Sports
Big size? Yes. Bigger role? That remains to be seen for UCLA's 7-foot-3 Aday Mara
If you have a player blessed with rare traits who can take over a game on both ends of the court, you use him as much as possible, right?
Right?
Maybe not.
Two days after UCLA’s Aday Mara put every inch of his 7-foot-3 frame to excellent use against Wisconsin — making all seven shots in scoring a career-high 22 points, playing lockdown defense, grabbing rebounds and repeatedly getting hacked by overmatched counterparts who had no choice but to foul him — his coach said the sophomore center’s usage would continue to be situational.
“It would be great if Aday would average 22 the rest of the year,” coach Mick Cronin deadpanned Thursday of Mara’s breakthrough after being used sparingly over the first half of the season, “but I also think — you know, look, that just happens.”
Cronin pointed out that forward William Kyle III, also fighting for a larger role, enjoyed a similar breakout during UCLA’s recent victory over Iowa, making six of seven shots, only to cede playing time to Mara against the Badgers because Cronin figured the latter game was a better matchup for Mara.
So, no, Mara’s big showing was not an aha! moment for his coach, automatically leading to a larger role for the tallest player on the team, despite Mara making every shot and eight of 11 free throws while grabbing five rebounds and blocking two shots in a season-high 21 minutes.
“It just gives you more options,” Cronin said. “What it does is, be able to reinforce to Aday what you’re capable of — we won two games, we got production from two [big] guys, and I was saying that we’ve got to coach them better and get them to play up to their capability.”
Based on his recent pattern, expect Cronin to give Kyle more minutes against smaller, faster teams while featuring Mara more against bigger teams that don’t feature as much athleticism.
Cronin sounded like he still was committed to starting Tyler Bilodeau at the five spot instead of pairing Mara or Kyle with Bilodeau, who has struggled defensively. Wisconsin coach Greg Gard took the unusual step of mentioning Bilodeau by name, alluding to his problems defending ball screens, while discussing the Badgers’ offensive success.
“We were able to knock down some threes early,” Gard said, “with Bilodeau.”
Cronin said going with more size instead of a front line that includes the 6-9 Bilodeau and 6-8 forward Eric Dailey Jr. has its drawbacks.
“Some teams play four guards, which makes it really hard,” Cronin said. “But what we have been working on since Will’s been back [from an unspecified medical procedure] that you saw in the Iowa game was Will guarding the perimeter and Tyler guarding the bigger guy because Will’s faster on the perimeter, so we can do that. Tough to do with Tyler and Aday except that we were able to do it against Wisconsin because of their lineup.
“But there’s other ways to try to do some things to be able to play if you want to play those two guys together and the other team’s smaller. There’s some things that we’re working on.”
Neither Bilodeau nor Dailey hesitated when asked how much they liked playing alongside Mara.
Said Bilodeau: “It’s great to have him out there. He’s so dominant in the post. We see it every day in practice. We know we can always go to him and then too defensively, he’s such a big presence down in the paint.”
Said Dailey: “I love playing with Aday. I mean, it’s easy to play with a 7-3 player. Easy to throw him lobs. I’ve been doing that all year, just throwing him passes that, you know, he can finish. And it’s been helping us just, you know, it gives a different dynamic to our offense and our defense, as well, just having him be the protector. We just gotta keep him going.”
Kyle staying ready
With Mara dominating, Kyle did not play in the second half against Wisconsin until Cronin inserted him for defensive purposes with 30 seconds left.
Trailing by two points, the Badgers had a chance to tie the score or take the lead. Kyle made sure neither happened.
Measuring Wisconsin guard John Blackwell’s every move, Kyle had the tricky task of defending against both a shot and a lob to 7-footer Steven Crowl.
“He was kind of focused on the rim a little bit,” Kyle said of Blackwell, “so I was kind of waiting for him to jump into the air because, like, when you jump into the air it’s kind of tough to make that pass. … So, once I kind of saw him going into the air, into his shot, I kind of committed to it — and I didn’t expect to block it, I just tried to contest it and then, luckily, blocked the shot and it was just a big play.”
Trap game?
Washington has lost five consecutive games and is 1-7 in the Big Ten. However, the Huskies (10-9) may be poised for a big performance, particularly on their home court, in their game against the Bruins (13-6, 4-4) on Friday night in Seattle.
Alaska Airlines Arena is where Washington defeated Maryland and lost to Illinois only after faltering in the final minute. Cronin said he expected Huskies guard D.J. Davis to be fully recovered from a recent ankle injury and center Franck Kepnang to play after missing the last 17 games following a knee procedure.
“They’ve gotten much better,” Cronin said of the Huskies, who lost by 11 points to the Bruins in December at Pauley Pavilion. “If they make some shots, they’re dangerous.”
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The Seattle Seahawks locked down the top seed in the NFC playoffs and a strong path to the Super Bowl on Saturday night with a season finale win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Seattle also finished with their best regular season record in franchise history, clinching 14 wins for the first time ever.
The Seahawks held on to a 10-point victory despite outgaining the 49ers 363 yards to 173, and running 64 plays to San Francisco’s 42.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba #11 of the Seattle Seahawks fails to catch the ball against Ji’Ayir Brown #27 of the San Francisco 49ers during an NFL game on Jan. 3, 2026 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. (Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire)
Seattle missed a field goal in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over on downs in the first quarter to waste two red zone drives, but dominated on defense to prevent those missed opportunities from coming back to haunt them.
The 49ers wasted their best drive of the night as well when quarterback Brock Purdy was intercepted at Seattle’s three-yard line in the fourth quarter facing a 10-point deficit, which seemingly secured the game for the Seahawks.
NFL WEEK 17 SCORES: AFC NORTH, NFC SOUTH UP FOR GRABS AS PLAYOFF PICTURE ALMOST COMPLETE
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, in his first season on the team, completed 20 passes on 26 attempts for 198 yards and helped set up the only touchdown of the entire game in the first quarter.
Darnold redeemed a disappointing Week-18 game for the Minnesota Vikings last season when he completed just 18 of 41 passes for 166 yards in a battle for the top seed against the Detroit Lions.
Darnold said “Learning from mistakes, and staying calm from the pocket,” made the difference in his performance Saturday compared to a year ago, in a postgame interview with ESPN.
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Jaxon Smith-Njigba #11 of the Seattle Seahawks carries the ball against the San Francisco 49ers during the second quarter of a game at Levi’s Stadium on January 03, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy had just 127 yards with the late interception, and took a big hit on his final pass of the night, then took a while to get back up. He was eventually able to walk off the field, and Seattle ran the clock out.
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When it’s Harvey Kitani versus David Rebibo in a high school basketball coaching matchup, you know it’s going to be a defensive grind. They demand defensive production, so Rolling Hills Prep and Harvard-Westlake went at it for 32 minutes on Saturday night at St. Francis.
It took four consecutive free throws by Joe Sterling in the final 21 seconds for Harvard-Westlake (17-2) to hold on for a 50-46 victory. About the only mistake Rolling Hills Prep (13-5) made was choosing to foul Sterling, well known as a clutch free-throw shooter. But the Huskies had no choice after a three by Aaron Heinze got them to within 48-46 with 2.6 seconds left.
Sterling finished with 16 points. Pierce Thompson had 14 points and Dominique Bentho added 11 points and 12 rebounds. Nick Welch Jr. had a big game for Rolling Hills Prep with 21 points on eight-for-14 shooting. Carter Fulton added 10 points.
Santa Margarita 72, Fairfax 41: The Eagles (19-2) opened a 21-2 lead after the first quarter and cruised to victory at St. Francis. Brayden Kyman scored 21 points, Kaiden Bailey had 17 and Drew Anderson had 15.
St. Pius X-St. Matthias 67, JSerra 62: Kayleb Kearse finished with 27 points in the victory. Jaden Bailes had 30 points for JSerra.
Sierra Canyon 77, Phoenix St. Mary’s 45: The Trailblazers (13-1) tuned up for the start of Mission League play with a rout in Arizona. Brandon McCoy scored 18 points and Brannon Martinsen had 17.
Chaminade 70, Palos Verdes 44: Temi Olafisoye had 17 points for the 18-1 Eagles.
Thousand Oaks 53, Oak Park 46: The Lancers won their 16th consecutive game to stay unbeaten. Gabriel Chin had 14 points.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 67, Layton Christian (Utah) 64: NaVorro Bowman led the Knights (13-4) with 24 points. Josiah Nance added 16 points.
Bishop Montgomery 71, Palisades 68: Austin Kirksey had 24 points and Tarron Williams scored 22 points to help Bishop Montgomery improve to 15-2. Freshman Phillip Reed scored 24 points for Palisades.
Crespi 60, Modesto Christian 49: The Celts improved to 13-6.
St. John Bosco 62, Chandler (Ariz.) Basha 54: Christian Collins scored 31 points and Max Ellis had 22 for the Braves in a win in Arizona.
Mayfair 69, Cypress 56: Josiah Johnson’s 27 points helped Mayfair improve to 8-5.
Inglewood 98, Pasadena 97: Jason Crowe Jr. made the game-winning shot in overtime and finished with 51 points for Inglewood.
Girls basketball
Harvard-Westlake 51, Phoenix Desert Vista 39: Freshman Lucia Khamenia finished with 24 points for Harvard-Westlake.
Brentwood 59, Cardinal Newman 53: The Eagles improved to 9-4. Kelsey Sugar scored 24 points.
Saugus 57, Birmingham 52: Kayla Tanijiri had 16 points for Birmingham (13-3).
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Only one more week of the 2025 NFL regular season remains, as Week 17 brought about some more playoff implications and even 2026 NFL Draft key positions.
The biggest takeaway from the slate of Week 17 is that two divisions in the NFL — the AFC North and NFC South — will be determined by whoever wins key matchups in Week 18.
First, it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers getting upset by the Cleveland Browns at home, as Aaron Rodgers couldn’t find Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a controversial game-ending play in the end zone. That loss sets up the AFC North title game between the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, which is only possibly thanks to a road victory where Derrick Henry scored four touchdowns against the Green Bay Packers.
Then, despite both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers losing their respective matchups, the NFL tiebreakers make their Week 18 bout the NFC South title game.
Aaron Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Steelers reacts during the second quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 28, 2025, in Cleveland. (Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
And while everyone was focused on the NFL playoff picture, the two-game 4 o’clock slate gave us the New York Giants against the Las Vegas Raiders, the winner of which owning the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
The Giants would’ve solidified the pick with a loss, but Jaxson Dart and the Giants’ offense blew out Geno Smith and the Raiders to relinquish the pick, which now belongs in Sin City.
NFL WEEK 16 SCORES: PLAYOFF PRESSURE LEADS TO THRILLING FINISHES ACROSS LEAGUE
Here’s how every NFL game played out:
THURSDAY, DEC. 25
– DALLAS COWBOYS 30, WASHINGTON COMMANDERS 23
– MINNESOTA VIKINGS 23, DETROIT LIONS 10
– DENVER BRONCOS 20, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS 13
Dak Prescott (4) of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates after his team’s touchdown against the Washington Commanders in the second quarter of a game at Northwest Stadium on Dec. 25, 2025 in Landover, Maryland. (Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
SATURDAY, DEC. 27
– HOUSTON TEXANS 20, LOS ANGELES CHARGERS 16
– BALTIMORE RAVENS 41, GREEN BAY PACKERS 24
SUNDAY, DEC. 28
– CINCINNATI BENGALS 37, ARIZONA CARDINALS 14
– CLEVELAND BROWNS 13, PITTSBURGH STEELERS 7
– NEW ORLEANS SAINTS 34, TENNESSEE TITANS 26
– JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 23, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS 17
– MIAMI DOLPHINS 20, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS 17
– NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 42, NEW YORK JETS 10
– SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 27, CAROLINA PANTHERS 10
– NEW YORK GIANTS 34, LAS VEGAS RAIDERS 10
– PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 13, BUFFALO BILLS 12
– SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS-CHICAGO BEARS (TBD)
Bundle FOX One and FOX Nation to stream the entire FOX Nation library, plus live FOX News, Sports, and Entertainment at our lowest price of the year. The offer ends on Jan. 4, 2026. (Fox One; Fox Nation)
MONDAY, DEC. 29
– LOS ANGELES RAMS-ATLANTA FALCONS (TBD)
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