Big Game

Despite their difficulties this season, including injured point guards and a coaching change, the Lakers (7-7) are just one game behind the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers for the best record (8-6) in the Pacific Division. The Lakers will have an opportunity to climb in the standings on Tuesday, hosting the Indiana Pacers (6-8) at Staples Center.  The Pacers have struggled this season, playing without forward Danny Granger (knee). Though relatively strong at home (4-2), Indiana's performance on the road has been lacking (2-6)

According to his Facebook page, Kobe Bryant is "under the weather" hours before the Lakers host the Indiana Pacers. "Laid up in bed," reads Bryant's page. "Drinking a lot of fluids. Trying to shake the aches and chills thru rest, medicine and a lil Bob Marley on the speakers. " Apparently Bryant is a Marley fan, which may be new information on the Lakers All-Star guard. The Lakers, despite injuries and a coaching change, are 7-7 -- just one game behind the Pacific Division-leading Golden State Warriors and Clippers.

The last time UCLA and Stanford played when both were nationally ranked was 2001, when the No. 20 Cardinal beat the No. 24 Bruins, 38-28. Current UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley was 8 years old. UCLA is ranked 15th and Stanford 11th heading into Saturday's game at the Rose Bowl. Staff writer Chris Foster examines the game's matchups and story lines: Coming up roses This game has Pac-12 Conference championship game implications for both teams, and might be a steppingstone to the Rose Bowl.

Kings 113 - Lakers 97 (final) The Lakers fall to 0-3 on the road, dropping their visit to the Sacramento Kings 113-97.  Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Lakers looked like they had tired legs.  The team's bigs struggled on both sides of the ball. Pau Gasol scored just eight points on 3-10 shooting. Dwight Howard scored seven on 2-4. The Kings repeatedly and effectively isolated against Gasol late in the game. Howard is often the reason why the Lakers are a poor-free throw shooting team but he wasn't at fault Wednesday night.

UCLA's Terry Donahue and USC's John Robinson know the UCLA-USC rivalry, and each other, very well. Donahue coached UCLA for 20 years and had a 10-9-1 record against the Trojans. Robinson coached USC for 12 years in two stints. His record against the Bruins was 5-7. Head to head, Donahue and Robinson's teams were 5-5 against each other. This week, The Times asked the former coaches for their insights on Saturday's matchup at the Rose Bowl. Here, in part, is what they had to say: USC passing vs. UCLA defense Robinson: The most successful approach against any accomplished passing team is to go after the quarterback and make it difficult.

Matt Barkley's memories of three games against UCLA: "Crazy ending. Hurt Ankle. And Blowout. " USC's senior quarterback has known only victory against UCLA. As a freshman, Barkley passed for 144 yards in a 28-7 victory at the Coliseum that was punctuated by a last-minute 48-yard touchdown pass from Barkley to Damian Williams after then-UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel and then-USC coach Pete Carroll clashed over the timing of a UCLA timeout. Two years ago, Barkley passed for 198 yards and a touchdown in a 28-14 victory at the Rose Bowl, playing through an ankle injury that he suffered two weeks earlier at Oregon State.

Oh the luck of the Irish. Fourth-ranked Notre Dame committed three turnovers, came away without a touchdown on four trips inside the 10 yard line, missed a field goal, missed a point-after attempt, trailed by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and still had enough at the end to defeat Pittsburgh, 29-26, in three overtimes Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish trailed 20-6 in the fourth quarter, but rallied on a couple of big plays by quarterback Everett Golson - and because of a controversial pass interference call that they converted into a touchdown.

The University of Illegal Formations impaired its national title chances with an eight-penalty loss at Stanford and then abandoned the Bowl Championship Series ship with last weekend's 13-penalty defeat at Arizona. The team ranked No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press poll currently ranks No. 120 in NCAA categories for penalties and penalty yards. You don't need a slide rule to draw that straight-line correlation. Although USC has not been able to control itself on the field, incredibly, it still controls a lot of things.

Good luck to quarterbacks who test the best cornerback tandem in the City Section. Crenshaw High's Dominique Hatfield and Mossi Johnson back down from nobody. On Friday night, in a neighborhood Coliseum League showdown against rival Dorsey, they combined for interceptions on three consecutive passes in the second quarter of Crenshaw's 34-14 victory. "I think they can play with anybody in the country," Crenshaw Coach Robert Garrett said. Hatfield finished with two interceptions, returning one 32 yards for a touchdown.

MORNING No. 6 Louisiana State (6-1) at No. 20 Texas A&M (5-1) 9 a.m., ESPN Call this a five-alarm, alarm-clock special. Texas A&M's electric offense, averaging 47 points per game, searches for crevices in LSU's stone-solid defense, giving up 14 points per game. The pregame visual is Tigers defensive end Barkevious Mingo chasing the Aggies' Johnny Manziel all over Kyle Field. Manziel, a redshirt freshman quarterback, is starting to receive Heisman Trophy notice after he set an SEC record with 576 total yards last week against Louisiana Tech.