Sports
No. 22 St. John's brings versatile offense into clash at DePaul
Jan 28, 2026; New York, New York, USA; St. John’s Red Storm forward Sadiku Ibine Ayo (2) drives past Butler Bulldogs guard Jamie Kaiser Jr. (7) in the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images To punctuate Tuesday’s visit by No. 22 St. John’s, DePaul has pulled out all the stops.
New York playground legend Rod Strickland, a two-time All-American at DePaul before embarking on a 17-year NBA career, will have his jersey retired at halftime in Chicago.
Also, the legendary Red Panda will perform before the game.
There’s just one thing DePaul forgot: to enter this Big East clash with a head of steam.
The Blue Demons (12-10, 4-7) built an 18-point lead with 13 minutes to go Saturday at Xavier before giving it all away. They dropped a 68-66 decision after the Musketeers made a 12-foot baseline jumper at the buzzer.
That didn’t leave DePaul much time to rebuild its confidence before St. John’s (16-5, 9-1) arrives on a seven-game winning streak.
But the Blue Demons do have something to buoy them: They have won their last four Big East home games. They haven’t done that since the 2006-07 season, and they haven’t won five straight conference home games since 2004-05 as a member of Conference USA.
“This is a really difficult stretch for us,” DePaul coach Chris Holtmann said before the Xavier loss. “Our focus just has to be on what can we do to play better?”
One Blue Demon who likely can’t play much better is CJ Gunn. He drilled four 3-pointers in the second half at Xavier — including a game-tying 25-footer with 9.1 seconds left — and finished with a team-high 19 points.
In Big East action, Gunn leads DePaul with 14.8 points per game and 23-of-64 shooting (35.9%) from 3-point range. Layden Blocker (12.3 ppg, 3.6 apg) and super-sub Brandon Maclin (10.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg) also average double figures in league play.
While DePaul enters Tuesday’s game riding a nice winning streak at home, St. John’s hasn’t lost a true road game since Feb. 12, 2025. The Red Storm’s Big East road winning streak sits at eight games and began with last year’s 82-58 win on Feb. 19 at DePaul.
During their current seven-game overall winning streak, six different players have led the Red Storm in scoring: Zuby Ejiofor, Lefteris Liotopoulos, Oziyah Sellers, Bryce Hopkins (twice), Dillon Mitchell and Ian Jackson.
While Ejiofor (15.7 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 3.3 apg, 2.0 bpg, 1.2 spg) has lived up to his billing as one of the most versatile players in the nation, Mitchell has made a big leap in recent weeks.
In the Red Storm’s last four games, Mitchell has averaged 14.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting 60.5% from the floor.
This run features three of his four double-doubles this season, which includes his 14-point, 13-rebound, four-assist, three-block outburst on Wednesday, when St. John’s bounced Butler 92-70 to gain coach Rick Pitino’s 901st career win.
“I’m having so much fun watching Dillon Mitchell play,” Pitino said. “I don’t think I’ve said that too many times in my 52 years — of having fun watching a person play. Whether it’s him coming down as a point forward and attacking the basket, or making a great pass, or throwing it to Zuby and him cutting to get open, he really knows how to play.
“It’s not like having another point guard on the floor. It’s like having another coach on the floor, which is great.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 23 Miami (Ohio) stays unbeaten, edges Buffalo
Miami RedHawks guard Luke Skaljac (3) dribbles the ball in the second half of the NCAA Basketball game at Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio, on Saturday, January 31, 2026. Luke Skaljac scored a career-high 19 points as No. 23 Miami (Ohio) remained unbeaten with a 73-71 victory over host Buffalo on Tuesday night in a Mid-American Conference contest.
Buffalo closed to 73-71 on a Noah Batchelor 3-pointer with 12 seconds to play and had a chance to win the game, but Ryan Sabol’s 3-pointer with 4 seconds left hit the front rim and bounced out.
Skaljac also had five steals, four rebounds and three assists. Miami (23-0, 11-0 MAC) received an 11-point performance from Brant Byers and 10 points, five rebounds and eight assists from Peter Suder.
Arizona (22-0) is the only other unbeaten Division I team in the country.
Buffalo’s Angelo Brizzi made nine of 14 field-goal attempts and scored a game-high 22 points. Daniel Freitag added 18 points, seven assists and four rebounds for the Bulls (14-9, 4-7).
Suder’s layup capped a 10-0 spurt that handed Miami a 48-37 lead with 17:56 to play. The RedHawks had their largest lead, 52-40, after Skaljac’s jumper with 16:01 left, but Buffalo scored the next nine points to pull within three. It was 62-62 after Brizzi’s 3-pointer with 6:39 remaining.
The teams tied twice more before the RedHawks opened a 72-66 advantage on Skaljac’s layup with 3:02 left and 18-foot jumper with 1:35 remaining.
Brizzi responded with a dunk with 1:20 to go before Justin Kirby made one of two free throws with 32 seconds left for Miami’s 73-68 lead.
The Bulls had a significant edge in the game at the free-throw line, where they made 14 of 18 attempts. The RedHawks didn’t attempt a free throw until 9:25 remained in the game. Miami was 3 of 6 at the foul line.
Neither team led by more than seven points in the first half. Buffalo had a 33-32 lead following a Batchelor 3-pointer with 4:07 left in the half before Miami gained a 38-35 by halftime.
The RedHawks shot 56.7% (17 of 30) from the field in the first half, while the Bulls shot 38.7% (12 of 31).
Miami earned a 105-102 overtime victory in the first meeting between the teams this season on Jan. 17 in Oxford, Ohio.
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 4 Duke's dominant first half enough to skip past Boston College
Feb 3, 2026; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer (12) lays the ball up in front of Boston College Eagles guard Fred Payne (5) during the first half at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images Cameron Boozer had a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds to power No. 4 Duke to its 10th straight victory, a 67-49 home win over Boston College on Tuesday night in Durham, N.C.
Boozer shot 9-of-17 from the floor and also tallied two assists and a season-best five steals for Duke (21-1, 10-0 ACC). Isaiah Evans added 12 points for the Blue Devils, while Patrick Ngongba also flirted with a double-double, totaling nine points and nine boards.
Fred Payne paced Boston College (9-13, 2-7) with 14 points in the seventh loss for the Eagles in their last nine games.
Duke led wire-to-wire and jumped out on a 13-0 run to open the game, powered by seven points from Boozer. The Blue Devils later put together a 13-5 run and went on to lead by as many as 18 points in the first half.
Before intermission, Boozer drove right and threw down a one-handed slam with ease over Boston College defender Jayden Hastings, giving Duke a 42-27 lead at the break.
After shooting 60.7% from the floor in the first half, though, the Blue Devils struggled to keep that offensive firepower consistent in the second, shooting just 31.8% from the floor. The 25 points that Duke scored in the second half were the fewest it has scored in a half all season.
Boston College never threatened to take the lead, as Duke was able to keep a comfortable double-digit advantage in the second half despite its shooting woes. The Blue Devils also had just two turnovers in the first half, but seven in the second. The early hole the Eagles dug themselves just proved to be too deep to overcome.
Duke is off to its best start to a season since the 2007-08 campaign, back when head coach Jon Scheyer was a sophomore guard playing for Mike Krzyzewski.
Next up for the Blue Devils is the rekindling of one of the top rivalries in all of college sports, as it travels down Tobacco Road on Saturday to face No. 14 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 3 UConn enjoys balanced attack in easy win over Xavier
Feb 3, 2026; Hartford, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies forward Tarris Reed Jr. (5) reacts with guard Silas Demary Jr. (2) as they take on the Xavier Musketeers in the first half at PeoplesBank Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images Silas Demary Jr. collected 17 points and eight assists to help No. 3 UConn coast to its 18th straight win with a 92-60 victory over Xavier on Tuesday in Hartford, Conn.
Tarris Reed Jr. made all seven of his shot attempts from the floor to join Eric Reibe with 14 points. Reed, who also had eight rebounds, is 19-for-20 from the field in his last three games.
Braylon Mullins scored 10 of UConn’s first 12 points of the game and finished with 13 points for the Huskies (22-1, 12-0 Big East), who rode the fast start to a season sweep of the Musketeers. UConn cruised to a 90-67 victory over Xavier on New Year’s Eve.
Jayden Ross scored 11 points and Alex Karaban followed up his team-high 19 points in the previous encounter with the Musketeers with nine points, six rebounds and six assists on Tuesday.
UConn’s Solo Ball finished with nine points, hours after he was named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Midseason Watch List.
The Huskies shot 56.7% from the floor. They also owned the interior, as they held a 41-24 edge in rebounds (including 12-8 on the offensive end) and enjoyed a 46-20 edge in points in the paint.
Xavier’s All Wright scored 14 points and Roddie Anderson III and Malik Messina-Moore each added 10.
Tre Carroll, who entered the game scoring a Big East-best 18.3 points per game, was limited to just nine with four turnovers.
The Musketeers (12-11, 4-8) lost for the fourth time in their last five games.
Mullins started quickly with a 3-pointer, a three-point conversion and two dunks to stake UConn to a 12-2 lead. The teams split the next eight points before Demary drained a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions.
Mullins sank a wide-open 3-pointer to push the Huskies’ lead to 37-15, and the Huskies kept their foot on the gas to seize a 50-22 advantage at intermission. UConn held a 17-1 advantage in assists at that point.
The Huskies weren’t seriously threatened in the second half.
–Field Level Media
No. 23 Miami (Ohio) stays unbeaten, edges Buffalo
No. 4 Duke's dominant first half enough to skip past Boston College
