Hello, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get to the news right away.
Newsletter
Let’s go beyond the scoreboard
Stay up to date on LA teams with the Daily Sports Report newsletter.
Please enter your email address
Please sign up
You may receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
From Ryan Kartje: Just two weeks ago, after three straight losses, USC’s season seemed to be heading in an embarrassing direction. Eric Musselman, who was only in his eighth game as Trojans coach, said essentially the same thing at the time, wondering if USC could win even one game in its new conference. Ta.
But that outlook was at least stable by Wednesday night, as the Trojans snapped a three-game winning streak after that losing streak, most recently with a 90-69 win over Cal State Northridge.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Musselman said.
Somewhere in those three games, USC unlocked something that has propelled the offense to new heights ever since. The Trojans won each of those three games by a margin of 20 points or more.
“We’re just figuring out how to play with each other,” point guard Desmond Claude said. “It’s starting to click.”
USC’s newfound firepower primarily showed up from beyond the 3-point line on Wednesday after the Trojans shot an impressive 57 percent from the field in wins over Washington State and Montana State.
The Trojans shot an impressive 63% from 3-point range. It happened late in the game, after he missed two threes. Guard Chibuzo Agbo paced the effort with his best game of the season, making 5 of 7 from long range. He scored a season-high 23 points.
Read more here
usc box score
big ten standings
AP Men’s Ranking Top 25
Enjoy this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times
Your support allows us to bring you the news that matters most. Become a subscriber.
dodgers
From Chuck Silken: Quique Hernandez says he was fined for dropping an F-bomb during a live broadcast after the Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.
It could have been much worse.
According to Hernandez, it was originally planned to be a suspension.
Instead, the free agent utility player said in a recent interview with “The Shop” that by intervening on his behalf, he will be playing all six games in the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets and the New York Mets. He said he was able to play in all five games of the World Series against. The York Yankees and Dodgers won their second championship in five years.
“I was fined for that,” Hernandez said on Fox’s Oct. 11 broadcast, saying he used profanity. “I thought I was going to get a bigger fine and a suspension, but having a good agent and the players’ association helped me because they were able to remove the suspension and lower the fine a little bit. That was good.”
Read more here
It cost $1.7 million for the Los Angeles Police Department to operate in World Series parades and wear Dodgers caps.
clippers
From Broderick Turner: Clippers All-Star Kawhi Leonard participated in the “contact” portion of practice for the first time this season on Wednesday, but coach Tyronn Lue has not determined when the team’s best player will return. said. He has been out for the season due to a right knee injury.
Leonard will travel with the Clippers to games in Dallas (Thursday and Saturday) and Memphis (Monday), but will not play in either game, Lue said. The Clippers will then return home to face Golden State on Dec. 27 at Intuit Dome.
“Well, he practiced today, 5-on-5 with contact,” Lue said Wednesday. “So it’s good to see him doing it there. It worked out well. So we’ll continue the process and make sure he checks all the boxes before he returns to play.” Please… Yes, he’s going on a trip, but he won’t be playing on this trip.”
Read more here
From Ryan Kartje: Already poised to replace much of its offensive line, USC moved quickly to bring in a familiar face to replace departed offensive line coach Josh Henson.
Zach Hanson, who spent the past three seasons as USC’s tight ends coach, will move to lead the Trojans’ offensive line.
He replaces Josh Henson, who was hired as Purdue’s offensive coordinator on Tuesday. Henson technically held the same title at USC, but will take on play-calling duties in place of new Boilermakers coach Barry Odom, who previously coached with Henson at the University of Missouri. .
With Hanson’s move to offensive line coach, USC will no longer have an assistant in charge of the tight ends. As of Wednesday morning, it was unclear how or if Lincoln Riley plans to fill that hole.
Read more here
carson palmer
From Sam Farmer: Carson Palmer is coming home and bringing with him an elite team of football brains.
Last week, Mr. Palmer was named the new football coach at Santa Margarita High School, a position he hadn’t imagined in years. The former Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall draft pick out of the University of Southern California never thought he would return to the game to coach his alma mater, but was drawn to the opportunity to coach kids.
Just like when he was a Pro Bowl quarterback, Palmer is a preparation and detail-oriented person, and all of this is new territory for him. So he began piecing together his course of action, relying on many of his former college and NFL coaches and fellow quarterbacks.
“I have a doctorate in football,” said Palmer, 44, who retired in early 2018 after 15 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals. “If you do 10,000 hours of something, you become an expert. I spent tens of thousands of hours playing seven different offenses, watching every defense, playing for some great coordinators and learning from them. What I bring is knowledge of the game.”
Read more here
La Bowl
From Anthony De Leon: After an up-and-down season hit by departures that tested a program gearing up for success, the UNLV Rebels came together with the goal of winning their 11th championship.
It took nearly 40 years, but No. 24 UNLV (11-3) tied the program’s single-season Football Bowl Subdivision record with a 24-13 win over California (6-7) on Wednesday. He won 11 games this season, tying his total. The LA Bowl was held at SoFi Stadium.
The Rebels were led by two-way quarterback Haji Malik Williams in the bowl game, just as they were in their best season decades ago when Randall Cunningham led the UNLV offense.
Described as a winner by teammates and coaches, Williams transferred to the Football Championship Subdivision in his first and only season at UNLV and took over as the starting quarterback after the first three games of the season, leading the Rebels to the 24th season. He led them to their first bowl victory.
Although Williams’ performance was not as dominant as expected, he did enough to ensure the Rebels’ victory. He ignited the offense, completing 5-of-18 passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns, gaining 27 yards on 10 carries.
Read more here
LA bowl box score
bowl schedule
duck
Troy Terry scored with 24 seconds left and the Ducks battled back late for a 3-2 victory over the NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night.
Frank Vatrano scored his second goal with 4:46 left in the game, giving the Ducks back-to-back wins for the first time since Nov. 19. The Ducks won in regulation for the first time in three weeks.
Lucas Dostal stopped 21 shots for the Ducks.
Read more here
duck summary
nhl score
NHL standings
This date in sports
1913 — Heavyweight champion Jack Johnson fights Jim Johnson in Paris to a 10-round draw.
1917 — NHL begins play. Joe Malone of the Montreal Canadiens scored five goals in a 9-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Harry Hyland scored five goals for the Montreal Wanderers in a 10-9 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
1943 — At 17 years and 38 days, Harry Lumley becomes the youngest goaltender in NHL history, playing for the Detroit Red Wings in a 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. .
1948 — The Cleveland Browns defeat the Buffalo Bills 49-7 in the AAFC Championship Game, ending the season undefeated.
1948 — The Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 in a blizzard to win the NFL title. Philadelphia’s Bucco Kilroy recovered a fumble at the 17-yard line in the fourth period, then Steve Van Buren scored from 5 yards out.
1976 — The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Baltimore Colts 40-14 in an AFC playoff game. Ten minutes into the game, former charter pilot Donald Kroner crashed his rented low-wing Piper Cherokee into the upper deck of Memorial Stadium. Most of the 62,000-capacity crowd either left the one-sided game early or headed down the exit ramp, so no one was seriously injured.
1987 — Boston and St. Louis combine for the fastest two-goal game in NHL history. Ken Linsman put the Bruins up 6-5 with 10 seconds left in the third period. Boston’s Doug Gilmore won the faceoff and fired the puck into an empty net two seconds later, clinching a 7-5 victory over the Blues at the Boston Garden.
1990 — Raiders running back Bo Jackson is named to the AFC team as a reserve and becomes the first player in two sports to be selected to the All-Star Game.
2001 — Marshall, led by Byron Leftwich, rallied from a 38-8 halftime deficit to defeat East Carolina 64-61 in double overtime in the GMAC Bowl, setting the highest score in bowl game history.
2007 — New York Islanders forward Chris Simon is suspended for 30 games, once again the longest suspension in NHL history. Simon’s most recent infraction was stepping on Pittsburgh’s Jarkko Ruth with his skate during a Dec. 15 game. This is the seventh suspension of Simon’s career.
2009 — Michael Phelps leads the American team to defeat a group of European all-stars in Duel in the Pool during a two-day competition in Manchester, England, one of eight world records set by the United States. contributed to connecting relays to
2010 — Philadelphia’s DeSean Jackson returns a punt 65 yards for a touchdown as time expires in the Eagles’ 38-31 come-from-behind victory over the New York Giants. It was the only punt return touchdown in NFL history as the Eagles came back from a 31-10 deficit in the fourth quarter. This marks the ninth time in NFL history that a team won by at least 21 points in the fourth quarter.
2010 — The Detroit Lions end a record road skid at 26 games with a 23-20 overtime victory at Tampa Bay. It was their first road win since October 28, 2007, when they defeated the Bears 16-7 in Chicago.
2017 — Freshman Trae Young tied NCAA Division I records with 26 points and 22 assists, and No. 17 Oklahoma beat Northwestern State 105-68.
2017 — North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell becomes the third women’s Division I coach to record 1,000 career wins after the Tar Heels defeat Grambling State 79-63.
2017 — Geno Auriemma wins in his 1,000th game as top-ranked UW defeats Oklahoma 88-64 in the Hall of Fame Women’s Holiday Showcase. Auriemma becomes the fourth women’s coach to reach the 1,000-win mark, joining Pat Summitt, Tara Vanderveer and Sylvia Hatchell, who achieved the milestone win earlier in the day.
2018 — The Houston Rockets beat the Washington Wizards 136-118, setting an NBA single-game record with 26 3-pointers.
Edited by Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have feedback, ideas for improvements, or things you’d like to see, please email us at [email protected]. Also, follow @latimeshouston on Twitter. Click here to receive this newsletter in your inbox.
