UCLA

It was ugly.

It was beautiful.

It was a messy rock fight.

It was Bruin ballet.

In front of a stunned crowd at Phoenix’ Mortgage Matchup Center Friday night, the UCLA women’s basketball team defied stereotypes and defined toughness and did what few believed this dancing, dazzling group could do.

They beat somebody up.

They stared down presumably rougher Texas in the national semifinals and painted the floor in streaks of Longhorn and won the second-most important game of their lives.

Now they get to play the most important.

With their 51-44 victory over the burned Orange, the Bruins have advanced to the national championship game Sunday against a physically dominant group from powerhouse South Carolina.

UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots over Texas forward Breya Cunningham during their Final Four matchup Friday in Phoenix.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Put up your dukes.

If you thought UCLA needed to take off the gloves against Texas, wait until they go bare knuckles with the deep and experienced Gamecocks.

Based on legacy alone, the national title bout is a mismatch.

South Carolina, under legendary coach Dawn Staley, is playing in the national championship game for the third straight year and fourth time in five years. Meanwhile, this is UCLA’s first title game appearance in the NCAA era.

South Carolina has won three championships in the last eight non-COVID-19 seasons. Meanwhile, UCLA is searching for its first NCAA championship and first title of any sort since Ann Meyers Drysdale led the Bruins to the 1978 AIAW crown.title.

Count the Bruins out if you must. But against Texas, a team that had dominated them during the regular season, the Bruins did all the counting as the Longhorns lay flat on their backs during an eventual knockout.

It turns out, being led by six seniors and graduate students on a mission to finish their careers together as champions matters. It turns out, a willingness to do whatever it takes to win that title matters even more.

And it turns out, 30 straight wins means something. These Bruins don’t flinch. These Bruins don’t retreat. These Bruins don’t have any doubt that they can survive whatever South Carolina throws at them, even if that’s enough fists and fury to make semifinal-losing UConn coach Geno Auriemma lose his mind during a profane in-game interview Friday on ESPN.

“The job’s not finished,” said Gabriela Jaquez, who once again seemingly showed up around every loose ball. “Still have one more game to win.”

UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez drives toward the basket under pressure from Texas forward Breya Cunningham during their Final Four semifinal on Friday in Arizona.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

This game began, appropriately enough, with Angela Dugalic blocking Aston Judd’s shot and then glaring at her as the Longhorn lay in a heap.

“It’s such an amazing thing that we have another opportunity to play together,” said Dugalic. “One more day.”

This game ended with Lauren Betts blocking Madison Booker’s layup attempt with 18 seconds remaining and Texas trailing by just three.

“Oh my God,” said Charlisse Leger-Walker. “Another Lauren Betts specialty.”

After the block, Betts screamed loud enough to be heard from the desert to Westwood. Soon thereafter, her teammates were screaming with her.

“We knew it was going to be a tough, physical game and we knew we had to match that intensity,” said Kiki Rice.

Did they ever.

Defensively, they held Texas star Madison Booker to three baskets off 23 attempts, including an unbelievable 17 straight misses at one point. Their Bruins’ pressure was so intense, Texas took 21 more shots and still lost by seven.

Offensively, four different players scored in double figures while they had 13 assists on 18 baskets. Yeah, they committed 23 turnovers, the most in a Final Four game in 18 years. But who’s counting?

“I want to apologize to all the fans for the rugby match,” said Bruins coach Cori Close.

No apology necessary.

UCLA forward Angela Dugalic blocks a layup attempt by Texas guard Ashton Judd during thier Final Four game Friday in Phoenix.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

The Bruins dominated from the outset, holding Texas to a season-low six points in the first quarter as the Longhorns made just three shots. Hampered by their own mistakes, UCLA let Texas stay in the game until scores by Betts, Rice and Jaquez widened the gap to 10 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Texas battled back to within one possession late, but Betts’ block sealed it for a team that has come too far and endured too much to be bothered by even the most furious of comeback attempts. For the record, the mighty Texas team led for all of 54 seconds.

“This is amazing,” said Betts.

There are players on this team that have made four straight trips to the Sweet 16 and consecutive trips to the Final Four. South Carolina knocked the Bruins out during one of those tournaments. They’re well aware it could easily happen again.

But pressure moments Sunday afternoon with the basketball world watching? Bring it on.

“I think in those moments, we’re just so connected that regardless of what the score is, we could have been down 10, we still would have been as connected as if we were up 10,” said Betts, who missed only three of 10 shots and had 11 rebounds. “I’m just really proud of this group. I think it shows the maturity. I know I can count on anybody on this team, regardless of what the score is. We’re going to continue to show up and compete.”

For one more game. For one last time. For forever.

For seven innings on Friday night, the much anticipated college baseball showdown between No. 1 UCLA and rival No. 12 USC, lived up to expectations before an overflow crowd at Jackie Robinson Stadium. There were three home runs, diving catches, two elite starting pitchers competing at a high level and both teams refusing to let the other separate itself.

Then came the bottom of the eighth inning.

“It was one of those weird innings,” UCLA coach John Savage said.

UCLA sent up 12 batters and scored seven runs to turn a tight game into a rout and come away with a 12-4 victory in the first game of a three-game series.

“It’s a cruddy way to end it,” USC coach Andy Stankiewicz said. “We were right there and it went sideways fast.”

UCLA (27-2) took a 5-4 lead in the seventh on an RBI single from Will Gasparino. In the eighth, the Bruins loaded the bases with none out on a walk, hit batter and infield single. Then came a two-run single from Mulvai Levu, an infield single from Roman Martin and a two-run single by Payton Brennan. The inning kept going and going. There was a dropped pop fly in foul territory, a misplayed ball in center that went for a triple by Phoenix Call, wild pitches and walks.

“At the end of the day, it was a very tight game that doesn’t look like a tight game,” Savage said.

USC celebrates a second-inning home run by Andrew Lamb (29).

(Craig Weston)

Two of the top pitchers in the nation, Logan Reddemann of UCLA and Mason Edwards of USC, each gave up home runs and faced challenges from top hitters. Reddemann gave up a two-run home run to Andrew Lamb and a solo home run to Augie Lopez. UCLA scored three earned runs off Edwards, doubling the run total he has given up all season. Martin had a home run.

“I thought you had two premier pitchers against two really good offenses,” Savage said. “They had to fight for every out. Mason is clearly the best pitcher in college baseball the first half of the season. We did a good job making him work.”

UCLA pulled off a rare pick off play when USC stole second with a man on third. Catcher Cashel Dugger did an acting job worthy of an Academy Award throwing the ball hard to Reddemman on the mound, who then got the runner on third leaving the bag.

“I thought it was executed perfectly,” said Miller, the third baseman on the play.

It doesn’t happen often, but UCLA had to find a sign gathering cobwebs in the ticket office to post at the entrance of Jackie Robinson Stadium on Friday night: “Game sold out.”

The same sign will be posted again on Sunday. Some 2,000 people were allowed in.

“I wish the ballpark was bigger,” Savage said.

Tickets were going for more than $100 on the secondary market. The auxiliary bleachers were filled. The UCLA versus USC baseball series hasn’t received this much attention and interest since the days of Rod Dedeaux winning 11 College World Series titles at USC, the last in 1978. Savage won an NCAA title in 2013 and was drawing big crowds in 2010 when future first-round picks Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer pitched UCLA to Omaha.

“We’re a competitive team,” Savage said. “They like challenges. This was a big challenge. USC has played as well as any team in the country. It was two really good teams playing in the first game of a series. The city of Los Angeles was excited. It’s good for Southern California, it’s good for recruiting, it’s good for people to come in and see the talent USC and UCLA have.”

UCLA’s relief pitching continues to be a major strength. Freshman Zach Strickland and sophomore Easton Hawk combined for three hitless innings to finish out the victory. And UCLA didn’t have to use its best reliever this season, Wylan Moss, giving Savage options for the rest of the series.

Gasparino and Brennan each finished with three hits. USC dropped to 27-4.

PHOENIX — You’d be forgiven if you thought this year’s Final Four was just a case of déjà vu.

On paper, that seems true — four No. 1 seeds who have dominated every round of the NCAA tournament arrived in Phoenix this week and they are the same four teams who reached the Final Four last year in Tampa, Fla.

Sustaining that level of success during the modern college basketball era, the four teams insist, isn’t as easy.

Connecticut doesn’t have Paige Bueckers; South Carolina doesn’t have Kamilla Cardoso; and UCLA coach Cori Close and the Bruins have a much different lineup.

“Getting here,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, “is the hard part.”

UCLA coach Close noted during the Sweet 16 that the work to stay competitive in this era is exhausting for coaches, and it’s only getting harder. She will have another rebuild ahead of her immediately after getting to the pinnacle of the sport during back-to-back campaigns.

The Bruins will graduate the majority of its rotation after this season, with all five starters and top bench player Angela Dugalic projected to be WNBA draft picks in April.

Does that make this a make-it-or-break-it year for UCLA?

“I think in the back of our heads, we all know that this is our last go at this,” Bruins senior center Lauren Betts said. “It’s all or nothing for all of us.

”… I think when we do play, especially around this time, you can see throughout March Madness, we come out with a certain level of urgency because it is our last year. I think [Friday], we’re going to come out with that same level of urgency from the very beginning.”

UCLA’s Lauren Betts, left, and Angela Dugalic celebrate during the second half of the Bruins’ Elite Eight win over Duke on Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA senior forward Gabriela Jaquez added, “We’re just fighting for more days with each other at the end of the day.”

While the Bruins will bring back some young talent in Lena Bilic and Sienna Betts and add injured senior Timea Gardiner, they will essentially have to start from scratch. That’s not so unusual in the transfer portal era, where TCU went to the Elite Eight with five starters who transferred into the program.

“It is just brutal,” Close said on Thursday. “It’s a grind and that’s why all four of us should feel really proud that we’re here. That doesn’t make us any less competitive or wanting to win a national championship. But I think it is worth pausing and going, ‘Man, it’s amazing to be in this position, especially two years in a row.’”

To build this team, Close had to get Gianna Kneepkens in the portal, get Charlisse Leger-Walker healthy after transferring last season, coax career-best years out of Kiki Rice and Jaquez, help Lauren Betts come into her own as a defender along with a dominant offensive force and support a player like Dugalic willing to come off the bench.

The other three teams have starters they can build around for years to come. The Gamecocks, arguably the most successful program of the last half-decade-plus, landed Florida State scorer Ta’Niya Latson and Mississippi State center Madina Okot in the portal during the offseason to go along with returners Raven Johnson and Joyce Edwards.

“It’s not going to magically happen,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said, emphasizing strong habits are key.

The Huskies, the defending national champions with a strong recruiting pipeline and unmatched success during Auriemma’s tenure, are somewhat of an abnormality to the changing of the guard in the NCAA. South Carolina has been here for six straight years — with vastly different casts — while Texas hasn’t won a title since 1986 and UCLA never has.

“To do it at the level that the four teams that are here have done at this year, and really consistently, I think all four teams that are here, the only thing harder than building it is sustaining it,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. “When you sustain it at the level that the teams that are here have done it over the period and the course of years, it’s really incredible.

“What it takes to live there year in and year out, it’s hard. I think that’s what Coach [Close] was talking about a couple weeks ago. Man, she wasn’t looking for any sympathy or anything. It’s just a statement, man. It’s hard. Winning at this level is hard. It is.”

It might have seemed like a given that this tournament was going to go chalk, but that doesn’t make anything automatic and it doesn’t mean UCLA will stay at the top of the podium for years to come. UConn went three years between titles, after all.

UCLA coach Cori Close instructs her players during a win over Minnesota in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament on March 27.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

None of the four No. 1 seeds have struggled much in their respective games this tournament. The closest was UCLA’s 70-58 win over Duke, when the Bruins trailed at halftime and came back to win for the first time all season.

But UConn went eight scoreless minutes against Notre Dame in the 70-52 win in the Elite Eight. Texas and South Carolina rolled, and Texas is 16-3 against top 25 teams and has arguably the best momentum of any team left standing.

UCLA might have a path back to this spot after teams have shown how quickly they can rebuild. After all, TCU was in the Elite Eight in consecutive years after having to forfeit games due to lack of players.

But UConn will return Sarah Strong and Blanca Quiñonez, South Carolina has Edwards back and Texas has another year of Madison Booker, and other up-and-coming squads like Michigan and USC will be dangerous.

It might not be the Bruins’ last chance to win the big dance, but it might be their best ever. Getting here, after all, is the hardest part.

“I think success leaves clues for who is next,” Dugalic said. “We’re trying to leave that for the next generation of basketball, to sustain that, to show it is hard. This isn’t a nine-to-five, it’s our lives, and that’s what it takes for everyone to be here.”

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team enters the NCAA regionals on Friday in Corvallis, Ore., focused on three principles — calm, confidence and commitment to one another. The Bruins started leaning on the mantra to help them stay dialed in as they took home the Big Ten tournament title, Mika Webster-Longin said.

Now, they will use it as they to push to reach the NCAA championship.

“The Big Ten win really feels good and helps our confidence going [into NCAA regionals],” she said. “It felt great to put everything together because I feel like we really built off of one another and showed what we can do to not only the Big Ten competition, but to everyone.”

“It gives us just the right amount of confidence going into regionals and then seeing where it takes us,” Tiana Sumanasekera said.

UCLA gymnasts Nola Matthews, left, and Tiana Sumanasekera, right, cheer as Jordan Chiles lands a jump during her floor exercise routine at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

During the NCAA Corvallis Regional, San José State and Washington will face off for spots in the main pool. No. 4 seed UCLA then competes in one of two sessions on Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 13 seed Minnesota, Iowa and the winner of the Spartans versus Huskies early matchup.

If the Bruins place in the top two, they advance to the regional final on Sunday to face the top two teams in the other regional pool that includes No. 5 seed Alabama, No. 12 seed Utah, Denver and host Oregon State.

The top two teams in the regional final along with the top individual all-around performer and top event finishers not on a qualifying team advance to the NCAA championship.

Last year, UCLA finished in first place during its opening regional matchup and second during the finals, advancing to the championship meet.

The Bruins’ biggest takeaway from last season’s competition has been to be intentional, attack their gymnastics and be aggressive with their routines, UCLA coach Janelle McDonald said.

“The best teams that have the most success at these competitions are the ones that really leave no doubt out there,” she said.

At this point in the season, performing a familiar routine isn’t hard for UCLA. The Bruins’ main focus is on nailing details and to be present during every moment of their routines to score every possible point. With a two-day competition waiting for them in Corvallis, the Bruins also need to make sure they commit to recovery treatment so that they’re as sharp as possible for the second day of competition, McDonald said.

“That’s really been our mentality, be really efficient, very confident, very present and intentional about what we’re doing,” she said.

The stakes are higher, but the conference champions say they will treat this as business as usual. The Bruins want to lock in and highlight the areas that have helped them demonstrate competitive greatness throughout the season.

“Each and every weekend we’re building that mentality,” McDonald said. “We have so many experiences under our belt that we’ve learned from.”

Sumanasekera said hard work all season has helped prepare the team for the test it faces this weekend.

“We’re really excited, we have incredible depth on this team, so I think that really helped us in the long run,” she said.

UCLA teammates cheer as gymnast Jordan Chiles completes her floor routine during the Big Four competition at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 27.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

Webster-Longin experienced the postseason last year as a freshman. This year, she had a late start due to an illness that kept her out for three meets.

Since returning on Feb. 27, she has competed in all-around events during the last three meets and has improved her scores each week.

That was the moment Webster-Longin remembered just how competitively great she is, McDonald said.

“I’ve seen the details become more consistent, and I’ve just seen her just be excited to go out and help the team in any way they need,” McDonald said, “And boy, has she done just that.”

Webster-Longin was asked to fill in as an emergency injury replacement during her first meet of the season and has figured out how to be successful whenever she’s placed in the lineup.

“At least for me, trusting the work I put in this year and even the experience I’ve had last year helped me be able to step up for those pressure situations and important moments,” she said.

Alipio has turned the page

UCLA gymnast Ciena Alipio celebrates after competing on the uneven bars during the Big Four meet at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 27.

(Katharine Lotze / Getty Images)

During the Big Ten championship, Ciena Alipio fell during her balance beam routine. It was a moment when she was looking forward to doing her best, McDonald said, but Alipio didn’t have the result she wanted. Instead, it was a great lesson for her to learn — mistakes happen.

“She’s just really been able to turn the page and get back into training,” she added. “She’s had a great week of training. She looked phenomenal and just really dialed in and it kind of put those kinds of mistakes behind you.”

UCLA football coach Bob Chesney wasn’t looking for star performances during the Bruins’ first spring practice on Thursday — instead, he wanted his players to focus on holding themselves accountable for putting in their best effort.

“We talk about the mirror test. Don’t worry about what your coach says, don’t worry about what your other teammates say,” Chesney said. “Go look at yourself in the mirror. That’s really the only guy that’s gonna know, right?”

There was excitement and intensity but perfection wasn’t expected. For the new head coach, it was about whether the fundamentals UCLA worked on throughout the winter carried over, he said.

“While I watch it out here, the things that don’t take skill, the things that don’t take great genetics, were the things I wanted to focus on today more than anything — the effort,” Chesney said.

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava stretches with teammates at Spaulding Field on Thursday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

“We’ll go and watch the film and figure the rest of it out, but I didn’t think it was a bad day.”

Chesney said he plans to build on each practice, and his coaching staff will set a standard that trickles down to the players. He said there will always be something to improve and something to build toward.

Ta’Shawn James, a defensive back who transferred from Iowa to UCLA, showed strength during drills — an encouraging sign early in his progression.

“It’s Day 1, it’s the first time we’re running at full speed, it’s the first time we’re out here seeing people redirecting, what his makeup speed looks like,” Chesney said. “When he makes a mistake, how quickly can he recover? What’s his range in the open field? What’s the speed differential? All those things are things we’re looking through on just about everybody out there.”

Running back Wayne Knight followed Chesney from James Madison and adds to an already gritty running back group that could become one of the team’s deepest units.

“Not to name names, but they are all physical, they’re all downhill players. They protect the football well. What their bodies look like is phenomenal,” Chesney said. “ … There’s some stuff in that room that’s just a little bit different right now, so we got to keep them healthy, keep them playing downhill and doing what they do.”

At right tackle, the competition is wide open.

“A lot of guys, we’re not really at a spot to just nail that down just yet. Give me a couple more days on it. But, right now, there’s a lot of guys rotating through a lot of different places,” Chesney said.

As spring practice gets started, it is not about individuality, Chesney said, but about identifying and correcting mistakes.

“Dwelling on the past, if it was bad, is not gonna get you anywhere. Getting too high in the successful moments isn’t gonna get you anywhere,” he said.

Chesney wants his squad to play without any limitations or hesitations.

“You set these standards, you live by these standards, you hold them accountable to these standards, not only the coaches and the players, but everybody that’s part of this program.

UCLA coach Bob Chesney leads the Bruins through their first spring football workouts on Thursday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

“That starts to build trust within the team,” he added.

UCLA’s social media accounts highlighted Chesney’s efforts all offseason to preach personal accountability and serving others, doling out a mix of John Wooden and Ted Lasso life lessons.

Chesney reiterated at the start of the next chapter — spring football workouts — that he wants his players to keep pushing to be great people. If they expect to be successful on the field, Chesney argues, they must first be successful off it.

“You can only be one degree of separation from how you’re living your life,” he said. “… We don’t have any bad guys that are bad students, that are bad teammates, we don’t have any of that, we have really good guys so they have a chance to be great at football.”

Alum donates $10 million

UCLA alumnus Angelo Mazzone III committed $10 million to the football program to help maintain the infrastructure needed to compete at the highest levels.

“For him to be as generous as he is and willing to help us with that, I think that’s a big deal,” Chesney said. “It talks about just the investment and the belief people have in this program at this current moment and rightfully so.”

SACRAMENTO — While the UCLA women’s basketball team has a veteran roster that was in this exact position a season ago, the Bruins have an entirely different vibe during their current postseason run.

The No. 1-seed Bruins (34-1) will face No. 3-seed Duke (27-8) in the Elite Eight on Sunday for the chance to go back to the Final Four a year after UCLA beat Louisiana State to reach the Final Four before immediately suffering a blowout loss to eventual national champion UConn.

This year, they expect something different, in large part because of an upgraded starting lineup.

A tangible difference is the addition of Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens. Each was the top scorer on their former squads — Washington State and Utah, respectively — and have taken on drastically different roles as arguably the fourth and fifth pieces of this Bruins team.

Charlisse Leger-Walker hits a reverse layup in front of Minnesota’s Grace Grocholski during the tournament on Friday in Sacramento.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“It’s huge we have them,” said senior Gabriela Jaquez, who has spent her entire NCAA career with the Bruins. “They’re perfect fits here. Charlisse as a point guard has been great, and then just being a guard out there, a ready shooter, doing whatever we need, and obviously them being able to defend is really great for our team.”

With the Cougars, Leger-Walker averaged double-digit scoring and more than 10 shots per game in every season. With the Bruins, her production has dropped to 8.7 points per game on 7.1 shots.

Where she has improved, though, is a career-high 5.7 assists per contest.

“I look at the talent we have, especially on the offensive end, there are a lot of times where I don’t have to shoot and force some of the shots that I would have to back at Washington State,” she said. “I’ve always been able to facilitate and be that connector, but this is the role I am needed in the most here.”

Kneepkens was the Utes’ top shooting option and Pac-12 freshman of the year. There, she was relied on as the team’s top three-point shooter, and after Alissa Pili left, their top scorer overall.

During her graduate season, she has taken a significant reduction in shots per game, going from 12.3 field goals per game to 9.4.

“I think it tells you what their ‘why’ is, what their purpose is, why they came here,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “It wasn’t to get their own stats. It was to be a part of something bigger than themselves.”

On a night where neither of them did much shooting against Minnesota, though, it was their defensive length that made a significant difference against a physical Golden Gophers team. It was the kind of defense they could not have played a year ago with Londynn Jones, who transferred to USC, in the spot Leger-Walker now occupies and Angela Dugalic starting rather than providing invaluable depth coming off the bench.

UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens dribbles under pressure from Oklahoma State forward Achol Akot during an NCAA tournament game at Pauley Pavilion on March 23.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Offensively, Leger-Walker’s presence has given the Bruins more options to score from throughout the floor. Known as a three-point threat at Washington State, she needs to be guarded on the perimeter but also not be left to connect to other open players.

“But I think Charlisse, specifically, is one of the best processing point guards I’ve ever been around,” Close said. “Her ability to understand how rotations are happening in the second line, what’s the next play and if she makes one mistake, boy, she’s not making it a second time. … Having Charlisse on our team has freed Kiki [Rice] up in some ways and vice versa. So that’s been really fun to see.”

Rice has played more of a shooting guard role this season with Leger-Walker taking over at point guard, which has opened her up to shoot more and drive to the hoop without facilitating as often.

That freedom has given Rice her best offense season yet.

“[Leger-Walker’s] basketball IQ is insane,” Rice said. “She gets buckets, she defends super well, she does it all for us. She’s selfless, and she kind of knows when to take over. I’m grateful we’ve had her this year.”

Close said that Kneepkens played one of her best defensive games in the win over Minnesota, but that her length playing as a wing has opened up the UCLA defense to guard the perimeter all season.

“It’s just learning to play with great players,” Kneepkens said. “If that’s finding them when they’re open, then I’ll do that. Or if I need to take my shot, I’ll do that too.”

UCLA’s biggest wins have featured dominant performances from Lauren Betts and generally, its other bigs — Sienna Betts and Dugalic — playing at their best.

But the true depth of the Bruins has come from having long guards who can defend and change up what they need to do in any given matchup. They might be the difference going into the toughest parts of the tournament.

“Coming to a program also where you are surrounded by elite players, and at the end of the day we want to win and be a part of a program that can do that,” Leger-Walker said. “Whatever that role is that we have to adjust to throughout the season, I think, we really bought into that.”

SACRAMENTO — When the confetti dropped after the final buzzer, the UCLA women’s basketball team was dancing.

Lauren Betts and Charlisse Leger-Walker looked at each other as Tate McRae’s “Just Keep Watching” played, then Gabriela Jaquez, from across the court, locked eyes and raced to join them in time.

It was time, once again, for the Bruins to celebrate by performing their dance routine. This time, No. 1 UCLA also answered a key question during its Final Four-clinching 70-58 win over No. 3 Duke.

Yes, the Bruins (35-1), barely challenged all season and always dancing and smiling, could actually deal with adversity after all.

UCLA earned its second straight Final Four berth despite trailing at halftime for the second time all season and coming from behind to win while down in the second half for the first time.

They will face the winner of Monday’s game between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Michigan.

“That was definitely adversity,” said Gianna Kneepkens, who scored seven points. “We regrouped, and the way we were talking to each other gives me so much confidence.”

UCLA trailed Duke 39-31 at the half after missing all four three-point attempts and committing 12 turnovers.

UCLA center Lauren Betts drives to the basket over Duke forward Toby Fournier in the first half of the Bruins’ win in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA tournament Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“We really didn’t execute our game plan very well,” UCLA coach Cori Close said of the first half. “We didn’t control rebounds. We weren’t the aggressors in creating catches. We didn’t go strong to the rim and execute our stuff.”

But they turned on the aggression early in the third quarter, taking deeper shots and forcing three jump-balls and four turnovers as the Bruins rallied from a deficit in the second half for the first time all season. UCLA outscored Duke 20-8 in the third quarter.

“We were really reactive in that first half and let the game come to us,” said Leger-Walker, who finished with five points and six assists. “We let them dictate what was going on out there. It’s not how we’ve played in the season, when we’ve been up and feeling good. So, you know, we could feel that coming into halftime, and we all kind of took a breath, reset, and a lot of that was on the defensive side.”

Betts was also activated late, with 15 of her 23 points and eight of her 10 rebounds coming in the second half while she matched a season high five blocks.

“I was pretty mad,” Betts said of her emotions at halftime. “I just didn’t like how that first half happened. I know that I could have been a lot more aggressive. I think going into a game like this, sometimes you just take yourself out of your head and you realize, oh, this is the Elite Eight and my season is on the line. So I’ve got to wake up a little bit. Going into the locker room, I was just pretty certain that I wanted to win this game.”

Angela Dugalic shot four of eight with four rebounds and two steals in the second half and was the catalyst for many big moments, including a buzzer-beating floater to end the third quarter and a lead-extending layup and free throw off an offensive rebound to create separation in the fourth. She finished with 15 points off the bench.

Dugalic and the other veterans led a halftime conversation before Close came into the locker room.

“When Cori came in, she was super steady, and I think that gave us a sense of calm,” Dugalic said. “We still were pretty neutral. We understood that the first half wasn’t a good representation of how we want to play basketball. But Cori came in and what she said right now is, like, ‘How do we stick back to our values and stay neutral, focus on next-play speed?’”

Duke forward Delaney Thomas, left, tries to draw a foul against UCLA forward Angela Dugalic during the first half Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Duke (27-9) scored 18 points off the Bruins’ 18 turnovers, tied for the most UCLA has committed all season. Twelve of them came in the first half. But UCLA turned it around in the second half with 18 points off 13 Duke turnovers.

The Blue Devils entered the game limiting opponents to 26.8% from three-point range, ranking 15th nationally, and aggressively challenged the Bruins’ offense. UCLA responded by becoming one dimensional, solely trying to get the ball to Betts in the post.

But Gabriela Jaquez, who finished with nine points and five rebounds, hit a three-pointer early in the third quarter to get UCLA back within five, and Duke missed six consecutive shots while the Bruins narrowed the gap. Toby Fournier (10 points) also committed her third foul early in the quarter, forcing the Blue Devils’ center off the floor.

Both offenses stalled for a period in the third quarter, but consecutive Duke turnovers led to a Leger-Walker fast-break layup and a Kneepkens three-pointer for UCLA’s first lead since the opening seconds of the game.

Duke didn’t score for 5:40 during the third quarter until Taina Mair (team-high 21 points) made a free throw with 32 seconds remaining. The eight Blue Devils’ points were tied for the fewest they’ve scored in a quarter this season.

“You can only learn from moments like this, which is a really positive thing,” said Leger-Walker, with one piece of the NCAA tournament net tied to her Final Four hat. “Definitely not something we want to have as a pattern, though.”

The Bruins held the ball with the clock running down, and Leger-Walker dribbled it to around the top of the three-point line and stopped. Her teammates surrounded her and the group huddled around each other as time expired.

“I just said, ‘I love you guys,’” Betts said of the moment. “That was it. I said, ‘I love you guys.’”

They’ll dance on down to Phoenix next, looking not to avenge the Final Four defeat to UConn a year ago, but ready to prove they have grown to be a championship team.

“Now we really know what it takes to build a rally too,” Rice said.

UCLA center Lauren Betts holds up a piece of the net after the Bruins’ win over Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament Sunday.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

SACRAMENTO — The team that can’t stop dancing won’t stop dancing.

The top-seeded UCLA women’s basketball team beat Duke 70-58 in the Elite Eight. It wasn’t balletic, but beautiful.

Sunday’s game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento wasn’t a fun, free-flowing joy ride that so many of the Bruins’ wins have been this season.

It was a rattling, teeth-gritting, heart-thumping roller-coaster ride — weeeeee!

The Bruins weren’t having fun, exactly. They were having the time of their lives.

And in the end, they shoved their way to the front of the stage — and back to the Final Four.

Now the TikTok countdown is on before final exams in Phoenix, where redemption and legacy and a rematch await with either winner of the No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Michigan tussle in the Fort Worth Regional final.

And any questions — ahem, mine — about how the barely-battled-tested boogie-down Bruins respond to a significant stress test were answered.

The Bruins are built for this.

They’re not just talented. And they’re not just talented dancers (and postgame, Lauren Betts, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gabriela Jaquez reprised the routine that went viral when they did it with the UCLA Dance Team during halftime of a men’s game this season).

They’re tough. And they’re locked in.

And unlike last season, when their program’s Final Four debut ended in a 85-51 national semifinal blowout loss to eventual champion Connecticut, they’re ready for what comes next.

They let us know in the second half Sunday.

Duke came floating in, still buzzing from Friday’s buzzer-beater in the Sweet 16. That slow-motion-in-real-time three-pointer by Ashlon Jackson that rolled around and around the rim as though the basketball gods needed just a little more time to determine UCLA’s opponent Sunday.

UCLA’s Lauren Betts, left, Gabriela Jaquez celebrate after the Bruins defeated Duke on Sunday to advance to the Final Four.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

It was to be Duke, who proved a dangerous No. 3 seed. The Bruins weren’t prepared for the Blue Devils to be so prepared for them, trailing at the break for just the second time this season. The first time was in November against Texas, when the Bruins — now a program-record 35-1 — suffered their only loss this season.

Still their only loss.

Even a fool could read the determination on the Bruins’ faces as they roared back from a 39-31 halftime deficit; they’d come so far together, but they so badly wanted to go further.

No one was ready to get off the ride, not least the six seniors who played the entirety of the second half, seizing momentum and the moment and hitting the Blue Devils (27-9) with a white-knuckled flurry of activity.

“Compliment them,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said, “for turning up their defensive intensity.”

There were 50-50 balls in name only, because UCLA seemed to be winning 100% of them.

UCLA players were ripping away passes. They were diving all over the floor and were all over the boards. They ratcheted up the intensity so much it spread into the stands, where the largely pro-Bruins crowd of 9,627 cheered deliriously.

Shots started falling. Turnovers stopped cascading. UCLA found its rhythm.

And UCLA’s 6-foot-7 star center Betts did what she does, with 15 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in the second half, of which she played all 20 minutes.

“I was just pretty mad,” she said. “You know, my senior season is on the line, so I kind of got to wake up a little bit.”

Angela Dugalic continued to be the matchup nightmare she has been all March; the 6-4 sixth woman scored 15 timely points to take some pressure off Betts.

UCLA coach Cori Close watches play during the Bruins’ win over Duke on Sunday.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“I’m just so proud of her,” Betts said. “The confidence and her poise … you could get in your head in moments when we’re down … but she did all the right things and what we needed at the time.”

It was an entertaining Elite Eight clash that was brought to you by two coaches who staged, like up-and-coming chefs, under two of the greatest leaders the sports world has known.

UCLA coach Cori Close and Lawson committed to making sure we won’t lose John Wooden’s and Pat Summitt’s recipes — never mind all the seismic, disorienting shifts happening in college sports.

A former Tennessee star, Lawson brings Summitt’s brand crackling intensity to Duke, a mindset that she’s said calls for supreme confidence, chasing excellence and holding oneself to an all-around standard of success.

UCLA’s bench was uplifted all season by Close’s warm intentionality, learned from years of mentorship from Wooden. The main ingredients, she’ll tell you, requiring a dollop of growth, gratitude, of giving and not taking.

“[Our] team culture is not this nebulous thing or phrases on a wall,” Close said. “It’s a group of people that are willing to be committed to the hard, right behaviors over and over again. I cannot tell you how many times throughout that game we referred to our values, who we are, what our identity was, what we had to get back to.

“… I’m just really humbled and thankful to be a part of a team and staff that cares about things from the inside out. What you saw on the court is a reflection and a byproduct of what’s happened on the inside.”

SACRAMENTO — Cori Close’s candid remarks about the growing challenges of coaching in modern college athletics sparked a reaction nationwide among her peers.

On Thursday, the UCLA women’s basketball coach was asked about the rapid changes shaping college sports ahead of her Bruins’ Sweet 16 matchup against Minnesota on Friday night. The No. 1-seeded Bruins (33-1) entered the Sweet 16 round considered a strong Final Four contender, powered by one of the deepest starting lineups in the nation.

“I’ve never been as tired as I’ve been in the last two years, and it’s made me think how much longer I can do this,” Close said. “And I’m just being transparent with you about that. There are so many things that are harder, and we keep losing incredible people on the men’s and the women’s side.”

UCLA has dominated throughout the season, entering the Sweet 16 on a 27-game winning streak that dates to late November. Three starters — Lauren Betts, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens — began their college careers elsewhere before transferring into the program.

“How do we now figure out this transfer portal? Let’s not complain about it,” Close said. “Let’s have solutions about what’s right and what adjustments need to be made. … I’m a huge advocate for NIL. It should have happened 20 years ago. And we need boundaries. We need infrastructure. We need competitive equity. We need transparency.”

In contrast, Louisville coach Jeff Walz offered a more critical perspective when addressing the same topic during a NCAA news conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice points across the court while talking with Bruins coach Cori Close during an NCAA tournament win over California Baptist at Pauley Pavilion on March 21.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“I’m friends with Cori,” Walz said. “My favorite line, I would tell her, if you don’t like your job, find a new job. I mean, I’m listening this morning at 4:20 as the workers outside my window at the hotel in the street are working. I mean, you choose your profession. If you don’t like it, find a new profession.”

No. 3-seeded Louisville will face No. 2 Michigan on Saturday after falling short against Duke in the ACC championship game.

Close, who has spent 33 years in coaching, including 15 at UCLA, has navigated an evolving landscape shaped by name, image and likeness compensation policies and the transfer portal, just like everyone else. Last season, she earned national coach of the year and led the Bruins to the program’s first Final Four. UCLA has now reached at least the Sweet 16 during four consecutive seasons and eight times during Close’s tenure in Westwood.

This year, the Bruins swept through Big Ten play undefeated and once again secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

“I mean, of course, it’s a lot of work, but we chose to do it and we get compensated for it,” Walz said. “I don’t think anybody is going to feel too sorry for us that you might be tired. I’m tired, too, but who is not?”

Several longtime coaches have stepped away from the game in recent years, amid, though not always directly attributed to, the sport’s ongoing transformation. Hall of Fame Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer retired in 2025, while Georgia Tech’s Nell Fortner, Iowa’s Lisa Bluder and Harvard’s Kathy Delaney-Smith stepped down during the past three seasons.

“It’s ever-changing, and that’s the frustrating part, because you can never get a grasp on any of it,” Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks said. “You think that you have it. Then all of a sudden, it’s like somebody pulls a rug out and says, ‘No, we’re changing it,’ and now it’s going to be this way now. We want to get out ahead of everything, but we can’t. We always seem like we’re one step behind because there are so many changes.”

Ultimately, Close’s message centered on the need for structural support in a rapidly shifting environment.

“If there’s one thing I would ask of our governing bodies and the NCAA and our administrations is please develop infrastructure and boundaries that create an opportunity to have sustained excellence and sustainable pace,” she said. “Otherwise, we are going to continue to lose some of our best coaches, and I do not think our game can afford to do that.”

Lauren Betts arrived at UCLA unsure she could continue playing college basketball.

After a turbulent freshman season at Stanford almost took her out of the game entirely, she joined rising stars Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice in Westwood.

Betts blossomed in three seasons as a Bruin, but none of her games were as special as the final one she played at Pauley Pavilion. During a second-round NCAA tournament win over Oklahoma State on Monday that at times was closer than many expected, Betts dropped a career-high 35 points and nine rebounds to lead UCLA to the Sweet 16.

“This community, the minute that I transferred over here, has just welcomed me with open arms,” Betts said. “The fans have just been so supportive of me through my entire journey, through my mental challenges, through just basketball, everything. I feel like I’ve grown so much, and they have really taken care of me here.

“It’s not even about basketball to me at this point. Like the people, like Coach Cori [Close] said, that we’ve been able to affect and just the difference that we’ve made, I think has been huge. And so for me, like, just to see all the people waving at us at the end of the game was really special.”

Betts wrote about her journey to joy on March 9 in The Players Tribune, the second time she has spoken or written in detail about her battle with depression and thoughts of taking her own life. She has become well known for not being afraid to be honest about her mental health challenges and being an advocate for those in need of support. It has endeared her to the UCLA community that’s embraced her, along with her teammates.

She wrote that her transparency about suicidal thoughts and an ensuing hospital stay midway through her sophomore season, first with her UCLA teammates, felt like a release from all the anxiety and self doubt that hounded her as she tried to live up to expectations at Stanford and UCLA.

“I want people to know that I’m doing better,” Betts wrote. “But I also want to be very realistic. My mental health isn’t perfect. It’s an ongoing project.”

UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, and teammate Charlisse Leger-Walker laugh together on the bench during Monday’s NCAA tournament game against Oklahoma State.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Her teammates are in awe of her efforts to be the best person she can on and off the floor.

“She makes everyone better not just because of the basketball player she is, but the leader she is,” said Gianna Kneepkens, a graduate student who transferred from Utah to UCLA. “She challenges us, she pushes us, she just wants what’s best for the team. When people are getting tripled, she’s not worried about, ‘Oh, like, can I get the points?’ She’s seeing who is open so that we can score. So I just have had such a great time playing with Lauren and she’s one of the biggest reasons I came here.”

During the Oklahoma State win, UCLA led from wire to wire. But the Cowgirls outscored the Bruins in the second half and the Bruins’ shooting fizzled out during a tense third quarter. Betts, however, didn’t falter.

Her 35 points came in just 34 minutes. She was 15 of 19 from the field and nearly reached a double-double with nine rebounds.

Betts had long established herself as one of the best players in the country, but she doesn’t lead the nation in scoring, in part, because UCLA is a balanced team with many scoring options. Her performance against Oklahoma State was a reminder that she is still the Bruins’ most formidable player and remains the heart of the program’s push to win a national championship.

“That [scoring is] always in her bag,” Jaquez said. “Maybe some nights she passes more, but that’s just what makes her so special. She’s going to win 99% of her matchups.”

UCLA’s offense runs through its star center even with some of the best shooters in the country. Their starting lineup spaces the floor, with former Washington State leading scorer Charlisse Leger-Walker as a fifth option.

“She puts a lot of pressure on herself a lot of the time and always blames herself when she shouldn’t be and no one else is thinking that way,” Leger-Walker said of Betts. “And I think over this past year, she’s really been working on trying to not do that so she can be the best she can for this team. We obviously need her to be confident, just being able to trust herself, because that is what is going to make our team so much better.”

UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots the ball during the Bruins’ NCAA tournament win over Oklahoma State at Pauley Pavilion on Monday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

There are games that often belong to someone else. Jaquez has turned in big games this season and Rice was the Big Ten tournament most outstanding player. The Bruins have featured six different leading scorers across all games this season.

But it still always comes back to Betts, who has been UCLA’s top scorer a team high 14 times.

“Lauren is one of those players that is always so dominant,” Leger-Walker said after the win over Oklahoma State. “I didn’t even know until she came out that she had 30-something [points.] I was like, ‘Yeah, what the heck?’ That’s just her, you know, she’s a bucket. And she’s gonna always be dominant in that fashion and she is just such an impact player for this team.”

Betts’ 27 minutes, 17.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game are slightly down from last season. Her 3.2 assists per game are slightly up. Her role, like many other UCLA players, has evolved to fit the star-studded lineup.

In the same way Leger-Walker went from a three-point sniper to a point guard or Rice went from a distributor to a shooter and Jaquez from a hoop driver to a three-level scorer, Betts transformed from a post-up only scorer to the conductor of the Bruins’ office in the middle of the floor.

“She anchors us on both ends, down in the paint, especially defensively,” Rice said. “Her ability to switch out on guards and play on the perimeter and help us out is really, really big. And obviously offensively, she’s such a big offensive player.”

If the Bruins do win a national title, it’ll be on the back of their star. Sure, UCLA is a team full of them, but Betts is still, as Jaquez describes her, “that girl.”

For one last run, Betts can be that for a community and team where she’s found not just acceptance, but true celebration.

“I think she’s found a really deep purpose,” Close said. “And when you can use your pain for great purpose and other centeredness to have an incredible legacy in the lives of others, that’s an incredible gift. But it’s a gift that she’s worked really, really hard for.”

SACRAMENTO — The UCLA women’s basketball team hasn’t lost a game in 120 days. In that time, the Bruins have outscored opponents by a total of 806 points and just one other school — UConn — has gone without a loss during the same stretch.

Yet somehow, the No. 1 seed in the Sacramento 2 region of the NCAA tournament hasn’t captured the same momentum and praise as the other three top seeds who have muscled their way into the Sweet 16.

UCLA (33-1) will play No. 4 Minnesota (24-8) at 4:30 p.m. PDT Friday in Sacramento. The game will air on ESPN. Entering the matchup, is UCLA’s less dominant NCAA tournament run a cause for concern? Or is a win a win when it comes to March?

“Each game is going to present different adversity points,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “And I think that we don’t look at it as getting back to something. We look at it as everything is a learning opportunity. ‘What does that teach us? How does that make us better? What kinds of things do we need to tighten up?’”

UCLA forwards Angela Dugalic and Gabriela Jaquez double team California Baptist guard Filipa Barros during the first round of the NCAA tournament at Pauley Pavilion on March 21.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

As the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, UCLA is on a projected collision course with the top overall seed, undefeated UConn, on the other side of the bracket.

But the Bruins, who have lost just once this year, also might have to hit another gear to get to to beat formidable teams still in the tournament field.

UCLA punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament with a Big Ten title game win over Iowa by 51 points. Since then, the Bruins haven’t achieved that kind of dominance even against lesser opponents.

Iowa, which flamed out to No. 10 seed Virginia in the second round last week, could have simply been less prepared than other NCAA tournament teams. But the Bruins do acknowledge they also have room to improve.

“I think we’re a really steady team, and obviously we’re gonna do whatever we can to win, and it changes every game, because of different teams,” said graduate forward Angela Dugalic. “But at the same time, I do feel like I have more to give, and that’s not a bad thing.”

UCLA defeated No. 16 seed California Baptist 96-43 before an 87-68 win against No. 8 seed Oklahoma State, leading the Cowgirls wire-to-wire but getitng outscored in the second half. The Bruins led the Lancers by just 10 points at the half of the first-round contest.

A 19-point win is a dominant showing for any team, but with the rest of the No. 1 seeds winning by at least 40 points, has UCLA shown that it is at the same level?

“I don’t really look at it that way from those two games,” Close said. “I just think everything is measuring ourselves against the championship standards that we’ve set, and those are process standards. And so if we fall short in an area, it’s how we get back to what we know how to do and what’s under our control.”

UCLA guard Kiki Rice points across the court while talking with coach Cori Close during an NCAA tournament game against California Baptist on March 21 at Pauley Pavilion.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

UCLA has the second-largest spread among the No. 1 seeds entering the Sweet 16 round, with oddsmakers favoring the Bruins to beat Minnesota by 18.5 points. UConn leads all teams as a 27.5-point favorite to beat No. 4 seed North Carolina. The Bruins haven’t won a game by fewer than 10 points since a 69-66 overtime victory over Ohio State on Feb. 8.

Minnesota has the ninth-best NET of remaining teams, which is better than the other teams matched up against No. 1 seeds (North Carolina is 19th, Oklahoma is 13th and Kentucky is 16th).

During UCLA’s 76-58 win over Minnesota in January, Kiki Rice scored a season-high 25 points. Since then, the Gophers have gone 12-4 while winning games by an average just under nine points while UCLA has gone 17-0 with an average margin of victory of 26.9.

“No team is perfect ever,” UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens said. “So I think [we’re] just making sure that we know what to do, and we know what it takes to be our best. So just making sure we can do that 40 minutes every game is going to be the thing we take away [from the first and second rounds.]”

Since UCLA beat Minnesota, the Gophers took down No. 5 seed Ole Miss, a team that many picked as a tournament sleeper and shot 46.2% from the field during the season.

“They’ve gotten better, but so have we and once the postseason comes, the best teams, the most successful teams, they find ways to just continue to get better,” Rice said. “To stay true to that process, but to take it up to a next level. Because at this time of the year, it’s do or die, and you gotta compete really hard.”

UCLA’s 28.6 average margin of victory is fifth in the country behind the tournament’s other No. 1 seeds and No. 2 seed LSU, a team the Bruins might face Sunday in the Elite Eight.

LSU, the highest-scoring team in the nation, faces No. 3 Duke on Friday night. If UCLA and LSU win, it would set up the third consecutive season they have met in the NCAA tournament. UCLA won the matchup last season 72-65 to get to the Final Four, while the Tigers upset the Bruins in the 2024 Sweet 16 en route to a national title.

The Bruins dominated Duke back in November, earning an 89-59 win immediately after their sole loss of the season to Texas. Gabriela Jaquez took over that game with 23 points.

But March tests are far more challenging that anything the Bruins have faced to date. The veteran UCLA team is confident it can keep evolving as it chases a national title.

“I think [improving] just requires us to take things to a different place and be more aggressive and dictate in all aspects,” Dugalic said. “That’s the beauty of it, we can get there.”

Absolutely, this is the best team in UCLA women’s basketball history.

Not the best team in the country this year, but truly a testament to teamwork and hard work and talent retention.

Whether UCLA wins it all this season or not, the Bruins are the envy of teams everywhere, including Oklahoma State, whose season they ended with an 87-68 second-round victory Monday. Afterward, UCLA’s six seniors joined their teammates in one last victory lap around the court, waving to fans, soaking in the adoration, on their way to the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive season.

“Seeing a team who gets to host, a team who has stayed together, for the most part, they get to experience all the things that all of us want, and that is so incredibly rare and hard and special,” Oklahoma State coach Jacie Hoyt said.

But how much further those things will take these Bruins in the NCAA tournament after they fought off Oklahoma State?

Maybe all the way, but maybe not.

The road ahead is treacherous. And the Bruins aren’t barreling toward it with the same momentum as the teams they’re likely to face. This deep UCLA team will need to dig even deeper.

They will have Lauren Betts, though, and no one else will. UCLA’s great 6-foot-7 center and cheat code saved the day Monday, scoring 21 of her career-high 35 points in the second half, when the Bruins got tight and the Cowgirls got closer.

Not close, but closer. Much closer than UCLA’s fellow top seeds’ opponents did.

UConn beat ninth-seeded Syracuse 98-45 in a second-round game that featured a killer 31-0 run by the defending champion Huskies.

South Carolina dismissed ninth-seeded USC, 101-61.

Texas blew out eighth-seeded Oregon like a candle, 100-58, on Sunday.

Even the second-seeded Louisiana State Tigers — likely UCLA’s Elite Eight date if both teams win their way to a third consecutive NCAA tournament meeting — got in on the demolition derby Sunday. They routed seventh-seeded Texas Tech 101-47 while setting an NCAA record by scoring 100 points in their 16th game this season.

But this is not a tournament that takes into account point differential. So no harm and no foul when it comes to the scores of the Bruins’ first two wins — and the first round against California Baptist turned into a rout, 96-43, after the Bruins woke up and outscored their guests 52-9 in the second half.

What might matter is that while UConn and South Carolina, Texas and LSU delivered their best spirit- and soul- and confidence-crushing blowouts, the Lancers and the Cowgirls left Pauley Pavilion feeling good about themselves.

The 16th-seeded Lancers can tout that they trailed a top seed by just 10 at halftime. The eighth-seeded Cowgirls (24-10) can crow about outscoring the Bruins 42-41 in the second half.

“UCLA has lost one game all season, right? The majority of those wins were blowouts, like, real blowouts, and it would have been really easy for us to fold after that first quarter,” said Hoyt, referencing the fact that UCLA beat teams by an average of 28.9 points per game this season, fourth-best in the nation.

“But we never did. They were tough and had a resilience and a grit to them that I was really proud to coach.”

That the Bruins (33-1) couldn’t put more significant distance between themselves and a physical Cowgirls team posed some questions about why adjustments didn’t come quick enough, UCLA coach Cori Close said, taking accountability for her part of that. She also saw her players start to let calls and miscommunications frustrate them: “I didn’t think our next-play speed was as good as it has been, and it affects you,” she said.

UCLA coach Cori Close waves to the crowd after Monday’s win over Oklahoma State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

That doesn’t inspire additional confidence in the Bruins’ path forward. It’s a thorny gauntlet created by seeding rules that bar conference opponents from playing in the Elite Eight — and that could require UCLA, as the No. 2 overall seed, to beat three of the top-five seeded teams if it’s going to win a national championship for the first time since the Bruins won the AIAW title in 1978.

Close hasn’t quibbled with her team’s seeding despite its impressive 31-1 regular-season record against a loaded schedule. But she said Monday she doesn’t like the route that’s been drawn up for her team.

In Sacramento on Friday, the Bruins will play Minnesota, a familiar foe from the Big Ten — one of a dozen conference teams that earned NCAA tournament bids — whom they defeated 76-58 on Jan. 14.

But after that, to reach the championship game the No. 2 team in the nation could meet LSU (the fifth overall seed in the tournament), followed possibly by Texas (No. 3 overall). And then, of course, they’d likely meet No. 1, undefeated UConn in the final, where the Huskies would be trying to win a second consecutive title.

An unenviable assignment, even for a team that seems to have it all.

“You know what does bother me?” Close said. “That the No. 1 and No. 2 overall seeds are not being rewarded because of a guideline that you can’t play a person in your conference in the regional finals. That is an antiquated, poor rule that advantages the wrong teams and the people who haven’t done the work.”

But on Monday, while saying a victorious goodbye to Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins were still mostly unbothered.

“I told ‘em in the locker room,” Close said, “we can talk about your wins and losses all day, but that will always pale in comparison to the way that you’ve affected this community, the way that you’ve touched people’s hearts, the way that you’ve grown as young women.”

UCLA women advance

From Marisa Ingemi: There were always going to be tears. In the final game at Pauley Pavilion for six UCLA seniors, it was going to be a stunning defeat or a cathartic release before the next step in the NCAA tournament mission.

It was the latter, as the decorated group of Bruins took their final stroll around the perimeter of the court and waved to the fans, tears glistening and smiles wide.

The top-seeded Bruins led wire-to-wire, beating No. 8-seed Oklahoma State 87-68 in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion to advance to the Sweet 16. The Bruins will face No. 4 seed Minnesota on Friday in Sacramento.

One of UCLA’s seniors, Lauren Betts, put together the best game of her career with 35 points while shooting 15 of 19 at the moment her team needed it most.

“That’s really cool,” Betts said. “I mean, I can’t deny, like, that is really cool. I feel like the points, they really don’t mean anything to me. To me, like, I really just want to win games with this team. The fact that we won today is what matters most to me, and that we’re moving on to the Sweet 16.”

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UCLA box score

UCLA stars now have a better chance of sticking with WNBA rosters under new CBA

USC women are routed

From Chaunte’l Powell: Monday night served as a litmus test for ninth-seeded USC to see how a program on its way back to prominence measured up against top-seeded powerhouse South Carolina.

The Trojans were no match in the frontcourt against South Carolina, suffering 101-61 season-ending loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards and Madina Okot got going early, scoring nine of the Gamecocks’ first 11 points. South Carolina would finish the game with 60 points in the paint. Edwards finished the game with 23 points and 10 rebounds and Okot had 15 points and 15 rebounds.

USC freshman Jazzy Davidson, who scored a phenomenal 31 points in her NCAA tournament debut Saturday against Clemson, missed her first two shots. But she recovered and found some offensive rhythm, finishing with 16 points. Kennedy Smith picked up the slack in the first half, scoring nine of USC’s first 15 points. Unfortunately, she struggled after that and finished four for 15 from the floor.

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USC box score

Lakers winning streak ends

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The brush from a fingertip toppled the Lakers’ longest winning streak in six seasons.

The Lakers’ nine-game win streak ended Monday with a 113-110 loss to the Detroit Pistons when Luka Doncic missed a tying three-pointer at the buzzer after LeBron James’ inbounds pass was deflected by Tobias Harris.

Doncic had 32 points, seven rebounds and six assists, but was three for 13 from three and missed two big shots in the final seconds.

The superstar guard had been on a historic heater, averaging 40 points over the previous nine games. With nine seconds left, James tried to inbound the ball over Harris and across the court to Doncic, who had to chase down the deflected pass that also went off forward Maxi Kleber’s arm. Doncic collected the ball and danced with Detroit forward Jalen Duren, pump faking, spinning and stepping back before launching a sky-high three.

It didn’t even graze the rim.

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Lakers box score

NBA standings

Clippers rout the Bucks

Kawhi Leonard scored 28 points in 25 minutes and the Clippers pummeled the Milwaukee Bucks 129-96 on Monday night.

Brook Lopez added 19 points, Darius Garland had 15 points and six assists, and the Clippers won consecutive games after four straight losses. They made all 18 of their free throws and got back to .500 with 10 games remaining in the regular season after having a 6-21 record on Dec. 18.

Gary Trent Jr. paced the Bucks with 20 points off the bench. Ryan Rollins led their starters with 13, and Milwaukee had five players in double figures. The Bucks have lost 10 of their last 14 games, including three of four since sitting superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo because of a left knee injury.

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Clippers box score

NBA standings

Dodgers reveal starting rotation

From Maddie Lee: The Dodgers’ rotation order is set for the first homestand of the season.

To round out the series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, after Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound Thursday on opening day, he’ll be followed by Emmet Sheehan and Tyler Glasnow. Roki Sasaki is penciled in for Monday against the Cleveland Guardians, followed by Shohei Ohtani on March 31.

Off days on Sunday and April 2 make it possible for the Dodgers to give all their pitchers at least five days’ rest between their first and second starts without needing a sixth starter.

Left-hander Justin Wrobleski is pegged to be that additional starter when the schedule features less frequent days off. In the meantime, he’ll be available to throw multiple innings out of the bullpen.

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Swanson: The Dodgers are chasing a three-peat. They can take some cues from the 2002 Lakers

Ohtani. Yamamoto. Sasaki. A 12-story ‘cultural bridge’ between L.A. and Japan to debut in Torrance

NL West preview: The Dodgers should be heavy favorites, but the Padres could surprise

This day in sports history

1936 — Detroit’s Mud Bruneteau ends the longest game in NHL history with a goal after 116 minutes and 30 seconds (six overtimes) to edge the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the semifinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

1941 — Long Island University wins the NIT championship with a 56-42 victory over Ohio.

1945 — NYU battles back from a ten-point deficit with two minutes to go to send the NCAA tournament national semifinal game into overtime. NYU wins 70-65. At the time, a team got one free throw when fouled near end of game, but could elect instead to inbound the ball. Ohio State is fouled three times, opts to shoot the foul shot and misses each time.

1956 — San Francisco’s Bill Russell has 26 points and 27 rebounds to lead the Dons to an 83-71 win over Iowa and their second-straight national title and 55th consecutive victory, then an NCAA record.

1962 — Paul Hogue scores 22 points and grabs 19 rebounds and Tom Thacker adds 21 to lead Cincinnati to a 71-59 victory over Ohio State for its second NCAA basketball championship.

1970 — Jerry West of the Lakers wins his only NBA scoring title, accumulating 2,309 points in 74 games for a 31.2 ppg. average.

1973 — Kansas City-Omaha’s Nate “Tiny” Archibald becomes the first player in NBA history to lead the NBA in both scoring (34.0 ppg.) and assists (11.4 apg.) in the same season.

1975 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Chuck Wepner in the 15th round to retain the world heavyweight title in Cleveland.

1975 — Princeton becomes the first Ivy League school to win the NIT title with an 80-69 win over Providence.

1979 — Indiana State, led by Larry Bird, advances to the NCAA Championship game by squeezing past DePaul 76-74. Bird has 35 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists.

1980 — Louisville beats UCLA 59-54 to win the NCAA basketball title.

1992 — Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux becomes the 36th player in NHL history with 1,000 points, getting an assist in the second period of the Penguins’ 4-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

1994 — Kansas State’s Askia Jones scores 62 points in 28 minutes in a 115-77 victory over Fresno State in the NIT quarterfinals. Jones shoots 18-for-25 from the floor, including 14-of-18 on three-pointers, and 12-for-16 from the line.

2013 — Florida Gulf Coast goes from shocking the men’s college basketball world to downright impressing it. The Eagles beat San Diego State 81-71 to become the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

2017 — Devin Booker scores 70 points, becoming the sixth different player in NBA history to reach that total, but the Boston Celtics get 34 points from Isaiah Thomas and outlast the Phoenix Suns 130-120.

2018 — Nathan Chen completes six quadruple jumps in the free program to become the first U.S. winner of the men’s world figure skating title since 2009.

2018 — Loyola Chicago romps to a 78-62 victory over Kansas State to cap off a stunning run through the bracket-busting South Regional. The Ramblers (32-5) match the lowest-seeded team ever to reach the Final Four, joining LSU (1986), George Mason (2006) and VCU (2011). The South is the first regional in tournament history to have the top four seeds — including overall No. 1 Virginia — knocked out on the opening weekend.

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.

On a day when No. 1 seeds dominated, UCLA wasn’t the exception.

The top-seeded Bruins led wire-to-wire, beating No. 8-seed Oklahoma State 87-68 in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion to advance to the Sweet 16.

They will face No. 4-seed Minnesota on Friday in Sacramento.

While UCLA started much better than it did in its opening-round game, there were still elements to nitpick. The Bruins were outscored 21-18 in the third quarter, Oklahoma State won the offensive rebounding battle and outside of Lauren Betts — who scored a career-high 35 points while shooting 15 of 19 — the offense fell flat at times in the second half.

But with arguably the best post player in the country, the Bruins overcame all of that.

UCLA (33-1) jumped out to an 11-2 lead while the Cowgirls (24-10) went the final 4:26 without scoring and shot 0 for 8 from the field during that span. The Bruins turned that into a 25-point lead and were up 46-26 at halftime.

Unlike the first-round victory over California Baptist on Saturday, UCLA came out cold to start the third quarter. The Bruins missed six shots in a row while Oklahoma State went on a 9-0 run to narrow the deficit to 13.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice, left, fights for the ball with Oklahoma State forward Achol Akot during the Bruins’ win Monday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

The Cowgirls shot 51.4% from the field in the second half to stay within striking distance while UCLA’s offense went mostly cold. But Oklahoma State’s leading scorer, Achol Akot (23 points), had four fouls by the start of the fourth quarter and had to spend much of the quarter on the bench.

Betts scored 11 consecutive UCLA points in the final four minutes of the third to put the Bruins ahead by 19. In addition, she finished the game with nine rebounds and five assists.

Gianna Kneepkens (15 points) made a couple of key shots in the fourth quarter to help jolt the Bruins’ shooting, but it was still Betts’ dominant showing that kept UCLA well ahead. Of UCLA’s 87 points, 50 came in the paint.

UCLA’s next opponent, the Golden Gophers (24-8), advanced on a buzzer-beater against No. 5-seed Mississippi on Sunday. The Bruins beat Minnesota 76-58 on the road during conference play earlier this season.

With just over five minutes left in UCLA’s first-round win over California Baptist on Saturday, freshman Sienna Betts took a shot. She missed. She grabbed the rebound. She missed again. Then, she put it in the basket.

On the bench, her older sister, Lauren Betts, was laughing. No. 1 seed UCLA was up big late, the Bruins were going to advance and Lauren was getting joy from seeing her sister succeed — and fail.

“I’m like, Sienna, just make the shot, and she’s laughing; she’s not serious,” Lauren said.

The sisters recorded double-doubles during the 96-43 win that secured the Bruins a second-round date with Oklahoma State. Sienna had 10 points and 12 rebounds, six of them offensive, and Lauren had 22 points and 10 rebounds.

UCLA freshman forward Sienna Betts plays tight defense on California Baptist guard Sofia Alonso during the Bruins’ first round NCAA tournament win Sunday at Pauley Pavilion.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“She is so hard on herself and she’s so driven, I think her humor is actually a saving grace for her,” UCLA coach Cori Close said of Sienna. “It’s sort of a light moment. It’s laughter. Because when she’s not smiling and bringing joy, she’s usually beating herself up for a mistake. As she continues to grow in that, I hope it doesn’t have to be her escape, but I just have absolutely enjoyed Sienna so much.”

The sisters have only this season to play together before Lauren, a senior, graduates. They played just one season together in high school in Colorado, and this season might be the last time they are ever on the same team.

“It’s this weird thing, on the one hand, I want them to enjoy this connection they have,” Close said. “I want them to enjoy this year. They will look back on this year and just really treasure it.

“Simultaneously, I want to especially treat Sienna on her own journey, and to not make her feel like she’s in the shadows of anything that Lauren is doing.”

Sisters have posted double-doubles in the NCAA tournament before. At Stanford, Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike did it multiple times in the early 2010s. In the 1980s, USC twins Pamela and Paula McGee averaged double-double their senior years.

But it’s a rarity, and one that could only happen this season for the UCLA sisters.

Sienna, though, didn’t want to make a big deal of it. Sitting to the side in the locker room after the win over California Baptist, she was critical of her own game, just the way Close expected.

“I’m trying to focus more on just that game and just taking what we can learn from our mistakes in the first half, especially, and trying to move on,” Sienna said. “But, I mean, I think in an hour, I’ll take that in and be more excited about that.”

Lauren said she thought Sienna played one of her better games of the season.

“Honestly, besides her scoring, I thought her defense was a lot better today and I know that’s something she wanted to get better at,” Lauren said Saturday. “She was just really proud of her slides. Like she didn’t say anything about her points. She was like, I’m so glad that I can guard them. I worked so hard on that.”

Sienna has had back-to-back strong efforts, with 14 points against Iowa in the Big Ten tournament championship game two weeks ago. She has done so without being hounded by her big sister.

“I think [Lauren] respects my boundary to figure it out on my own,” she said.

Lauren, meanwhile, has averaged 16.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest this season. The projected WNBA lottery pick is considered one of the best centers in the nation.

UCLA center Lauren Betts drives to the basket under pressure from California Baptist forward Grace Schmidt during the NCAA tournament on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“I love the moments you catch when they have a connection and an eye contact or a smile that is different than everybody else because they are sharing it as sisters and I just think how special that is,” Close said. “That’s so wonderful.”

Charlisse Leger-Walker played with her sister, Krystal Leger-Walker, at Washington State for two seasons. There, the duo shared time in the backcourt for an up-and-coming Cougars squad.

“It’s just a different connection,” Charlisse Leger-Walker said. “Out there, you have someone who is your blood and unconditional love and support. And it’s just awesome to be able to see [Lauren and Sienna] in their journey, and have so much success early.”

Sienna will carry the torch for the Bruins beyond this season when the majority of the veteran roster graduates and many go pro.

That’s when she could be the face of the program on her own. But first, she is working to extend an NCAA tournament run alongside her sister.

“I want Sienna to feel like she’s Sienna,” Close said. “She’s not Lauren’s sister. She can enjoy that, but for our team, she’s Sienna Betts.”

In less than two months, six UCLA women’s basketball players might be working out with WNBA teams. The draft is April 13, a week after the NCAA national championship game, and the season starts less than a month later.

One of the most consequential pieces of the new WNBA collective bargaining agreement for current college players, including the UCLA super senior class, is expanded rosters.

Not only are two new teams — Portland and Toronto — entering the WNBA this season and adding 24 roster spots, but the new CBA will allow each team to have 12 traditional roster spots and two developmental player spots.

The new developmental players will get housing assistance and can practice and travel with their respective WNBA squads.

UCLA’s Charlisse Leger-Walker, left, and Angela Dugalic, back, swarm California Baptist forward Grace Schmidt during an NCAA tournament game at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Across the country during the NCAA tournament, players and coaches have noted how much the new WNBA CBA changes the future for the next generation of players.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley noted to reporters last week that it’s one of the first times many women’s basketball players will be able to accumulate generational wealth. And they can do so without necessarily having to play in other leagues around the world during the WNBA offseason.

“The WNBA will make you make a choice because you have to be on time in training camp.” Staley said. “It’s worth it now. It’s worth it to actually have your body recover and just play in the WNBA season.”

Last season, just 20 rookies made rosters out of training camp. The fight for those spots might get more competitive for some young players now that the league offers higher salaries and some high-end international players might find it more worthwhile to sign in the WNBA.

Teams are now required to roster 12 players, compared with the option to have 11 instead of 12 under the previous CBA, which allowed franchises to spend more on top players and have less of a cap hit by triming their roster size.

But likely, more players who otherwise wouldn’t have gotten looks or would have been cut during past training camps will now have a realistic shot a developmental player spot.

“I just feel a lot of pride,” said UCLA sixth-year forward Angela Dugalic. “Because of them, I’m able to have a lot of things that they maybe weren’t able to have at the start of their career. And some of them, like, they’re either at the end of their career or they’re even finished right now, they’re still fighting for us.”

The entire UCLA starting lineup — Charlisse Leger-Walker, Kiki Rice, Lauren Betts, Gianna Kneepkens and Gabriela Jaquez, plus Dugalic off the bench — project as WNBA picks, most as early as the first round.

Kneepkens or Leger-Walker (though she was recovering from an ACL injury) would have been WNBA draft-eligible after last season. Their rookie salaries would have been around $70,000, depending on where they were selected. This year, the rookie minimum will be $270,000, and top picks, which Betts and Rice are projected to be, will make as much as $500,000.

“Just like the growth we’re even experiencing now in college, we have so many people before us to thank that. [They] fought for better exposure and TV rights … fought for Title IX and resources to be allocated appropriately,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I think it’s similar right now in terms of the CBA. We need to really thank the people in that room that fought hard.”

UCLA guard Kiki Rice dribbles up the floor under pressure from California Baptist guard Filipa Barros Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA players are understandably locked in on the NCAA tournament, but they haven’t ignored an important moment.

“I think it’s awesome for women’s basketball and the progress going forward,” Leger-Walker said. “I love that we have players who are willing to advocate and really stand on what they believe in. We’re making steps forward.”

Where they all fit on individual teams or in respective mock drafts will all be more clear after free agency begins in the week ahead of the draft. Around 80% of the league are free agents, so there are going to be plenty of new-look teams.

UCLA players will soon get a chance to join those roster makeovers under working conditions past players never enjoyed.

“I’m just grateful for all the women who fought for what they’ve earned,” Kneepkens said. “That’s just super cool for anyone that’s a WNBA fan and anyone that’s part of it. They made this happen.”

Season over for UCLA men

From Jon Marks: The question will remain unanswered.

Would UCLA have beaten Connecticut if Tyler Bilodeau was healthy? That’s what will haunt the Bruins and their fans for the rest of March Madness.

Even without their leading scorer the seventh-seeded Bruins battled valiantly, briefly taking the lead in the second half. But in the end they simply didn’t have enough firepower to knock off No. 2 Connecticut, which surged late in its 73-57 win in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday.

“My message to our team is no excuses,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. “Somebody brought up Tyler. We didn’t bring it up. It’s five-on-five. Sadly, I’ve got a lot of practice in dealing with that in NCAA tournament play, but it sucks for him.

“At the end of the day, someone said to me what would have happened if you had your guy? You never know. But I thought the bottom line was they played harder than us. Their defense was better than our offense, and I take responsibility for that.”

UCLA (24-12) failed to reach the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive season. The Bruins struggled with their shooting most of the night, going 19 for 49 (39%) in comparison to Connecticut’s 23 for 49 (47%). Both teams had the same number of free-throw attempts (21), but the Bruins made just 67% of their shots and the Huskies made 90%.

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UCLA box score

A future building win for USC?

From Chaunte’l Powell: When you look at the USC Trojans, one might think they’re setting the table for next year.

Buying time until JuJu Watkins returns. Keeping the ship afloat until the talented recruiting class that includes Saniyah Hall makes its way to campus.

But the Trojans showed Saturday that’s not the case. They’re making a plate and eating now.

The No. 9 seed Trojans gutted out a 71-67 overtime win over No. 8 seed Clemson in what USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb described as “a culture win.”

That game featured many tests for a young team in March and the Trojans responded well to the challenges. They are advancing on the back of freshman Jazzy Davidson’s 31 points and senior Kara Dunn’s 22.

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Why the Dodgers will not win the World Series

From Bill Plaschke: The truth of this Dodgers season was recently found in a place where all sports truths are clipped and tapered and styled into reality.

The barbershop.

Of course, the barbershop, where ball talk is real talk, and where the expectations around the Dodgers upcoming quest for a three-peat recently smothered me like a hot towel to the head.

I was sitting in the chair in mid-shave when a bald gentleman barged into the shop searching not for a cut, but a promise.

“Say it!” he shouted to me from just inside the door. “Say what everybody around here believes!”

What, that LeBron James is not a real Laker?

“No, say it about the Dodgers!” said the man, and he was serious. “Say that they have the best team in history and they’re going to win another championship! Say it, because that’s what everybody thinks!”

The shop quieted, chairs swiveled, and suddenly everyone was looking at me, at which point I said the one word I’ve never written in any of the last dozen or so Dodger preview columns.

“No.”

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Alex Freeland edges Hyeseong Kim for a Dodgers opening day roster spot

Luka Doncic avoids suspension

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: He’s the hottest player in the NBA. Not even the NBA’s technical foul rule can slow Luka Doncic down.

The NBA rescinded Doncic’s 16th technical foul, the league announced Sunday, allowing Doncic to avoid a mandatory one-game suspension that would have kept him out of Monday’s game against the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons.

Doncic and the Lakers appealed the call after he was given a technical for taunting against Orlando Magic forward Goga Bitadze in Saturday’s Lakers win. Bitadze’s technical foul was also rescinded after the European players were arguing while Doncic was shooting free throws. Doncic claimed Bitadze made a vulgar comment toward Doncic’s family in Serbian while Bitadze said he first heard inappropriate comments from Doncic and only repeated what he heard the Lakers guard say.

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Kings lose to Mammoth

Nick Schmaltz scored his second goal of the game at 1:46 of overtime to give the Utah Mammoth a 4-3 victory over the Kings on Sunday night.

Schmaltz carried the puck in on a two-on-one rush with defenseman Mikhail Sergachev on his left and fired a snap shot between goalie Darcy Kuemper‘s legs.

After the Kings controlled play in the three-on-three overtime and nearly ended it on Alex Laferriere’s shot that went off the right post, Kevin Stenlund won a faceoff against Quinton Byfield to set up Schmaltz’s seventh winning goal of the season.

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Kings summary

NHL standings

Ducks rally past Sabres

Troy Terry scored on a breakaway 1:29 into overtime for his second goal of the game after Mikael Granlund tied it late in regulation and the Ducks rallied to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 6-5 on Sunday night.

Anaheim ended Buffalo’s seven-game road winning streak when Tage Thompson couldn’t keep in the puck in the Ducks’ zone and Terry held on a 2-on-0 break to score on a backhander.

Granlund tied the score at 5 with 1:44 remaining in the third period on a power play with Ville Husso pulled for an extra attacker.

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Ducks summary

NHL standings

Galaxy draw with Portland

Portland’s Kristoffer Velde scored in the 13th minute and Timbers defender Kamal Miller picked up a red card seven minutes later, but James Pantemis surrendered only a João Klauss goal to help them hold on for a 1-1 draw with the Galaxy on Sunday.

Velde scored for the second time this season to give Portland (1-3-1) a 1-0 lead early. But things became difficult from the 20th minute on when Miller received his card for a foul on Klauss.

Antony Alves Santos notched his first assist this season on the score and Joao Ortiz picked up his second.

Klauss came up with the equalizer in the 30th minute with assists from Marco Reus and Gabriel Pec. It was the fifth goal for Klauss, who has certainly helped ease the loss of superstar Riqui Puig for a second straight season because of injuries. Klauss spent his first three seasons with St. Louis City, where he scored 25 goals in 79 appearances.

Galaxy summary

MLS standings

This day in sports history

1939 — Long Island University finishes the season undefeated after a 44-32 victory over Loyola of Chicago in the NIT championship.

1944 — Maurice Richard, playing in his second Stanley Cup playoff game, scores five goals in a 5-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup semifinals. Toe Blake has five assists.

1948 — Kentucky, behind Alex Groza and Ralph Beard, defeats Baylor 58-42 for the NCAA basketball championship.

1956 — Bill Russell leads San Francisco to an 83-71 victory over Iowa in the NCAA basketball championship.

1957 — North Carolina defeats Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in triple-overtime to win the NCAA men’s championship. The Tar Heels win 54-53 to finish the season with a 32-0 record.

1968 — Lew Alcindor scores 34 points to carry UCLA to a 78-55 win over North Carolina in the NCAA basketball championship.

1974 — N.C. State ends UCLA’s streak of seven national championships with an 80-77 victory in double overtime of the NCAA tournament semifinals. David Thompson leads the Wolfpack with 28 points and 10 rebounds while teammate Tom Burleson scores 20 and pulls down 14 rebounds.

1991 — London beats Frankfurt 24-11 in the first World League of American Football game.

1994 — Wayne Gretzky scores his 802nd goal, passing Gordie Howe as the top goal scorer in NHL history. The Kings center scores in the second period for his 62nd NHL record.

1996 — Michelle Kwan caps a nearly perfect season by winning the women’s title at figure skating’s world championships for the United States’ first singles sweep since 1986.

2002 — Brendan Shanahan of the Red Wings scores his 500th goal, breaking a scoreless tie at 7:48 of the third period. Detroit beats Colorado 2-0.

2002 — Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson becomes the first undefeated four-time NCAA wrestling champion at the NCAA championships. Sanderson beats Lehigh’s Jon Trenge 12-4 to win at 197 pounds and finish his career with a 159-0 record.

2007 — Kobe Bryant becomes the second NBA player to score at least 50 points in four straight games when he has 50 in the Lakers’ 111-105 win at New Orleans. Only Wilt Chamberlain has more, scoring at least 50 points in seven consecutive games during the 1961-62 season.

2010 — The NFL changes its overtime rules for playoff games to give both teams an opportunity to get the ball.

2014 — Quardell Young drives the length of the court for a go-ahead layup with 0.9 seconds left and Wisconsin-Whitewater holds off Williams to win the NCAA Division III men’s championship 75-73. The Warhawks (29-4), whose football team took the national championship in December, win the basketball championship for the second time in three years and fourth time in four trips to the final.

2016 — Guard Russ Smith of the Delaware 87ers scores an NBA D-League-record 65 points in a 140-129 loss to the Canton Charge.

2022 — After 114 consecutive weeks as world #1 female tennis player, 25 year old Australian Ash Barty makes unexpected retirement announcement.

2023 — Harry Kane overtakes Wayne Rooney’s record to become England’s all-time greatest goalscorer in 2-1 victory over Italy with his 54th goal.

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 UCLA baseball coach John Savage scouts prospects, he looks at their projections and skill upside. Most important, he wants players dedicated to the culture he’s developed during his 22 years as a coach.

“We want people that fit into our program, that want to be a part of a winning culture,” he said.

Most of his current roster consists of players who came up short in last year’s College World Series. This year, the No. 1 team in the country has its eyes set on winning a national title in Omaha. The Bruins (21-2 overall, 9-0 in the Big Ten) are coming off a three-game weekend home sweep of Maryland.

The Times spoke to Savage about the expectations the Bruins set for themselves and his longevity with UCLA. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Your team entered the year ranked No. 1 nationally and has gotten off to a strong start. How have you managed expectations?

Savage: It’s really about the people you have in the clubhouse. They’ve been born and raised through our program. Now it’s their junior years. They went to Omaha their sophomore year. They had a difficult year their freshman year. It’s been a work in progress, and I think the expectations are probably the heaviest inside our room. Everybody’s held to a very high standard and they believe in one another, they believe in the program. It’s refreshing to coach people that want to be coached, and to have people that love UCLA, and want to stay at UCLA.

After returning a large percentage of last year’s production, what differences have you noticed in this roster compared to previous teams?

UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

Savage: I think the leadership is fantastic. Roch Cholowsky, Cashel Dugger, Michael Barnett, Jack O’Connor — our captains, they do a wonderful job of making sure guys are accountable. Everybody’s a year older. Everybody’s a little stronger. Everybody’s a little faster. A lot of guys that work extremely hard to upgrade their physicality, and then certainly it’s a mental game. We’ve worked really hard on the mental side of things to make sure that we’re combining both phases.

What has allowed your program to retain so much of its core talent year to year?

Savage: I would say loyalty, personal relationships, wanting to be at UCLA, to get a degree from UCLA, coaching staff, facilities, location. But, I would say most importantly, relationships. We didn’t win a national championship last year and these guys seem to be on that sort of mission.

Last season’s run to Omaha ended just short of the championship series. How much has that experience motivated this year’s group early in the season?

Savage: You see where you’re going. People always talk about Omaha, but if you never go, it’s hard to really envision what it looks like. It’s something that if you experience, you want to go back. It’s the mecca of college baseball and the city of Omaha has done a wonderful job of developing this tournament over 75 years. It’s an experience that you go and you definitely want to go back as a player and certainly as a coach.

How has recruiting or roster construction changed, if at all, now that UCLA is competing in the Big Ten instead of the Pac-12?

Savage: It’s still UCLA. I’ve been here 22 years, we’ve produced 30 major leaguers. It’s a place that you certainly could go and enjoy your college life and go play in the major leagues. The Big Ten is getting better in baseball, with the addition of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington. Obviously, it has helped the baseball side of things quite a bit. But there’s a lot of programs that are investing throughout the Big Ten in baseball and it’s only going to get better. Baseball is baseball. You gotta go play any time, anywhere.

With the travel demands that come with a conference like the Big Ten, what adjustments have you made to keep players fresh and focused?

Savage: We don’t charter. We’re all commercial. We fly out of LAX on Wednesday morning and we get back late Sunday night. It’s a challenge and it’s certainly one that it’s a daily and weekly operation. In terms of managing school, they all go to class. Not a lot of remote classes, really, so we love the challenge and the opportunity to grow as a young player and a young person.

You’re now in your 22nd season leading the Bruins. What has kept you motivated to continue evolving as a coach after more than two decades in Westwood?

Savage: I love being at UCLA. I love what it stands for. It’s a combination that I’m really looking for in terms of baseball, schedule, league, school — it’s just an elite combination. You have to make sure you’re grounded. You have to make sure you’re very consistent. You have to make sure that you have true values that are consistent with the university and that equates to winning. Winning is really, really difficult, especially now at the Power 4 level.

When players leave UCLA after their careers — whether they go to pro baseball or move on to other careers — what do you hope they carry with them from their time in your program?

Savage: That they understand how to be a contributor to an organization, to a business, how to lead a family, how to lead a group in work. Just be a person that people like to be around and a person that has a vision, that they want to get better and they want to do well in their lives and they want to have impact on other lives. That’s ultimately what we’re looking for, that they can handle themselves in any phase of life.

UCLA men are out, UCLA women stay strong

UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. tries to get through UCLA’s Trent Perry, from left, Donovan Dent and Eric Dailey Jr. in the first half Monday.

(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

UCLA coach Mick Cronin never wavered.

If senior forward Tyler Bilodeau felt any pain, he was not playing the NCAA tournament.

The No. 7 seed Bruins could not overcome No. 2 seed UConn’s interior game and suffered a 73-57 loss. The Bruins kept it close early, trailing by just five at halftime.

Cronin will help UCLA cope with the sudden end to its season and then immediately work on sorting out next season’s roster.

While fans questioned Cronin’s aggressive coaching style, the Bruins did play significantly improved defense through the final four weeks of their season and his players never wavered in their support of him.

Now Cronin will start over, working to forge comparable buy-in from the next wave of players.

The UCLA women walk to the bench during a time out against Cal Baptist.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

It’s rare for a No. 1 seed in the women’s NCAA tournament to miss the Sweet 16, but the Bruins (32-1) say they expect a big test when they face No. 8 seed Oklahoma State (24-9) at 7 p.m. Monday night at Pauley Pavilion.

It will be the final game the Bruins’ celebrated senior class will play at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA coach Cori Close provided the following scouting report on Oklahoma State.

“I think that what stands out is their ability to shoot the three, their versatility, their work down the tunnel with the high ball screen,” Close said. “They’re extremely good in transition. It’s going to be so important for us to make them play later into the shot clock, which is going to be easier said than done. But I guess with the exception they don’t have like a really tall big, but they actually remind me in terms of their style and some of the actions that they run of Oklahoma. Their guard play.

“And one of the big things that we talk a lot about is trying to make them play later in the clock than they’re comfortable with. Now we go through all the analytics, and the later you have them play in the shot clock, the less efficient they become. They’re 13th in the country in offensive efficiency. They’re really, really good.

“Defensively I think that we obviously need to really hunt the paint. We’ve got some advantages with our size there. But they’re a really good team.”

Survey says

We asked “How far will the UCLA men advance in the NCAA men’s tournament. After 648 votes, the results:

They lose in the second round, 36.5%
They lose in the Sweet 16, 27.5%
They lose in the Elite Eight, 17.3%
They win it all, 12.6%
They lose in the first round, 3.2%
They lose in the Final Four, 2.5%
They lose in the championship game, 0.4%

In case you missed it

UCLA overcomes slow start to open NCAA tournament title bid with a blowout win

Jordan Chiles goes perfect again as UCLA sweeps Big Ten gymnastics titles

UCLA freshmen draw on their elite gymnastics roots to help Bruins push for championships

Without Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA edges Central Florida to advance at NCAA tournament

How UCLA guard Kiki Rice became the Bruins’ ace and top WNBA draft prospect

UCLA men’s basketball eager to mount deep tournament run

March Madness women’s tournament analysis: Teams and players to watch

UCLA was snubbed by women’s NCAA tournament selection committee

Have something Bruin?

Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email newsletters editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

PHILADELPHIA — On the night reigning NCAA champion Florida was eliminated by Iowa, UCLA tried to follow the Hawkeyes’ lead against Connecticut, the team that had worn the crown the previous two years.

And for the second straight game they were hoping to win without leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau, whose sprained knee still hadn’t healed enough for coach Mick Cronin to risk putting him on the floor.

Seventh-seeded UCLA battled, managing to take a brief lead in the second half. But in the end, No. 2 Connecticut’s size and power were too much for the Bruins to overcome in a 73-57 loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday.

Four players scored in double figures for UCLA. Xavier Booker finished with 13 points, Eric Dailey Jr. had 12 points and Donovan Dent and Skyy Clark each finished with 11. But the Bruins couldn’t contain Connecticut forward Alex Karaban, who erupted for 27 points, as the Huskies advanced to the Sweet 16 to play No. 3 Michigan State in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

The Bruins got off to a good start, building an 18-12 lead before the Huskies caught fire, hitting seven straight shots at one point to seize a 38-33 halftime lead.

Connecticut’s Tarris Reed Jr., center, tries to work past (from left) UCLA’s Trent Perry, Donovan Dent and Eric Dailey Jr. during the first half Sunday.

(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

UCLA (24-12) started the second half on a 6-0 run, regaining a 39-38 edge on a corner jumper by Clark.

Connecticut (31-5) didn’t wait long to retake control, going on a 14-0 run over the next five minutes, with Karaban scoring 10 points over that span.

UCLA answered with an 8-0 run, with Dailey’s three-point play cutting Connecticut’s lead to 56-52 and reigniting the Bruins’ hope of an upset. Connecticut, however, responded with a decisive 9-0 run, taking a 67-54 lead with 4:24 left.

UCLA struggled with its shooting most of the night, going 19 for 49 (39%) in comparison to Connecticut’s 23 for 49 (47%). Both teams had the same number of free-throw attempts (21), but the Bruins made just 67% of their shots and the Huskies made 90%.

Jordan Chiles captured the Big Ten all-around crown with her seventh perfect score of the season, leading UCLA to its second straight Big Ten championship gymnastics title on Saturday.

Chiles, the Big Ten gymnast of the year, posted a conference-record score of 39.825 and earned a perfect 10 in floor routine as the Bruins defeated Michigan, Minnesota and Michigan State with a total score of 198.100.

Janelle McDonald, who guided No. 5 UCLA to the regular season and conference championship crowns for the second straight year, was named the Big Ten coach of the year.

“Our team is just going up from here,” Chiles told Big Ten Network after the meet. “We haven’t hit our peak yet.

“Obviously, there are still things that we can work on as individuals, but I think the team environment is definitely there. I couldn’t be more proud of each and every single athlete that went up today and stepped in as well.”

UCLA opened with Chiles scoring a 9.925 on beam. Tiana Sumanasekera scored a 9.925, and Katelyn Rosen, Sydney Barros and Mika Webster-Longin each scored a 9.850. Rosen managed to achieve the feat after missing the last few weeks with a foot injury.

UCLA closed the first rotation in second place, 0.125 behind Michigan.

With Chiles leading the way on floor, Webster-Longin posted a 9.925, tying her career high. Sumanasekera had the same score and Ashlee Sullivan had a 9.950.

Riley Jenkins led UCLA in the vault with a 9.950. Webster-Longin celebrated her 9.875 routine with splits. Sumanasekera had a 9.850 in the event and Sullivan received a 9.850 on her Yurchenko. Chiles closed out the vault with a 9.925, keeping the Bruins in first place ahead of Michigan State by 0.325.

Chiles and Barros each had scores of 9.950 in the uneven bars — the best mark of the season in the discipline for Barros. Webster-Longin performed some celebratory splits again when she tied her season high with a 9.900 on the uneven bars. Sumanasekera and Nola Matthews each had a 9.875 in the event.

“We are coming for y’all,” Chiles said. “This is our year and I’m very proud to say that we are the Bruins.”

The CIF championship was not on the line, but it may as well have been Friday night in the annual boys’ volleyball showdown between Mira Costa and Loyola.

Showing why they entered their grudge match in Manhattan Beach ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country, two of the Southland’s most storied programs battled for five scintillating sets as the host Mustangs rallied for a 18-25, 26-28, 25-22, 25-22, 15-11 win in an instant classic that lasted over two and a half hours.

Leading the comeback was junior outside hitter Mateo Fuerbringer, who finished with 37 kills, five blocks and three aces. Considered the top recruit in the nation, he committed to UCLA in December.

“They came out hot and we weren’t playing our best,” said Fuerbringer, whose sister Charlie was a setter for Mira Costa and just wrapped up her sophomore season at Wisconsin, leading the Badgers to the Final Four. “We knew if we just stayed with it and played out the game we could win it.”

The Mustangs, who won their ninth Southern Section crown last spring and subsequently captured the inaugural Division I state title in Fresno, notched their 15th consecutive victory and improved to 22-1.

Wyatt Davis, a senior headed to UC Santa Barbara, added 13 kills and seven blocks and senior opposite hitter Enzo Barker pounded nine kills for top-ranked Mira Costa, which leveled the match at two sets on a right-side kill from Fuerbringer.

“We knew they’re a great team,” Davis said of Loyola. “Between sets two and three we made adjustments, guys came off the bench to make key plays, Enzo moved to the outside and we made less errors in the last set. We wanted it more than them.”

Mira Costa’s lone setback came Feb. 21 against Corona del Mar in the Redondo Classic final — a loss the Mustangs avenged four days later. Corona del Mar edged Loyola in the Best of the West semifinals March 7, but Loyola turned the tables on the Sea Kings in nonleague action.

Senior outside hitter and USC signee Blake Fahlbusch led Loyola on Friday with 15 kills and four blocks, senior libero and Loyola Chicago commit Matt Kelly was a whirling dervish on defense, hitter JP Wardy contributed 10 kills and opposite Lucas Posell had nine for the No. 2 Cubs (12-2). Fahlbusch’s brother Thatcher played for Mira Costa and is now a freshman outside hitter at Hawaii.

Mira Costa swept last year’s nonleague meeting at Loyola to end a four-year losing streak to the Cubs, who had handed the Mustangs their first loss in the Best of the West finals. Mira Costa lost only one more match (to Chicago Marist at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions) to finish 37-2 last spring.

The Mustangs are on pace to surpass that win total even after the graduation of Grayson Bradford, now a freshman at UCLA.

“It’s nice having a middle like Wyatt [Davis],” said Mira Costa senior setter Jake Newman, who had 55 assists. “He and Charlie give me great options. It’s a pretty easy concept.”

Loyola holds the section record with 13 titles, the last in 2024 when it beat Mira Costa 25-21, 25-22, 25-21, in the finals behind 15 kills from Sean Kelly, now at UCLA. The teams met three previous times in the finals, Loyola winning in 2005 and 2010 and Mira Costa prevailing in 2012.

“We knew we could do it,” Newman added. “We knew at some point we’d get that spot where we’re playing our best. I started to key in on their blockers to see who was switching on Mateo.”

Coach Greg Snyder, in his third season at Mira Costa, wants to pilot his squad to a repeat but knows it will not be easy.

“The first two sets we were predictable, we were passing poorly, they got us out of system and got a lot of touches on our swings,” Snyder said. “Mateo played great but we were too Mateo-heavy tonight. We have to run that middle because we’re better than them there.”

Snyder fully expects to see Loyola again this season.

“The gym was packed — this got more buildup than when we played them in the finals,” he said. “I felt whoever won tonight should be the No. 1 team in the country and whoever lost should be No. 2.”

PHILADELPHIA — After missing its first seven shots, UCLA finally started to click in its NCAA tournament opener against Central Florida on Friday night. The Bruins shook off their early jitters by hitting their next eight shots to quickly build a 13-point lead midway through the half.

From there, the seventh-seeded Bruins, playing without leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau, held off No. 10 Central Florida’s second half comeback bid in a 75-71 win.

UCLA will play the winner of No. 2 Connecticut vs. No. 15 Furman on Sunday in the second round.

With Bilodeau out because of a sprained knee he sustained in the Big Ten tournament, 6-foot-8 guard Eric Dailey Jr. led the way with 20 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Xavier Booker, starting in place of Bilodeau, added 15 points and eight rebounds. Trent Perry also scored 15 points and Donovan Dent scored 10. Jordan Burks and Riley Kugel topped the Knights with 22 and 13 points, respectively.

After a late UCF flurry cut a 14-point Bruins’ lead to 35-27 at the half, UCLA went back to work in the second half, with a Booker jumper helping UCLA take a 46-32 lead. But Central Florida wasn’t giving up.

The Knights responded with an 11-0 run, knocking down three from beyond the arc, making it a one possession game, 46-43.

That was as close as UCF got until the final seconds. A three-pointer by Burks with 10 seconds left made it a three-point score again. Perry then made two free throws before Themus Fulks quickly scored on a driving layup. Skyy Clark, who lost part of a tooth earlier in the second half while battling for a loose ball, then made one of two free throws in the final seconds to secure the win.

UCLA’s Trent Perry, left, shoots over Central Florida’s Themus Fulks during the first half Friday.

(Matt Slocum / Associated Press)