Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP
LOS ANGELES - UCLA’s five freshmen will have to wait. The Bruins’ seniors aren’t ready to completely hand over control just yet.
With the outcome in doubt Thursday night, Darren Collison made two free throws with 21 seconds remaining and No. 4 UCLA survived a defensive struggle to beat Miami (Ohio) 64-59 in the 2K Sports Classic.
“That was a very hard-fought win,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “We knew they’d be very patient. They really grind it out and make it tough. They also have senior, veteran guys.”
So do the Bruins (2-0), who advanced to next week’s semifinals against Michigan at New York’s Madison Square Garden. No. 8 Duke meets Southern Illinois in the other game.
Seniors Collison and Josh Shipp both scored 16 points to help UCLA earn its 30th consecutive home victory over a nonconference opponent. The veterans of three consecutive Final Fours generated the offense a night after UCLA’s highly touted freshmen played impressively in their college debuts.
“We want to do whatever it takes; tonight it was scoring,” Shipp said of himself and Collison. “Me and Darren want to take over games.”
Michael Bramos scored 22 points for the RedHawks (1-1).
“We played a good team on their home floor,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said. “Of course, I would have liked to have won this game, but if you lose, I want to make sure what carryover we have. I hope this is a good carryover and we take away what we did right and not the emotions of the game.”
Next up for the RedHawks is No. 5 Pittsburgh on Monday.
“It’s like playing Ben Howland twice,” Coles said about Howland’s former defensive-minded team.
Leading 42-40, Miami’s Adam Fletcher intentionally fouled James Keefe, who missed both free throws. But freshman Drew Gordon picked up his veteran teammate with a basket that evened the score, one of four ties in the second half.
Miami took another two-point lead before the Bruins ran off seven straight points, helped by Michael Roll’s 3-pointer, to go up 49-44.
But the RedHawks didn’t go away. Bramos continued hitting and Antonio Ballard’s 3-pointer — his first basket of the game — drew them within one point with five minutes remaining.
Keefe then matched Ballard, hitting a 3-pointer for his first basket to keep UCLA ahead 58-54 in between airballs by Roll and Shipp.
“Keefe’s 3-pointer from the corner was a nice prayer that went our way,” Howland said. “It’s better to be lucky than good, I guess.”
Kenny Hayes’ layup gave him his first points and got the RedHawks within two.
“This was like an NCAA tournament game,” Collison said. “That’s a very good team. They’re very patient, they took good shots. It came down to valuing our possessions. We took good shots at the end.”
Alfred Aboya made two free throws that pushed UCLA’s lead to 60-56. Shipp tipped the ball away from Bramos, then threw it off him as Shipp was falling out of bounds, but the referee ruled Miami retained possession.
Hayes’ 3-point attempt bounced off the rim, but Shipp fouled Bramos in the ensuing scramble for the rebound. Bramos missed his first free throw and Aboya grabbed the defensive rebound with 1½ minutes left.
Eric Pollitz hit a 3-pointer that drew the RedHawks to 60-59 with 51 seconds left. Clinging to a one-point lead, Collison got fouled at UCLA’s end and made both.
“There was no way we were going to lose that game,” he said.
Hayes missed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left and Shipp made two free throws for the final margin.
The Bruins were 13-of-20 from the line, while Miami went 12-of-14.
“The key for UCLA is they made their free throws; they made six down the stretch,” Coles said. “I was really hoping that Aboya would miss his free throws.”
The RedHawks took a five-point lead to start the game and then never trailed by more than that the rest of the half. They made all seven of their free throws, tied the Bruins with 10 defensive rebounds and nearly matched UCLA’s 48 percent shooting.
UCLA forward Nikola Dragovic played his first game of the season after his arrest last week for suspicion of misdemeanor battery. He allegedly pushed his former girlfriend to the ground during an argument and has a scheduled court appearance on Dec. 4. He didn’t dress as punishment in Wednesday’s 24-point win over Prairie View.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Herb Pope scored 19 points, including four free throws in final 10 seconds, and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Seton Hall to a 73-66 victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.