GAMERS

UCLA and Mick Cronin finally get the better of Gonzaga

Photo Cred: Etienne Laurent/AP Photo

Briskly, Mick Cronin walked away from the media scrum and into Friday’s practice. It was the first of the season without a viewing portion, as the UCLA men’s basketball team was jumping straight into scouting Gonzaga.

Back to work, he said, in a matter-of-fact tone. His mood, he explained a day later, had been dampened by the Bruins’ collapse against North Carolina in Madison Square Garden.

“I was a miserable human for a couple days,” Cronin said.

He remained displeased, even after the No. 22 Bruins (11-2) bounced back and showed a considerable amount of poise in the final moments, scraping out a 65-62 win over the No. 14 Bulldogs (9-4).

Sparks can’t survive Rickea Jackson’s ejection, drop home finale to Mercury

Photo Cred: Keith Birmingham

Whether she meant to or not, Rickea Jackson tested a historically controversial theory on Tuesday night. The idea being, that if a newcomer challenges the most imposing figure in the group, they will gain the rest of the pack’s respect.

With 18 seconds remaining in the second quarter, 6-foot-9 Brittney Griner’s elbow caught Jackson’s upper body. The two then stood an arm’s length apart, jawing, before Griner lifted her right arm and Jackson swatted it away. Shoves were exchanged. Jackson, hands held high like a prize fighter on the defense, began to retreat as her veteran teammate Dearica Hamby played peacemaker.

Jackson’s backpedal wasn’t a sign that she feared Griner, nor that she regretted showing her colors as a gritty player, rather in that moment, she suddenly realized that she didn’t need to come at the league’s most lauded enforcer to earn her peers’ reverance. She has already done that with her consistent improvement this season. When she got caught up in the heat of that fracas, she lost the chance to show that once again.

No. 15 UCLA can’t stop Jaden Bradley late in loss to No. 5 Arizona

Photo Cred: Mark Terrill/AP Photo

It’s not early March in Las Vegas, but it was No. 15 UCLA and No. 5 Arizona all the same. A slugfest between old-school Pac-12 powerhouses, a flat-out bloodbath, as Bruins head coach Mick Cronin predicted it would be a day earlier.

While the Bruins and Wildcats have relocated to separate conferences, they continue to schedule one another each season, and that familiarity showed up frequently Friday night.

Passes were anticipated before they were thrown. Defenders beat drivers to the spot, effectively protecting the rim. The officials added to the narrative, holding their whistle apart from modern warfare.

UCLA edges No. 9 Michigan State on Eric Dailey’s late basket

Photo Cred: Eric Thayer/AP Photo

Mick Cronin loves to draw inspiration from his mentors and peers, then share their advice with the world.

He’s quipped that if he had Rick Pitino’s money he’d be soaking up the sun in Cabo San Lucas instead of coaching basketball. He credits Bob Huggins with teaching him the value of winning the possession battle. Real programs, Huggins instilled in a young, pre-balding Cronin, win when they don’t make shots. When Cronin first interviewed for the UCLA men’s basketball head coaching job, he told former athletic director Dan Guerrero that, if he got the job, he’d build a program like Michigan State because he admired how Tom Izzo ran his.

Cronin has gleaned numerous lessons from Izzo since then as UCLA joined the Big Ten. The two spoke amid UCLA’s four-game losing streak earlier this season and Izzo commended Cronin for holding his players accountable.

LAFC shut out by Houston Dynamo

Photo Cred: Tim Nwachukwu

LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo recognized his goalkeeper’s effort. He knew Hugo Lloris’ heroics were the only thing keeping his team competitive, masking the fatigue it felt from playing three matches in the last six days.

At halftime, trailing by a goal, he willed them to find energy from Lloris’s brilliance, and rally behind it.

“Hugo kept us in the game,” Cherundolo told them in the locker room. “It’s up to us to make sure to capitalize on that and make sure we reward him for those big saves.”

Lloris inspired Cherundolo’s message with multiple diving saves in the first 25 minutes of the match, but had little chance to stop each of Houston’s attempts which resulted in goals, both coming inside the 6-yard box.

Jake Wightman celebrated his world championships win alongside his family

Photo Cred: FanHub

Jake Wightman’s jubilation was masked by a look of shock.

As he crossed the finish line Tuesday in the men’s 1,500-meter final at the World Athletics Championship, he placed his hands on top of his head; his jaw dropped, almost as if his mind couldn’t comprehend what his body had just accomplished.

And amid the roaring Hayward Field crowd that cheered Wightman on as he overtook Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen on the final turn, and through the front-stretch as he held on to win, a voice could be heard over the stadium’s speaker. It was the voice of his father, Geoff Wightman, the stadium’s public address announcer.