Officially, he is UCLA’s sixth man. Coach Steve Alford calls him the sixth starter because he plays so many minutes. Whatever he goes by, Aaron Holiday seems to have a sixth sense about what his team needs. The sophomore point guard provided tenacious defense and savvy shot-making with Lonzo Ball...
The schedule made it look like it might be a good time to rest a Clippers starter. The advanced metrics indicated everyone should be available to play. Clippers Coach Doc Rivers went with the more contemporary gauge of his players’ fatigue levels Sunday night at Staples Center, deciding not to...
Genetics suggested that T.J. Leaf might play shooting guard or, maybe if he was an outlier, small forward. His father stands 6-3 and his mother 5-7. His brother Troy was about 6-1 as a senior guard who starred at Azusa Pacific. There was another brother who was 5-10 and a sister who was 5-7. None...
Long after Rupp Arena had emptied, fans streaming through corridors in quiet resignation, Bryce Alford lingered in a corner of the 40-year-old building with his immediate and extended family. There were hugs, handshakes and smiles all around. Alford accepted congratulations from UCLA boosters and...
The college water polo season will end Sunday afternoon the same way the last one did. And the one before that — in fact, the same way the last 14 seasons ended: with either UCLA or USC playing for the national title. But for just the second time since 2010, USC will be making the trip alone after...
It will be a Kentucky Derby, run indoors. The participants will wear high-end sneakers. They might feel like being put out to pasture after what could be the fastest 40 minutes in sports. A possible documentary title: Thirteen Seconds or Less. That’s the average amount of time both UCLA and Kentucky...
Are you kidding me that Bill Plaschke honestly thinks these aren’t the L.A. Rams? This is just a new version of the losers who left this city 22 years ago. The L.A. Rams never won anything and please don’t count that lone title in the ’50s; the NFL was a joke back then. It’s the same old, same...
If UCLA truly were just a basketball school, it would be a joyous time for Athletic Director Dan Guerrero. The Bruins have won their first eight games, matching their best start in three years, and will take a No. 11 national ranking into a showdown against top-ranked Kentucky on Saturday. The...
The old Kentucky basketball coach answered the phone with pleasantries dipped in a molasses drawl. He spent the next few seconds chewing on a reporter’s question like a thick wad of tobacco. “I don’t want to talk about that,” he said flatly. “That was a bad moment.” Joe B. Hall went on to chat...
Another late start came with a bonus for UCLA. There was an early end to any drama. Bruins students had barely finished waving two hands at UC Riverside and deriding the Highlanders as the “loooooosing team” as part of their pregame ritual when the game was essentially decided. UCLA scored the...
As the game tightened, UCLA having yielded the seven-point lead over a matter of minutes, the Bruins did what Isaac Hamilton said would be required to win the Wooden Legacy. They got nastier on defense. It started with just under three minutes to play against Texas A&M on Sunday at the Honda Center,...
UCLA redshirt junior defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes announced Monday on Twitter that he will forgo his final season of eligibility and make himself available for the NFL draft. “I would like to thank everyone affiliated with UCLA Athletics, the UCLA football program and UCLA Academics for allowing...
The shots weren’t falling for Lonzo Ball. He missed a jumper. He airballed a three-pointer. He airballed another three. Of the first seven field goals the freshman point guard attempted, only one went in. Which only added to the superlatives used to describe his performance in the last 10 minutes...
It won’t always be Showtime for this incarnation of the UCLA Bruins. Not all fastbreaks and deft passes. There will be days like Sunday, when the game is more a struggle and the opponent has little interest in letting the Bruins run wild to some flashy highlight reel. Still, these Bruins showed...
The fallout from UCLA’s worst season since 2010 began Sunday when the university announced it would not retain offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu in the wake of the team’s epic struggles to move the ball. Polamalu oversaw a running game that ranked No. 127 among 128 Football Bowl Subdivision...
It was a farewell to harm’s way. UCLA will not be subjected to any further misery after its season ended Saturday evening in appropriately gloomy fashion, the Bruins faltering badly over the final two quarters of a 36-10 loss to California. At least there would be no need to ponder the potential...
For the briefest of moments Saturday, there was something new to UCLA’s run game. A flicker of hope. Nate Starks ran for 15 yards on the Bruins’ second drive and then followed it up on the next play with a 17-yard run in which he slipped a tackle while sprinting into California’s secondary. They...
When: 5:30 p.m., Sunday Where: Honda Center On the air: Radio: AM 570. TV: ESPN. Update: The Bruins are 4-0 against the Aggies, having last defeated them at the Honda Center in the 2008 NCAA tournament, 51-49. That was the last of UCLA's three consecutive trips to the Final Four. These Aggies are...
And now for something really different from the UCLA Bruins — a close game. The Bruins had breezed to an unbeaten mark in their first five games, winning by an average of 26.6 points per game. They were a high-flying offensive machine, averaging 104.4 points per game. But Friday night against...
The season will end soon enough for UCLA. There are no such assurances of finality to the major issues beleaguering the Bruins. What is likely to be UCLA’s last game of the season Saturday against California at Memorial Stadium will not necessarily be the cutoff point for an inert running game,...
UCLA (4-7) at California (4-7) at Memorial Stadium. TV: ESPN2, 4 p.m. Most intriguing story line: This could be dubbed the APR Bowl. The winner of what otherwise seems like an inconsequential game could parlay a 5-7 record and its Academic Progress Rate score into a bowl bid if there are not enough...
The steady play of freshman starters Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf has given UCLA basketball fans reason to be optimistic so far this season, but it was the leadership and production of senior guards Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton that set the table for a 99-77 victory over Portland on Thursday night...
Johnathan Motley scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half to lead No. 20 Baylor to a 73-58 victory over No. 24 Michigan State on Thursday to reach the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game at Paradise Island, Bahamas. Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. added 14 points and eight rebounds — nearly all in the second...
Never one to hold back, Takkarist McKinley had something to say before he took questions from reporters. “It’s my last full padded practice of my UCLA career,” McKinley said Wednesday. “Thank you, Jesus.” A standout career is ending on a melancholy note for the senior defensive end. He has appeared...
Break out the chips and cold drinks, but let Mike Hiserman handle the remote. The Times’ deputy sports editor handicaps what’s worth watching, and skipping, on this weekend’s menu of college football games. :: FRIDAY MORNING 9 a.m.: Houston at Memphis, Channel 7; North Carolina State at North Carolina,...
Before the season, UCLA was said to have the better team, better quarterback, better coach, better schedule and better chance to win the Pac-12, but after their latest epic fail, in the form of a thorough beat-down administered by the far superior and more talented Trojans, it’s clear the Bruins...
UCLA may no longer look on the bright side of things at the Rose Bowl. The school’s athletic department, in conjunction with the student fan group “The Den,” has sent an email survey to students asking whether they would be in favor of moving sections to allow Bruins players to switch sidelines...
Steve Alford knows it’s coming despite the high-scoring romps, the nonstop ball movement, the feeling that UCLA’s early season euphoria might stretch all the way into late March. There will be a time when the shots don’t fall so easily, the ball gets stuck in a few players’ hands, the scoreboard...
There’s somehow more where Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf came from. UCLA’s freshman class is preparing to unveil another newbie who’s expected to turn what’s been a dynamic duo into a fearsome threesome. Ike Anigbogu could make his season debut Thursday night against Portland at Cal State Fullerton’s...
It could be the feast after the feast. The question is, who might be getting devoured two days after Thanksgiving? UCLA’s rushing offense ranks second to last among Football Bowl Subdivision teams, the same lowly standing held by California’s run defense heading into the regular-season finale for...
UCLA qualifying for a bowl game would be a four-step process with one vital prerequisite. “First of all,” Bruins Coach Jim Mora said Monday, “we have to beat Cal.” A victory over the Golden Bears on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley would give UCLA a 5-7 record, potentially putting it in...
Showtime visited Pauley Pavilion on Sunday night, and not just because Pat Riley sat behind the UCLA bench. The onetime Lakers coach, who orchestrated one of the most dazzling offenses in NBA history, was presumably on hand to scout Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf for his current job as president of the...
Eron Harris had 31 points and No. 13 Michigan State held off Florida Gulf Coast, 78-77, on Sunday night when a timekeeping error led to a disputed finish at East Lansing, Mich. With 1.6 seconds remaining, Florida Gulf Coast threw a long inbounds pass from underneath its own basket. But the clock...
The game was over, and so were five years of competing at the Rose Bowl. UCLA quarterback Mike Fafaul and left tackle Conor McDermott, longtime teammates and roommates, returned to midfield and lay down on the turf to contemplate the end of a journey. A wholly unsatisfying end. “It’s very emotional...
Before USC was comfortably coasting past UCLA, when the game was in the balance and the Rose Bowl crowd was still hanging onto every play, Sam Darnold showed why Saturday night was going to be a long one for the Bruins’ defense. Facing third and nine and with the pocket quickly collapsing, Darnold...
It is the place where Mike Fafaul set two school records, Randall Goforth returned an interception for a touchdown to preserve a victory and Takkarist McKinley made quarterback after quarterback quiver in his cleats. The Rose Bowl will always hold special meaning for the UCLA seniors who played...
When: 7 p.m. Sunday. Where: Pauley Pavilion. On the air: TV: Pac-12 Networks; Radio: 570. Update: This will qualify as the closest thing to a home game for Long Beach State until next month. The 49ers (1-3) are in the midst of a madcap stretch of nine games in eight states and it hasn’t started...
Andrew Marincovich experienced the full tapestry of the USC-UCLA football rivalry, attending both schools and playing right guard for the Trojans’ 1944 Rose Bowl champions. Spending New Year’s Day in Pasadena was a prelude to a far more exhilarating red, white and blue endeavor. “Five months later,”...
Each week, the Los Angeles Times’ contingent of college football experts — it’s how they refer to themselves — will make choices on a variety of games. Warning: If they could accurately predict results, they wouldn’t be reporters or editors. Their picks: :: Ben Bolch Washington State at Colorado:...
UCLA’s offense had done its triple-digit thing in the season’s early going, showing itself to be a battering ram capable of piercing an opponent’s psyche in a variety of ways. The Bruins’ game Thursday night was mostly a chance to learn about their defense. San Diego featured the Princeton offense,...
He didn’t get famous. He didn’t get rich. He didn’t even get an easy ride home; he had to walk several miles through darkened Pasadena streets to find a friend’s car. His jersey from that day is hanging in a closet wrapped in dry-cleaner plastic. His gloves and sweatband are stuffed in the back...
Time has taken the edge off the pain. Former USC quarterback John David Booty answers an inquiry with a laugh. “Why do y’all always want to talk about that game?” Booty says over the phone. Ten years have passed since that game, known in the USC-UCLA rivalry simply as “13-9,” a crushing memory...
UCLA’s rivalry game against USC will kick off at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the first night game at the Rose Bowl between the teams since 2010. Police and school officials hope security measures enacted since then make the start time the only similarity between the games. A melee involving 50 to...
Break out the chips and cold drinks, but let Mike Hiserman handle the remote. The Times’ deputy sports editor handicaps what’s worth watching, and skipping, on this weekend’s menu of college football games. FRIDAY Nevada Las Vegas at No. 20 Boise State, 6 p.m., ESPN2 It’s always fun to check in...
Mike Fafaul hasn’t met or spoken with Patrick Cowan. He probably wouldn’t mind if they were forever linked after Saturday. Cowan was the most recent in a string of UCLA backup quarterbacks who improbably helped nudge the Bruins to victory over USC. The tradition goes back to at least 1966, when...
Allegiances were tested from the moment Caleb Wilson arrived at USC to play for a coaching staff that included his father. Chris Wilson coached the defensive line. Caleb was a walk-on tight end. When Caleb caught a touchdown pass during a scrimmage against Chris’ defense, the father remained a...
NEXT UP FOR UCLA vs. San Diego When: 8 p.m. Thursday. Where: Pauley Pavilion. On the air: TV: Pac-12 Network; Radio: 570. Records: San Diego 0-2; UCLA 2-0. Update: San Diego utilizes a Princeton-style offense that features lots of backdoor cuts and misdirection but hasn’t really fooled anyone...
Steve Alford is openly seeking a few L’s early in the season. Leaders, that is. The UCLA basketball coach acknowledged his team’s deficiency in that department after its victory over Cal State Northridge on Sunday. The Bruins rallied after a lackluster first half but received too much prodding...
Jordan Lasley jotted down some notes and brought them along to the UCLA receivers meeting Monday. Keep ball leverage. Play harder. Finish plays. Catch everything that comes my way. It was a lengthy to-do list for someone who had caught five passes for a team-high 105 yards and returned a blocked...
The chatter could start before the snap whenever Darren Andrews is on the field. The UCLA receiver figures he’ll spot USC safety Chris Hawkins across the line of scrimmage Saturday night at the Rose Bowl and that’s not going to be the end of it. “He’s going to talk,” Andrews said Monday. “I just...
The education of the UCLA Bruins started in earnest Sunday evening. The lessons were jarring. Not every game is going to be a romp. Not every three-pointer is going to go in the basket. Not every referee is going to be forgiving. Reality seemed to take hold at halftime, giving the No. 16 Bruins...
UCLA heads into its rivalry game against Tailback U after experiencing a needed U-turn in its running game. That’s not to say the teams will be on level ground Saturday evening at the Rose Bowl when No. 20 USC plays the Bruins. The Trojans have nearly tripled UCLA’s 872 yards rushing this season,...
As USC was in Washington re-establishing itself as a first-rate program, UCLA was playing an atrocious game against Oregon State in a half-empty Rose Bowl. UCLA had lost its previous four games. Oregon State had too. The disparity between UCLA and USC should heighten an already-existing sentiment...
Randall Goforth held the ball aloft with one hand as he crossed the 15-yard line, legs churning with only open field ahead. Finally, after more than a month, there was something to celebrate for the UCLA safety and his teammates. Goforth’s 40-yard interception return for a touchdown with a little...
UCLA broadcaster Josh Lewin’s schedule is getting crazy again, which means it’s going to be another weekend of planes, Ubers and automobiles. Calling four games in three days will be the easy part. Getting from the Rose Bowl to Qualcomm Stadium to Pauley Pavilion in a 20-hour span will take some...
UCLA opened its basketball season Friday night with a lopsided win over Pacific. Except this was more than a victory. This was a night about freshman point guard Lonzo Ball in midair catching a pass and throwing down a one-handed dunk over a confused defender, about fellow newcomer T.J. Leaf powering...
UCLA announced its intentions about the way it wants to play this season late in the first half Friday night. Aaron Holiday dribbled into the lane on a fast break and lofted a pass high into the air with his left hand. A trailing Lonzo Ball snatched the ball with his right hand and slammed it into...
His last name sounds like faithful, and the silver cross that dangles from a chain around his neck isn’t there for decoration. Mike Fafaul is a believer. He was a backup quarterback until his senior season in high school, when a series of prolific performances didn’t lead to much interest from...
Oregon State (2-7) at UCLA (3-6) at the Rose Bowl. TV: Pac-12 Networks, 6 p.m. Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch analyzes Saturday’s matchup: Most intriguing story line: Conference officials probably wish there was a Pac-12 Networks3 that could carry this game. A matchup of teams on four-game...
Lonzo Ball’s passes could travel two feet or the length of the court. They all tend to trigger the same reaction from his UCLA teammates. Hearts flutter. Reflexes are tested. Some brow wiping may be required when they’re over. Guard Isaac Hamilton received a refresher in the high-wire nature of...
Player; Yr.; Pos.; Ht.; Comment by Ben Bolch Bryce Alford; Sr.; G; 6-3; Could break three-point shooting records now that he’s freed from ballhandling. Prince Ali; So.; G; 6-3; Expected to provide depth upon return in December from knee surgery. Ike Anigbogu; Fr.; F-C; 6-10; Should be rim protector...
UCLA’s football team, the consensus preseason favorite to win the Pac-12 Conference’s South Division, is mired in fifth place. Several reasons have been given for the collapse: the loss of quarterback Josh Rosen and others to injuries, players being held out for team rule violations, the inability...
The enduring images of their freshman season haven’t been ones for the scrapbook. There was UCLA punter Austin Kent, slinking away on the sideline after Coach Jim Mora scolded him for failing to try and knock the ball out of bounds on a punt that bounced backward for a loss of one yard. And there...
With his UCLA football team in a free-fall, Coach Jim Mora is trying to put things in perspective. “I’ve coached for a long time and I’ve come to know that coaching is very much a rollercoaster,” he said. “There are things around the corner that you don’t necessarily anticipate.” After starting...
The Ball keeps rolling for UCLA on the basketball recruiting front. The Bruins are expected in the coming days to land a second consecutive recruiting class ranked in the top five nationally that will include Chino Hills High shooting guard LiAngelo Ball, the younger brother of highly touted freshman...
Jerry Neuheisel is the rare quarterback of an undefeated team who always bows to the competition. It’s a tradition in Japan’s X League. Before kickoff, players bow to team captains and referees. Win or lose, there’s more bowing afterward among players before the entire team collectively bows to...
UCLA Coach Jim Mora promised after Theo Howard made his first career touchdown catch against Arizona last month that fans would see a lot more of the freshman receiver. That time may be arriving … six weeks later. Bruins receivers coach Eric Yarber said Tuesday that Howard “should see a lot of...
UCLA Coach Jim Mora texted his star quarterback Monday morning, not expecting a response. Josh Rosen had just undergone surgery to repair soft-tissue damage in his throwing shoulder that has sidelined him since early October and will force him to miss the rest of the season. The procedure apparently...
The words that came out of Jim Mora’s mouth were as incredible as the depths UCLA has reached this season. “Josh who?” Mora asked. That was how Mora responded Thursday night to reporters asking about UCLA shutting down quarterback Josh Rosen for the remainder of the season. Josh who? Really? The...
The timing was so perfect that Kennedy Polamalu had to smile. As the UCLA offensive coordinator approached reporters late Thursday night inside a building next to Colorado’s Folsom Field, an event worker loudly announced that the facility could be vacated by elevator or stairs. Polamalu was grateful...
Josh Rosen will not throw another pass for UCLA in 2016. He is out for the season, and teammate Mike Fafaul said after the Bruins’ loss to No. 15 Colorado on Thursday night that Rosen will have shoulder surgery next week. Bruins Coach Jim Mora told a TV sideline reporter before the game that Rosen...
Life without Josh Rosen never gets any easier. UCLA learned it would play the rest of its season without its star quarterback and the Bruins pressed on in familiar fashion. They played well in spurts. They had a chance to go ahead in the final minutes. They came up empty. Two special teams breakdowns...
Each week during the season, visit “The Huddle” for the latest in college football news, notes, conversation and opinion. This is notable Penn State can win its fifth consecutive Big Ten Conference game when it hosts Iowa on Saturday, a streak unseen in Happy Valley since 2011. That was the year Joe...
UCLA (3-5) at Colorado (6-2) on Thursday at Folsom Field. TV: FS1, 6 p.m. PDT. Times staff writer Ben Bolch analyzes Thursday’s game: Most intriguing story line: This matchup involves a delightful duality for those tired of the same story lines from recent years: How low can UCLA go and how far...
Takkarist McKinley’s grandmother was dying and he knew it. He teared up as he entered the hospital room, sidling up to her bed as soon as she called him over. Myrtle Collins’ body was failing her. She had given herself entirely to the teenage boy she had raised as her own son, mining the streets...
It looked like a lost sequence for UCLA. Bruins guard Isaac Hamilton turned the ball over late in the first half against the Master’s University, leading to an outlet pass and what appeared to be an easy layup for Delewis Johnson. Only here came Lonzo Ball. Sprinting from beyond halfcourt, the...
The wait for Josh Rosen continues, though it may not extend into 2017. UCLA Coach Jim Mora on Tuesday said he had not counted his sophomore quarterback out from a return this season, even though Rosen has been sidelined for more than three weeks because of an injury to his throwing shoulder. “Josh...
UCLA Coach Jim Mora is saying he has not counted out a Josh Rosen return this season. “Josh is a tough son of a gun,” Mora said Tuesday morning during a conference call with reporters. “All you have to do is go back and look at the Arizona State game when he fought his way back onto the field and...
UCLA is on a three-game losing streak, hoping its star quarterback will soon return to health and still trying to fix a ground attack that ranks last among 128 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in rushing yards per game. It is safe to say the Bruins (3-5, 1-4 in Pac-12 play) welcomed a bye week...
UCLA’s backward march in its running game probably won’t leave any footprints in the school record book. It may be hard to believe, but the Bruins have been worse at running the ball than they are this season, when their 85.5 yards rushing per game rank last among 128 Football Bowl Subdivision...
Reporters were allowed to observe UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen for about 15 minutes during the warmup portion of the team’s abbreviated practice Saturday. There wasn’t much to see. The right-handed Rosen gingerly lobbed a few short passes with his left hand before appearing to intentionally short-arm...
I do not accept the Chicago Cubs as baseball’s National League champions. The series with the Dodgers was obviously rigged, influenced by the liberal media and Chicago-style scorekeeping. Lock them up! Long live the Dodgers. Lee Klosinski Studio City :: Heading into last Saturday’s Game 6 game...
For months, Steve Alford has gushed about UCLA possessing the deepest frontcourt since he’s coached the Bruins and five high-level guards who could comprise one of the nation’s top backcourts. A recent spate of injuries has made him increasingly thankful for every available body, regardless of...
UCLA’s defense, if not every player on the team, has found its mandate for moments when limbs ache or things aren’t going the way they were intended, which seems to be often lately for the Bruins. Look at Takk. That would be Takkarist McKinley, the senior defensive end who has repeatedly hobbled...
UCLA Coach Jim Mora specified the issue that has sidelined quarterback Josh Rosen, explaining Monday for the first time that the quarterback’s return is contingent upon a nerve in his right shoulder beginning to fire again. Rosen has not played since the final minutes of the Bruins’ loss to Arizona...
UCLA is safe from another loss this week. The Bruins don’t play. They can spend the next 10 days contemplating what to do about the lowest point of the Jim Mora era. UCLA (3-5 overall, 1-4 in Pac-12 Conference play) has lost three consecutive games for the first time since the end of the 2012 season,...
After a game that had a now-or-never feeling for UCLA’s bowl game ambitions, the Bruins are staring at the “never” part of that equation. After a game in which Coach Jim Mora had wanted to give his players hope and “lead them out of the woods,” the Bruins are trapped more deeply in a forest of...
Josh Rosen didn’t look like someone preparing to play in warmups. The right-handed quarterback threw some short left-handed passes, patted receivers on the back and pantomimed a throwing motion for his backup, Mike Fafaul. Looks weren’t deceiving. Rosen did not play during UCLA’s 52-45 loss to...
It’s bye week at UCLA. It’s getting close to bye-bye for the Bruins’ season. They unveiled a hurry-up, no-huddle offense for the first time this season Saturday at the Rose Bowl, almost abandoning the run, only to experience a familiar ending. Painfully familiar. A last-gasp drive came up short,...
Isaac Hamilton, poised to start his fourth and final season at UCLA, has freely dispensed advice to his team’s highly touted freshmen. Do what you did in high school, Hamilton has told them. Play your game. Read and react to what you see on the court. Have fun. There are some limitations, of course....
The disappointments during Jim Mora’s first four seasons at UCLA were mostly of the we’ll-get-’em-next-time variety. There were two 10-win seasons that didn’t lead to a major bowl. A trip to the Pac-12 Conference championship game that ended in defeat. A poor finish to the 2015 season that included...
Utah (6-1) at UCLA (3-4) at the Rose Bowl. TV: Fox, 1 p.m. Most intriguing story line: The now-or-never vibe around UCLA this week has been unusual for a midseason game. The Bruins never had a sub-.500 record this far into a season under Coach Jim Mora until suffering their third defeat in four...
As Jerry Neuheisel watched UCLA’s rally fall short against Washington State last weekend on his phone from a practice field in Kachidoki, Japan, his mind drifted to a familiar place. He was throwing passes for the Bruins as the fill-in quarterback, trying to save them from what seemed like certain...