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Andy Enfield’s March Madness message: Stop underestimating the Trojans

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Andy Enfield’s March Madness message: Stop underestimating the Trojans

Andy Enfield is aware of you’ve in all probability ignored USC.

Don’t fear, he’s used to it by now. After almost a decade spent making an attempt to reawaken a catatonic faculty basketball program, the coach understands you may need been asleep for a lot of the Trojans’ tip instances. Perhaps, for one purpose or one other, you’ve uncared for to note how far USC has climbed since he took over — the Elite Eight run final season, the document wins this season, a prime recruiting class incoming. Or perhaps, regardless of all that, you simply don’t consider in him or USC hoops.

Both method, Enfield has a stat for you.

The coach is aware of, to these unaware of USC’s shocking string of success, that his common references of the Trojans’ statistical standing makes for compelling context to this system’s rise. So Enfield has dedicated lots of his favourite stats to reminiscence, submitting them away for every time the second may name for a reminder. Which, in his thoughts, tends to be very often.

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These most well-liked mile markers have developed over time from relative trivia — like former level guard Jordan McLaughlin’s assist-to-turnover ratio — to extra macro measures, like wins amongst Energy Six packages in the course of the previous three seasons (73) — a quantity that trails solely Baylor and Kansas, two of the NCAA event’s 4 prime seeds.

The shift is telling of a change within the Trojans’ trajectory throughout Enfield’s tenure. However the conceit behind his common reciting of stats stays the identical.

“Who else goes to stay up for us, if not me?” Enfield mentioned final week. “No person.”

USC coach speaks to Chevez Goodwin in the course of the Trojans’ Elite Eight loss to Gonzaga within the NCAA event final yr.

(Jamie Squire / Getty Photographs)

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In order USC prepares for its fourth event look in 9 seasons below the coach, a journey that begins Friday as a seven seed towards Tenth-seeded Miami (Fla.), Enfield leans again in his workplace chair, completely satisfied to relay some credentials — and level out some perceived slights.

It’s a line he nonetheless often straddles. As he closes in on a decade as USC’s coach, the perpetual chip on Enfield’s shoulder continues to be intact, even when he assures he doesn’t internalize the disrespect.

“At sure instances, the top coach wants to stay up for his program,” Enfield says. “Due to the West Coast time distinction, I’ve had the sensation over the previous few years that some components of the nation, whether or not it’s the followers or the media, haven’t acknowledged that there are good groups within the Pac-12 and USC is a type of good groups. We’ve had lots of good gamers and groups right here over the previous few years. I feel there are applicable instances when a head coach can and has to stay up for his program as a result of nobody else is.”

Enfield not often misses an opportunity to defend USC’s progress. His case has solely grown extra convincing lately, culminating with the Trojans’ run to the Elite Eight final March.

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“He is aware of the job he’s carried out right here,” assistant coach Chris Capko mentioned. “I don’t assume he cares to be acknowledged or something like that, however he needs you to understand how far this program has come.”

That’s the place the numbers are available.

When the pandemic prompted the 2020 event to be canceled, Enfield requested USC’s director of operations, Mike Swets, to tackle a venture. His job? Discover some statistical context to underscore precisely the place this system stands in relation to the remainder of faculty basketball.

The ultimate end result was a number of Excel sheets loaded with knowledge Swets nonetheless updates as soon as or generally twice weekly. Completely different tabs monitor USC’s convention and out-of-conference data in comparison with its Energy Six friends during the last two years, three years, and so forth. One other counts NCAA event wins amongst coaches with lower than 10 years of expertise. In that class, Enfield (7) trails solely Texas’ Chris Beard (10) — a stat that Enfield was completely satisfied to relay.

“It’s vital to place in context what’s being carried out now versus the previous,” Swets mentioned. “When you have a look at the numbers — effectively, even I didn’t absolutely admire the place we stood.”

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“I ask myself all these questions: When will we get our respect? We made an Elite Eight. We had a top-three decide within the draft. We had Huge O [Onyeka Okongwu], a top-six participant within the draft earlier than that. We had all these guys. We’re profitable.”

Max Agbonkpolo, USC ahead

When Enfield was first employed at USC in 2013, this system was nowhere near stage floor. Driving excessive from Florida Gulf Coast’s beautiful Dunk Metropolis run, Enfield selected USC over a number of different teaching gives and shortly realized the job required a significant rebuild. 4 starters have been gone, together with future NBA heart Dewayne Dedmon. The one returning starter, J.T. Terrell, would miss eight video games early within the season due to tutorial points.

The tradition wasn’t in a great place, both, recollects Byron Wesley, who led the Trojans in scoring throughout Enfield’s first season. Most USC gamers liked Enfield’s wide-open offense, which was the “polar reverse” of earlier coach Kevin O’Neill’s extra strict system. However some didn’t admire the brand new coach’s different efforts to implement change.

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Wesley remembered the staff reacting poorly to the primary time Enfield gave them a curfew.

USC's Byron Wesley drives to the basket against California's Jabari Bird during a game in January 2014.

USC’s Byron Wesley, heart, drives to the basket towards California’s Jabari Fowl throughout a recreation in January 2014.

(Jae C. Hong / Related Press)

“Everybody was doing their very own factor. Guys have been dwelling it up in L.A.” Wesley mentioned. “I don’t assume we prioritized profitable and basketball over all the things.”

The Trojans didn’t do a lot profitable that first yr — or the following. They began simply 5-31 in Pac-12 play over Enfield’s first two seasons. However the final of these 5 wins — a victory over Arizona State within the convention event — prompt to USC’s teaching workers that change was on the best way. USC made the NCAA event the following season.

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“Although lots of people questioned us, we by no means misplaced confidence in our short-term and long-term plans,” Enfield mentioned. “We knew it will take time. However once you’re 2-16 within the league, then 3-15 your second yr, lots of people questioned us.”

Solely 12 groups within the Energy Six have gained extra video games than USC within the seven years since. That group consists primarily of basketball blue bloods like Kansas, Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Even UCLA sits 10 wins behind its much less established cross-town rival.

But the apprehension to depend USC and its coach among the many nation’s finest persists.

“They by no means give us our respect,” ahead Max Agbonkpolo mentioned. “UCLA will do one factor effectively for our 5 issues we do effectively and so they get the respect — I don’t even know. I ask myself all these questions: When will we get our respect? We made an Elite Eight. We had a top-three decide within the draft. We had Huge O [Onyeka Okongwu], a top-six participant within the draft earlier than that. We had all these guys. We’re profitable.”

These credentials have been apparently compelling sufficient this season to garner consideration from different faculties, like Maryland and Georgia, who have been trying to find a brand new coach. Enfield had already signed a contract extension at USC in gentle of the Elite Eight run, however that new deal was quick sufficient on ensures that Enfield was anticipated to think about different gives.

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USC coach Andy Enfield claps during a game against Washington State on Feb. 20.

USC coach Andy Enfield claps throughout a recreation towards Washington State on Feb. 20.

(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Related Press)

USC by no means let it get to that time, inking Enfield to a brand new six-year contract earlier this month that included extra assured years and cash. The vote of confidence was not misplaced on USC’s coach.

“It means quite a bit,” Enfield mentioned, “as a result of it exhibits the dedication from the president’s workplace to the athletic administration and [athletic director] Mike Bohn, what their imaginative and prescient is for this system and that there’s enthusiasm for the place we’re and the place we need to go.”

There are nonetheless loads of mile markers left to achieve for USC basketball. However as Enfield positions the Trojans for one more postseason run, the outcomes, Bohn advised The Los Angeles Instances, have spoke for themselves to date.

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“Andy’s longevity as our coach is crucial for us,” Bohn mentioned. “He’s been a giant a part of altering the trajectory, the respect and the popularity of this system. All you need to do is have a look at the variety of gamers he’s put within the NBA, the variety of wins.”

The numbers actually inform a narrative of how far USC has come, one its coach has been making an attempt to inform you all alongside.

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Will Liverpool win this Premier League title – and, if so, when? Our experts’ views

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Will Liverpool win this Premier League title – and, if so, when? Our experts’ views

It is 76 days since Liverpool moved back to the top of the 2024-25 Premier League table with a 2-1 home win against Brighton & Hove Albion — a position they haven’t relinquished since.

Arne Slot’s side are not always showing imperious form but have still only been beaten once in their 20 league matches so far and have a four-point advantage over second-placed Arsenal, with a game in hand, going into the weekend’s fixtures.

So, are Liverpool destined to win just their second domestic championship in 35 years? And, if they are, at what point in the coming months will that triumph become all but nailed-on? We convened an expert panel — some with affiliations to the Anfield side, others to Liverpool’s biggest rivals — and sought their views.


Pep Guardiola has fried all of our brains.

He’s shattered a lot of English football’s illusions about its exceptionalism during his nine years as Manchester City manager. He’s affected the way pretty much every team in the country play. He’s changed what we all expect our full-backs to do. And our central defenders.

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More immediately, he’s altered what we all think a title race looks like.

For the past few years – with one exception – the standard for anyone hoping to win the Premier League has been, as Jurgen Klopp once put it, perfection. Even to be close to that meant getting more than 90 points from the available 114. Actually claiming the crown usually required more: 93, or 98, or 100.

This season is different. A total of 85 will probably do it, maybe even 82. That means our reactions to individual results are out of kilter: in a campaign when City do nothing but win, drawing once at home can be fatal; in one where there’s more leeway for their rivals, the damage is limited.

Liverpool’s current league position, of course, makes them favourites, even if that game they have in hand is the last league derby at Goodison Park — hardly a gimme. But there is little to suggest the four-point advantage Arne Slot’s team currently hold over Arsenal is likely to be decisive. This is not the sort of season where a lead, once obtained, will not be surrendered.


Arne Slot has made a superb start to life in English football (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

Liverpool’s schedule, from here on in, is more challenging than Arsenal’s; it’s not unimaginable that they might draw three more games than Mikel Arteta’s side over the next four months.

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Arsenal do not have a massive margin for error but I’d only be relatively confident that the twists and turns had ended if Liverpool came out of their game against them at Anfield, on the second weekend in May, with a three-point lead. And a superior goal difference, just to be safe.

Rory Smith


Call it a hard-bitten Evertonian self-defence mechanism, but I live with a chronic condition which presents as a persistent, underlying premonition of major Liverpool success. For example: they could be 18th in the 20-team Premier League table, managerless and riddled with injuries, and my nervous system would be preparing for an unlikely cup win and surge to a top-four finish.

So I’ve been tingling with the feeling that the 2024-25 title is coming to Anfield ever since they beat Real Madrid (in the Champions League) and Manchester City back-to-back in the space of five days as November became December.

A small part of me still just can’t rule out some astonishing City revival where they win every game between now and the end of the campaign in late May, as Liverpool drop points due to lingering defensive issues. Or that Arsenal will sign a decent goalscorer before this winter transfer window closes in a couple of weeks and really make it a contest.

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But it would still be infinitely more likely that Liverpool will find another gear and triumph comfortably.

As it stands, I think it will only be after they have come through successive games against Chelsea and Arsenal in early May that I will completely make my peace with the forthcoming months of endless coverage, parades, plays, poems, films, statues and royal decrees that will accompany their record-equalling 20th top-flight championship.

Greg O’Keeffe

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If you’re a fan of a rival club — Manchester United, say — there is often a point in a season where you have to make peace with the idea the “Bad Thing” might happen, and you start steeling yourself for when friends in the group chat/at five-a-side start gloating more.

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For me, that arrived after Liverpool’s trio of fixtures against Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and West Ham United either side of Christmas. It wasn’t just that Liverpool were good. It wasn’t just that Manchester City and Arsenal were wobbling. It’s that Arne Slot found enough tactical solutions for the problems the Premier League throws at you.

Left-back is an issue for this team, Darwin Nunez’s pace doesn’t quite compensate for the speed of his decision-making, Alisson is not quite the force he used to be in goal. Alexis Mac Allister – understandably – can look a little leggy when he returns from long-haul international duty in South America with Argentina. Yet Slot keeps tinkering and tweaking while reminding his players at half-time that hard running is not an optional requirement to winning games.


Alisson – a fine goalkeeper, but is he in decline? (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Liverpool’s 2019-20 title triumph saw a Jurgen Klopp-managed side beat Leicester City 4-0 away on December 26 (it might have been Naby Keita’s last good game for the club) and stamp their authority on the rest of the league. This season’s 3-1 win over them at Anfield on that date wasn’t quite the same (if only because Leicester were a lot stronger five years ago), but there is a similar sense that when Slot’s side switch it on, nobody in England can compete.

Carl Anka


In 2019-20, there were two games around this point in the season that made Jurgen Klopp’s side winning the title feel like an inevitability: the 4-0 away victory against Leicester City on Boxing Day and beating Manchester United 2-0 at Anfield on January 19. The latter was their 21st league win from the season’s first 22 matches. Absurd.

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I haven’t experienced that feeling yet this season. It is a funny time to pose this question due to the current wobble Arne Slot’s team is having. Had I been asked this question after the victories over Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester and West Ham United before and after Christmas, I would be more positive. But two draws since to make it three wins in seven league games doesn’t scream title-winning form, although they haven’t lost any of those matches.

As a pessimist when it comes to this type of thing, my realistic answer is: only when it is mathematically impossible for them to be caught, or Virgil van Dijk is actually lifting the trophy.

However, I would love that 2019-20-esque moment to come in a Merseyside derby – ideally the next one, at Goodison Park on February 12, but more likely when Everton go to Anfield in the first week of April. Those games are so crucial to momentum, positive or negative.

Failing that, a positive result at home against Arsenal on the weekend of May 10-11 will probably be the key moment where I’ll believe it is happening.

Andy Jones

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Over Liverpool’s last seven Premier League matches, they have dropped points in four. That doesn’t look or sound to me like an unstoppable procession to the title. They’re the favourites to win it from here, sure — but I’m not yet convinced.

The issue, of course, is that their most plausible challengers, Arsenal, have a similar propensity to drop points — and a significant gap to overhaul. They’re also without arguably their best player for a while yet with Bukayo Saka having recently undergone surgery for a torn hamstring — and that blow to their attack has been compounded by an ACL knee injury for Gabriel Jesus last weekend.

Much could depend on how much, if at all, Arsenal strengthen before the winter transfer window closes on February 3.

I feel that Liverpool and Arsenal — and Nottingham Forest, and Newcastle, and Chelsea — will continue to drop points here and there. It will be interesting to see if Manchester City can pick up enough points to close the gap and apply some pressure.

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Liverpool host Arsenal on the second weekend in May. Arsenal’s mission for the next four months is to make that game matter — and I think there’s every chance they can.

Only if Liverpool win that one, to give themselves a commanding lead with a couple of weeks of the season to go, will I see them as champions-elect.

James McNicholas


Ever since Steven Pienaar of Everton slid in to secure a 4-4 draw at Old Trafford in April 2012, I’ve always made a point of holding onto hope in a title race.

Pienaar’s 85th-minute equaliser in a match Manchester United had led 3-1 after 66 minutes was a goal that helped Manchester City to make up an eight-point deficit with just six games to go and one of those incredible occasions where the desperate mental gymnastics — ‘They just need to lose at Wigan, drop points at home to Everton, and we’ll beat them at the Etihad’ — perfectly checked out.

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But even my optimism can only stretch so far.

City are out of this race, Christian Norgaard’s stoppage-time header to deny them a 2-1 win at Brentford on Tuesday the latest reminder that the reigning champions are far too flaky to make up what is currently a 12-point gap.


Norgaard’s late equaliser for Brentford on Tuesday underlined City’s frailties (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

That realistically leaves Arsenal, who I just can’t see reeling Liverpool back in with their inconsistency in front of goal and injury disruptions to their right-hand side.

Arsenal have to go to Anfield in the season’s third-last round of fixtures, and unless they are practically faultless from now until then, it looks like being the fixture that could allow the current leaders to ease their way to glory.

Thom Harris

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When you’re writing about something that may arrive in the future, there’s an understandable caution, a fear that you’ll be made to look ridiculous should your prediction turn out to be nonsense.

But even with that in mind, I’m pretty confident about this one: I won’t predict a point between now and the end of the season on May 25 when it will be clear Liverpool have the title in the bag — because I think it’s already in there.

If we’re picking a point when I became sure, it was probably not a single game, but that first week in December, when they beat Manchester City with relative ease, something that came not long before Arsenal drew with Fulham and then Everton.

The certainty is less about Liverpool, an excellent if not historically brilliant team, but more that I just don’t trust any of the chasing pack to be consistent enough to catch them. City are going through some stuff, Arsenal aren’t ruthless enough, Chelsea are wobbling, teams will figure out how to beat Nottingham Forest soon enough, Newcastle are the form team now but are an Alexander Isak injury away from trouble.

Liverpool will end as the last team standing, the best of a Premier League season in which the overall quality has evened out, without one single behemoth overshadowing the rest.

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Nick Miller


It seems to me that only supporters of other clubs are certain that the 2024-25 title will arrive at Anfield.

If it doesn’t, it conveniently gives them the chance to say Liverpool choked. You build them up, you knock them down.

Like a lot of Liverpudlians, I am reasonably confident the season will end in championship success for Arne Slot’s team. Yet there is also caution due to recent memories, as well as longer ones. Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool led the way three times at this stage of a season but only once were they in the same position when the music stopped after 38 games.

Further back, the promise of teams led by Roy Evans, Rafael Benitez and Brendan Rodgers was marked in springtime before hopes faded on the run-in.

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It is for these reasons that I will only be certain about the possibilities relating to Slot’s Liverpool when those currently chasing can no longer catch them.

Simon Hughes

(Top photo: Phil Noble/AFP via Getty Images)

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Rams star rookie Jared Verse gets blunt about Philadelphia fanbase ahead of playoff game: 'I hate Eagles fans'

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Rams star rookie Jared Verse gets blunt about Philadelphia fanbase ahead of playoff game: 'I hate Eagles fans'

Los Angeles Rams rookie Jared Verse is making his feelings about Philadelphia Eagles’ fans abundantly clear.

Speaking with the Los Angeles Times ahead of Sunday’s NFC Divisional Round matchup, Verse spoke bluntly about his feelings towards the Philadelphia fan base.

“I hate Eagles fans,” Verse, who attended three years of high school in Pennsylvania, told the outlet. 

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Los Angeles Rams linebacker Jared Verse (8) warms up prior to the game against the Seattle Seahawks at SoFi Stadium.  (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)

“They’re so annoying. I hate Eagles fans,” he continued. 

Even seeing the Eagles team colors will draw a reaction out of the Rams star rookie. 

“When I see that green and white, I hate it. I actually get upset. Like, I actually get genuinely hot.”

The Rams are hoping Verse will channel his anger towards the Eagles fans when he is on the field, as the team is traveling to Philadelphia to try and upset the Eagles.

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The two teams faced off in Week 12 in Los Angeles, where the Eagles, and running back Saquon Barkley, dominated.

PACKERS FAN HARASSED BY MAN AT EAGLES PLAYOFF GAME ACCUSED OF WANTING TO GO VIRAL: ‘HE KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN’

Jared Verse in action

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) gets pushed out-of-bounds by Los Angeles Rams linebacker Jared Verse (right) during the first half at SoFi Stadium.  (Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images)

The Eagles won that matchup 37-20, and Barkley ran wild, amassing 302 scrimmage yards, including 255 rushing yards with two touchdowns.

Verse said even though the game was in Los Angeles, he heard heckling Eagles fans, despite wearing headphones. 

“I didn’t even do nothing to ‘em. It was my first time playing. Oh, I hate Eagles fans,” Verse said. 

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Eagles’ fans might reciprocate their hate for Verse if he plays as well as he did in the Rams 27-9 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday.

Jared Verse recovers fumble

Los Angeles Rams linebacker Jared Verse (8) recovers a fumble against the Minnesota Vikings during the first half in an NFC wild card game at State Farm Stadium.  (Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)

Verse recovered a fumble from Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold and took it to the house for a 57-yard touchdown. 

Verse’s play in the regular season has him on the shorttlist to potentially win defensive rookie of the year, as Verse had 4.5 sacks with 66 total tackles and was named to the Pro Bowl. 

The Rams are playing the Eagles at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, where the rookie is sure to hear the noise from Eagles fans. 

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Prep basketball roundup: Nikolas Khamenia getting ready for upcoming showdown

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Prep basketball roundup: Nikolas Khamenia getting ready for upcoming showdown

Mission League basketball has started with a series of lopsided games as Harvard-Westlake, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Sierra Canyon make it clear they have separated from the rest of the competition.

It finally gets serious Jan. 24 when Harvard-Westlake (20-1) plays at Notre Dame (17-2) in game that will be the hottest ticket in town, resembling the days of the 1980s when Crespi and Notre Dame played in gyms so full that they had to open gym windows and turn away spectators.

On Thursday night, Harvard-Westlake improved to 2-0 in league with a 67-56 home victory over Crespi, which played without its injured standout, Peyton White. The Celts (15-5) hung tough for a half, trailing 33-22 at halftime and getting as close as 33-25.

Harvard-Westlake went on a 17-3 surge in the third quarter behind Nikolas Khamenia and former Crespi guard Joe Sterling to open a 26-point cushion. Khamenia scored 10 of his 19 points in the quarter. Sterling finished with 20 points.

Isaiah Barnes led Crespi with 14 points.

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Khamenia, the 6-foot-9 Duke-bound senior who’s expected to be a McDonald’s All-American, is the most unselfish player on the floor. If his team needs him to be a facilitator, he’ll do it. If his team needs him to score, he’ll do it. It sets up an intriguing matchup next week against Notre Dame and junior star Tyran Stokes.

“I’m going to take what the defense gives me,” he said. “When I get my teammates going, it’s easier to score.”

Notre Dame is still waiting to see if standout guard Lino Mark can return next week from injury.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 79, St. Francis 58: Tryan Stokes had 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Knights. NaVorro Bowman and Caleb Ogbu each had 15 points and Zachary White 13. DeLan Grant had 21 points for St. Francis.

Sierra Canyon 84, Loyola 42: Bryce Cofield scored 15 points and Bryce James had 12 points on senior night for Sierra Canyon.

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Bishop Alemany 59, Chaminade 52: The Warriors picked up the Mission League win.

Eastvale Roosevelt 78, Corona Centennial 52: Brayden Burries scored 28 points and Myles Walker had 23 points to lead No. 1-ranked Roosevelt.

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