Sports
'Humbled' Kansas State aims to get right vs. Utah
Feb 15, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes guard Gabe Madsen (55) drives past Kansas Jayhawks forward KJ Adams (24) during the second half at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images After being admittedly “humbled” on Saturday, Kansas State will try to get back on track Monday night when it visits Utah in Salt Lake City.
That appears even more challenging considering the Utes (14-11, 6-8 Big 12) just humbled another team from the Jayhawk State over the weekend in a surprising 74-67 upset win over No. 17 Kansas.
The Wildcats (13-12, 7-7) are coming off of an 80-65 drubbing at BYU on Saturday. The blowout loss 40 miles down the road in Provo, Utah, snapped Kansas State’s six-game winning streak.
“We were on a hot streak and got humbled, so it’s time to start it up again,” said Wildcats guard Dug McDaniel, who scored 22 points in the loss. “That’s my main mindset. I feel like the guys are gonna take this loss very seriously and we’re gonna go get the next one.”
After a solid run that boosted Kansas State’s postseason hopes, the Wildcats will need a much better start than they had against the Cougars while falling behind 40-22 by halftime.
“Hopefully, they can move on real quick,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said. “Make it a one-game season.”
Slowing down Utah’s Gabe Madsen will be key for the Wildcats.
The fifth-year guard scored 24 points against Kansas and hit five 3-pointers to become the Utes’ all-time leader with 288 career triples. Nick Jacobson (2000-04) held the previous record of 287.
“It’s been an up-and-down year for me shooting wise, so to do it tonight and in that fashion is just, it’s pretty cool,” Madsen said. “I mean, that’s one I’ll remember for a long time.”
Saturday’s win marked Utah’s first Quad 1 victory in 10 attempts this season.
Madsen ended up hitting 5 of 13 attempts from deep for the Utes, who finished with 11 3s against the Jayhawks. He had a clutch trey and free throws in the waning moments to fend off a Kansas comeback attempt.
“I’m so happy for him, and obviously it helps our team,” Utah coach Craig Smith said. “I mean, because when you have a weapon like that, and when you can make shots, it just makes us a way better basketball team on so many levels.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reds push across three runs in 10th to knock off Cardinals
Jul 26, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Cincinnati Reds right fielder Noelvi Marte (4) is tagged out by St. Louis Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt (26) in the second inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Puetz-Imagn Images The Cincinnati Reds scored three times in the top of the 10th inning to take a 5-3 win against the host St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber match of a three-game set on Sunday.
Andrew Abbott allowed two runs on three hits and fanned four in six innings for the Reds. Brock Burke (4-4) retired all four batters he faced in the eighth and ninth and Julian Garcia picked up his first career save.
Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Leahy struck out a career-high nine batters while holding Cincinnati to two runs on six hits in six innings.
With Tyler Stephenson on as the automatic runner, a wild pitch from Matt Svanson (2-3) moved him to third and Sal Stewart singled to drive him home to give the Reds a 3-2 edge.
Elly De La Cruz singled, and he and Stewart advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt from Edwin Arroyo.
Svanson was then replaced by Justin Bruihl, who intentionally walked Eugenio Suarez to fill the bases, and Nathaniel Lowe singled, scoring Stewart and De La Cruz for a 5-2 advantage.
St. Louis narrowed it to 5-3 on an Alec Burleson single that drove in automatic runner JJ Wetherholt.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Burleson opened the frame with a double, and Masyn Winn singled up the middle to give the hosts runners on the corners with nobody out. Burleson then came around to score on Jose Fermin’s sacrifice fly.
De La Cruz pulled the Reds even in the top of the third, belting a slider 410 feet into the seats in left-center field to make it 1-1, his 18th home run of the season.
Ivan Herrera put St. Louis in front 2-1 in the bottom half when he launched a sweeper to the same spot as De La Cruz.
After the Cardinals and Reds each failed to capitalize on a pair of baserunners in their respective half of the fourth, Ke’Bryan Hayes tied it 2-2 in the top of the fifth on a solo shot over the wall in left field.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Virtus.pro claim top PUBG prize at Esports World Cup
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. Virtus.pro ran away with the PUBG: Battlegrounds title at the Esports World Cup, landing the $660,000 first prize on Sunday in Paris.
Virtus.pro also secured 1,000 Esports World Club points, vaulting them into second in the overall standings at 1,950 behind only Natus Vincere’s 2,250. NaVi placed third in PUBG: Battlegrounds to gain 500 points and maintain their lead.
Virtus.pro concluded the Grand Finals stage with 159 total points, a comfortable 33 points ahead of The Vicious in second place. NaVi ended with 124.
Twenty-four teams began the PUBG tournament competing for shares of a $2.025 million prize pool.
The group stage lasted from Tuesday to Thursday and saw the teams divided into three groups of eight for a round robin. The top 16 teams overall moved on to the Grand Finals and the remaining eight were eliminated.
In the Grand Finals, teams played six matches per day from Friday to Sunday. Winning a match garnered a team the maximum 10 placement points, the second-place team received six, third place received five and so on down to the seventh and eighth teams receiving one point apiece. One point was also awarded for every kill.
Virtus.pro finished second in Games 1 and 2 and dominated Game 4, winning top spot and adding 14 points off kills. They repeated that in Game 6 before Friday was through, prevailing with 15 kills in their column.
An otherwise quiet Saturday for Virtus.pro ended with a bang as they won Game 12 (eight kills). At that point, they had a healthy advantage with 126 total points. That allowed them to cruise to victory on Sunday, collecting a third-place finish in Game 13 and second in Game 15 along the way.
Croatia’s Nino “NIXZYEE” Mikec of Virtus.pro won MVP honors, which came with a $25,000 bonus.
Prize money was distributed at the end of both the group stage and the Grand Finals.
PUBG: Battlegrounds at Esports World Cup 2026 standings (prize pool, EWC club points)
1. Virtus.pro — $660,000, 1,000 points
2. The Vicious — $305,000, 750
3. Natus Vincere — $213,000, 500
4. Team Falcons — $145,000, 300
5. Team Vitality — $106,000, 200
6. Geekay Esports — $78,000, 150
7. Gen.G Esports — $57,000, 100
8. Twisted Minds — $57,000, 50
9. Made in Thailand — $52,000, no points
10. T1 — $46,000, no points
11. 17 Gaming — $37,500, no points
12. FULL SENSE — $28,500, no points
13. Team Liquid — $31,500, no points
14. AGAL International — $26,000, no points
15. GAM Esports — $29,500, no points
16. Shadow Esports — $20,000, no points
17. JD Gaming — $17,000, no points
18. SOOPers — $16,000, no points
19. R8 Esports — $15,000, no points
20. Sharper Esports — $14,000, no points
21. Team Nemesis — $13,000, no points
22. TYLOO — $12,000, no points
23. Petrichor Road — $11,000, no points
24. Four Angry Men — $10,000, no points
–Field Level Media
Sports
Corey Heim captures Brickyard 400 in stunner
NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11), right, works to stay ahead of NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey Heim (67), left, as they leave pit road Sunday, July 26, 2026 during the NASCAR Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Ind. For the second time in six weeks, part-timer driver Corey Heim shocked the racing world by taking the checkers in NASCAR’s top series, winning the 30th running of the prestigious Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday in Speedway, Ind.
The No. 67 23XI Racing driver left his boss Denny Hamlin in a restart with 34 laps, stayed in front of fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell in the remainder and won for the second time in his first 15 career starts — a feat last done by racing great A.J. Foyt.
The 24-year-old Heim, who won at San Diego’s road course last month, beat Bell’s No. 20 by 0.287 seconds. Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe and Hamlin rounded out the top five.
In the second-ever In-Season Challenge finale, Ryan Blaney ran in the top 10 much of the day, but the Team Penske driver wrecked late and finished 26th, turning the $1 million payout over to 24th-place finisher Todd Gilliland in their head-to-head clash.
Pole winner Carson Hocevar led teammate Daniel Suarez in an all-Spire Motorsports front row to the green flag for the first of the scheduled 160 laps at auto racing’s most famous track.
After the field immediately lined up single file, Hocevar soon stretched his lead to nearly three seconds over Suarez in the first 10 circuits of Stage 1’s 50 laps around the iconic 2 1/2-mile facility.
With only six laps left in the segment, leader Kyle Larson, the 2024 Brickyard winner, blew a tire low in Turn 3, crashed out his No. 5 Chevrolet and became the first car to go to the garage.
Ty Gibbs, who officially made the Chase with his 12th-place run, won a one-lap shootout to close Stage 1, beating Heim, Michael McDowell, Hocevar and William Byron.
Chase Elliott became the second former Cup champ for Hendrick Motorsports to have problems when he smacked the wall and had a flat tire after he cut in front of and brushed against Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 47.
Daniel Dye’s blown tire with four laps left in 50-lap Stage 2 set up a one-lap dash and ended the segment under caution with Ross Chastain leading Gilliland, Gibbs, Hamlin and Heim in collecting the top bonus points.
Leading Gilliland, Blaney saw his Challenge chances dashed on Lap 120 when John Hunter Nemechek spun Blaney’s No. 12 Ford on a restart.
–Field Level Media
