Sports
JT Toppin, No. 11 Texas Tech hope for better returns against No. 14 Kansas
Jan 31, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders forward JT Toppin (15) shoots against against the UCF Knights during the first half at Addition Financial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images Star forward JT Toppin and No. 11 Texas Tech will look to get back on track in Big 12 play Monday when they host No. 14 Kansas in Lubbock, Tex.
The Red Raiders (16-5, 6-2 Big 12) will need a much better performance all around after losing Saturday’s high-noon affair at UCF, which led almost the entire contest and stood strong at the end to record its second win over a ranked team.
Toppin, who averages a double-double, did his part with 27 points and 10 rebounds in the 88-80 setback that snapped the Red Raiders’ five-game winning streak.
“We were not ready to play, and that’s 100% on me,” said Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland, whose crew did not have a midweek matchup before the UCF game. “We had a week to get prepared for this. … We did not overlook this game. We lost in here the last time we played. They beat us to start conference play last year.”
Texas Tech was outrebounded 35-23 and committed 13 turnovers while forcing six. UCF held an 18-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
“What we communicated and how we practiced was not how we did in the game,” added McCasland. “I thought UCF was just more physical, more aggressive, and tougher than we were for 40 minutes.”
The 6-foot-9 Toppin produces 22.4 points per game and 10.9 rebounds. His scoring ranks him third in the Big 12 behind Kansas State’s P.J. Haggerty (23.0 per game) and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa (23.3).
Red Raiders guard Christian Anderson totals 19.6 points and 7.5 assists per game.
The loss, combined with Kansas’ 90-82 win over No. 13 BYU, left the Jayhawks (16-5, 6-2) effectively tied with Texas Tech and Iowa State for third place in the Big 12 standings.
Kansas played two completely different halves Saturday at home as it hosted College GameDay for the 13th time in school history.
The matchup featured two of the nation’s most sensational freshmen — the Jayhawks’ Darryn Peterson and Dybantsa.
The 6-foot-6 Peterson only played 20 minutes, but the guard was unstoppable in the first half.
He scored 18 points and made 6 of 7 from the floor plus chipped in three steals as Kansas led 53-33 at the break.
“We played great, you know, for 20 minutes,” Kansas coach Bill Self said after the team’s fifth straight win. “That’s the best we’ve played all year long. And then we just kind of had to piece it together to end it.”
However, Peterson’s cramps, an issue that sidelined him early during the nonconference part of the campaign, resurfaced by halftime and forced the explosive guard to miss 17 minutes of the second half.
“It’s disappointing that he couldn’t go because of cramps,” said Self, whose squad had to fend off BYU after once leading by 21. “And he didn’t cramp last game, but he did today. I certainly hope we can still figure that out.”
Bryson Tiller, a 6-foot-11 freshman forward, stepped up in Peterson’s absence and helped preserve the victory with a career-high 21 points and a team-best seven boards.
“I thought he was aggressive,” said Self of Tiller, who averages nine points and 5.8 rebounds. “When you play a big guy the way we’re playing him… I think sometimes he can get a little bit lost and float. Tonight, I didn’t see that at all. I thought he was aggressive the whole game.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Knicks and Nuggets Blow Big Leads: What Went Wrong in Game 2?
Roughly 5,000 feet of elevation separate Denver and New York City.
Still, gravity works the same regardless of where one stands. Just ask the NBA teams in both towns.
“You get too high, and you get, I don’t want to say cocky, but feeling yourself,” Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said.
That sensation went south on either side of the country Monday night.
After squandering sizable leads that would have cemented commanding 2-0 advantages in their respective first-round playoff series, the Nuggets and Knicks now find themselves bracing for a fight.
Should their opponents ultimately have their number, Denver and New York will look back with disdain on 19 and 14. Those were the Game 2 cushions the teams coughed up as the No. 3 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference.
“It’s a game we should’ve won,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said. “In the playoffs, we can’t give away games.”
Be that as it may, the Knicks did just that against the Atlanta Hawks. They controlled the outcome for much of the night and took a 12-point edge into the fourth quarter after leading by as many as 14.
Then New York shot 5-for-22 from the floor in the final 12 minutes compared to 10-for-15 for Atlanta. Fighting through vulgar chants from the Madison Square Garden faithful, Hawks star CJ McCullom scored six straight points down the stretch during one key sequence on the way to a game-high 32.
“In that fourth quarter, you could tell [the Hawks] were playing with a level of desperation,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “There were four 50-50 balls, and they got three of the four. We always use that stat to gauge the level of aggression in a game. In that fourth quarter, their aggression stepped up.”
New York’s melted at the same time. How many late possessions saw the Knicks pass or hold the ball around the perimeter before settling for subpar looks from 3-point range? The Knicks went 3-for-11 from deep as part of their flop.
Denver led the Minnesota Timberwolves by 19 points early in the second quarter before crumbling. The Nuggets still were ahead by three points to start the fourth quarter but a combined 2-for-12 shooting effort from pillars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in the final 12 minutes took a toll.
“I feel like we had the game in hand, and then we just didn’t make our shots,” Murray said.
As with the Knicks and Hawks, the reversal of fortunes stemmed both from the hosts’ miscues and an outstanding effort from a visiting player, as Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards had 30 points.
“Great leadership, positive,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He recognized he needed to get into attack mode and get downhill a little bit more. He did that.”
The Knicks and Nuggets no doubt sensed the need to amp up their own urgency as things started slipping away Monday.
That neither could act upon it didn’t signal the end for either New York or Denver, of course. But now there’s unnecessary added weight for the climb back to the top.
Sports
Pistons seek return to identity vs. Magic after Game 1 shocker
Apr 19, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) is defended by Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) in the second half during the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images After an exceptional regular season, this wasn’t the start to the NBA playoffs that the Detroit Pistons envisioned.
Reeling from a stunning Game 1 loss in which only two players reached double figures, the Eastern Conference’s top seed heads into Game 2 Wednesday against the visiting Orlando Magic facing early pressure to reset the best-of-seven series.
The eighth-seeded Magic controlled the opener from the start, never trailing and leaning on a balanced offensive attack. Paolo Banchero led the way with 23 points while Franz Wagner scored 11 of his 19 in the fourth quarter to help close out the 112-101 win.
For Detroit, the issue wasn’t just the loss — it was how it happened. The Pistons never established their defensive identity and struggled to find consistent offense beyond star guard Cade Cunningham, two areas that will be central entering Game 2.
“It starts, always, with us defensively,” said Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “When you go back and watch the film of that (game), we weren’t ourselves defensively. The telling tale is typically when we play them, they go to the free-throw line a ton.
“… We went 38 (times) but they went 19. So that means we weren’t playing our brand of basketball, being physical, being handsy, being aggressive. That kind of sets the tone for us.”
Offensively, the Pistons leaned on Cunningham, who scored 39 points, but got little other support — scoring their fewest points in nearly three months, since a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 29. Detroit will need more help from All-Star center Jalen Duren, who was held to just eight points and seven rebounds in Game 1.
“They came out ready from the jump,” Duren said. “We didn’t really meet their intensity. They’ve been playing with their backs against the walls the last few weeks, so they were already kind of already rolling. I think we just got to do a better job meeting that intensity.”
Duren said the Pistons remain confident despite the loss, which extended their home playoff losing streak to 11 games, the longest in NBA history.
“We know the type of team we are,” Duren said. “We feel like we’re the better team. We know that we’ve just got to make adjustments and come out smarter, come out playing harder.”
Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said he has talked to his team about not becoming too overconfident coming off Sunday’s win.
“It’s one game at a time,” Mosley said of his message to the team. “It’s the reality that, yeah, you did get the Game 1 win, but now you have to go and figure out how to get a Game 2 (win). There’s going to be, obviously, the positive talk about what you’ve done, and thinking there’s reasons to celebrate, but at the end of the day, it’s one game, and that’s the most important piece that we’ve talked about: just taking it one game at a time.”
Banchero said the team has received the message, and he believes the key for the Magic is to play defense like they did in the opener.
“I thought we were on a string, just communicating, talking out coverages,” Banchero said. “I think it’s just going to continue to take that, being aggressive, being the aggressors on defense and just not trying to give them much. Obviously they’re going to make shots, but just not trying to give them any free looks.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lynx star Napheesa Collier (ankle) targets June for on-court work
Mar 2, 2026; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Unrivaled Co-founder Napheesa Collier at Barclay’s Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images The Minnesota Lynx said Tuesday that star forward Napheesa Collier’s rehab from left ankle surgery is “progressing as expected,” and she could resume on-court activities in early June.
The team plans to release updates on Collier’s progress when available.
The timeline means Collier will miss, at minimum, the first month of the WNBA season, which begins May 10 for the Lynx.
Collier underwent surgery on her ankle on March 24 after sustaining a severe injury during the 2025 playoffs. Per reports at the time, she sustained a Grade 2 tear of three ligaments in the ankle and a muscle in her left shin on a collision during Game 3 of the playoff semifinal series vs. Phoenix.
Collier, 29, averaged a career-high 22.9 points and shot 40.3% from 3-point range to go with 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game last year. The back-to-back WNBA Most Valuable Player runner-up, Collier is a five-time All-Star and earned MVP honors in the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup final and the 2025 All-Star Game.
–Field Level Media
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