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Ohio State coach Thad Matta hopes the Buckeyes tough defense can keep up with UCLAs high-scoring offense Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic at Las Vegas.If Mattas transition defense can rise to the challenge, the Buckeyes could have a chance to subdue UCLAs offensive flow led by future NBA point guard Lonzo Ball.That could be a case of easier said than done, however, against the Bruins, who ranked No. 2 nationally in scoring at 97.9 points a game after beating UC Santa Barbara 102-62 Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.No. 2 UCLA improved to 11-0, its best start since a 14-0 beginning of the 2006-07 season. Ohio State (8-2) is unranked. The game at the T-Mobile Arena (3 p.m. ET, CBS) is part of a doubleheader with the second game featuring No. 6 Kentucky and No. 7 North Carolina.They are playing at such a fast pace and just a very high skill level, Matta said of UCLA. (They have) a lot of guys who can make shots. They do a good job of getting the ball down the floor.Thats one thing that will be very, very important from the start -- getting back on defense. Getting our defense set will be a huge priority for us.The Buckeyes have established themselves as one of the nations top defenses through the first 10 games, allowing only one opponent to score more than 70 points -- a 79-77 overtime loss at home against Florida Atlantic on Dec. 6.UCLA is unlike any of Ohio States opponents to this point when it comes to scoring. The closest the Buckeyes faced is Marshall, which averages 86.6 points a game.Ohio State can gain confidence from that game heading into the matchup against the Bruins. The Buckeyes beat Marshall 111-70 in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 25. Matta said the Buckeyes will play at a faster pace similar to that game but wont try to match UCLA step for step.The Bruins showed their firepower against UC Santa Barbara with their fifth game of 100 points or more. Freshman standouts TJ Leaf and Ball each recorded a fifth double-double of the season, and reserve sophomore guard Aaron Holiday -- who started 34 games last year but now backs up Ball -- tallied his first career 20-point game.Leaf had 25 points, including 17 in the first half. He and Ball each had 10 rebounds. Leaf nearly finished with a triple-double, adding a season-high eight assists. Ball wound up with 13 points, seven assists and a season-high 10 rebounds.Its a lot of fun watching this team play and coaching this team, UCLA coach Steve Alford said after noting that the Bruins had 27 assists and only eight turnovers against the Gauchos. We move on now. We have a major test with our third Big Ten team coming up on Saturday.The Bruins defeated Nebraska 82-71 and Michigan 102-84. They also have a 74-67 win over Texas A&M, showing they can survive a challenge in a lower-scoring game. Their best achievement was a 97-92 triumph at then-No. 1 Kentucky on Dec. 3.Ball is drawing comparisons to Jason Kidd while averaging 14.8 points, 8.6 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game. He is a better perimeter shooter than Kidd, making 45.8 percent of his 3-point attempts. UCLA is shooting 45.3 percent from beyond the arc.Balls making great decisions, Matta said. He has a tremendous future ahead of him. Theres no question about that.Ohio State ranks No. 20 nationally allowing only 61.7 points a game, almost 36 points fewer than the Bruins scoring average. Greg Paulus, the former Duke standout who is Mattas defensive assistant, has told the Buckeyes it will require a team effort with defense away from the ball to challenge UCLA.It boils down to having an understanding that its five guys guarding the basketball, Paulus told the Columbus Dispatch. Its not just one-on-one, if you get scored on its not my guy who scored -- no, its on Ohio State. Its on us.UCLA has six players scoring in double figures per game while Ohio State has five, but the Bruins played without junior center Thomas Welsh (11.1 points and 9.6 rebounds) the last two games. He is nursing a sore right knee.Starting forward JaeSean Tate leads the Buckeyes with 13.9 points a game while also averaging 7.3 rebounds. Reserve 7-foot center Trevor Thompson tops Ohio State with 8.6 rebounds a game, and he is shooting 66.7 percent from the field, most of that following offensive rebounds. . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country. . Emery skated the length of the ice and fought an unwilling Holtby during the third period of the Flyers 7-0 loss Friday night in Philadelphia. He was given 29 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct. But Emery did not face even a disciplinary hearing with NHL senior vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan because rules 46. . The team says the Spain international has a muscle pull in his right leg. Barcelona hosts third-division side Cartagena in the return leg of their round-of-32 tie after winning their first meeting 4-1. . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview. . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. HOUSTON -- Louisville coach Bobby Petrino was blunt.We blew it, he said.Duke Catalon scored three touchdowns and Houston hurried and harassed Heisman favorite Lamar Jackson all night to propel the Cougars to a stunning 36-10 victory over the Cardinals on Thursday night that dashed the third-ranked teams playoff hopes.Louisville (9-2) entered the game ranked fifth in the College Football Playoff rankings, but was outdone by a Houston team that saw its own playoff hopes foiled by two losses to unranked teams after a 5-0 start.We lost, Jackson said. Cant do nothing about it.The Cardinals were unhappy they werent ranked higher in this weeks CFP rankings after losses by several top teams last week, and some players thought they let that angst affect their play on Thursday.I think we let that get to us too much. I think we paid too much attention to the rankings instead of playing our game, safety Dee Smith said. We were just trying to do too much.Things went wrong quickly for the mistake-prone Cardinals when they fumbled the opening kickoff to Houston (9-2). Greg Ward threw his first touchdown pass on the next play to make it 7-0. Brandon Radcliff lost a fumble later in the first and Houston added a field goal on the ensuing drive to make it 10-0.Jackson threw for 211 yards and a touchdown, but it didnt come until the second half.Houston then scored touchdowns on three straight possessions in the second quarter to push the lead to 31-0 at halftime. Catalon caught a touchdown pass, ran for another score and Houston got the third score in that span on a 50-yard pass by receiver Linell Bonner after a lateral.We were banged up. We were beat up. We were tired. We were exhausted in the month of October, Houston coach Tom Herman said. Thats not an excuse. Thats reality. And our guys fought through it and they fought through that adversity and they never wavered ... and when you get the band back together and you get everybody healthy and everybody fresh and everybody doing their job ... we can play with anybody in the country. And we proved that again tonight.The Cougars were in Jacksons face constantly, sacking him a season-high 11 times and keeping him from hurting them with his feet. He ran for a season-low 33 yards after piling up 338 yards rushing combined in the last two games.After Jackson was sacked for the 10th time he threw up his hands and two of his lineman looked to be yelling at each other about who was to blame for his latest takedown.But the Cougars werent done getting after him just yet. On the nexxt possession he threw the ball away while under heavy pressure from Tyus Bowser and was flagged for intentional grounding, giving the Cougars a safety.ddddddddddddPetrino said he saw frustration build in Jackson as the sacks piled up.Oh yeah, there was frustration there, he said. There was frustration on the protection and frustration on himself -- missing a few throws. Thats one of the things on the sideline there definitely was frustration and it grew.Ward threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns to help the Cougars to the victory that left Cougar fans storming the field to celebrate.---=THE TAKEAWAY=LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals may not have made the playoff even if they didnt lose on Thursday night, but the opportunity was theirs for the taking. Now they only have themselves to blame for being on the outside looking in.HOUSTON: The Cougars looked like the team that knocked off then-No. 3 Oklahoma in their opener instead of the underperforming one that lost at Navy and SMU to fall out of the top 25 weeks ago. The victory, which was their fourth straight over a top-10 team, will go a long way toward put a positive spin on what had turned into a disappointing season.---=KEY NUMBERS=The Cardinals set a season-high with 15 penalties, punted a season-high six times by halftime and the 11 sacks they allowed were more than double their previous season-high. Its the fewest points theyve scored since a loss at North Carolina in 2011.---=HEISMAN HOPES=Jackson entered the game as such an overwhelming favorite to win the Heisman that the loss shouldnt put that big of a dent in his chances. However Jackson insists that he isnt concerned about that.Im not even focused on that, he said. Im focused on winning.---=POLL IMPLICATIONS=LOUISVILLE: This loss will send the Cardinals tumbling down in the poll and in the playoff rankings. Theyll likely drop out of the top-10 but could stay in depending on how the teams above them fare this weekend.HOUSTON: The Cougars are likely to re-enter the poll after being unranked since the week after their loss to SMU on Oct. 22. They had the most points of any team not ranked last week so it wouldnt be surprising for them to move up to No. 20 or so after the big win.---=UP NEXT=LOUISVILLE : The Cardinals wrap up the regular season with a rivalry game against Kentucky next Saturday.HOUSTON : The Cougars travel to Memphis on Friday for their regular-season finale. ' ' '
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