MILAN — Jordan Stolz is speed skating’s hottest property heading into Wednesday’s men’s 1,000 meters at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, but a pack of seasoned challengers led by three-time Olympic champion Kjeld Nuis are ready to crash the American’s party.

The 21-year-old Stolz arrived in Milan as the sport’s most talked-about skater and the leading contender for three individual events — the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m — while also eyeing the unpredictable mass start.

He begins his Milan Cortina campaign in the 1,000m, the event in which he already holds a world record.

Since making his Olympic debut as a 17-year-old in Beijing with modest finishes of 13th in the 500m and 14th in the 1,000m, Stolz has transformed into a world-beating sprinter, collecting six world championship titles.

But the 36-year-old Nuis, chasing a fourth gold medal after victories in the 1,000m and 1,500m at Pyeongchang 2018 and the 1,500m at Beijing 2022, is not ready to concede defeat.

“Jordan is the man to beat but behind him there are so many guys with serious chances — including myself,” Nuis said on Tuesday. “I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be a thrilling battle, and I’m totally up for that.”

For Nuis, Milan Cortina is his Olympic swansong.

“My parents will be there, and finally my son as well, which is truly remarkable,” said the Dutchman, who holds world and Olympic records in the 1,500m. “This will be my final Olympics, so I intend to thoroughly enjoy it.”

The Dutch squad enters buoyed by Jutta Leerdam’s storming 1,000m gold in the women’s event on Monday, leading a Dutch one-two with Femke Kok.

Among their medal hopes is 23-year-old Joep Wennemars, the 2025 world champion in the 1,000m and son of former world sprint champion Erben Wennemars, who knows what is required at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.

“I think it’s fair to say a record will be needed and everyone will be skating extremely hard,” the younger Wennemars said.

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media

The Miami Heat will be short-handed again when they face the host New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday in the final game before the All-Star break for both teams.

Miami used its 19th different starting lineup of the season and had just 11 available players in Monday’s 115-111 home loss to the Utah Jazz.

The Heat were missing guards Norman Powell (back tightness), Pelle Larsson (right forearm strain) and Tyler Herro (ribs). Powell and Larsson have been ruled out for Wednesday’s contest, while Herro will miss his 15th straight game.

Miami is also monitoring the status of forward Andrew Wiggins, who is listed as questionable with toe inflammation.

With a limited bench against Utah, the Heat were outscored 54-30 in the paint and lost for the third time in their last four games.

Wiggins led Miami with 26 points, while Bam Adebayo added 23 points and 11 rebounds. Rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis made six 3-pointers and finished with 20 points off the bench.

Jakucionis is shooting 46.8% from 3-point range this season for Miami, which allowed Utah to win for just the fifth time in its last 23 games.

“Gotta figure out how to consistently win games,” Adebayo said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s a back-to-back. Four games in five nights, whatever it is, we gotta find a way to win, even against teams that are, I guess you could say, trying to lose.

“Gotta look in the mirror. That’s the biggest thing, that we don’t look in the mirror enough to see what we can do better, day in, day out. We kind of go with the flow, then when we get behind, it’s kind of when we want to, like, tap in. It’s like we’ve got to have that urgency from the jump and a lot of times, we don’t have that.”

Miami has won 10 of its last 11 meetings with New Orleans, including a 125-106 home victory on Jan. 4.

The Pelicans are looking to build on an impressive 120-94 home win over the Sacramento Kings on Monday.

Trey Murphy III scored 21 points to lead New Orleans. Jeremiah Fears added 20 and Zion Williamson finished with 18 points and six assists.

The Pelicans recorded their largest margin of victory this season while scoring 34 fastbreak points.

“If we’re getting stops on defense and we’re disruptive on the defensive end, that’s going to lead to good transition for us,” New Orleans interim head coach James Borrego said. “This is really good evidence that if you play good defense, it leads to good offense.”

Murphy is shooting 57.5% (23 of 40) from 3-point range over the last three games for the Pelicans, who have won five of their last nine games.

“Our intensity has picked up,” Fears said. “We’ve started playing more as a team, moving the ball. Our chemistry has gotten better along the way.”

The Pelicans are 27th in the league in 3-pointers made per game (11.2), but Murphy’s recent surge is forcing opponents to defend the perimeter.

New Orleans shot 41% (16 of 39) from beyond the arc in the win over Sacramento, and Murphy’s 23 made 3-pointers over a three-game stretch is a franchise record.

–Field Level Media

Providence is basically out of time to make a push for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, but at least the Friars can say they’re healthy and remembering how to win again.

Providence chased a four-game losing streak with back-to-back home wins and heads to Newark, N.J., to challenge plummeting Seton Hall on Wednesday.

The Friars (11-13, 4-9 Big East) vanquished Butler 97-87 in double overtime last Wednesday before turning back DePaul 90-72 on Saturday. They know they can be competitive in any Big East game, as seven of Providence’s nine conference losses have come by six points or fewer.

It helps to have their star scorer back in the lineup. Jason Edwards (plantar fasciitis) had missed seven games before returning against DePaul and picking up where he left off. He scored 25 points and shot 5 of 8 from 3-point range in 24 minutes.

“It was eating me alive watching them play and I wasn’t there,” Edwards told reporters. “I wanted to be out there, I wanted to help the guys, I wanted to help Coach Kim. It was a tough time, but I put in a lot of work to get back healthy in terms of my recovery.”

Jaylin Sellers added 21 points and Oswin Erhunmwunse provided 10 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks to the cause. Sellers, Corey Floyd Jr. and freshman standout Stefan Vaaks all played after being banged up.

Edwards leads Providence at 17.1 points per game. But on Dec. 19, he was held to 10 points and 1-of-6 shooting from deep when Seton Hall prevailed 72-67 at Providence.

The Pirates (16-8, 6-7) have dropped six of eight, most recently last week’s critical Quad 1 opportunities at Villanova and Creighton. They frittered away a 63-53 lead with 3:30 to go at Creighton and Nik Graves hit a 30-footer in the final seconds in the Bluejays’ 69-68 stunner.

“Is this disappointing? Yes. Does this mean our season is over? No,” Seton Hall assistant coach Corey Lowery said in a postgame radio interview. “We’re going to battle. Does this hurt? Yes, it’s supposed to hurt.”

Though considered one of the best defensive teams in the country — 12th-best in defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com — Seton Hall has been getting exploited from outside. The Pirates held Providence to 5 of 23 from the arc in December, but in their past three games opponents have made 33 of 78 from deep (42.3%). Meanwhile, the Pirates made just 11 3-pointers in the same span.

Adam “Budd” Clark scored 20 against Creighton to lead Seton Hall for the third straight game. He has a team-high 11.9 points per game average as seven players average at least 6.3.

–Field Level Media