From Anthony Solorzano: UCLA coach Mick Cronin had a talk with Donovan Dent before the Bruins faced No. 4 Purdue.
Cronin told Dent to quit being a bystander, get in the ring and throw some punches.
“You gotta perform, man,” Cronin reminded Dent. “Your team needs you.”
Dent listened.
He played his best basketball of the season, finishing with a double-double — 23 points and 13 assists — including a key pass to Tyler Bilodeau with eight seconds left in the game. Bilodeau hit a clutch three-pointer, sealing the gutty Bruins’ stunning 69-67 upset of Purdue (17-2, 7-1) Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
Cronin spent much of the past month pleading with his team to play with greater intensity and consistency. UCLA (13-6, 5-3 Big Ten) delivered enough to earn a signature victory, inspiring fans to flood the court after the final buzzer.
Lakers get big road win
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The first time chants of “Let’s go, La-kers” rang out in Ball Arena, Denver’s rowdy home crowd booed the unwelcome slogan into silence. Minutes later when the game ended, there weren’t enough home fans left to quiet the purple and gold faithful.
The Lakers overcame a 16-point deficit in the third quarter to notch one of their most significant wins of the season, taking down the Denver Nuggets 115-107 on Tuesday. Luka Doncic recorded his fifth triple-double of the season with 38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists while LeBron James had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Despite losing center Deandre Ayton to a left eye injury in the second quarter, the Lakers still held the Nuggets to 36 points in the second half. Marcus Smart, the team’s perimeter defensive stalwart, sparked a 16-0 fourth-quarter run to put the game away, scoring 11 of his 15 points during the six-and-a-half-minute streak.
“Just contributions from everybody,” coach JJ Redick said, noting the second-half performance from Jaxson Hayes (nine points, five rebounds) after Ayton’s injury, nine points from Drew Timme off the bench and defensive energy from Jarred Vanderbilt. “It was a great team win.
Redick is hopeful that Ayton was just poked in the eye and he will be back by the time the Lakers play the Clippers at Intuit Dome on Thursday.
The Lakers (26-16) slowly are returning to full health as guard Austin Reaves’ calf injury is “progressing well,” coach JJ Redick said before the game, and they hope he could play on the eight-game trip that will stretch until Feb. 3. Reaves is approaching the four-week point after aggravating his calf injury on Christmas Day.
Can the Lakers ‘have fun with it’ in the second half of the season?
Clippers win streak ends
Coby White scored 27 points and hit six of Chicago’s franchise record-tying 25 three-pointers, and the hot-shooting Bulls beat the surging Clippers 138-110 on Tuesday night.
White had the touch again after hitting a season-high seven threes in Sunday’s blowout win over Brooklyn, and the Bulls made 25 of 47 from beyond the arc.
Chicago led by 21 points at the half after matching a season high with 45 points in the second quarter and pulled away for good after the Clippers made a run in the third.
James Harden led the Clippers with 24 points. John Collins scored 23 and matched a season high with five three-pointers.
Kawhi Leonard missed his third straight game. The six-time All-Star has been dealing with a sprained right ankle and bruised left knee.
NFL playoffs schedule
All times Pacific
Conference championships
Sunday
AFC
Noon
No. 2 New England at No. 1 Denver (CBS, Paramount+)
NFC
3:30 p.m.
No. 5 Rams at No. 1 Seattle (FOX, FOX One, FOX Deportes)
Super Bowl
Sunday, Feb. 8, 3:30 p.m., NBC, Peacock
USC hires special teams coordinator
From Ryan Kartje: USC has found a new special teams coordinator.
Nebraska special teams coach Mike Ekeler is joining the Trojans’ football staff for the 2026 season, a person familiar with the hire but not authorized to speak publicly told The Times.
Ekeler spent just one season in Lincoln but managed to transform many of the Huskers’ special teams operations. Nebraska went from 92nd in kickoff coverage in 2024 to 12th in 2025. The punt coverage (114th to 14th), kickoff return (100th to 13th) and punt return teams (111th to 17th) also experienced similarly significant leaps.
Trespassing charge against ex-USC star Jordan Addison dropped
Kuemper injured as Kings defeat Rangers
Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist and Anton Forsberg made 28 saves after taking over for the injured Darcy Kuemper in the Kings’ 4-3 victory over the slumping New York Rangers on Tuesday night.
Adrian Kempe, Taylor Ward and Andrei Kuzmenko also scored for the Kings, who ended a four-game skid with only their second regulation victory in January.
Kuemper gave up two goals on eight shots before abruptly leaving with 38 seconds left in the first period following a collision in the crease with a charging Jonny Brodzinski.
Jones, Beltrán elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, outfielders who excelled at the plate and with their gloves, were elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Beltrán, making his fourth appearance of the ballot, received 358 of 425 votes for 84.2% from the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America, 39 above the 319 needed for the 75% threshold.
Jones, in the ninth of 10 possible appearances, was picked on 333 ballots for 78.4%
Beltrán moved up steadily from 46.5% in 2023 to 57.1% the following year and 70.3% in 2025, when he fell 19 votes short as Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner were elected.
Baseball Hall of Fame voting results
425 votes cast, 319 needed.
Carlos Beltrán 358 (84.2%), Andruw Jones 333 (78.4), Chase Utley 251 (59.1), Andy Pettitte 206 (48.5), Félix Hernández 196 (46.1), Alex Rodríguez 170 (40.0), Manny Ramírez 165 (38.8), Bobby Abreu 131 (30.8), Jimmy Rollins 108 (25.4), Cole Hamels 101 (23.8), Dustin Pedroia 88 (20.7), Mark Buehrle 85 (20.0), Omar Vizquel 78 (18.4), David Wright 63 (14.8), Francisco Rodríguez 50 (11.8), Torii Hunter 37 (8.7)
Received fewer than 20 votes (less than 5%, dropped from future ballots): Ryan Braun 15 (3.5), Edwin Encarnación 6 (1.4), Shin-Soo Choo 3 (0.7), Matt Kemp 2 (0.5), Hunter Pence 2 (0.5), Rick Porcello 2 (0.5), Alex Gordon 1 (0.2), Nick Markakis 1 (0.2), Gio González 0, Howie Kendrick 0, Daniel Murphy 0.
Santa Anita Park sues California DOJ
From John Cherwa: The fight over whether Santa Anita Park can legally have Racing on Demand machines at its facility moved to its next step of litigation on Tuesday when the track filed a writ of mandate against the California Department of Justice.
The 52-page complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, offered new details on the confiscation of 26 betting machines on Saturday. It also attempts to bring the California Horse Racing Board into the fray by detailing meetings that racing officials had with the regulatory agency.
A writ of mandate is a court order that attempts to correct alleged overreach or abuse of discretion by a government official or agency.
This day in sports history
1921 — Kenesaw Mountain Landis takes office as baseball’s commissioner.
1947 — Carl Hubbell, Frank Frisch, Mickey Cochrane, and Lefty Grove are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1953 — Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The baseball writers pass over Joe DiMaggio in his first year of eligibility.
1954 — For the first time in NBA All-Star history, an overtime period is needed. Boston’s Bob Cousy scores 10 points in the overtime to give the East a 98-93 victory and Cousy the MVP honors.
1958 — Bob Pettit of St. Louis becomes the first member of the losing team to win the NBA All-Star MVP award, scoring 28 points and grabbing 26 rebounds, even though the East beats the West 130-118.
1969 — Roy Campanella and Stan Musial are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1979 — Terry Bradshaw throws four touchdown passes to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to their third Super Bowl win, a 35-31 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Bradshaw, the game’s MVP, completes 17 of 30 passes for 318 yards.
1990 — John McEnroe becomes the first player thrown out of the Australian Open. McEnroe’s tantrum comes while leading Mike Pernfors 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 2-4.
1996 — Karrie Webb becomes the second quickest winner in LPGA Tour history winning the HealthSouth Inaugural at Walt Disney World. Webb, in her second LPGA start, beat Jane Geddes and Martha Nause on the fourth hole of a playoff. Webb finished second in her first LPGA start a week earlier in the Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament of Champions.
2005 — Four-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen wins his 49th career World Cup biathlon, breaking the record for career victories. Bjoerndalen edges fellow Norwegian Frode Andresen in the 10-kilometer sprint event to pass former cross country great Bjorn Daehlie at 48 career wins.
2007 — Lovie Smith becomes the first Black head coach to make it to the Super Bowl when his Chicago Bears win the NFC championship. Tony Dungy joins him when his Indianapolis Colts take the AFC title.
2009 — New Jersey Institute of Technology ends its 51-game losing streak, getting 26 points from Jheryl Wilson in a 61-51 victory over Bryant. NJIT had not won since it defeated Longwood on Feb. 19, 2007.
2010 — Lakers guard Kobe Bryant becomes the 15th player in NBA history to reach 25,000 career points and the youngest to hit the milestone. Bryant finishes with 31 points in the Lakers’ 93-87 loss at Cleveland.
2012 — Notre Dame upsets No. 1 Syracuse 67-58 and hands the Orange their first loss after 20 straight victories. It’s the eighth time Notre Dame has beaten a No. 1 team — that ties for fourth-most all-time.
2017 — Adam Hadwin shoots a 13-under 59 in the CareerBuilder Challenge for the ninth sub-60 round in PGA Tour history and the second in 10 days. The 29-year-old Canadian reaches 13 under with a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th and makes a 3-footer from just off the green for par on the 18th at La Quinta Country Club.
2019 – Golden State guard Klay Thompson sets an NBA record by making his first 10 attempts from 3-point range as the Warriors beat the Lakers, 130-111; Thompson scores 44 points.
2024 — Tara VanDerveer, Stanford, becomes winningest college basketball coach with 1,203rd victory.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.