The Sports Report: UCLA women also advance to the Sweet 16

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

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: If this was Charisma Osborne’s final game in Pauley Pavilion, she ended with an emphatic mic drop.

The senior who could be a high WNBA draft pick this offseason led UCLA to its first Sweet 16 berth since 2019 by dropping a career-high 36 points, eight rebounds and four assists in an 82-73 win over No. 5 seed Oklahoma.

Onto the Sweet 16 for the fifth time under head coach Cori Close, the No. 4 Bruins (27-9) will play No. 1 overall seed South Carolina on Saturday in Greenville, S.C., in a rematch of a close nonconference game that the defending national champions won on their home court.

After a double-double in UCLA’s first-round win against Sacramento State, Osborne tied her previous career high in scoring with three late free throws that gave her 32 points, but it was her mid-range jumper with 1:37 remaining that proved to be the dagger. The shot put the Bruins up 10 after entering the quarter down by one. They salted the game away from the free throw line, where they made 21-of-23 shots in the fourth quarter and 25-for-28 for the game.

UCLA entered the game on pace to set the school record for free-throw shooting in a season at 77.4%.

After Osborne drilled two final free throws, Close subbed the senior out of the game. She raised her arms toward the crowd as they stood. Fans sitting near the floor chanted “Thir-ty six! Thir-ty six!”

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From Ben Bolch: Drama is assured when UCLA faces Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament.

The teams have met three times on college basketball’s biggest stage, producing two of the event’s most iconic moments. Start with Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison crying before a 2006 regional semifinal was over, Bruins fans committing broadcaster Gus Johnson’s breathless narration of the final seconds to memory.

“And the steal … Farmar … inside … the freshman up … and they go in front!”

Fifteen years later, Morrison was on the call for Gonzaga’s IMG Radio when Jalen Suggs improbably banked in that heave from just inside halfcourt to beat the Bruins in the Final Four.

“Yesssssss!” Morrison bellowed, drowning out his broadcast partner. “Yesssssss! Yesssssss!”

What’s next? CBS broadcasters Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner and Stan Van Gundy are undoubtedly hoping for another classic finish Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena when second-seed UCLA (31-5) faces third-seed Gonzaga (30-5) in a West Regional semifinal.

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Men’s tournament results, schedule
All times Pacific
Sweet 16
Thursday

West Regional
No. 4 UConn vs. No. 8 Arkansas, 4:15 p.m., CBS

No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 3 Gonzaga, 6:45 p.m., CBS

East Regional
No. 3 Kansas State vs. No. 7 Michigan State, 3:30 p.m., TBS

No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic, 6 p.m., TBS

Friday
South Regional
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 5 San Diego State, 3:30 p.m., TBS

No. 6 Creighton vs. No. 15 Princeton, 6 p.m., TBS

Midwest Regional
No. 1 Houston vs. No. 5 Miami, 4:15 p.m., CBS

No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Xavier, 6:45 p.m., CBS

Women’s tournament

All times Pacific
Second round
Monday’s results

Regional (Greenville 1)

No. 4 UCLA 82, No. 5 Oklahoma 73

Regional (Greenville 2)

No. 9 Miami 70, No. 1 Indiana 68

No. 4 Villanova 76, No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast 57

Regional (Seattle 1)

No. 2 UConn 77, No. 7 Baylor 58

No. 3 Ohio State 71, No. 6 North Carolina 69

No. 4 Tennessee 94, No. 12 Toledo 47

Regional (Seattle 2)

No. 6 Colorado 61, No. 3 Duke 53 (OT)

No. 5 Louisville 73, No. 4 Texas 51

Sweet 16
Friday

Greenville 2 Regional

No. 4 Villanova vs. No. 9 Miami, 11:30 a.m., ESPN

No. 2 Utah vs. No. 3 LSU, 2 p.m., ESPN

Seattle 2 Regional

No. 2 Iowa vs. No. 6 Colorado, 4:30 p.m., ESPN

No. 5 Louisville vs. No. 8 Ole Miss, 7 p.m., ESPN

Saturday
Greenville 1 Regional

No. 2 Maryland vs. No. 3 Notre Dame, 8:30 a.m., ESPN

No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 4 UCLA, 11 a.m., ESPN

Seattle 1 Regional

No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 3 Ohio State, 1 p.m., ABC

No. 1 Virginia Tech vs. No. 4 Tennessee, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2

CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: Every strong team Kawhi Leonard has been part of has met his same, personal criteria.

It’s not defensive rating.

It’s not assist-to-turnover ratio.

It’s not quantifiable at all.

“It’s a feeling when you know you have a great team,” the Clippers’ star wing said Sunday. “It’s not always [leading] to a championship, it’s just about you knowing that everybody’s on the same page. It’s just a continuous motion. It’s hard to explain.

“Yeah, there’s something special. You got to feel it, and then you’ll know.”

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ANGELS

From Bill Shaikin: The Curse of Harry Sidhu was born on May 24, 2022. That was the day the Anaheim City Council unanimously voted to kill a deal that would have anchored the Angels in town for decades and allowed their owner to build an urban village around Angel Stadium.

An FBI agent had claimed Sidhu, the former mayor of Anaheim, handed city secrets to the Angels in the hope of securing a million-dollar campaign contribution from them. The stench of corruption — even as Sidhu denied the allegation — rendered the deal too toxic to proceed.

The Angels lost their next 14 games, the longest losing streak in the 63-year history of the franchise. They fired their manager. They finished 33 games out of first place.

That might be amusing. This is not: This is the year the Curse of Harry Sidhu truly starts to take its toll on Anaheim.

On Saturday, Angels owner Arte Moreno said he planned to meet with the new Anaheim mayor, Ashleigh Aitken, within the next few weeks. He declined to say whether he would consider a third round of stadium negotiations with a city that twice within the past decade told him he had a deal.

“They have a new administration,” Moreno told reporters in Arizona. “And we’re going to work with that administration. We’ve been there a long time. And we’ll see what happens.”

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Shohei Ohtani, Japan rally to beat Mexico and advance to World Baseball Classic final

KINGS

Drew Doughty and Viktor Arvidsson scored in Los Angeles’ four-goal first period, Adrian Kempe had two goals and an assist, and the Kings cruised into a first-place tie in the Pacific Division with an 8-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Monday night.

Carl Grundstrom had two goals and Gabriel Vilardi and Mikey Anderson also scored for the Kings, who pulled even with Vegas atop the division by extending its points streak to 10 games (8-0-2) with their second eight-goal outburst of the season.

Pheonix Copley made 15 saves for Los Angeles, while captain Anze Kopitar, Quinton Byfield and Rasmus Kupari had two assists apiece. The Kings have earned a point in every game in March, putting themselves in contention for just the second division title for a franchise with two Stanley Cup championships.

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1893 — The first women’s collegiate basketball game is played at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. In this game, each basket is worth 1 point and the freshman class defeats the sophomore class 5-4. The game takes place behind locked doors and men are prohibited from watching.

1941 — Joe Louis knocks out Abe Simon in the 13th round at Olympia Stadium in Detroit to retain the world heavyweight title.

1945 — George Mikan of DePaul scores 53 points in the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament. Mikan matches Rhode Island in offensive output and his teammates add another 44 for a final score of 97-53.

1953 — Rookie Bob Cousy sets an NBA record with 50 points and leads the Boston Celtics to a 111-105 victory over the Syracuse Nationals in a quadruple overtime playoff game. Cousy scores 30 of his points from the foul line.

1959 — California edges West Virginia 71-70 for the NCAA basketball championship. Jerry West scores 28 points for West Virginia.

1959 — Oscar Robertson scores the first triple-double in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four history, tallying 39 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists in Cincinnati’s 98-85 win over Louisville in the third-place game.

1964 — UCLA caps a 30-0 season with a 98-83 victory over Duke in the NCAA basketball championship. UCLA is the third team to go undefeated and win the title. The victory gives coach John Wooden the first of his 10 NCAA Tournament championships.

1970 — Curtis Rowe scores 19 points and Sidney Wicks adds 17 points and grabs 18 rebounds to lead UCLA to an 80-69 victory over Jacksonville for its fourth consecutive NCAA basketball championship. Jacksonville ends the season with a scoring average of 100.4 points per game, the first team to average more than 100 points in a college basketball season.

1973 — Frank Mahovlich scores his 500th goal as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2.

1984 — Glenn Anderson of Edmonton scores his 50th goal of the season and helps the Oilers beat the Hartford Whalers 5-3. The Oilers become the first NHL team to have three 50-goal scorers in one season.

1985 — Washington’s Bobby Carpenter becomes the first U.S.-born player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season. He reaches the milestone in a 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at The Forum.

1990 — Brett Hull of St. Louis becomes the sixth player in NHL history to score 70 goals in a season with a goal in the Blues’ 8-6 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

1996 — Todd Eldredge becomes the first American in eight years to win the gold medal at the World Figure Skating Championships.

2011 — Courtney Vandersloot has 29 points and 17 assists to help Gonzaga beat UCLA 89-75 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Vandersloot becomes the first player in Division I history — men or women — to record 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in a career.

2014 — Mercer pulls off the biggest upset in the men’s NCAA tournament by knocking off Duke 78-71 in the second round. The 14th-seeded and senior-laden Bears score 11 straight points during the late 20-5 run to clinch the biggest victory in school history.

2015 — Top-ranked Kentucky outworked eighth-seeded Cincinnati for a 64-51 victory to reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight season. The Wildcats improve to 36-0 — the best start to a season for any team.

2019 — Japanese baseball right fielder Ichiro Suzuki finishes his career with a record 4,367 base hits (NPB & MLB).

—Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally...

Mercer upsets Duke in 2014. Watch and listen here.