 win over Ohio State. UCLA’s 34 team assists were also a Big Ten championship record, and a season-high for the Bruins.

In front of a Iowa-heavy crowd, the Bruins put up one of their best shooting games of the season, firing 63% from the field. Gianna Kneepkens tallied 19 points and all five starters reached double digits.

It was UCLA’s 25th consecutive win dating back to November.

Kiki Rice finished with 15 points and eight assists, earning Big Ten tournament most outstanding player honors.

After Iowa (26-6, 15-3) held down Michigan in the semifinal, the Bruins (30-1, 18-0) returned the favor. The Hawkeyes tallied just five first-quarter points, their season-low in any period.

Iowa missed nine consecutive shots and committed four turnovers during a five-minute run during which UCLA mounted an 11-0 run. By the second quarter, the Bruins built a 25-point lead.

UCLA scored netted back-to-back three-pointers in 25 seconds early in the third quarter to take a 32-point advantage — 55-23.

As the Bruins did Saturday against Ohio State, UCLA relied on its defense to extend its lead. The Bruins forced 19 Iowa turnovers that led to 22 points in transition. They also held Iowa to 28% from the field.

The Hawkeyes likely earned themselves a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament with their conference performance.

UCLA will learn its seeding and bracket placement during Selection Sunday next week before hosting first and second round contests.

INDIANAPOLIS — The UCLA women’s basketball team’s tear through the Big Ten continued on Friday, as the Bruins defeated Washington 78-60 to advance to the conference tournament semifinals.

Behind 26 points from center Lauren Betts, the No. 1 seed Bruins took down No. 8 seed Huskies with an explosive second half to stay undefeated in conference play.

Washington (21-10, 11-9), which defeated No. 9 seed USC on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinal, struggled to respond to UCLA’s second-half surge and trailed by 19 in the fourth quarter.

UCLA (22-1, 19-0), the second ranked team in the nation in the Associated Press top 25 poll, started slow, missing five consecutive shots in a five-plus minute scoring drought in the first quarter. The Bruins’ six first-quarter points were a season low.

The Huskies extended a 10-point lead into the second quarter. Betts, though, kept the Bruins’ deficit from growing with 10 points in the first half, sparking a 15-2 run during the final 6:10. UCLA, which boasts the best three-point percentage in the Big Ten, didn’t make any treys in the first half and didn’t hit one until Kiki Rice’s with 5:27 left in the third quarter.

It tied for the worst three-point shooting performance from the Bruins this season (one for 10).

UCLA led 27-24 at halftime.

Washington went up briefly in the third quarter, powered by 18 points from guard Avery Howell, but the Bruins scoring finally found their rhythm shortly after. UCLA shot 54% overall from the field.

It was UCLA’s 10th consecutive win against the Huskies. It was the Bruins’ 23rd straight win overall after last losing on Nov. 26.

UCLA will face the winner of No. 4 seed Minnesota and No. 5 seed Ohio State in a Big Ten tournament semifinal on Saturday, with a berth in the Big Ten championship game on the line.

INDIANAPOLIS — If the USC women’s basketball hoped to make a case for a favorable NCAA tournament seed, the Trojans did themselves no favors during the past two weeks culminating with Thursday’s Big Ten tournament loss.

The No. 9 seed Trojans let a second-round tournament contest against No. 8 seed Washington get out of hand in the third quarter, stumbling to a 76-64 loss at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. USC’s conference run ended quickly after the Trojans delivered one of their worst offensive outings of the season.

It was USC’s fourth consecutive loss, putting its NCAA tournament positioning in question.

USC (17-13, 9-10) didn’t make its first three-pointer until the 3:30 mark in the second quarter, just the Trojans’ fifth made basket of the game overall. The Trojans trailed 32-20 at the half while shooting just 25%.

Washington (21-9, 11-8) took a 20-point lead near the end of the third quarter while USC struggled to 1-for-7 shooting during that stretch.

USC made it a 10-point game with 1:51 to play as the Trojans’ aggressive half-court press forced Washington turnovers, but even the team’s 26-point fourth quarter couldn’t rescue it.

The Huskies and Trojans entered Thursday with the third and fourth best defenses in the conference, respectively. That didn’t deter a Washington offense that shot 50%, its fourth-best effort all season.

But USC was stymied and put up its fourth-worst shooting of the year at 31%. Point guard and Big Ten freshman of the year Jazzy Davidson shot 2-for-13 after briefly leaving the game in the first quarter with a right shoulder injury and playing the rest of the contest with it wrapped under her jersey. She didn’t see the floor again after the 7:12 mark in the fourth quarter.

Davidson said after the loss she is getting an MRI on her shoulder to determine the extent of the injury.

Washington outrebounded USC 43-26. Huskies guard Elle Ladine led the game with 25 points. Londynn Jones netted 19 for the Trojans.

USC entered Thursday boasting the No. 22 NET ranking in the country and will likely get an at-large NCAA tournament bid, but Thursday’s loss put a good seed in peril.

The Huskies will face No. 1 seed UCLA (28-1, 18-0) in the quarterfinal on Friday at 9 a.m.

Sunday marked Senior Night for the USC women’s basketball team at Galen Center, but it was the other team’s seniors who stole the show.

Gabriela Jaquez scored 14 points, Kiki Rice had 11 points and four assists and Lauren Betts had 15 rebounds as UCLA wrapped up the regular season with a 73-50 victory over its rival and finished undefeated in conference play for the first time since going 18-0 in the Pac-10 in 1998-99 under Kathy Olivier.

Having already clinched the regular-season title, UCLA became the first team to navigate the Big Ten schedule without a loss since Maryland in 2014-15.

It was the Bruins’ 22nd consecutive win, one shy of the record they set last season. Since their lone loss to then-No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, they have won by 20 or more points 16 times.

Ranked second in the nation in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls behind defending national champion Connecticut (30-0), the Bruins earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament in Indianapolis and got a bye into Friday’s quarterfinals.

Charlisse Leger-Walker finished with a game-high 20 points for the Bruins while Gianna Kneepkens added 14 points and five assists.

UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, controls the ball in front of USC forward Vivian Iwuchukwu during the first half Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA (28-1, 18-0) held USC to 27% shooting in the teams’ first meeting — a 34-point Bruins victory at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3 behind Betts’ 18 points. It was USC’s most lopsided loss under coach Lindsay Gottlieb. On Sunday, USC (17-12, 9-9) shot 39% and was only three for 19 from three-point range.

UCLA jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes and carried a 19-11 advantage into the second quarter. The Bruins widened the gap to 18 points by halftime, holding the Trojans scoreless for the last 3:08.

USC opened the second half on an 11-2 run.

Led by another standout performance from Jordan Chiles, the No. 5 UCLA women’s gymnastics team clinched the Big Ten regular-season championship for the second consecutive year Friday night by winning its Big Four meet at Pauley Pavilion.

Chiles, who had the top all-around score of 39.625, helped UCLA defeat No. 18 Iowa, No. 19 Ohio State and No. 25 Maryland with an overall score of 196.950. Her 9.950 on the vault in the final rotation sealed the win.

“The thing I’m taking away from today is that they really are fighters,” UCLA coach Janelle McDonald said. “They really didn’t give up [at] any moment, and they really were just resilient through it all.”

Ciena Alipio opened with a 9.850 on the uneven bars. Tiana Sumanasekera followed it with a 9.750 before Nola Matthews, Sydney Barros and Chiles each scored a 9.900.

Alipio was impressed by how well Matthews performed on short notice.

“She is one to always kind of just put her head down and work, and I’m really proud of her to see her step up today,” Alipio said.

On the balance beam, Katelyn Rosen started with a 9.750 and Barros posted a 9.850. Flexing UCLA’s depth, Mika Webster-Longin received a 9.825 in her top routine. Chiles had a 9.825. In an almost-perfect routine, Alipio posted a 9.950. The mark helped UCLA extend its lead.

It wasn’t all good news for the Bruins on the first rotation — Rosen sustained a foot injury and was held out for the remainder of the meet.

“I’m hoping it’s not no big deal, but we’ll get her checked out and just want to take the precaution and pull her out of those lineups,” McDonald said.

UCLA’s Jordan Chiles competes on the balance beam Friday during a Big Ten quad meet at Pauley Pavilion.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

Matthews started the floor exercise in Rosen’s place, opening with a 9.675. Alipio followed with a 9.825, and Sumanasekera and Ashlee Sullivan posted scores of 9.875 and 9.900, respectively. Needing a big performance to keep their lead, Chiles did not disappoint, scoring a 9.950.

Matthews demonstrated the level of depth UCLA has leaned on throughout the season.

“I definitely can say that is a huge leadership role as a freshman,” Chiles said. “Being able to step in at a time like that … we trusted the fact that she was gonna go out there and do her job.”

UCLA’s Katelyn Rosen competes on balance beam during the Bruins’ quad meet win at Pauley Pavilion on Friday.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

Going into the last rotation, UCLA led Ohio State by just .150. The Bruins needed a strong performance on vault to claim the conference title.

Sumanasekera set the tone with a 9.850. Madisyn Anyimi followed with a 9.775. After replacing Rosen, Webster-Longin earned a 9.800 in her season debut on vault, and Sullivan posted a 9.850 before Chiles clinched the win.

But the Bruins want more.

“This is a regular season, we still have Big Ten championship, we have regionals and we have NCAA,” Chiles said.

The quad-meet experience was a learning curve, Alipio said. UCLA had to perform at a high level through the final routine to secure victory.

UCLA gymnast Ashlee Sullivan performs her floor routine during the Bruins’ quad meet win Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

McDonald said adjusting to tough competition levels up UCLA. The Bruins hope the experience will pay dividends for the young team in the postseason.

“We just kept reminding them to just take a breath, stay present and just really trust their training and their preparation that they’ve had leading into today,” McDonald said.

After donning hats and shirts that commemorated their championship, the Bruins celebrated on the floor with cheers and pictures. But come next week, the work begins again.

“We fought, for sure, until the end,” Alipio said. “But we also know we’re going into the gym on Monday, and we’re putting our heads down and working because this wasn’t our best, but we have more to show everybody.”

NEW ORLEANS — A U.S. appeals court has cleared the way for a Louisiana law requiring poster-sized displays of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms to take effect.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 12 to 6 to lift a block that a lower court first placed on the law in 2024. In the opinion released Friday, the court said it was too early to make a judgment call on the constitutionality of the law.

That’s partly because it’s not yet clear how prominently schools may display the religious text, whether teachers will refer to the Ten Commandments during classes or if other texts like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence will also be displayed, the majority opinion said.

Without those sorts of details, the panel decided that it did not have enough information to weigh any 1st Amendment issues that might arise from the law. In other words, there aren’t enough facts available to “permit judicial judgment rather than speculation,” the majority wrote in the opinion.

In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge James Ho, an appointee of President Trump, wrote that the law “is not just constitutional — it affirms our nation’s highest and most noble traditions.”

The six judges who voted against the decision wrote a series of dissents, with some arguing that the law exposes children to government-endorsed religion in a place they are required to be, presenting a clear constitutional burden.

Circuit Judge James L. Dennis, an appointee of President Clinton, wrote that the law “is precisely the kind of establishment the Framers anticipated and sought to prevent.”

The ruling is the result of the court’s choice to rehear the case with all judges present after three of them ruled in June that the Louisiana law was unconstitutional. The reversal comes from one of the nation’s most conservative appeals courts, and one that’s known for propelling Republican policies to a similarly conservative U.S. Supreme Court.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry celebrated the ruling Friday, declaring, “Common sense is making a comeback!”

The ACLU of Louisiana, one of several groups representing plaintiffs, pledged to explore all legal pathways to continue fighting the law.

Arkansas has a similar law that has been challenged in federal court. And a Texas law took effect on Sept. 1, marking the widest reaching attempt in the nation to hang the Ten Commandments in public schools.

Some Texas school districts were barred from posting them after federal judges issued injunctions in two cases challenging the law, but they have already gone up in many classrooms across the state as districts paid to have the posters printed themselves or accepted donations.

The laws are among pushes by Republicans, including Trump, to incorporate religion into public school classrooms. Critics say doing so violates the separation of church and state, while backers say the Ten Commandments are historical and part of the foundation of U.S. law.

Joseph Davis, an attorney representing Louisiana in the case, applauded the court for upholding the nation’s “time-honored tradition of recognizing faith in the public square.”

Families from a variety of religious backgrounds, including Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism, have challenged the laws, as have clergy members and nonreligious families.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, another group involved in the challenge, called the ruling “extremely disappointing” and said the law will force families “into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole” where they will have to separately challenge each school district’s displays.

Louisiana Atty. Gen. Liz Murrill said after the ruling that she had sent schools several correct examples of the required poster.

In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The court found that the law had no secular purpose but served a plainly religious purpose.

And in 2005, the Supreme Court held that such displays in a pair of Kentucky courthouses violated the Constitution. At the same time, the court upheld a Ten Commandments marker on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol in Austin.

Schoenbaum and Boone write for the Associated Press.