Sports
Missouri banking on home floor vs. Mississippi State
Jan 27, 2026; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward Aiden Sherrell (22) guards Missouri Tigers guard Mark Mitchell (25) during the first half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: David Leong-Imagn Images Missouri hopes to regain its shooting touch when it returns home to face Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, Mo.
The Tigers (14-7, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) are 12-1 at home this season. They will try to exploit that homecourt advantage against the Bulldogs (11-10, 3-5) after getting blown out 90-64 at Alabama on Tuesday night.
Missouri missed 15 of 23 free throws in that loss and 17 of 21 shots from 3-point range. Forward Mark Mitchell missed 7 of 8 free-throw attempts and both of the 3-point shots he tried.
“You can’t go on the road and go 8-for-23 from the free-throw line,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “Mark Mitchell is not a 1-8 guy. But ultimately, that’s where it was in those percentages. You gotta be able to execute, especially early, from that free throw line.”
During his Friday media session, Gates said his team was making free throws during their two productive days of practice after the Alabama loss. But he quipped, “you’ve probably got to sage the rims at this point.”
The Tigers are led by Mitchell (17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds per game) and guard Jayden Stone (14.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg). T.O Barrett supplanted Anthony Robinson II as the starting point guard while scoring 34 points in the last two games.
The Bulldogs snapped their five-game losing streak by banging out an 80-66 victory at LSU Wednesday night. Coach Chris Jans hopes his team can duplicate that rugged effort moving forward.
“We felt good, we got off to a great start, the energy was good at shootaround, the focus was good, we kept it simple with the goals of just competing,” Jans said. “No matter what it looks like, just compete harder.
“That confidence gets in your bloodstream and really helps. But if we can figure out a way to keep doing this, we’ll have better results. The thing that sticks out the most is our rebounding. We were really good against a physical, big team and we punched them in the face pretty good. It kind of set the tone that way.”
Mississippi State outrebounded LSU 43-24 and the Bulldogs took a 76-51 into the final seven minutes of the game.
The Bulldogs are led by their experienced backcourt of Josh Hubbard (20.7 points per game) and Jayden Epps (14.8 ppg).
–Field Level Media
Sports
Team Vitality, Team Spirit to clash in IEM Rio grand final
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
Team Vitality and Team Spirit advanced to the grand final with semifinal victories Saturday at the $300,000 Intel Extreme Masters Rio event in Brazil.
Vitality blanked FURIA and Spirit did the same to Team Falcons. FURIA and Team Falcons will meet in the third-place match on Sunday before Vitality and Spirit face off in the grand final.
Sixteen Counter-Strike 2 teams have been competing this week for a top prize of $125,000.
The double-elimination group stage began with two groups of eight teams, with all matches best-of-three. The group winners advanced to the playoff semifinals, with the group runners-up entering the quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams entering the quarterfinals as low seeds.
In the single-elimination playoffs, all matches have been best-of-three until Sunday’s best-of-five grand final.
On Saturday, Vitality took out FURIA 13-10 on both Overpass and Ancient. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut of France paced the winning side with a 49-27 kill-death differential. For FURIA, Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato of Brazil posted a 36-28 K-D differential.
Spirit cruised past Team Falcons 13-7 on Dust II and 13-4 on Mirage, led by Russian Boris “magixx” Vorobiev’s K-D differential of 31-17. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov of Russia led Falcons with a 28-27 K-D differential.
Play continues Sunday with the final two matches:
–Team Vitality vs. Team Spirit (grand final)
–FURIA vs. Team Falcons (third-place match)
IEM Rio prize pool:
1. $125,000
2. $50,000
3. $30,000
4. $20,000
5-6. $12,500 — MOUZ, Natus Vincere
7-8. $7,000 — G2 Esports, Aurora Gaming
9-12. $5,000 — RED Canids, 3DMAX, B8, HOTU
13-16. $4,000 — Gentle Mates, Team Liquid, Passion UA, Legacy
–Field Level Media
Sports
Team Falcons, BetBoom Team start fast at Wallachia Season 8
Xtreme Gaming, PARIVISION, Team Falcons and BetBoom Team won in sweeps as the PGL Wallachia Season 8 group stage opened on Saturday in Bucharest, Romania.
Other winners, by 2-1 scores, were Team Spirit, Team Liquid Aurora Gaming and HEROIC.
The $1 million Dota 2 tournament began Saturday with the 16-team group stage, which concludes Wednesday. Eight teams advance to the double-elimination playoffs on April 23-26. All matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.
Xtreme Gaming knocked off Natus Vincere in 44 and 34 minutes, both on green. PARIVISION took down MOUZ in 26 and 43 minutes, both on green.
BetBoom Team swept Virtus.pro in 34 and 40 minutes, both on green. Team Falcons dispatched Team Yandex in 49 minutes on green and 36 minutes on red.
Team Spirit dropped its opening map on green in 33 minutes to Vici Gaming, then rallied with wins in 58 minutes on red and 38 minutes on green.
Team Liquid won in 46 minutes, fell to GamerLegion in 39 minutes, then won the deciding map in 48 minutes — all winning teams on red.
Aurora Gaming took the opener in 41 minutes on red, then South America Rejects drew even with a 24-minute victory on green before Aurora triumphed in 32 minutes on red.
HEROIC started fast in 32 minutes on green, then Tundra Esports won a marathon of 65 minutes on green before HEROIC won in 39 minutes on red.
Sunday’s Round 2 schedule for 1-0 teams:
–Xtreme Gaming vs. Aurora Gaming
–Team Liquid vs. BetBoom Team
–Team Spirit vs. Team Falcons
–PARIVISION vs. HEROIC
Round 2 for 0-1 teams
–Vici Gaming vs. Natus Vincere
–MOUZ vs. GamerLegion
–Team Yandex vs. South America Rejects
–Tundra Esports vs. Virtus.pro
PGL Wallachia Season 8 prize pool:
1. $300,000 — TBD
2. $175,000 — TBD
3. $120,000 — TBD
4. $80,000 — TBDt
5-6. $60,000 — TBD
7-8. $40,000 — TBD
9-11. $20,000 — TBD
12-14. $15,000 — TBD
15-16. $10,000 — TBD
–Field Level Media
Sports
Surge, Gentle Mates unbeaten in CDL Stage 3 Major qualifying
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
The Paris Gentle Mates and Vancouver Surge are atop the standings at 2-0 after Saturday, the second day of qualifying for the Call of Duty League’s Stage 3.
The Surge outlasted the Carolina Royal Ravens 3-2, while Paris topped G2 Minnesota 3-1.
FaZe Vegas swept Boston Breach 3-0 to open play, and Toronto KOI got the better of the Riyadh Falcons 3-1 in the other match of the day.
The 12 Call of Duty League teams are playing a full qualifying round robin to determine seeding for the third major of the season, to be held May 15-17 as part of the DreamHack Atlanta event.
On Saturday, FaZe Vegas dominated Boston Breach, winning 250-98 on Sake Hardpoint, 6-3 on Fringe Search and Destroy and 3-2 on Scar Overload.
Toronto KOI started strong, winning 250-183 on Den Hardpoint and 6-2 on Plaza Search and Destroy before the Riyadh Falcons notched a 4-3 decision on Exposure Overload. Toronto closed out the match with a 250-179 victory on Sake Hardpoint.
The Paris Gentle Mates opened with a narrow 250-230 win on Sake Hardpoint before G2 Minnesota responded with a 6-4 win on Scar Search and Destroy. Paris edged Minnesota 6-5 on Den Overload before taking Colossus Hardpoint 250-157.
The Vancouver Surge emerged from a back-and-forth battle with the Carolina Royal Ravens. The Surge won on Sake Hardpoint (250-233) and Fringe Search and Destroy (6-1), then the Royal Ravens drew even with victories on Scar Overload (3-2) and Gridlock Hardpoint (250-223). Vancouver secured the victory with a 6-1 triumph on Plaza Search and Destroy.
Sunday’s schedule:
–Toronto KOI vs. Boston Breach
–Riyadh Falcons vs. FaZe Vegas
–OpTic Texas vs. Cloud9 New York
Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major qualifying, with match record and map differential
T1. Paris Gentle Mates, 2-0, 6-2
T1. Vancouver Surge, 2-0, 6-2
3. FaZe Vegas, 1-0, 3-0
T4. Los Angeles Thieves, 1-0, 3-1
T4. Toronto KOI, 1-0, 3-1
T6. Cloud9 New York, 0-0, 0-0
T6. OpTic Texas, 0-0, 0-0
T8. Miami Heretics, 0-1, 1-3
T8. Riyadh Falcons, 0-1, 1-3
T10. Boston Breach, 0-1, 0-3
11. Carolina Royal Ravens, 0-2, 3-6
12. G2 Minnesota, 0-2, 1-6
–Field Level Media
Team Vitality, Team Spirit to clash in IEM Rio grand final
Team Falcons, BetBoom Team start fast at Wallachia Season 8
