Luka Doncic’s 41 points against Nets was soured by his 16th technical foul of the season, triggering a one-game ban.
Published On 28 Mar 202628 Mar 2026
Luka Doncic had a game-high 41 points and eight rebounds while also picking up his suspension-triggering 16th technical foul during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 116-99 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.
Austin Reaves scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, while the Lakers finally pulled away from the young Nets to secure their 11th victory in 12 games. LeBron James added 14 points and eight assists for the Lakers in their return from a 5-1 road trip that has put them in third in the Western Conference standings.
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Josh Minott had 18 points and six rebounds in Brooklyn’s 10th consecutive loss. Nic Claxton and Ziaire Williams scored 16 points apiece while leading the Nets’ lively effort, but both starters were kept on the bench for the entire fourth quarter, along with Noah Clowney.
The young Nets still hung with the road-weary Lakers until the final minutes, erasing an early double-digit deficit and leading in the fourth quarter of their 20th loss in 22 games overall.
Doncic hit five 3-pointers during his 15th 40-point game of the season, but the Slovenian superstar found trouble when he and Williams were whistled for double technical fouls in the third quarter.
Williams was celebrating an offensive foul called against Doncic by gleefully screaming in Doncic’s personal space. When Doncic reached out to shove Williams’ arm, Williams responded with a backhand swipe across Doncic’s face.
Unless Doncic’s technical is rescinded, he will be suspended for a game. He already had a technical rescinded last week after he was whistled for a verbal altercation with Orlando’s Goga Bitadze.
Bronny James played alongside his famous father for the second straight game, with LeBron getting the first father-son assist in NBA history on Bronny’s 3-pointer in the second quarter. Bronny has been limited largely to mop-up action in his first two NBA seasons, but he has earned rotation minutes this week in the injury absence of Marcus Smart.
Bronny and Williams played together in high school at Sierra Canyon School in suburban Los Angeles.
Doncic received his 16th technical foul of the season after an altercation with Nets’ player Ziaire Williams, right, and will face a one-game suspension [Adam Pantozzi/Getty Images via AFP]
In his second game with the Angels, Lowe broke a 1-1 tie in the second when he hit a first-pitch fastball from Mike Burrows for a three-run homer. Lowe was acquired by the Angels in a trade from the Tampa Bay Rays on Jan. 16.
Trout’s fifth inning solo home run was part of a three-hit game, and it marks the first time in his 16-year major league career that he’s gone deep in his first two games of a season.
Neto added a solo shot leading off the ninth inning for his second extra base hit of the night.
The long balls were in support of an Angels staff led by Yusei Kikuchi, who allowed two runs on eight hits over 4⅓ innings. The bullpen quartet of Chase Silseth, Ryan Zeferjahn (1-0), Sam Bachman and Jordan Romano combined for 4⅔ scoreless innings.
Burrows (0-1), who was making his Astros debut after he was traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Dec. 19, surrendered five runs on nine hits over 5⅔ innings. He struck out six.
Yordan Alvarez hit a home run for the Astros, while Carlos Correa went two for three with a walk.
The Angels are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2007. The Astros have started 0-2 for the second time in three seasons under manager Joe Espada.
Up next: Astros RHP Cristian Javier faces Angels LHP Reid Detmers when the series continues Saturday.
INDIANAPOLIS — Kawhi Leonard made a jumper with 0.4 seconds remaining, and the Clippers rallied from a 24-point deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 114-113 on Friday night.
Leonard finished with 28 points, reaching 20 for the 50th straight game. Darius Garland led the Clippers with 30.
The Clippers were run off the floor early by the team with the NBA’s worst record. The Pacers were a sizzling eight for 11 from three-point range in the first quarter to open a 42-21 lead.
It grew to 45-21 early in the second before the Clippers stormed back for their fourth straight victory, giving coach Tyronn Lue the 400th of his career.
Indiana had gone back ahead 113-108 on Obi Toppin’s jumper with a minute to play. Leonard answered with a jumper, Garland made two free throws and the Clippers got the ball back after Pascal Siakam missed a jumper. They inbounded along the left side to Leonard, who dribbled into the middle and pulled up for the winner.
Leonard become the 14th NBA player to score at least 20 in 50 straight games, a streak that began Nov. 28.
Bennedict Mathurin scored 17 points against his former team, going 12 for 15 on free throws.
Aaron Nesmith scored 26 points and Toppin had 20 for the Pacers, who have dropped two in a row since the victory that snapped their 16-game winning streak. They lost forward Jarace Walker after he was evaluated for a concussion in the first half.
CALGARY, Canada — Mikael Granlund capped his hat trick scoring on the power play with one second remaining in overtime on Thursday night to give the Ducks a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.
Granlund has seven goals during a four-game goal streak that has him up to 19 on the season as the Ducks extended their winning streak to four games.
The Pacific Division-leading Ducks have a five-point lead on the Edmonton Oilers and a six-point lead on the Vegas Golden Knights.
Rookie Matvei Gridin and Blake Coleman scored for Calgary, which extended its point streak to five games (4-0-1). Gridin stretched his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists).
Ville Husso, who made 23 saves, improved to 9-7-1.
Devin Cooley, who had 30 stops, fell to 9-10-4.
The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Flames. First, Pavel Mintyukov’s turnover in the opening minute of the game resulted in a 3-on-0 breakaway for Calgary but Gridin, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato over-passed it and never got a shot on goal.
Three minutes later, it appeared that Yegor Sharangovich had given Calgary the lead, but the Ducks challenged for offside and the goal was overturned. It was the fifth goal the Flames have had waved off by video review during its homestand.
Calgary eventually took the lead on Coleman’s goal 1:06 into the second period when he redirected Joel Farabee’s pass inside the post. But Granlund tied it on an unassisted goal two minutes later.
The Ducks lost two defensemen to injury. Radko Gudas (lower body) left the game late in the second period and Mintyukov got hurt when he took a shot from Olli Maatta high in his chest in the third.
VANCOUVER, Canada — Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves for his third shutout of the season and 39th of his career to lead the Kings to a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
The victory moved the Kings within one point of the Nashville Predators, who hold the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference playoff race.
One of the best stops by Kuemper, whose last shutout was on Dec. 6 against Chicago, came at the 10:43 mark of the first period when Teddy Blueger launched a blast from the slot and the goalie kicked out his right leg to send the puck soaring with the toe of his skate.
Kevin Lankinen made 34 saves for the Canucks, who lost their fourth straight game. Vancouver has been shut out five times this season, with four coming at home.
The Kings opened the scoring with Laughton’s power-play goal 17:34 into the first period. Stationed at the top of the faceoff circle, Byfield took a shot that hit the skate of Laughton as he jumped in front of the net, deflecting the puck in past Lankinen.
Byfield sealed it with an empty-netter with 2:24 left in the game.
Up next for Kings: vs. Utah at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
In a quiet moment before the pomp and circumstance of opening day, Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas learned he’d be starting in the final season opener of his long career.
He was on the bench for the Freeway Series finale at Dodger Stadium earlier this week, when manager Dave Roberts came over to check in and give Rojas the news.
“I didn’t know if, ‘Thank you’ was the right thing to say because it’s something I earned,” Rojas recounted before the Dodgers’ 8-2 win Thursday against the Diamondbacks. “It’s not something that I asked for as a favor. So I was just kind of speechless.”
Rojas embraced Roberts.
“It was a gift to myself because of all the hard work and the preparation I put in throughout my whole career,” Rojas said. “This way is the best way possible because I got up to the big leagues as a utility defensive replacement who can play shortstop but couldn’t really hit much.”
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Rojas, who intends to retire after this year, wrapped up his final opening day as a starter.
Opening day is a celebration across baseball. But the Dodgers made it a full production. The pregame program Thursday included roster-introduction pyrotechnics, along with a stage and blue carpet set up in center field.
It was also a time to commemorate the 2025 World Series, raising the banner and revealing the new sign marking the organization’s ninth title.
Rojas rode onto the field perched atop a metallic blue convertible, hoisting the 2025 World Series trophy over his head. To his left sat Freddie Freeman, holding the 2024 trophy. Will Ferrell sat in the driver’s seat.
“It’s here,” Rojas said Thursday afternoon. “This is my last chance to play baseball with an amazing group of guys.”
A spot in the starting lineup hadn’t been guaranteed for the 2025 World Series hero. The Diamondbacks started right-hander Zac Gallen. And throughout the year, Rojas will generally play second base against left-handers, platooning with Alex Freeland to begin the year and eventually Tommy Edman when he returns from the 10-day injured list.
“This means a lot to him, his family and to the Dodger fans,” Roberts said. “And also, most importantly, I think he’s a great option for today. All in, it was the right decision.”
Rojas’ final opening day — he’s lined up to transition into a player development role with the Dodgers next year — was a well-rounded game for the Dodgers.
A marquee pitching matchup between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Gallen produced a scoreless first three innings. The Diamondbacks broke through first, with Geraldo Perdomo roping a two-run homer off Yamamoto in the fourth inning.
The Dodgers hadn’t recorded a hit since Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff single. But in the fifth, they finally got to Gallen, and batted through the order.
Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández kicked off the rally with back-to-back groundball singles. Then Andy Pages launched a go-ahead home run into the left-field seats.
Rojas, dropping a single into shallow center field, and Ohtani, drawing a walk, held on the pressure. And the Diamondbacks pulled Gallen for right-hander Juan Morillo.
How the Dodgers celebrated their World Series title ahead of season opener.
The Dodgers tacked on one more run, as Rojas raced home on Will Smith’s single up the first-base line, before Morillo finally escaped a bases-loaded jam.
The next inning, Yamamoto slammed the door shut against the top of the order with a pair of groundouts to Rojas and a strikeout, Yamamoto’s sixth. He retired nine straight batters after Perdomo’s homer.
That would end Yamamoto’s night at six innings.
The Dodgers continued piling on against the Diamondbacks’ bullpen. A four-run rally in the seventh inning featured Kyle Tucker’s first hit as a Dodger, an RBI double and a two-run shot from Smith. The Dodgers’ bullpen held the D-backs scoreless the rest of the way.
After reliever Tanner Scott forced a fly out to shortstop Mookie Betts to end the game, Rojas pointed two fingers to the sky and then joined his teammates in the handshake line.
Rojas held his emotions at bay through spring training, immersing himself in the daily work. But opening day made it more real.
“Baseball is what I remember me doing my whole life,” Rojas said. “I don’t remember myself doing anything else. I know I was a good son, a good brother, a good student. I know that. But I don’t remember myself doing that. I remember myself playing baseball, preparing for a baseball game, working out to be a professional baseball player. Then when I was in the minors I remember myself working really hard to get to the big leagues and then working really hard to be an every-day player. It goes on and on.”
Until it doesn’t.
Future Hall of famer Clayton Kershaw knows what that’s like. Venturing into retirement a year ahead of Rojas, Kershaw was on NBC’s broadcast Thursday, sporting a suit on the field before the game.
He commented on Rojas’ tan, and Rojas told Kershaw he’d stolen his look and had been going sleeveless.
“My wife and my kids call him Uncle Kersh because of the joy he had throughout the year,” Rojas said. “He was really happy all year. He wasn’t really caught up in numbers or stats. He was just enjoying his time. I really wish I can do a little bit of what he did last year. I hope I can enjoy it as much as he did last year.
HOUSTON — Mike Trout homered to launch what he hopes will be a bounce-back year, leading the Angels to a season-opening 3-0 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday.
Trout also walked three times and played center field for the first time since April 2024. The three-time MVP played 130 games last season, his most since 2019 because of various injuries.
Making his franchise-record 14th opening day start, the 34-year-old Trout broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning when he sent a 96 mph fastball from reliever AJ Blubaugh (0-1) 403 feet onto the train tracks in left center. It was his fifth opening day homer, also a club record.
The Angels snapped an eight-game road losing streak in season openers, starting 1-0 on the road for the first time since 2013.
Oswald Peraza hit an RBI single in the eighth and Nolan Schanuel homered in the ninth.
José Soriano (1-0) allowed two hits and four walks in six innings while striking out seven. Four relievers completed the three-hitter, with Jordan Romano working the ninth to earn the save in his Angels debut.
Hunter Brown started for Houston and allowed four hits and four walks in 4⅔ innings. He struck out nine.
The Astros went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position while stranding nine runners.
Houston designated hitter Yordan Alvarez may have been robbed of a home run in the first inning because the retractable roof at Daikin Park was closed. Alvarez hit a towering shot toward the right-field foul pole, but it ricocheted off a horizontal rafter and landed in foul territory.
It was ruled a foul ball. The Astros challenged, and the call was upheld after a review. Alvarez later struck out swinging.
Up next: The teams resume the four-game series on Friday, with lefty Yusei Kikuchi starting for the Angels opposite right-hander Mike Burrows.
France beat Brazil 2-1 in a friendly in the United States, in what was a potential dress rehearsal for World Cup 2026 final.
Published On 26 Mar 202626 Mar 2026
France forward Kylian Mbappe showed no ill effects of his left knee injury when he broke free for a goal to give France an early lead on its way to a 2-1 victory over Brazil in a World Cup tuneup between two of the world’s top teams.
With a crowd of 66,215 heavily favouring Brazil, Mbappe and Hugo Ekitike gave France a 2-0 lead on Thursday on the same pitch where they will play their final group stage game of this summer’s World Cup, against Norway and Erling Haaland. Bremer cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 78th minute.
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The friendly went off without any evident hiccups despite the simmering feud between the town of Foxborough and World Cup organisers over almost $8m in security costs. The sides reached an agreement two weeks ago in which the organising committee promised to make the payment in advance, and the town approved the necessary entertainment licence.
That was expected to be the last remaining obstacle to the world’s biggest sporting event arriving in this 20,000-person suburb tucked between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, that swells to three times its size for New England Patriots games. To accommodate FIFA requirements, a grass field has replaced the artificial turf that had been used for the NFL’s Patriots and the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer.
The crowd was the second-largest to watch a football match at Gillette Stadium, behind only a 2007 friendly between Brazil and Mexico. It was speckled with fans in Brazilian yellow kits, with just a few French flags waving to celebrate Mbappe’s goal. (The media dining room was more neutral, with madeleines, macarons and eclairs alongside Brazilian brigadeiro, pudim and mousse de maracuja.)
Also in the house were Coach Joe Mazzulla and players from the NBA’s Boston Celtics, with forward Jayson Tatum taking part in the pregame coin toss alongside Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.
A former Paris Saint-Germain and current Real Madrid star, Mbappe sprained his left knee in December but played through January before missing almost a month. He was used as a substitute in Real Madrid’s last two matches but started on Thursday.
Mbappe said on Monday that his injury was “truly behind me”. (Reports that said the team examined the wrong knee were false, Mbappe said at a news conference in Foxborough on Wednesday.)
And he showed it in the 32nd minute when Ousmane Dembele delivered a through ball that left no one between Mbappe and the goalkeeper. The 2018 World Cup champion and 2022 Golden Boot winner tapped it ahead once before chipping it over the keeper to make it 1-0.
France took a 2-0 lead in the 65th minute when Ekitike, Liverpool’s top scorer this season, converted on a pass from Michael Olise in the penalty area. Mbappe left for a substitute immediately afterwards.
After France’s Dayot Upamecano was sent off in the 55th minute for taking down a player with a clear path to the goal, a card that was upgraded from yellow to red on video review, Brazil cut the deficit to 2-1 when Bremer redirected a cross from Luiz Henrique past France keeper Mike Maignan.
The game also featured a mid-half “cooling break” that enabled players to rest and hydrate – even though the temperature in early spring New England was in the mid-60s (15 degrees Celsius).
After a heatwave during last year’s Club World Cup, FIFA announced that all games in the 2026 World Cup would include the break, regardless of the temperature on the pitch.
Should France and Brazil both win their groups at the World Cup, then the first time they can meet at the tournament will be in the final itself.
It’s like that time Pinocchio became a real boy: News that was labeled “fake” last week is real today, per the Kennedy Center, and Bill Maher will indeed be the 27th person to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
The White House strongly dissed the Atlantic’s reporting (followed by unreporting) last week that Maher was the next in line for the 2026 prize that Conan O’Brien got last year and Kevin Hart picked up the year before that. The Twain honor has been bestowed on comics almost annually since 1998 by the Kennedy Center, a “tired, broken, and dilapidated” building that President Trump slapped his own name on in December and plans to close for two years’ worth of renovations starting July 4 — hence the response from White House flacks.
“Literally FAKE NEWS,” said Steven Cheung, White House director of communications, on his official X account reacting Friday to the Atlantic story. Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said in a statement to the publication, “This is fake news. Bill Maher will NOT be getting this award.”
But People reported Thursday that although the Atlantic’s news was deemed “fake” at the time, according to word from a White House official, the situation had “evolved” in the six days since then.
You say tomato, I say to-mah-to? At any rate, Bill’s getting the Twain, given previously to comedic luminaries including Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin, Steve Martin, Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey and Dave Chappelle.
Maher had no response on social media, perhaps reserving his reaction for the upcoming “Real Time With Bill Maher” episode due out Friday on HBO or his next “Club Random” podcast. But he did issue a dryly amusing statement Thursday in a Kennedy Center news release, saying, “Thank you to the Mark Twain people: I just had the award explained to me, and apparently it’s like an Emmy, except I win.”
(Maher’s show has been nominated for Emmy Awards 22 times, from 2004 through 2024, including 13 nods for variety series and the rest for writing, directing and personal performance. It has won exactly zero of those times. Even Susan Lucci only had to wait through 18 Daytime Emmy nominations before she finally won on the 19th — and proceeded to lose out on two more.)
The comic’s statement continued: “I’d just like to say that it is indeed humbling to get anything named for a man who’s been thrown out of as many school libraries as Mark Twain.”
“For nearly three decades, the Mark Twain Prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy,” Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations for the Kennedy Center, said in a statement of her own. “For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse — one politically incorrect joke at a time.”
Maher, a self-described liberal who has no love for the Republican Party, found himself in strange-new-respect territory among conservatives in recent years after he started slamming far-left ideology as ruthlessly as he slammed the far right. Then last spring he accepted an invitation for dinner with Trump at the White House, and many heads exploded.
“OK, as you know, 12 days ago, I had dinner with President Trump, a dinner that was set up by my friend Kid Rock because we share a belief that there’s got to be something better than hurling insults from 3,000 miles away,” said Maher, who lives on the West Coast, on the April 11, 2025, episode of “Real Time.”
“And let me first say that to all the people who treated this like it was some kind of summit meeting, you’re ridiculous. Like I was going to sign a treaty or something. I have — I have no power. I’m a f— comedian, and he’s the most powerful leader in the world. I’m not the leader of anything except maybe a contingent of centrist-minded people who think there’s got to be a better way of running this country than hating each other every minute.”
Maher said he brought with him to the dinner a list of almost five dozen epithets the president had hurled his way over the years, intending to ask Trump to sign it for him. Which the president did. And after sharing some anecdotes from the visit, including some snappy retorts, Maher told his audience that Trump was “much more self-aware than he lets on in public.”
“I never felt I had to walk on eggshells around him. And honestly, I voted for Clinton and Obama, but I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was able to talk with Donald Trump. That’s just how it went down. Make of it what you will.”
The Mark Twain Prize will be given to Maher at a gala set for June 28, with Netflix streaming the event at a later date, yet to be determined.
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.
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.”
COLUMBIA, S.C. — 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.
Davidson, who appeared to be on the verge of tears as the referees reviewed the final play of regulation to determine whether she had committed a foul that would have set Clemson up for game-winning free throws, said on Sunday there’s a standard that this year’s Trojans feel they are responsible for meeting.
“I think our expectations, you know nobody wanted to lose JuJu, we all love her, but we have to keep going as you said and just holding that same expectation that they had last season. Just the program standard,” Davidson said. “And just resiliency and making sure that we’re doing our best every game.”
Dunn said the deck has been stacked against the Trojans all season and it’s forced them to grow stronger as a unit.
USC guard Kara Dunn drives to the basket in front of Clemson guard Taylor Johnson-Matthews during the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday in Columbia, S.C.
(Nell Redmond / Associated Press)
“I think this year has just been about focusing on going against all odds,” Dunn said. “A lot of people didn’t expect much from this team and they might have turned away at certain times when we had lower moments this season and I think that it built our own culture for this season specifically. I feel like we had to come together, we had to support each other when it didn’t feel like we had much support and I think that that’s been really important.”
She added that moving through the season with just the support of each other and their die-hard fans works in their favor as they prepare to take on powerhouse South Carolina on the Gamecocks’ formidable home floor.
“We have everything to gain, nothing to lose going into this game, so I feel like this has really helped us,” Dunn said.
The NCAA tournament game against the No. 1 seed on the Trojans’ side of the bracket will be a rematch of the unofficial “Battle of the Real USC” in November. The Gamecocks claimed a 69-52 win during that meeting.
USC guard Jazzy Davidson drives under pressure from Clemson guard Rachael Rose Saturday in Columbia, S.C.
(Nell Redmond / Associated Press)
Gottlieb said Sunday she scheduled that game to prepare her team for moments like Monday’s tough matchup.
“Maybe if we hadn’t played Notre Dame, UConn and South Carolina, maybe our record would be a little better coming in, but it doesn’t make you a better program,” she said. “Our goals remain the same; which is to win a national championship. So if you’re skipping those people in nonconference hoping to manipulate it, it doesn’t work that way. You have to see the best. You have to elevate your program to be the best, then ultimately, you have to beat the best to get to where you want to be.”
South Carolina is trying to avenge last season’s championship loss to UConn and secure its fourth national championship in program history and the third in five years. USC, meanwhile, is trying to match the Cheryl Miller era when she led the Trojans to back-to-back national titles in 1983 and 1984.
Trojan culture will be tested more than ever, but Dunn feels good about where the team is heading.
“Obviously that was the beginning of the season, now it’s towards the end and we’re two very different teams,” she said of the previous loss to South Carolina. “We’ve grown in a lot of ways, but we’re using that scout just to see what we did well and what we could’ve done better. We just want to make sure that we control those things first and then adjust.”
Davidson will have the chance to play in another legacy defining game during her second NCAA tournament appearance.
“I feel like I have nerves a little bit before every game, [Monday] especially because it’s a big game,” she said. “My teammates are always just making sure I’m calm and in the moment. The confidence that they instill in me every day really helps.”
The first 45 minutes was the epitome of two teams cancelling each other out – but once the second half began the landscape was set for City’s win.
They were the more progressive, aggressive side. Their attacking intent started to overwhelm Arsenal, the pressure became impossible to resist. Smoother on the ball and more cohesive than an Arsenal side based on organisation, the traffic only flowed one way.
Arrizabalaga already had Arsenal’s nerves on edge with an injudicious dash from goal which resulted in a yellow card for a panicked foul on Jeremy Doku.
Much, much worse was to come for Arsenal and their goalkeeper.
It remains six years since Arteta won his one and only trophy as Arsenal manager, and the way in which his team went into their shell here will be a concern that he must hope is not repeated as the pressure mounts in the closing weeks of the season.
Former Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart told BBC Sport: “Manchester City played to win. I think that’s what they’re bred to do over ten, 15 years. I think now they’re very much bred to win. I think they’ve been really disappointed with the FA Cup final at the end of last season [when they lost to Crystal Palace].
“A lot will be read into it putting a marker down or whatever, but I don’t think so. I think it was just about Manchester City winning trophies, which is what they’ve done so regularly recently – and this is another big one.
“It is also a huge day for Pep Guardiola, who’s won everything, but now stands alone in terms of managers winning the League Cup. He’s won it five times, going one clear of Sir Alex Ferguson. How much of a testament is that to his ability, his special touch and what he’s done over the years with Manchester City?”
Arteta is braced for the battle to recover from this setback and focus on three trophies, saying: “We had eight amazing months with this team. Today is a disappointment. We need to use that fire in the belly for the next two months to have an incredible season.”
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It’s painful, especially for our players and supporters, because we really wanted to lift that trophy. It was two very different halves, especially the first half when I think we were better than them and had the best two chances of the game.
“We didn’t capitalise on that. Credit to them for what they have done. A really sad day.”
He must hope it is the last sad day of what has been an outstanding season so far – for Guardiola, he will hope City’s win, and the manner in which it was achieved, will play on Arsenal’s nerves.
Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh produced the snooker of his life, firing in a maximum 147 break and finishing with three consecutive centuries to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-7 in the final of the World Open in Yushan.
The 41st seed toppled world number one Judd Trump in the semi-finals and came back from 4-0 down to beat arguably the sport’s greatest ever player in the final.
O’Sullivan hit the sport’s highest ever break of 153 on his run to a 66th ranking final and the 50-year-old Englishman had looked back to something approaching his best as he hunted down a 42nd ranking title – and first since January 2024.
“I just wanted to try my best because I didn’t know when I might be in another final again,” said 40-year-old Un-Nooh, whose only previous title came in the 2019 Shoot Out.
Seven-time world champion O’Sullivan had started the final quickly, reeling off the opening four frames in a run that included a 124 break, but the Thai world number 39 rattled off six consecutive frames thanks to some heavy scoring that included five breaks over 50.
O’Sullivan countered with three consecutive century breaks – 114, 116 and 136 – to regain the lead in a match of the highest quality, only for his opponent to level with a break of 77 then score three centuries of his own to clinch victory.
Un-Nooh’s unbelievable burst of scoring included breaks of 132 and 131, either side of his nerveless 147 in the penultimate frame, to provide a fitting climax.
The performance earned Un-Nooh a £175,000 purse in a season when he had failed to make it past the last 16 in any other tournament, while O’Sullivan had to be content with a £75,000 prize for the highest break.
“I just want to say well done to Thepchaiya who played unbelievable snooker,” O’Sullivan told the Yushan crowd.
“I watched him play against Judd Trump last night and he made the number one player in the world look second best. I was hoping he wouldn’t play like that today but he did – he gave me a good hiding, really.”
Sveindís Jónsdóttir scored two goals and Gisele Thompson also scored to lead Angel City to a 3-1 win on the road Saturday over rival Bay FC.
Kennedy Fuller’s long and pinpoint pass found Jónsdóttir who calmly finished on the breakaway for the 1-0 lead in the third minute. Jónsdóttir assisted on Thompson’s goal in the 32nd minute to double Angel City’s lead.
Jónsdóttir scored again in the 54th minute when she headed home Evelyn Shores’ corner kick to make it 3-0.
Taylor Huff scored Bay FC’s lone goal in the 55th minute. The midfielder was later sent off with two yellow cards, both in second-half stoppage time.
Angel City FC defender Savy King played 82 minutes in her first start since suffering a cardiac event during a game on May 9 that led to heart surgery.
The win snapped a nine-match road winless streak for Angel City. Their last win away from BMO Stadium came on May 2 versus Washington Spirit.
Perhaps Chaminade’s softball team should no longer be considered a surprise for its 7-0 start overall and 1-0 mark in the Mission League.
Its 7-6 win over defending Mission League champion Sherman Oaks Notre Dame on Thursday featured a five-run seventh inning that should get everyone’s attention. Notre Dame went 8-0 in league play last season. Casey Glantz hit a two-run go-ahead home run.
Chaminade has featured sophomore pitcher Finley Suppan, the daughter of former major leaguer Jeff Supan. She’s 6-0 with a 1.15 ERA. She had a strikeout to end the game. The Eagles are flourishing under coach Cory Skinner.
Garden Grove Pacifica 4, Anaheim Canyon 1: Shay Kletke hit a home run and also pitched four innings.
Thousand Oaks 9, Granada Hills 4: Zoe Justman had three hits for Granada Hills.
Los Alamitos 6, Huntington Beach 5: A home run by Erin Denny on a 3-and-2 count in the top of the ninth inning broke a 5-5 tie and lifted the Griffins to victory.
Baseball
Sun Valley Poly 11, Sylmar 9: The Parrots improved to 3-0 in the Valley Mission League with a huge win over preseason favorite Sylmar.
Etiwanda 2, Foothill 0: Four Etiwanda pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout. Foothill had recorded shutout wins in four of its last five games. James Milam had two doubles.
La Mirada 7, Aliso Niguel 1: Blake Barberena had two hits and two RBIs.
Santa Monica 8, Calabasas 4: Jaxson Ehlers went four for four to lead Santa Monica.
Luka Doncic became the first player since Kobe Bryant to score 60 points in a game for the LA Lakers as they overcame the Miami Heat 134-126.
Doncic – the NBA’s leading scorer this season – has reached 30 points in eight consecutive games and got to 50 twice in his last five appearances but in hitting 60 achieved a mark that no Lakers player had managed since Bryant in 2019.
And on a night of notable marks for the Lakers, LeBron James scored a triple double with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists to move.
The game was his 1,611th regular-season outing, moving him level with Robert Parish for the most in NBA history. The all-time leading scorer in NBA history will set a new record if he features for the Lakers against the Orlando Magic on Saturday.
“He’s not only competing against the entire league but also Father Time. And he’s giving Father Time hell,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said of the 41-year-old.
The football federation of Morocco says it welcomes the CAF Appeal Board decision to award it the 2025 AFCON title.
Published On 19 Mar 202619 Mar 2026
The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) has commended the decision to award its country the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title, which was stripped from Senegal.
The FRMF “welcomes the decision, which reaffirms the primacy of competition regulations and reinforces the conditions necessary for the proper conduct of international tournaments”, the federation said in a statement on Thursday.
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The Confederation of African Football (CAF) had announced on Tuesday that its Appeal Board had awarded the tournament to Morocco, the defeated finalists, on January 18.
The final, which Senegal won 1-0 in extra time, was delayed for 14 minutes when the Senegalese players and staff returned to the dressing room in protest against the awarding of an injury-time penalty to Morocco in the second half.
When play eventually resumed, Moroccan striker Brahim Diaz missed the kick with Senegal going on to win the game thanks to Pape Gueye’s stunning strike.
“From the outset, following the incidents that led to the interruption of the match, the FRMF maintained a clear and consistent position: the strict application of the governing regulations. The Federation’s approach was solely guided by this principle,” the FRMF statement read.
“Following its appeal, CAF has now confirmed that the applicable regulations were not properly enforced.”
Morocco appealed to CAF to overturn the result immediately after the final, which descended into chaos during and after the protest, and led to a pitch invasion, which resulted in 18 Senegalese fans being handed prison sentences.
The initial appeal was rejected, and the Appeal Board decision came exactly two months after the final was completed.
“Throughout the process, the FRMF acted in full compliance with all relevant legal and procedural frameworks, with a constant focus on upholding its rights and preserving the integrity of the competition,” it said in the statement.
“This decision provides clarity on the applicable framework and strengthens the consistency and credibility of international competitions, particularly within African football.”
The Senegal Football Federation (FSF) immediately responded to CAF’s ruling by saying it would take its own appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Such a process could take as long as a year to reach a final decision.
Senegal’s government on Wednesday went on to allege corruption following the decision and called for an independent international investigation into the matter.
HOUSTON — The combination of Luka Doncic and LeBron James was overpowering and enthralling for all to see during the Lakers’ dynamic 124-116 win over the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on Wednesday.
Doncic was masterful with his near triple-double of 40 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.
“I thought he definitely put on a clinic down the stretch,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Whether it was in isolation, versus fires in isolations, versus the shock with (Alperen) Segun, he just got us good offense whether for himself or for his teammates every single time down the floor….We moved the basketball, so that kind of got us going and then when Luka came back in he was just fantastic.”
James was a force with 30 points, five rebounds and two assists.
He was super efficient, missing just one of his 14 shots and making both of his three-pointers.
“Look, he was awesome tonight and I think two, part of the evolution of him on this team has been, particularly in this stretch, it’s just been his patience,” Redick said. “His patience, knowing he’s going to get the ball and he’s going to have transition opportunities and he’s going to have plays called for him and he’s going to play off-ball and get a corner three…He was great.”
The tremendous play of Doncic and James is why the Lakers extended their winning streak to seven straight games and helped them take the three-game series over the Rockets, 2-1, winning both games here, one on Monday night.
And because Doncic and James were clutch down the stretch when the Lakers leaned on them to be clutch, they are the third-place team in the rugged Western Conference, holding a 1-½ lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“You know, when you win, everything is easier,” Doncic said. “Winning is fun. So, just the way we play, I think it’s a lot of fun. And that’s what we just do, we win, have a good time.”
Doncic had 10 points and three assists in the fourth quarter.
But the beauty of the night was when Doncic threw a no-look lob pass to James for a dunk and then when Doncic drilled a three-pointer with 58.4 seconds left for a 120-111 Lakers lead.
Doncic yelled at the crowd and ran down court shaking his head. When the Rockets called a time out, the Lakers bench all ran over to Doncic, hugging him, slapping him and James nudging him for a job very well done.
Doncic was asked what the fan said to set him off.
“I don’t know, some guy. Some guy was talking crazy,” Doncic said. “Showed me his… I don’t know. Nevermind.”
Doncic speaks several languages, including English and his native Slovenian.
He was asked what language he spoke when talking to the fan.
“Off the camera, it was in English,” he said. “I made sure he understand.”
Luka Doncic celebrates after making a three-pointer against the Houston Rockets in the first half.
(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)
James had a steal in the first quarter and then threw down a dunk with Alperen Segen chasing him, leading to James to stare at Segun as he ran back down court, drawing cheers from the fans in awe at witnessing the 23-year veteran still making highlight plays at 41.
Early in the second quarter, James gave the fans even more to cheer about, catching a high lob pass from Marcus Smart and throwing down a one-handed dunk to oohs and aahs.
James wasn’t done, taking a pass from Jake LaRavia and throwing down another dunk later in the second quarter that brought the crowd out of its seats. That play gave the Lakers a 13-point lead.
James was at it again with a tip dunk off a Deandre Ayton missed shot late in the second quarter.
By the end of the first half, James had made all eight of his shots and scored 18 points in carrying the Lakers to a 12-point lead after the first 24 minutes of the game.
“Right now, I feel like….” James said after the game. ‘’Right now. But in the game I felt pretty good. Before the game I didn’t feel that great. I mean, I was yawning and tired and telling myself I was literally, just like talking to myself like, ‘Come on, here we go. Let’s figure it out. Let’s get through it.’ But I felt pretty good in the game and like I said I’m happy to make a few plays to help our team win.”
In many ways, it was easy to understand why he felt that way. He had just played in his 1,610th career NBA game, leaving him one shy of the all-time record held by Robert Parish (1,611).
So, James was asked, where did he find the energy to play 34 minutes and six seconds in such a high-level and intense game.
“I mean, if I’m in uniform I got to try to see what I can give,” James said. “And that’s where it stems from.”
Venezuelans took to the streets to celebrate the WBC title. (AFP)
Caracas, March 18, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela won the World Baseball Classic after defeating the United States 3–2 on Tuesday at LoanDepot Park in Miami.
The Caribbean nation’s first major international baseball title was secured thanks to a decisive double by Eugenio Suárez that broke a tie in the top of the ninth inning.
“I have no words. Seeing Javier (Sanoja) score on my double in the ninth was the greatest moment of my life. We knew we could do it. Nobody believed in Venezuela, but now we are the champions. This is a celebration for the whole country,” Suárez told Fox Sports after the game.
The United States had tied the score at 2-2 in the eighth inning when Bryce Harper launched a two-run home run against Venezuelan reliever Andrés Machado.
Earlier in the game, a sacrifice fly from Maikel García in the third inning and a home run by Wilyer Abreu in the fifth—off rookie pitcher Nolan McLean—had given Venezuela a 2–0 lead before a crowd of 36,490 people that was heavily in favor of the South American team.
Sports journalist Jason Mackey said he had never witnessed such passionate fan support at a sporting event—not even at the Super Bowl. Venezuela’s victory also sparked spontaneous celebrations in several cities across the country, including the capital, with fireworks displays and caravans blaring horns along the main avenues.
Venezuela finished the tournament with six wins and one loss, the latter coming against the Dominican Republic during the group stage. Before reaching the championship, the Venezuelan squad defeated three-time tournament champion Japan 8–5 in the quarterfinals and Italy 4–2 in the semifinals.
The tournament’s Most Valuable Player, Maikel García, emphasized that the team’s motivation centered on representing the country. “We didn’t play the final to represent Dominicans or Latinos. We did it for Venezuela. Maybe some people didn’t like that, but the jersey said Venezuela, not Latin America,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US team fielded the most star-studded roster in its history but fell short in its second consecutive final to extend its winless draught to nine years. The Americans had previously lost the 2023 final 3–2 to Japan.
Following the victory, Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared Wednesday a National Day of Jubilation, encouraging people to celebrate in public squares, parks, and sports fields. She also invited the public to attend a large concert titled “Venezuela Triunfa Unida” (“Venezuela Triumphs United”).
For his part, US President Donald Trump used the moment to again suggest that Venezuela could become a US state. “Statehood,” he wrote on his Truth Social account.
In the run-up to the final, Trump had posted a similar message: “Good things have been happening to Venezuela lately. I wonder what this magic is… the 51st state?”
Tuesday’s final happened in the wake of the US’ January 3 military strikes against Caracas and nearby areas that also saw special forces kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. In the two months since, the two countries have fast-tracked a rapprochement and reestablished diplomatic ties. Despite the strong political overtones surrounding the matchup, players and coaches largely avoided commenting on the state of relations between the two nations.
