Sports
No. 19 Saint Louis puts 15-game win streak on line vs. Davidson
Head coach Josh Schertz reacts to a call from the referee Thursday, April 4, 2024, during the NIT championship game at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Seton Hall Pirates defeated the Indiana State Sycamores, 79-77. Both No. 19 Saint Louis and Davidson should be feeling good following mostly stress-free victories in their last outings.
The teams hook up Tuesday night at Davidson, N.C.
The Billikens (21-1, 9-0 Atlantic 10) have won 15 straight but are looking for more in their only scheduled meeting with Davidson this season.
“The ultimate to me is sustained success,” Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz said. “Can you do it over a long period of time?”
The Billikens steamrolled visiting Dayton 102-71 on Friday night. This is the first time the Billikens have ever won 21 of their first 22 games of a season.
“We are not a feel-good story. We have great players,” Schertz said. “There’s a collective commitment within them. Winning is above everything. They are all sacrificing on different levels.”
The Wildcats (13-8, 5-4) won 79-54 at Richmond on Saturday for their second-largest margin of victory against a Division I team this season.
“Just really, really thrilled in every way,” Davidson coach Matt McKillop said, heaping particular praise on the team’s defensive efforts.
The Wildcats probably will have to be efficient on offense to keep up with the Billikens, who’ve eclipsed the 100-point mark a school-record seven times this season. Yet the team’s leading scorer is center Robbie Avila at just 12.8 points per game.
There are six Saint Louis players averaging in double figures. Trey Green has led Saint Louis scoring in the past two games with 23 points in both outings, repeating his career-high total.
Roberts Blums has led Davidson in scoring the past two games to boost his average to 11.8 points per game. Buoyed by six 3-point baskets, he had a career-high 23 points on 8-for-10 shooting off the bench in the Richmond game despite missing time in the first half with two fouls.
“For us to leave the hottest guy on the court on the bench for a little bit and still win by 25 (is a great thing),” McKillop said. “Roberts got blistering hot. Roberts’ first few 3s and open looks came off execution of set plays. Those are little things that if they continue to show themselves can really carry us.”
McKillop said creating an inside presence early in the game helped the Wildcats develop more offensive options.
“I hope that’s something we continue to do,” McKillop said.
The Wildcats want some of the areas in which they excelled against Richmond to become contagious going into the matchup with Saint Louis.
Davidson made 13 of 25 shots from 3-point range in its weekend game.
“We were moving the ball and you see the first couple go in and as a team, you just find that rhythm,” Davidson guard Parker Friedrichsen said. “I think we moved the ball really well, got open looks. We didn’t feel like we were forcing a ton of shots.”
Saint Louis topped Davidson twice late last season, edging them 57-56 at Davidson, then ending the Wildcats’ season in the Atlantic 10 tournament.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Argentina club looking to lure Lionel Messi home in 2027
Dec 6, 2025; Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA; Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) looks on with the Philip F. Anschutz trophy after winning the 2025 MLS Cup against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Chase Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Argentina club Newell’s Old Boys is working on a plan to bring two-time MLS MVP Lionel Messi home next year.
A team executive confirmed that it’s trying to entice Messi to return to his boyhood club for the first half of 2027.
“It’s a project that goes beyond Newell’s. It involves the city of Rosario, the province, and Argentine football,” first vice president Juan Manuel Medina said, according to an ESPN story published Wednesday.
Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner as the world’s best player, signed an extension with defending MLS Cup champion Inter Miami in October that runs through the end of the 2028.
Messi, 38, played for Newell’s youth teams from 1995-2000 before moving to the FC Barcelona academy.
Inter Miami will open the 2026 MLS season on Feb. 21 at Los Angeles FC. Messi also is preparing to defend Argentina’s World Cup championship this summer in North America.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lindsey Vonn's coach, Stefon Diggs confident she can ski with ACL injury
[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] Feb 3, 2026; Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITALY; Lindsey Vonn attends a press conference at a press conference at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in preparation for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Mandatory Credit: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters via Imagn Images Lindsey Vonn’s coach and New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs are confident that the American skiing great can compete at the Milano Cortina Olympics with a ruptured ACL in her left knee.
Vonn, 41, is set to try her luck in the women’s downhill race on Sunday
“I’m pretty confident that she can still pull off this dream,” Vonn’s head coach Chris Knight told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’ve got no doubts in my mind that this is going to be OK.”
Knight’s comments came one day after Vonn said that she’s not interested in discussing surgery at the moment.
“It’s not really on my radar screen right now. The Olympics are the only thing that I’m thinking about,” she said. “Every day my knee’s gotten better. And every day we’re discussing with a full medical team, doctors, physios, everyone, to make sure we’re doing everything to make sure I am making smart and safe decisions.”
Diggs knows a thing or two about a torn ACL. His lone season with the Houston Texans in 2024 was cut short by the same injury.
“Prayers to her. I hope the surgery does go well when she does have it,” Diggs said Wednesday of Vonn. “Anybody who has torn an ACL, it’s kind of a weird injury. You can run after about two weeks when the swelling goes down. … As long as she doesn’t have to (decelerate), she should be fine.”
Like Vonn, Diggs has a big day ahead on Sunday. Diggs and the Patriots will face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif.
As for Vonn, she must complete at least one official training run to take part in the Sunday downhill. Vonn is no stranger to the mountain. She collected 12 of her 84 World Cup victories there, the most of any skier.
Vonn earned gold (downhill) and bronze (Super-G) medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and a bronze medal in the downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Vonn retired after the 2019 world championships due to injuries. She subsequently received a partial replacement of her right knee and launched a comeback late in 2024 with the Olympics in her sights.
She has won the downhill twice this winter and leads the World Cup standings in the discipline and was considered a favorite to win the gold medal in the event in Italy.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Washington Post shutters sports department
Sep 15, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos in attendance before the Kansas City Chiefs play against the Los Angeles Chargers at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images The Washington Post shuttered its venerable sports department on Wednesday, part of a larger layoff involving one-third of the newspaper’s staff.
“The Washington Post is taking a number of difficult but decisive actions today for our future, in what amounts to a significant restructuring across the company,” a Post spokesperson said in a statement. “These steps are designed to strengthen our footing and sharpen our focus on delivering the distinctive journalism that sets The Post apart and, most importantly, engages our customers.”
Executive editor Matt Murray announced the changes in a video conference with employees.
The move comes with Post reporters already on site covering Super Bowl LX and the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
“It’s like somebody taking a hammer to my heart,” Sally Jenkins, who wrote a Post sports column until she left the paper last summer, told The Ringer. “It’s not just broken. It’s broken into about 20 pieces, one for every single one of my close friends there.”
Some sports reporters are expected to move into other roles, but the exact number was not reported.
A skeleton crew will continue to produce what Murray described as features about sports as a “cultural and societal phenomenon.”
The Post has undergone repeated changes, downsizings and reinventions since Amazon chief Jeff Bezos purchased the paper in 2013.
In addition to cutting the sports pages, the Post is reducing its international footprint, making the Metro section more “nimble and focused” and eliminating the Books section.
–Field Level Media
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