The Sports Report: USC football is put on probation

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Ryan Kartje: The USC football program has been put on probation and will pay a $50,000 fine after the NCAA found the program violated rules regarding the number of coaches allowed to be engaged in on- and off-field coaching activities during the 2022 season and spring of 2023.

The NCAA found that eight football analysts at USC, who were not full-time staff members, “impermissibly participated in on- and off-field coaching activities, including providing technical and tactical instruction to football student-athletes” over a two-year period, exceeding the number of countable coaches allowed under NCAA rules by six.

As part of the investigation, the NCAA and USC agreed that football coach Lincoln Riley had “violated head coach responsibility rules” in failing to monitor the circumstances that led to the violations. Due to some of those violations occurring before NCAA rule changes in January 2023 and since Riley “was not personally involved in the violations nor aware of the violations at the time the infractions occurred,” the NCAA chose not to suspend him.

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LAKERS

From Dan Woike: Lakers star center Anthony Davis will not miss time because of his latest eye injury, he said Tuesday after practice.

“The eye is fine,” he said.

Davis got poked in the left eye during the third quarter Sunday night in the team’s win over Toronto while blocking Jakob Poeltl’s dunk attempt. Davis fell to the court in significant pain and left the game.

“Nothing happens next,” said Davis, who missed a game last week because of a sore heel, an injury the Lakers are continuing to monitor. “I go about my days as I would any other day. There’s nothing I need to do. The next step is getting some more sleep and getting ready for tomorrow.”

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RAMS

From Bill Plaschke: Whose house?

Nobody’s home.

The Rams threw a Monday night party that filled SoFi Stadium with celebrities, legends, pop stars ... almost everything you need for a nationally televised Hollywood football bash.

The only thing missing was them.

The stage was set for the Rams to prove their championship legitimacy … yet they didn’t show.

The football world was eagerly awaiting a sizzling appearance from one of the NFL’s hottest and most exciting teams … and they took a pass.

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Rams takeaways: Offense needs more from Kyren Williams, defensive line shows sparks

JOHN ROBINSON

From Sam Farmer: The high school star from San Diego will never forget the night John Robinson rolled up to recruit him to USC.

A power outage had knocked out all the lights in the neighborhood.

No worries. Robinson provided all the energy anyone would need.

“We had to break out the candles,” Marcus Allen recalled. “We sat there in our living room by candlelight, and John was just as charismatic and funny as he’s always been.”

That night not only launched a legendary playing career but also a Hall of Fame friendship.

“I’m just happy that he knew — and I told his wife this — that every single time I saw him I told him I loved him,” said Allen, whose career achievements include a Heisman Trophy, season and Super Bowl most valuable player honors and a bronze bust in Canton, Ohio. “I loved him, and I think he knew that.”

To read more tributes to Robinson from his former players, click here

UCLA FOOTBALL

From Ben Bolch: DeShaun Foster acknowledged that both of the game balls he’s been given this season to commemorate coaching firsts could have gone to someone equally worthy.

His kicker.

That’s how valuable Mateen Bhaghani has been in his first season at UCLA.

The transfer from California made a game-winner against Hawaii that represented Foster’s first coaching victory (earning him a game ball from athletic director Martin Jarmond) and converted a career-long 57-yarder against Iowa last Friday to help give Foster his first home victory (and a second game ball from his boss).

“I’m glad we got him from that other school up the road,” Foster said Tuesday.

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UCLA BASKETBALL

Janiah Barker had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Lauren Betts had 17 points and 12 rebounds, and the No. 5 UCLA women rolled past Pepperdine 91-54 on Tuesday.

The Bruins (3-0) started the game with an 18-0 run. Ornela Muca, who led Pepperdine (1-2) with 20 points, made a three-pointer to stop the run.

Betts made all six of her shots in the first half and didn’t miss until the third quarter.

UCLA outrebounded Pepperdine 56-22.

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UCLA box score

AP top 25 rankings

USC BASKETBALL

JuJu Watkins had 21 points, nine assists and six steals to help No. 3 USC trounce Cal State Northridge 124-39 on Tuesday night.

The Trojans (3-0) had six players in double figures, including Kiki Iriafen with 15 points and Kayleigh Heckel with 14 points off the bench. All 13 Trojans who played scored. The team’s total points were a program record.

Laini Dahlin scored 11 points and Erika Aspajo added 10 for the Matadors (2-1).

USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb earned her 300th career victory. Her players waved ‘300’ signs after the game and jumped up and down around her.

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USC box score

AP top 25 rankings

SOCCER

From Kevin Baxter: Forty-two million dollars can buy a lot of things, but apparently it can’t buy an MLS championship, because for the second time in as many seasons Inter Miami came up short in trying to spend its way to a league title.

This time it was Atlanta United, the lowest seed in the 18-team playoff field, a team that has played the last five months with an interim coach and one with a payroll less than half the size of Miami’s, who delivered the fatal blow, beating Lionel Messi’s team Saturday in the deciding game of a best-of-three, first-round playoff series.

That has wrecked the plans of MLS — which has all but rechristened itself Messi Soccer League — and its broadcast partners at Apple, who both were deeply invested in drawing a massive global audience for a league championship game with Messi at its center.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1934 — Ralph Bowman of the St. Louis Eagles scores the first penalty-shot goal in NHL history. Bowman’s goal comes on the second penalty shot attempt in league history and is the only goal for the Eagles, who lose to the Montreal Maroons 2-1.

1949 — Chicago’s Bob Nussbaumer intercepts four passes, and the Cardinals set an NFL record for points in a regular-season game with a 65-20 victory over the New York Bulldogs.

1964 — St. Louis Hawks forward Bob Pettit becomes the first NBA player to score 20,000 points, with 29 in a 123-106 loss to the Cincinnati Royals.

1971 — Colorado’s Charlie Davis sets an NCAA record for a sophomore by rushing for 342 yards in a 40-6 victory over Oklahoma State.

1982 — Southern Miss beats Alabama 38-29 for the Tide’s first loss in Tuscaloosa since 1963, breaking a 57-game winning streak in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

1982 — Chicago’s Tony Esposito becomes the fourth NHL goaltender with 400 victories. Esposito makes 34 saves to help the Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 at Joe Louis Arena.

1984 — Bernie Nicholls of the Kings becomes the first NHL player to get a goal in all four periods of a game. Nicholls scores once in each period and again at 2:57 of overtime to give the Kings a 5-4 victory over the Quebec Nordiques.

1992 — Riddick Bowe wins the world heavyweight championship with a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield.

1993 — No. 2 Notre Dame runs out to a 17-point lead and hangs on to beat top-ranked Florida State 31-24 when Charlie Ward’s desperation pass is knocked down on the goal line as time expires.

1999 — Lennox Lewis becomes the undisputed heavyweight champion with a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas.

2005 — In the longest play in NFL history, Chicago defensive back Nathan Vasher returns a missed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half in a 17-9 win against the 49ers.

2009 — McKendree basketball coach Harry Statham wins his 1,000th game with a 79-49 victory over East-West University. The 72-year-old Statham is 1,000-381 at the NAIA school.

2015 — Russia’s track federation is suspended by the sport’s international governing body and its athletes are barred from international competition for a widespread and state-sanctioned doping program. It’s the first time the IAAF bans a country for doping.

2018 — Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer becomes the fifth Division I women’s basketball coach to win 1,000 games when the Scarlet Knights beat Central Connecticut State 73-44. Stringer joins Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer and Sylvia Hatchell.

Compiled by the Associated Press