SPORTS DIGEST: UCLA battles Gonzaga in epic Sweet 16 matchup

By Don Wanlass

Contributing Writer

For the third year in a row Mick Cronin has coached the UCLA basketball team into the Sweet 16. And for the second time in three years, the Bruins find a formidable foe — Gonzaga — standing in the way of their title hopes.

Two years ago, UCLA and Gonzaga met in the Final Four. The winner advanced to the championship game.

In an epic battle, Johnny Juzang scored on a rebound to give UCLA a two-point lead with 3.3 seconds left. But Gonzaga got the ball in bounds to its All American guard Jalen Suggs and he banked in a 40-footer at the buzzer to beat the Bruins.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin watched that game this week in preparation for the March 23 game against Gonzaga. Actually, he watched 59 minutes and 56.7 seconds of the game. No need to see that last shot again.

Suggs is off to the NBA so Cronin has other worries this year. Most are about who will be healthy for the Bruins come game time. Jaylen Clark, the Pac 12 Defensive Player of the Year, is already out for the season. 

Center Adem Bona sat out the first game of the tournament, UCLA’s 86-53 blowout over North Carolina Asheville, but played in the Bruins’ 68-63 win over Northwestern March 18. However, Bona aggravated his shoulder injury in the final minutes of the game with Northwestern and will be a game-time decision for Cronin and the medical staff.

Senior wingman David Singleton sprained an ankle late in the Northwestern game and had to be helped off the court. He was seen walking without a limp after the game, though, and said he will play against Gonzaga, but the Bruins can’t afford any more injuries.

Gonzaga will be tough enough to beat with the Bruins at full strength. The Zags are led by 6-10 All American Drew Timme, who averages 21.1 points a game.

A healthy Bona will have his hands full with Timme. An injured Bona will face a much tougher test. Backups Kenneth Nwuba and Mac Etienne will also try to contain Timme without getting into foul trouble. If nothing else, Cronin knows he has 15 fouls to use trying to cover Timme.

But Timme has help. Julian Strather averages 15.3 points a game and Anton Watson and Rasir Bolton also score in double figures. 

Gonzaga runs an up tempo offense so their scores tend to be high, but they average outscoring their opponents by 14 points a game on the way to a 30-5 record this year. And coach Mark Few is no stranger to March Madness.

The Bruins will go as far as their All American, Jaime Jaquez Jr., will carry them. Jaquez is averaging 17.6 points a game in his last five games. He guarded 6-11 Drew Pember for NC Asheville in the NCAA Tournament opener March 16 and held him to 13 points, despite giving up four inches in height. He also is a solid rebounder.

Freshman Amari Bailey has stepped up in the post-season as well. He is averaging 17 points a game since Pac 12 Tournament play began and has proven to be effective shooting from outside as well as taking the ball inside.

Point guard Tyger Campbell continues to run the show offensively. He had a poor shooting game against Northwestern in the second round and still managed to make 12 free throws to aid the Bruins’ cause. 

But health could be the determining factor in the battle with Gonzaga. If either Singleton or Bona are sidelined, the Bruins will be in trouble. 

This will be the fourth meeting in the NCAA Tournament between these two teams since 2006. UCLA is 1-2 in those games. The Bruins also are 1-3 in four regular-season games against Gonzaga.

But this is another team and another year. Two great programs on the big stage. Like the first week of the tournament, it will be fun to watch.

A CLASSIC, FINALLY: The World Baseball Classic hasn’t always lived up to its name. This time it did. 

It doesn’t get any better than two of the best players in the game — teammates during the regular season — going head-to-head in a 3-2 game with two outs in the ninth inning.

That’s how the classic ended March 22. It was Shohei Ohtani on the mound for Japan. Mike Trout at the plate for the U.S. The World Baseball Classic championship on the line.

Trout ran the count to 3-2 before flailing at an Ohntani slider and missing for strike three. Japan was the champion of the world for the third time in six classics, but the biggest winner was the game of baseball.

In the midst of college basketball’s March Madness and the playoff drive in the NBA and NHL, baseball captivated the sports news with a great tournament. 

The U.S. made it to the semifinals by beating Venezuela 9-7, on a late grand slam by former Dodger Trea Turner, who hit five home runs in the tournament.

The U.S. then advanced to the final with a 14-2 demolition of once-proud Cuba.

Japan needed a bottom-of-the-ninth-inning rally to advance to the finals, defeating Mexico, 6-5, on a two-run double by Munetaka Murakami after Ohtani started the winning rally with a leadoff double.

The other thing that was great about the classic is that it was played under the regular rules of baseball. No clocks on the hitters or pitchers. The defensive players could line up where the managers wanted them to and the players really cared about winning.

There was intensity in the eyes of the players that only shows up in October.

There are still some flaws to the tournament. The U.S. needs to find a way to get more of their top pitchers to compete, something that might be more likely to happen if the tournament was held during a two-week lull in the regular season instead of halfway through spring training.

But getting buy-in from stars like Trout and Ohtani can only help the tournament grow. 

Trout has already said he will be back in three years when the next classic is held. And he has promised to help recruit other star players to join him. 

The U.S. still plays the best baseball in the world. Being able to showcase our stars to the rest of the world every few years would be a good thing for the stars and the game itself worldwide.

SPINNING WHEELS: One question comes to mind watching both the Clippers and Lakers battle for playoff position: Does either team really want to make the playoffs? 

Anthony Davis sits out a game to rest his foot and the Lakers lose to the 17-win Houston Rockets. Kawhi Leonard gives his knee a night off and the Clippers lose to the 19-win Orlando Magic.

Are you teams even trying to make the playoffs?

The Clippers are 2-2 in the last week. The Lakers are 1-2.

The Lakers’ losses should have both been wins. They should have beaten the Rockets, but, without Davis, they lost by four. Then they lost two nights later to the Dallas Mavericks when Davis: missed two three shots that would have clinched the game, fouled Maxi Kleber beyond the three-point arc allowing the Mavericks to tie the score with three free throws, and then failed to get out on Kleber defensively and watched him swish the game-winning basket at the buzzer.

Those two games could come back and haunt the Lakers, who are currently on the outside looking in at 11th place in the Western Conference. Because no one else in the west seems to want to win, the Lakers find themselves still in the playoff hunt, a half-game behind Utah and Minnesota in ninth place and a game behind Dallas and Oklahoma City in seventh place. 

With games against Oklahoma City March 24 and home-and-away battles with the Chicago Bulls March 26 and 29, the Lakers have a chance to make up ground this week, although the Bulls are on the rise in the Eastern Conference. 

The Lakers need to win seven of their last 10 games to get above .500, which should get them into the playoffs.

But five of those 10 are against teams the Lakers are trying to pass, including the April 5 game against the Clippers, who have owned the Lakers lately.

Giving away any more game will have bad ramifications for the Lakers.

The same goes for the Clippers. They have four games in the next week: against Oklahoma City March 23, the New Orleans Pelicans March 25, the Chicago Bulls March 27 and the Memphis Grizzlies March 29. 

All four teams are still in the playoff hunt. 

The Clippers remain in fifth place in the Western Conference but they are only two losses away from falling out of the playoff picture. And Paul George just got hurt.

The Clippers can’t afford to give Kawhi Leonard any more nights off until a playoff berth is clinched.