Sports
No. 6 Gonzaga wary of Saint Mary's as WCC rivalry winds down
Jan 24, 2026; Spokane, Washington, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs center Ismaila Diagne (24) celebrates after a game against the San Francisco Dons at McCarthey Athletic Center. Gonzaga Bulldogs won 68-66. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images The rivalry between Saint Mary’s and No. 6 Gonzaga has been one of the most intense in the nation over the past two decades.
However, yearly multiple meetings are about to become a thing of the past with the Bulldogs moving into the Pac-12 next season. The first of this season’s two West Coast Conference regular-season meetings is Saturday night at Spokane, Wash.
Gonzaga has won 27 of the past 37 meetings, but that stretch includes the Bulldogs dropping six of the past 11 matchups. Gonzaga definitely would like to perform a bit better against the Gaels than it did last season.
The teams played three times in 2024-25, with Saint Mary’s winning both regular-season meetings before Gonzaga beat the Gaels in the WCC tournament championship game.
The Bulldogs (21-1, 9-0 WCC) have won 14 consecutive games, but coach Mark Few is expecting another tussle with Saint Mary’s.
“They’re just really, really, really solid,” Few said Thursday. “They do not beat themselves. They almost always stay between you and the baskets. You have to make shots over the top of them. It sounds simple, but they’re really, really solid there.
“They’re always a great rebounding team, and then you’re just going to face a lot of middle pick-and-roll and post-ups by their bigs.”
The Gaels (19-3, 8-1) also will pack plenty of confidence as they look to win in Spokane for a third straight season for just the second time in the history of the series. Saint Mary’s won three straight at Gonzaga from 1988-1990. The teams first met in the 1971-72 season prior to becoming WCC combatants.
Saint Mary’s is looking to clinch its 18th 20-win campaign in the past 19 seasons. The lone time the Gaels missed during the stretch was the abbreviated 2020-21 season that was plagued by COVID-19.
The Gaels have yet to be nationally ranked in a season in which coach Randy Bennett had to do some reloading. Saint Mary’s fell on neutral courts against then-No. 24 Vanderbilt and Boise State and dropped a road game against WCC rival Santa Clara 63-54 on Jan. 17.
Bennett has been pleased with the progress from the beginning of the campaign.
“Guys are growing up. Our young guys are growing up,” Bennett told the WCC Insider podcast. “We’ve kind of established our roles and rotations, which I mean in years past, it’s been in place earlier in the season, and this, we’re just kind of getting to it now, but they’ve done a good job.”
Saint Mary’s is led by Paulius Murauskas, who leads the WCC with a 19.3 scoring average. The 6-foot-8 Lithuanian also leads the Gaels in rebounding (7.5 per game), the third-best mark in the WCC.
“He grabbed the reins,” Bennett said. “I’m proud of him for it. He’s got to keep improving and finish the race.”
Murauskas had 24 points and nine rebounds last Saturday when Saint Mary’s posted a 75-69 road win against Portland.
Few is greatly concerned about Murauskas, but the Zags are about to get star big man Graham Ike (ankle) back after a three-game absence. Ike leads the club in scoring (18.1 ppg) and ranks second in the WCC in rebounding (8.8 rpg).
“He looks good to me,” Few said of Ike. “He’s practiced the last couple of days, so he’s back to moving around.”
The Gaels’ Andrew McKeever tops the WCC in rebounding at 9.4 boards per game.
Gonzaga remains without standout forward Braden Huff (knee), and not having either of its two stars almost cost the Bulldogs last Saturday.
Gonzaga led by 10 points with 1:45 left against San Francisco and narrowly escaped with a 68-66 home victory when a 3-point attempt by the Dons’ Junjie Wang bounced off the backboard and then the rim with less than two seconds left.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Alabama tries to keep second-half barrage going vs. South Carolina
Feb 11, 2026; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats reacts with guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (3) after a basket during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images Alabama’s players have been getting the message coach Nate Oats has preached during recent halftime talks.
In their current three-game winning streak, the Crimson Tide have put up an average of 58 points in the second halves of wins over Texas A&M, Auburn and Ole Miss.
Alabama (17-7, 7-4 SEC) returns home to play South Carolina (11-13, 2-9) on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
In Wednesday’s 93-74 win over the Revels, the Tide scored a season-low 32 points in the first half, but converted 12 of 22 from behind the arc en route to a 61-point second-half effort.
Five players scored in double figures for Alabama, with Latrell Wrightsell Jr. leading the way. Wrightsell finished with 21 points and connected on 7 of 13 from deep, tying his career high for 3-pointers made.
The sixth-year guard, who missed all of SEC play in 2024-25 due to injury, was a game-time decision after leaving the previous game with a right knee issue.
“I’m super proud of Wrightsell,” Oats said after the game. “One of the smaller guards was going to have to be removed from the starting lineup and he stepped up and was willing to do it so the team would have a better chance of winning. I’ve always had the thought that when you do things like that, you get rewarded.”
Wrightsell, who averages 12.3 points per game, has converted 22 of 42 treys over his last five outings.
Tide guard Labaron Philon Jr. leads the SEC with 21.4 points per game.
The Gamecocks are headed in the opposite direction, having lost five straight and 25 of their last 29 SEC contests dating back to last year. South Carolina was manhandled 78-59 at home by Missouri last Saturday.
The Gamecocks only trailed 34-30 at halftime, but were outrebounded 44-28 and allowed 16 second-chance points.
“I said, ‘It’s a great job you did to hold these guys to 23 points in the first half.’ I think they looked and were a little confused,” said coach Lamont Paris, recalling his halftime speech. “I said, ‘Yeah, 23 points, guys, 23 you held them to. No, you gave them 11 more on the second-chance opportunities, but you held them to 23 points.’ So we were doing things, we were in the right spots, we were getting them to miss tough shots, and at the end of the day, you have to finish it off pretty consistently with a defensive rebound.”
Meechie Johnson, who played for the Gamecocks when they went 26-8 and reached No. 11 in the rankings two seasons ago, scored 13 points against the Tigers and leads his team with 16.3 points per game.
Alabama has won 20 of 22 home games against South Carolina, including eight in a row, dating back exactly 17 years to a 2009 Gamecocks’ Valentine’s Day victory.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ole Miss hosts Mississippi State with both teams slumping
Feb 11, 2026; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard reacts during the second half against the Alabama Crimson Tide at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images In-state rivals tangle in an effort to revive their fading NCAA Tournament hopes as Mississippi State visits Ole Miss on Saturday in Oxford, Miss.
The Rebels have lost six consecutive games, the Bulldogs have dropped eight of their last nine, and both appear to be out of the NCAA Tournament picture, as they are currently outside the top 80 of the NCAA’s NET Rankings.
Ole Miss (11-13, 3-8 Southeastern Conference) has not only dropped six games in a row, but the last three losses have come by a combined 48 points. The Rebels lost at home against Alabama 93-74 on Wednesday.
Ole Miss was within two points at the half but allowed 61 second-half points as Alabama drained 17 3-pointers in the game. AJ Storr scored 27 points off the bench for the Rebels, shooting 10-for-17, and Eduardo Klafke added 12 points and nine rebounds in the loss.
“Our defense not only didn’t do a good job defending the three tonight, we couldn’t force turnovers as well,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. Beard later noted, “This team continues to fight … I appreciate how (the players) approached the tough times that we’ve gone through this season.”
Mississippi State (11-13, 3-8) has faced its share of challenges. Four of the Bulldogs’ recent losses were by 20 or more points. The Bulldogs fell 73-64 to Tennessee on Wednesday.
They trailed by 23 points at the midpoint of the second half but went on an 18-0 run to close the gap to 63-58 with 5:15 remaining. However, the Bulldogs couldn’t get any closer.
Mississippi State was outrebounded 45-31 and came up short despite 31 points from veteran guard Josh Hubbard, who shot 13-for-24, including 4-for-9 from 3-point range. Hubbard was the only Bulldog who scored in double figures.
“We certainly have been inconsistent,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said.
Jans praised the team’s second-half run, but noted, “It’s got to be from the get-go. It’s got to be all the time.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
ATP roundup: Taylor Fritz rallies late to reach Dallas semis
Jan 26, 2026; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Taylor Fritz of United States in action against Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in the fourth round of the menís singles at the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images Top-seeded Taylor Fritz overcame a 5-2 deficit in the third-set tiebreaker, winning the final five points to rally past fellow U.S. player Sebastian Korda 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the quarterfinals of the Nexo Dallas Open on Friday.
The match featured just one service break, which Fritz earned in the final game of the second set. Each player had one break point in the middle of the final set but couldn’t take advantage.
Fritz’s opponent in the semifinals will be Croatia’s Marin Cilic, who downed British qualifier Jack Pinnington Jones 6-1, 6-4.
The other semifinal will feature the winners of two Friday night matches: second-seeded Ben Shelton of the U.S. vs. Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic, and seventh-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada, the defending champion, against third-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain.
ABN Amro Open
The last two Dutch players in the draw fell in the quarterfinals at Rotterdam, Netherlands, extending a streak in which a home-grown player last won the championship in 1998, when Jan Siemerink prevailed.
Top-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia overtook the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5. van de Zandschulp committed 60 unforced errors to de Minaur’s 33, more than offsetting the Dutch player’s 33-15 edge in winners.
Second-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, the 2022 Rotterdam champion, downed seventh-seeded Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 7-6 (2), 6-2.
Third-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan edged Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), and France’s Ugo Humbert toppled Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connell 6-4, 6-1.
IEB+ Argentina Open
Second-seeded Luciano Darderi of Italy bested Spain’s Pedro Martinez 7-5, 6-1 to join three Argentines in the semifinals at Buenos Aires.
Darderi piled up nine aces, saved all four break points he faced and compiled a 37-6 edge in winners.
Top-seeded Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, a finalist in the event last year, eliminated the Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva 6-4, 6-3. In an all-Argentina matchup, fourth-seeded Sebastian Baez beat sixth-seeded Camilo Ugo Carabelli 7-6 (5), 6-2. Seventh-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina got past Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
Bitcoin biopic Killing Satoshi leans into generative AI
Homeland security pushes social media giants to dox anonymous accounts critical of ICE
