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.”
Trump says there’s ‘no time frame’ to secure Iran deal
Republican Minnesota Senate candidate Tom Weiler joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S.-Iranian conflict continues and react to Gov. Tim Walz’s, D-Minn., criticism of the president.
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Saudi Arabia was among the countries seeing missiles fly into their airspace as a conflict broke out in the Middle East between the U.S. and Iran.
The prospect of Iran targeting its Middle Eastern neighbors like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates put some sporting events on hold and questioned others. Formula 1 races in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were canceled and rumors swirled around whether future WWE events could be held in the kingdom.
Roman Reigns celebrates his win during WWE’s Royal Rumble at Riyadh Season Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 31, 2026. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
As the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire with Iran, WWE announced on Thursday that its Night of Champions premium live event will be held in Riyadh on June 27.
“We are proud to welcome Night of Champions back to Riyadh and look forward to delivering another unforgettable night of WWE action for fans in the Kingdom and around the world,” General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Al-Sheikh said in a news release.
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Sami Zayn makes his entrance during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
The release touted that WrestleMania 43 will still be held in Riyadh in 2027. It will be the first time that WrestleMania is held outside the U.S.
WWE president Nick Khan was adamant before WrestleMania 42 that the event will still take place in Saudi Arabia despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“We’re doing WrestleMania next year in Saudi,” he said at a Sports Business Journal event, via The Sporting Tribune. “First time ever, WrestleMania will be outside the United States or Canada. And we’ve had a big, fruitful partnership with them.”
John Cena wrestles CM Punk during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
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He added that those complaining about WrestleMania being held in Saudi Arabia were a “vocal minority.”
Thousand-dollar tickets and hundreds of dollars in fees shocked some hopeful Olympic fans this month, but they did not keep LA28 from boasting strong sales in the committee’s first ticket drop.
LA28 announced Thursday that it sold more than 4 million Olympic tickets during the first ticket drop. The private organizing committee will have a second ticket drop in August with “refreshed inventory across all Olympic sports at a range of price points.”
But after the popularity of the first purchasing period, many of the lower-priced tickets have already been scooped up.
LA28 said roughly half of the total 1 million $28 tickets were sold during the locals presale, which was limited to people living near venue cities in Southern California and Oklahoma City.
The average price per Olympic ticket is less than $200, which includes a mandatory 24% service fee, and LA28 said about 75% of all tickets, including final events, will be under $400. The premier seats at high-demand events command more than $1,000 per ticket, but the highest priced categories make up about 5% of the total ticket inventory.
Artistic gymnastics sold out the quickest in Drop 1. Four new Olympic sports — flag football, lacrosse, softball and squash — sold all their available inventory for the first drop. After five days of local presale, global ticket sales opened and drew fans from 85 countries and all 50 states and U.S. territories. The largest international sales came from the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
For the first female-majority Olympic Games, LA28 reported that women’s Olympic sessions outsold men’s 93% to 88% during the first drop.
“The response to our initial on-sale was nothing short of historic. Fans from near and far have spoken: the world wants to be part of the LA28 Games,” LA28 chief executive officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement. “The success of Drop 1 is about more than momentum — it reflects LA28’s commitment to delivering a fiscally responsible Games that create a lasting legacy for Los Angeles and its communities.”
Drop 2, which will begin in August, will have additional tickets across all Olympic sports, including those that may have sold out during the first purchasing windows. The registration period for Drop 2 opened Thursday and will continue until July 22. Fans who registered for the first drop of tickets but did not receive a time slot and fans who did not buy their maximum 12 general ticket allotment will automatically be entered into the random lottery Drop 2. The new registration period is only required for anybody who did not sign up for the initial drop.
Fans are still limited to 12 Olympic tickets and up to 12 soccer tickets that don’t count toward the general maximum. There is a four ticket per ceremony limit for the opening and closing ceremony that count toward the 12-ticket maximum, which is cumulative across all LA28 presales and ticket drops.
LA28 will have multiple ticket drops with assigned purchasing time slots before ticket sales move to a first-come, first-served format closer to the Games, which open on July 14, 2028. LA28 began its ticketing process earlier than most other Olympic Games with tickets going on sale more than two years in advance of the opening ceremony. The early timeline has created excitement for the first Summer Olympics in the United States since Atlanta 1996, but also prompted concerns about scheduling. Fans clamored for tickets with little information about which teams or athletes would be competing in most sessions.
Tickets are not refundable, but fans can opt for verified resale when LA28 launches its official resale system in 2027. AXS and Eventim is the official secondary ticket marketplace of the LA28 Games and Ticketmaster and Sports Illustrated Tickets have also signed on as additional verified resale platforms.
LA28 will have 14 million tickets available for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which would eclipse the record of 12 million tickets sold for the Paris Games. Paris 2024 sold an about 9.5 million tickets for the Olympics, but used a different ticket system than LA28. For Paris, 3.5 million tickets were sold during the first phase, during which fans were required to buy tickets to at least three different sports instead of the option for single-event tickets available during LA28’s Drop 1 process.
Tickets for the 2028 Paralympics, which will be the first in L.A.’s history, will go on sale in 2027. Ticket sales and hospitality are expected to cover about $2.5 billion of LA28’s expected $7.1 billion budget for the first Games in L.A. in more than 40 years.
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An envoy for President Donald Trump has reportedly asked FIFA to replace Iran with Italy in the 2026 World Cup this summer.
The Financial Times reported the plan is an effort to repair the relationship between Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which soured after the former’s comments against Pope Leo XIV regarding the war with Iran.
United States special envoy Paolo Zampolli suggested the idea to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
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President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5, 2025. (Emilee Chinn/FIFA)
“I confirm I have suggested to Trump and Infantino that Italy replace Iran at the World Cup. I’m an Italian native, and it would be a dream to see the Azzurri at a U.S.-hosted tournament,” Zampolli told the outlet. “With four titles, they have the pedigree to justify inclusion.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Italy had a chance to be in the World Cup already, but it lost in a penalty shootout to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a qualifying playoff final.
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Italy became the first World Cup-winning team to miss three consecutive tournaments after the 4-1 penalty shootout loss earlier this month.
“We still don’t believe it that we’re out and that it happened in this manner,” Italy’s Leonardo Spinazzola told reporters at the time, according to the New York Post.
“It’s upsetting for everyone. For us, for our families and for all the kids who have never seen Italy at a World Cup.”
While Zampolli told Infantino about his proposed plan, FIFA’s president said Iran “for sure” will play in the World Cup despite the conflict involving the U.S.
Mehdi Taremi of Iran celebrates after scoring a goal during a 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers Group A game against Uzbekistan at Azadi Stadium in Tehran March 25, 2025. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu)
“The Iranian team is coming, for sure,” Infantino said during the CNBC Invest in America Forum earlier this month in Washington, D.C.
“We hope that, by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation. That would definitely help. But Iran has to come, of course. They represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.”
Infantino visited the Iranian national team in Turkey, which is where it has its training camp.
All three of Iran’s group stage games are scheduled to be played in the U.S. That remains the case after Iranian government officials suggested to FIFA that their games be moved to Mexico because they could not travel to the U.S.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum revealed FIFA’s rejection of Iran’s request, and it is insisting Iran play where it’s scheduled — SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and Lumen Field in Seattle. Iran said earlier this month it would only decide on its team’s participation once it heard from FIFA regarding its relocation request.
Iran is scheduled to play at SoFi Stadium against New Zealand June 16 to begin its tournament. It will also play Belgium at the stadium before finishing group play against Mo Salah and Egypt in Seattle June 26.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends an international friendly between Mexico and Portugal at Banorte Stadium in Mexico City March 28, 2026. (Antonio Torres/FIFA/Getty Images)
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Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last month that Iran would be welcome to compete in the World Cup as scheduled, though it might not be “appropriate” considering the conflict.
“The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” he wrote.
Trump also told Politico, “I really don’t care,” when asked about Iran’s participation in the tournament. Infantino, who has a strong relationship with Trump, said Trump has “reiterated” to him that the U.S. welcomes Iran’s team to compete.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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