The Sports Report: UCLA holds off Northwestern to advance to Sweet 16

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Ben Bolch: The scene inside the UCLA locker room resembled what you might expect after the end of a long trip in late January.

Players sat at their lockers, some looking at phones, others lost in conversation with teammates, no one celebrating Saturday at Golden 1 Center. The only reminder that this was a special time of year was the large NCAA tournament bracket positioned at one end of the room, the Bruins having advanced, allowing designated sticker slapper Russell Stong IV to move UCLA into the next round.

As a reporter asked senior guard David Singleton what the team was going to do to commemorate this latest triumph as part of another deep run into March, Stong raised a triumphant fist into the air from his seat three lockers over.

“Team film session and recovery,” the walk-on interjected.

This is who they are. This is what they do.

For the third time in as many seasons, UCLA has made it to the Sweet 16.

The Bruins get to keep playing because another trend persisted: The final minutes continued to be winning time.

Shaking off a huge Northwestern rally that erased a 13-point deficit in the second half, second-seeded UCLA held off the seventh-seeded Wildcats for an intense, 68-63 victory in the second round.

It was a triumph filled with redemption for the Bruins.

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Hernández: Don’t fret about UCLA. Resilience is part of the Bruins’ March Madness style

Men’s tournament results, schedule
All times Pacific
Second round
Saturday’s results

South Regional
No. 1 Alabama 73, No. 8 Maryland 51

No. 5 San Diego St. 75, No 13 Furman 52

No. 15 Princeton 78, No. 7 Missouri 63

West Regional
No. 8 Arkansas 72, No. 1 Kansas 71

No. 2 UCLA 68, No. 7 Northwestern 63

East Regional
No. 4 Tennessee 65, No. 5 Duke 52

Midwest Regional
No. 1 Houston 81, No. 9 Auburn 64

No. 2 Texas 71, No. 10 Penn St. 66

Today

East Regional
No. 3 Kansas St. vs. No. 6 Kentucky, 11:40 a.m., CBS

No. 2 Marquette vs. No. 7 Michigan State, 2:15 p.m., CBS

No. 9 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson, 4:45 p.m., TruTV

Midwest Regional

No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 11 Pitt, 9:10 a.m., CBS

No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 5 Miami, 5:40 p.m., TNT

South Regional

No. 3 Baylor vs. No. 6 Creighton, 4:10 p.m., TBS

West Regional

No. 4 UConn vs. No. 5 Saint Mary’s, 3:10 p.m., TNT

No. 3 Gonzaga vs. No. 6 TCU, 6:40 p.m., TBS

Women’s tournament

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Charisma Osborne wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Pauley Pavilion just yet.

The senior guard led UCLA to a 67-45 rout over No. 13 Sacramento State in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday to earn the No. 4 Bruins a final chance to play in front of their home crowd this season.

UCLA will face No. 5 seed Oklahoma on Monday at 7 p.m. PDT for a spot in the Sweet 16 after the Sooners defeated No. 12 Portland 85-63 on Saturday.

Osborne flashed the all-around skill that could make her a high WNBA draft pick this season with 11 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Forward Emily Bessoir had 14 points and eight rebounds while freshman Kiki Rice had a team-high 15 points, including 10 points in the first quarter that equaled Sacramento State’s total score in the first frame.

UCLA (26-9) is now 7-0 in first-round NCAA tournament games under coach Cori Close. A win Monday would send UCLA to its fifth Sweet 16 of Close’s 12-year tenure and the first for her current players.

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Cal State Dominguez Hills women’s basketball celebrates historic run to Elite Eight

All times Pacific
First round
Saturday’s results
Regional (Greenville 1)
No. 4 UCLA 67, No. 13 Sacramento State 45

No. 5 Oklahoma 85, No. 12 Portland 63

Regional (Greenville 2)
No. 1 Indiana 77, No. 16 Tennessee Tech 47

No. 4 Villanova 76, No. 13 Cleveland State 59

No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast 74, No. 5 Washington State 63

No. 9 Miami 62, No. 8 Oklahoma State 61

Regional (Seattle 1)
No. 2 UConn 95, No. 15 Vermont 52

No. 3 Ohio State 80, No. 14 James Madison 66

No. 4 Tennessee 95, No. 13 Saint Louis 50

No. 12 Toledo 80, No. 5 Iowa State 73

No. 6 North Carolina 61, No. 11 St. John’s 59

No. 7 Baylor 78, No. 10 Alabama 74

Regional (Seattle 2)
No. 3 Duke 89, No. 14 Iona 49

No. 4 Texas 79, No. 13 East Carolina 40

No. 5 Louisville 83, No. 12 Drake 81

No. 6 Colorado 82, No. 11 Middle Tennessee 60

Today
Regional (Greenville 1)

No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 8 South Florida, 10 a.m., ABC

No. 3 Notre Dame 82 vs. No. 11 Miss. St., 12:30 p.m., ESPN

No. 2 Maryland vs. No. 7 Arizona, 2:30 p.m., ESPN

Regional (Greenville 2)

No. 2 Utah vs. No. 10 Princeton, 4 p.m., ESPN2

No. 3 LSU vs. No. 6 Michigan, 4:30 p.m., ESPN

Regional (Seattle 1)

No. 1 Virginia Tech vs. No. 9 South Dakota St., 2 p.m., ESPN2

Regional (Seattle 2)

No. 2 Iowa vs. No. 10 Georgia, noon, ABC

No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 8 Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m., ESPN

Second round
Monday
Times, TV TBA

Regional (Greenville 1)

No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 5 Oklahoma

Regional (Greenville 2)

No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 8 Oklahoma State

No. 4 Villanova vs. No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast

Regional (Seattle 1)

No. 2 UConn vs. No. 7 Baylor

No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 6 North Carolina

No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 12 Toledo

Regional (Seattle 2)

No. 3 Duke vs. No. 6 Colorado

No. 4 Texas vs. No. 5 Louisville

CLIPPERS

From Broderick Turner: The news that Kawhi Leonard wasn’t playing Saturday afternoon for the Clippers against the Orlando Magic because of right knee injury management was already a blow with so few games left in the regular season and L.A. jockeying for playoff position in the topsy-turvy Western Conference.

Then after the Clippers lost 113-108 to the Magic at Crypto.com Arena, coach Tyronn Lue was unable to explain why it all went wrong because he wasn’t feeling well enough to talk to the media.

It was left up to associate head coach Dan Craig to provide the answers for why the Clippers fell apart in the fourth quarter.

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LAKERS

From Helene Elliott: When the Lakers needed him most on Friday, Anthony Davis let them down.

When they were ahead of Dallas by four points with 7.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter and needed him to be smart, he foolishly contested a three-point shot by Maxi Kleber and was called for a foul. Kleber, who had taken only 24 free throws before Friday and made 58% of them, hit all three to cut the Lakers’ lead to one point.

When they needed Davis to hit a pair of free throws with 6.7 seconds left he converted only one, leaving the Lakers up by two. And when Dallas subsequently inbounded the ball, Davis got lost defensively, closing way too late to prevent Kleber from sinking a 27-foot jumper for the difference in a 111-110 victory over the Lakers that stunned the sellout crowd at Crypto.com Arena.

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GALAXY

From Kevin Baxter: The Galaxy lost two goals to video reviews and its starting goalkeeper to an injury Saturday, settling for a frustrating 1-1 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps that left the team winless three games into a season for the first time since 2009.

The Whitecaps’ goal came in the 14th minute when defender Tristan Blackmon drove a bullet of a header past Galaxy keeper Jonathan Bond off a Julian Gressel free kick. The goal stood after a short review.

The Galaxy (0-1-2) matched that in first-half stoppage time when Vancouver keeper Yohei Takaoka failed to corral a bending left-foot chip from Raheem Edwards, instead pushing it to the feet of Galaxy defender Kelvin Leerdam, who nudged the ball into the net for his first goal since September 2020.

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LAFC

Two of the favorites in the Western Conference relied on their goalkeepers as Seattle’s Stefan Frei and LAFC’s John McCarthy posted shutouts in a 0-0 draw on Saturday.

Frei made three saves and McCarthy had four as each turned away the limited scoring chances for two of the powerhouse clubs in MLS.

LAFC remained unbeaten at 2-0-1, while Seattle slipped to 2-1-1.

KINGS

Elias Pettersson had a power-play goal, Thatcher Demko made 38 saves, and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Kings 3-2 in a shootout Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Carl Grundstrom and Alex Edler scored for the Kings (40-20-10), who earned one point and moved into a tie with the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division. Joonas Korpisalo made 15 saves.

L.A. MARATHON

For a map of street closures during Sunday’s L.A. Marathon, please click here.