Los Angeles Times - 09.08.2019

D6 FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2019 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

SPARKS 84, MERCURY 74 PHOENIX—B.Turner 1-6 2-2 4, Bonner 2-11 6-7 10, Griner 10-17 7-9 27, Mitchell 6-11 3-3 19, Y.Turner 2-10 2-2 8, Carter 0-2 0-0 0, Cunningham 0-2 4-4 4, Little 1-2 0-0 2, Taylor 0-2 0-0

Totals 22-63 24-27 74.
SPARKS—Gray 4-13 2-3 10, N.Ogwumike 9-13 4-4 24, Parker
3-8 5-7 12, Ruffin-Pratt 1-4 0-0 3, Wiese 4-4 1-1 12, C.Ogwumike
1-5 0-0 2, Jones 3-4 0-0 7, Mabrey 4-8 0-0 9, Vadeeva 2-4 0-0

Totals 31-63 12-15 84.
Phoenix .............................. 15 17 16 26—74
Sparks ...............................25 19 18 22—84
Three-point goals—Phoenix 6-22 (Mitchell 4-7, Y.Turner 2-6,
Cunningham 0-1, Little 0-1, Carter 0-2, Bonner 0-5), Sparks 10-
23 (Wiese 3-3, N.Ogwumike 2-4, Jones 1-1, Ruffin-Pratt 1-2,
Vadeeva 1-2, Parker 1-3, Mabrey 1-5, Gray 0-3). Fouled out—
None. Rebounds—Phoenix 38 (B.Turner 14), Sparks 30 (Parker
11). Assists—Phoenix 15 (Y.Turner, Mitchell 5), Sparks 22 (Parker
6). Total Fouls—Phoenix 17, Sparks 21. Technicals—Taurasi,
Phoenix coach Sandy Brondello, Sparks coach Sparks (Defensive
three second). A—10,345 (18,997).

Western Conference Team W L Pct. GB Las Vegas .....................15 8 .652 — SPARKS........................14 8 .636^1 ⁄ 2 Seattle .........................13 11 .542 21 ⁄ 2 Minnesota ....................11 11 .500 31 ⁄ 2 Phoenix ........................11 11 .500 31 ⁄ 2 Dallas ............................6 17 .261 9 Eastern Conference Team W L Pct. GB Connecticut..................16 6 .727 — Washington ...................16 7 .696^1 ⁄ 2 Chicago........................13 9 .591 3 New York ........................8 14 .364 8 Indiana ..........................8 16 .333 9 Atlanta...........................5 18 .217 111 ⁄ 2

WNBA

Nneka Ogwumike’s 24 points led the Sparks to an 84- 74 victory over the short- handed Phoenix Mercury on Thursday night at Staples Center for their fourth victory in a row. Candace Parker finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds on Pat Summitt Leadership Night. “I think so, we got the win. Rebounds were huge for [Summitt],” Parker said when asked about if her late college coach at Tennessee would have been proud of her performance. “She always talked about rebounding, so I made sure I got double digits in rebounding.” The Sparks opened the game on 9-2 run and estab- lished a lead they wouldn’t re- linquish. The Sparks outscored the Mercury 25-15 in the first quarter and Ogwumike had 10 of the points. “We just want to start off strong in each game,” Chelsea Gray said. “I think that our defensive intensity this game was amazing coming out. We [made] them take some diffi- cult shots.” While the Sparks shot 49.2% from the field and 43.5% on three-pointers, they held the Mercury to 34.9% from the field and 27.3% from beyond the arc. “Defense is always an em- phasis for us,” Ogwumike said. “We always try our best to make sure we keep them out of the paint, but more spe- cifically they have good three- point shooting and so we wanted to make sure we were aggressive on the ball.” The defensive effort helped the Sparks increase the lead to 22 points, holding the Mercury without a field goal for the first four minutes in the third quarter. “You’re not going to shoot 50% from the field and 40% from the three-point line every night,” Sparks coach Der- ek Fisher said. “So, I like when we see field goal percentage for our opponent in the low to mid-30s, 27% from three-point lines, force 16 turnovers. Those are the stats that can be consistent every night. Shooting is always somewhat inconsistent, but [defense] is our identity. That’s what we want it to be.” Phoenix managed to cut the Sparks’ lead to single digits with under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but back-to-back baskets by Gray staved off the comeback attempt. Mercury center Brittney Griner led all scorers with 27 points. Gray struggled most of the night and finished with 10 points on four-of-13 shooting. Sydney Wiese tied her career high with 12 points, making all three three-point tries. “We’re still working on making sure that we stay consistent,” Wiese said. “We don’t pay attention to the score- board; it’s zero-zero through- out the whole game. Just making sure we handle business no matter who’s out there.” The Sparks (14-8) will fin- ish up their four game home- stand Sunday against the Chicago Sky.

Defense

is key to

Sparks’

victory

Ogwumike has 24

points and Parker adds

a double-double on

Summitt tribute night.

SPARKS 84 PHOENIX 74

By Mia Berry

Things could get a bit testy
the next time UCLA plays
Washington.
Bruins coach Chip Kelly
said Thursday that the
Huskies had blocked trans-
fer quarterback Colson
Yankoff ’s bid to gain immedi-
ate eligibility, forcing the red-
shirt freshman to sit out a sec-
ond consecutive season.
Yankoff, a highly touted
prospect from Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho, did not play in 2018
while buried on the depth
chart with the Huskies. Now
he’ll have to sit out 2019 before
gaining eligibility when UCLA
opens the 2020 season against
New Mexico State.
“It’s unfortunate for Col-
son,” Kelly said. “ ... Our hands
are tied as far as that situa-
tion.”
Kelly intimated that an ap-
peal with the NCAA would be
useless because the governing
body “always sides with the
school” from which the player
transferred. Kelly said he was

in favor of providing transfers with immediate eligibility. “I think everybody should be available,” Kelly said. “We don’t block anybody, that’s just our school and our [team] policy. So that’s a question for Washington, not us.” Wash- ington coach Chris Petersen was largely critical of transfers during the Pac-12 Confer- ence’s media day last month, comparing their movement to professional free agency. “I’ve seen too many guys, including myself, have to work through hard things where maybe you tap out, or it’s easier, I’m going to go somewhere else [where] I think it’s better,” said Petersen, alluding to his having played for Sacra- mento City College for two years before transferring to UC Davis. “It’s usually not.” Petersen later told a group of reporters that he was in favor of allowing transfers “when a kid truly can’t play at this level.” Jacob Eason, the Huskies’ likely starting quarterback this season, transferred from Georgia.

Yankoff and fellow Wash- ington freshman quarterback Jacob Sirmon put their names in the transfer portal after last season, with Sirmon returning to the Huskies. “I think when you’ve got young guys, you’d like them to hang in there and battle, grind things out,” Petersen said last month. “That’s one of the principles we always talk about. Good things in your life are going to be things that you really have to fight for, go through hard things. “It takes time to build true, elite skill. I think you want guys to hang in there and make sure they give themselves an opportunity to do that before they think their time is up.” Petersen later added that the eligibility decision shouldn’t be left in the hands of coaches. “I don’t think it should be on the coaches, ‘Yeah, let’s let this guy go and not let this guy go,’ ” Petersen said. “I think we should have rules and or- ganization to make it run ef-

fectively.” The NCAA reportedly re- cently stiffened its standards for immediate transfer eligibility, granting such requests only in cases in which players could demonstrate they had been pressured to leave by a team or a coach; had been the victim of egregious behavior by their original school; had an injured or sick immediate family member; or had suf- fered an injury or illness themselves. Yankoff will have to wait a while for any payback; UCLA is not scheduled to play Wash- ington again until 2021 as part of the Pac-12’s unbalanced schedule.

Injury update Kelly said senior inside linebacker Tyree Thompson would miss the start of the season while recovering from foot surgery but did not pro- vide a timetable for his return. The loss of Thompson means that the Bruins will open the season against Cin- cinnati on Aug. 29 without two

projected starting lineback- ers. Senior outside linebacker Keisean Lucier-Southis expected to miss at least the season’s first three games because of academic issues. Linebacker Lokeni Toailoa slotted into the void created by Thompson’s ab- sence next to inside linebacker Krys Barnes during walk- throughs Thursday. Toailoa’s brother, Leni, has played outside linebacker opposite Josh Woods to fill the spot vacated by Lucier-South. “Just go with the guys you got,” Kelly said. “We feel like we got good depth there and continue to develop those guys.”

Etc. Backup center Sam Mar- razzo was moving on crutches in the weight room. ... Tight end Matt Lynch and receiver Jaylen Erwin swapped jersey numbers, with Lynch taking No. 81 and Erwin No. 15. Lynch said that Kelly wanted all the tight ends to wear numbers in the 80s.

CHIP KELLY, left, said Washington and coach Chris Petersen blocked the bid of Bruins’ transfer Colson Yankoff to play this season.

Elaine ThompsonAssociated Press

UCLA REPORT

Bruins’ ‘hands are tied’ on transfer

By Ben Bolch

Gary CoronadoLos Angeles Times

One became known for eating grass on the sideline. The other preferred to leave the grazing to an 1,800-pound longhorn steer named Bevo. Les Miles and Mack Brown — for all their success in leading Louisiana State and Texas, respectively, to national championships in the first decade of this cen- tury — could not be more different personalities. Miles has tried to become an actor during his coaching down- time, using his wacky sense of humor to entertain himself and others. Brown spent the last five years analyzing college football for ABC’s Saturday studio show with a more measured and predic- table approach to showbiz. They both ended up in the same place, though, last offseason, getting back into coaching by taking on the unenviable task of winning football games at two of the handful of schools that judge themselves most by hanging basketball banners. Brown gets to return to North Carolina, where he

built a solid program for 10 seasons before leaving for Texas in 1998. Miles may be breaking in a new home at Kansas, but the move made sense — there’s plenty of lush prairie land to check out around Lawrence, after all. Still, Kansas has been a football wasteland in the nine seasons since Mark Mangino was fired in the aftermath of allegations that he mis- treated players. Under Mangino, the Jayhawks rose to heights that now appear to be unreachable, going 12-1 in 2007 and winning the 2008 Orange Bowl over Virginia Tech. After three bad coaching hires in a row, Kansas hasn’t won more than three games in a season since Mangino left. Miles must have really wanted back in. Or maybe it was the reported $2.75 million per year he will make trying to get Kansas off the mat. Mangino built Kansas the hard way, turning Texas’ forgotten two- and three-star recruits like cornerback Aqib Talib and quarterback Todd Reesing into All-America caliber players. It happened all over the roster.

Miles will have a higher ceiling in recruiting due to his reputation and his living room charm, and it’s a good sign for the long-term vision for the program that Kansas sits at No. 34 in 247Sports’ Composite Team Rankings for the 2020 class. It will take year after year of that level of recruiting and improved player devel- opment for Miles to get Kan- sas back to the place where a bowl game is a reasonable expectation. Brown should have an easier time in Chapel Hill. For one, he knows what winning looks like there. Plus, Larry Fedora led the Tar Heels to a run of four straight bowl games before they bottomed out the last two seasons. Before Brown had even been on the job for a month, top quarterback recruit Sam Howell flipped his commit- ment from Florida State to North Carolina, giving Brown some immediate juice to begin his rebuild. The Tar Heels will find their way back to respectabil- ity soon, but the Jayhawks with Miles will make for better reality TV.

LES MILES,who won a national championship at Louisiana State, would be considered a miracle worker if he could pull off the same thing at Kansas.

David KentAssociated Press

16 DAYS

TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Leading up to season-opening games on Aug. 24, The Times examines the top 2019 story lines.

Tough to see either of these coaches

getting new teams to the CFP final four

By J. Brady McCollough

relief. It would take only a
few days for a healthy Grif-
fin, who arrived last year as a
five-star recruit from Mis-
sion Viejo, to emerge as a po-
tential No. 1 in a crowded
group of young, talented
USC corners, picking off
more passes (five) during
the first week of fall camp
than USC’s defense had all
of last season (four).
“You see me getting
picks,” Griffin said, flashing
a grin. “I’m feeling good.”
But he hasn’t forgotten
about spring, a time he
refers to as “the worst of my
life.” Until he arrived at this
more joyous juncture, he
says, “I went through hell.”
After his freshman sea-
son, in which he missed four
games because of injuries,
he hadn’t expected any sort
of surgery. His shoulders felt
fine. But medical exams be-
fore his arrival at USC had
suggested that Griffin had
“loose shoulders,” which,
coach Clay Helton explained
Thursday, would have even-
tually needed to be operated
on if he continued playing
football. So the staff told
Griffin it was best to take
care of it right away.
Both shoulder surgeries
carried with them six-
month recoveries, and each
one of those days passed ex-
cruciatingly slowly. This was
Griffin’s first real surgery, his
first time away from the
game he’d fallen in love with
at 4 years old. It felt as if a
part of his identity had been
stripped away. That was an
unfamiliar notion for a play-
er whom Helton describes as
“happy as a lark.”
As his recovery dragged
on, Griffin began to notice
the muscles he’d built up in
his arms disappearing. He
was horrified.
“I started to doubt my-
self,” Griffin said. “Like,
‘Dang, why do I look like
this?’ ”
Every night, he called his
parents, searching for sup-
port, and every night, they
offered the same assuranc-
es. Eventually, they told
him, you’re going to get bet-
ter.
He wasn’t the only one
eagerly awaiting his return.
USC desperately needed
him to make a full recovery.

Four major contributors at cornerback had graduated. The secondary needed to be retooled, and Griffin, with his five-star pedigree and his preternatural cover in- stincts, was an ideal heir ap- parent. As he eventually regained range of motion in his arms and the pain, emotional and physical, subsided, Griffin began working harder than he ever had. Every day, his father, the rapper Warren G, sent him texts to inspire him. But now that he was fi- nally able to move forward, there would be no slowing his progress. He wanted to prove — to himself, to his parents, to his teammates and coaches — that he could pull himself out of the dark place he’d descended into over spring. Coaches saw his attention sharpen in meet- ings. They watched him put the weight he’d lost back on. “He’s made a lot of progress,” defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast said. “He had an unbelievable summer,” Helton added. And by the time he arrived at fall camp a week ago, the darkness had disap- peared entirely. His shoulders are fully healed. On the first day of camp, Griffin forced a fumble and inter- cepted a pass. The next day, he jumped a short route, picked off presumptive starting quarterback JT Daniels, and took the inter- ception to the house. Al- ready, after one week, Griffin seems to have a stranglehold on the top corner spot. “He fought his way through it,” Helton said, “and now, you can see him bouncing around here, and he’s the old OG.” Griffin, though, under- stands he’s different now, perhaps, in a way that no one else could. His spring of self- pity left an indelible mark. He was stronger now. He was better for the misery. Be- cause now he knew he had the strength to get through it. “I feel like this camp, for me, is about proving a point,” Griffin said. “You might have a little setback. But you can have a major comeback.”

Griffin feeling good

after fall camp opens

[U SC, from D1]

Los Angeles Times - 09.08.2019

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