for picking a starter before the Sept. 4 opener a

FULLERTON, Calif. -- UCLA senior guard Bryce Alford wants the ball in his hands during critical moments at the end of games. He had it, and he delivered, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half to pace the No. 14 Bruins to a 82-71 victory over Nebraska in the Wooden Legacy semifinals Friday at Cal State Fullerton.The Bruins (6-0) will play Texas A&M in Sundays championship game at the Honda Center in Anaheim.Alford made a 3-pointer with 1:02 left to give UCLA a 77-66 lead. He made all four of his free throws after that. Isaac Hamilton scored 15 points and Lonzo Ball added 13 for UCLA. Center Thomas Welsh had his fourth double double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.As a basketball player, those are the kind of moments you live for, Bryce Alford said. Thats something Ive always prided myself on, being a closer ... Its about making smart plays down the stretch to help our team win games. I put (us) in a position to do that tonight.Nebraska (4-1) was led by Glynn Watson Jr., who scored a game-high 27 points.The Bruins led 38-25 at halftime and on the first play of the second half, star freshman guard Ball wowed as he converted an alleyoop dunk with a pass from T.J. Leaf. He had many more highlight-reel plays after that. Midway through the second half, he tried to convert an alleyoop pass that was just off the mark into a basket. It didnt fall, but he tipped in his own miss for the score.Nebraska made just 10 of 35 shots in the first half for a dismal 28.6 field-goal percentage. The Cornhuskers made just one 3-pointer and shot 12.5 percent from long range. Nebraska cut the lead to two points at 58-56 on a 3-pointer from Watson Jr., but it would never get closer.I felt like we were very tentative in the first half, Nebraska coach Tim Miles said. Thats not like us. I thought the second half was more of a snapshot of what were like. But every time got the game down to 2 or 3, they answered. Alford made some tough shots. (Aaron) Holiday made some tough shots. They hurt us. We didnt get enough outside shooting.Ball left the game with four fouls for a 3:03-span but came back with 4:58 left in the game and then fouled out.BIG PICTURENebraska: The Cornhuskers lost for just the first time this season in playing one of the countrys top teams. The third-place game wont be easy, but Nebraska has an extra day to prepare for Virginia Tech.UCLA: The Bruins played on national television but perhaps didnt make many inroads with the East Coast audience as the game started at 12 a.m., EST. The Wooden Legacy championship game is at a much more viewer-friendly hour at 8:30 p.m. EST on Sunday.UP NEXTNebraska plays Virginia Tech in the third-place game on Sunday. Theyll have work to do in preparing for a physical team that just suffered its first loss of the season as well.UCLA gets one day off before playing in the championship game against Texas A&M on Sunday. The Bruins are playing in the final of the tournament named after Wooden, who won 10 national championships in Westwood. No pressure.POLL IMPLICATIONSUCLA cemented its status as a top-15 team by surviving its first real test of the season against a Big Ten Conference team.STAT OF THE NIGHTUCLA is 4-0 in the all-time series against Texas A&M. The teams last played in the Wooden Classic in 2006 and 2008. Both of those games were decided by three points or less.HE SAIDNebraska lost its first game of the season but is scheduled to be at the happiest place on earth on Saturday -- Disneyland -- before playing Virginia Tech for third place on Sunday.... We have to bounce back. We cant hang our heads. (Saturday), we can mope around and hang out with Goofy and Minney and Mickey, thats fine, but on Sunday we need to be ready to go in and go to battle.-- Nebraska coach Tim MilesHE SAID WHAT?On Thursday night, Lonzo Balls father, LaVar Ball, guaranteed in a nationally-televised interview that UCLA would win the national championship. Asked how he felt about that, the freshman said: Im thankful for him. Thats how he is. Loud and to the point. Im his son, so why wouldnt he want the best for me? Ken Daneyko Jersey . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. Cheap Devils Jerseys . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record. http://www.cheapdevilsjerseys.com/?tag=adidas-taylor-hall-jersey . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. John Moore Jersey . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. Jamie Langenbrunner Jersey . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- About the only thing Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly can say for certain about the quarterback position on the eve of practice is he doesnt expect DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire to play at the same time.He wasnt willing to rule out much more than that Friday as he fielded repeated questions about different scenarios on the eve of practice beginning Saturday in Culver, 30 miles south of campus.I have not taken anything off the table, honestly, Kelly said. If you go down the roster ... and look at the playmakers on offense, two of them are on the quarterback side. So I have to look at all of those, and factor every one of those in.Its not the answer Kizer or Zaire want to hear, but both realize it is the reality they are facing. Each is focused only on being the starter.This is what I came here to do, to compete and try to be the Notre Dame quarterback, Kizer said. Im pretty happy with where I stand. Now its time to go out there and prove it.Kizer, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound right-hander, led the Irish to nine victories, completing 211 of 335 passes for 2,884 yards with 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.Zaire, a 6-foot, 225-pound left-hander, won the starting job last year and completed 19 of 22 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns in a season-opening 38-3 win over Texas, with his 86.4 percent completion rate ranking second in school history for a single game. But he broke his right ankle a week later against Virginia and watched as Kizer led the Irish to a 10-3 finish and a No. 11 ranking.Zaire said hes not focusing on being the best quarterback at NNotre Dame; hes working to be the best quarterback in college football.ddddddddddddThats what Im focused on and I know thats going to translate into wins for the team, he said.Kelly, entering his seventh season as coach of the Irish, said he doesnt have a timetable for picking a starter before the Sept. 4 opener at Texas. He said depth at quarterback is what leads him to believe the Irish can vie for a playoff spot this season despite losing experience at receiver and along the offensive line.I think in college football any time you have a quarterback -- quarterbacks, were full with quarterbacks -- that gives you a fighting chance right out of the gate, he said.Kelly isnt worried that letting the competition continue could hurt the offense, saying the pair arent that different and he knows what he wants the offense to look like.They have some strengths and weaknesses within the offense that well tweak just a little bit, but theres no overhaul of the offense if one is in vs. the other. Theres just some play selections that would be different, he said. So we can still lay down our entire installation seamlessly.Game notes Kelly said he expects sophomore quarterback Brandon Wimbush to sit out this season and compete for a starting spot next season. ... Kelly also announced that defensive lineman Grant Blankenship, who was suspended from the team in April for violating unspecified team rules is no longer with the team and seeking a transfer. ' ' '