Sports
NCAA Tournament roundup: Iowa edges defending champ Florida in thriller
Florida center Micah Handlogten (3) blocks Iowa forward Alvaro Folgueiras (7) during the first half of the NCAA March Madness second round at Benchmark international Arena in Tampa, FL on Friday, March 20, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun] Alvaro Folgueiras drained a wide-open 3-pointer from the right corner with 4.5 seconds left to give Iowa a dramatic 73-72 victory over defending national champion Florida in a South Region second-round game at Tampa, Fla.
The top-seeded Gators’ Xaivian Lee (17 points) was unable to get a shot off in the final seconds after driving down the court, failing to complete an attempted pass to Thomas Haugh in front of the basket. That allowed first-year Iowa coach Ben McCollum to take the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes to the program’s first Sweet 16 since 1999, setting up an intra-Big Ten matchup Thursday in Houston vs. No. 4 seed Nebraska.
Tavian Banks had 20 points and six rebounds, and Folgueiras added 14 points for the Hawkeyes (23-12). Sharpshooter Bennett Stirtz added 13 points despite going 0-for-9 from 3-point range and Cooper Koch had 12 on four 3-pointers.
Alex Condon recorded 21 points and seven assists and Haugh added 19 points for Florida (27-8), which was even with Iowa in rebounds at 27 apiece despite leading the nation in rebounds per game.
WEST REGION
No. 1 Arizona 78, No. 9 Utah State 66
Jaden Bradley scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half as the catalyst for the Wildcats in holding off a wild comeback from the Aggies in second-round play in San Diego.
Arizona (34-2) advances to its third consecutive Sweet 16 and fourth in five years, and will meet No. 4 seed Arkansas on Thursday in San Jose, Calif. Motiejus Krivas finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive glass. Koa Peat added another 10 rebounds to go with 14 points, helping the Wildcats to a pivotal 54-26 rebounding advantage. Brayden Burries scored 16 points.
Garry Clark’s 13 points led Utah State (29-7), MJ Collins Jr. finished with 12, Drake Allen 11 and Mason Falslev had eight.
No. 2 Purdue 79, No. 7 Miami 69
Fletcher Loyer scored a game-high 24 points on just seven shot attempts, lifting the Boilermakers to a win over the Hurricanes in the second round of the West Region in St. Louis.
Loyer made 6 of 7 shots from the field, including all four of his 3-point tries, and canned eight free throws without a miss as Purdue (29-8) earned a spot in the regional semifinals Thursday against 11th-seeded Texas (21-14).
Trey Kaufman-Renn added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Boilermakers, who hit 25 of 47 shots from the field and connected on 21 of 22 at the foul line. Freshman Shelton Henderson paced the Hurricanes (26-9) with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Malik Reneau added 16 points and Tre Donaldson scored 13 but made only 4 of 15 attempts.
MIDWEST REGION
No. 2 Iowa State 82, No. 7 Kentucky 63
The short-handed Cyclones were without versatile star forward Joshua Jefferson but they had their feral defense, and that was more than enough to tame Kentucky, which coughed up 20 turnovers that led to 25 points during a beatdown in St. Louis.
With Jefferson out due to an ankle injury suffered during Friday’s 108-74 blowout over Tennessee State, the Cyclones (29-7) relied on veteran point guard Tamin Lipsey. He scored 17 of his game-high 26 points after halftime and added 10 assists, one more than the Wildcats had as a team. Milan Momcilovic added 20 points, while Nate Heise chipped in 12 and freshman Killyan Toure netted 10 points.
Denzel Aberdeen scored 20 points for Kentucky (22-14) and Otega Oweh added 18 and eight rebounds, but it wasn’t quite enough. The Wildcats shot decently from the field, making 46.7%, but only attempted 45 shots because of all of the turnovers.
No. 6 Tennessee 79, No. 3 Virginia 72
Ja’Kobi Gillespie put up 21 points and six assists, Bishop Boswell had 13 points and nine assists and the Volunteers took down the Cavaliers in a second-round matchup in Philadelphia to reach their fourth straight Sweet 16.
Tennessee (24-11), which will meet No. 2 seed Iowa State in the Midwest Region semifinals, also got 16 points from freshman Nate Ament after he played 18 scoreless minutes in the first round while working through an ankle sprain. Ament scored 13 in the second half, and teammates J.P. Estrella and Jaylen Carey scored 10 apiece.
Belgian freshman Thijs De Ridder powered Virginia’s comeback with 17 of his 22 points in the second half. Malik Thomas added 12 and Jacari White and Chance Mallory had 10 apiece for the Cavaliers (30-16), who doubled their win total from a year ago in Ryan Odom’s first season in charge.
No. 4 Alabama 90, No. 5 Texas Tech 65
Latrell Wrightsell scored 24 points and the Crimson Tide unleashed a relentless 3-point attack in blowing out the Red Raiders in Tampa, Fla.
Houston Mallette scored all 15 of his points on 3s, Amari Allen had 12 points despite missing his four 3-point attempts and Aiden Sherrell had 10 points. Labaron Philon Jr. contributed nine points and a career-high 12 assists. Alabama (25-9) is going to the Sweet 16 for the fourth year in a row, meeting top-seeded Michigan on Friday night in the Midwest Region at Chicago.
LeJuan Watts’ 16 points and seven rebounds led Texas Tech (23-11), while Donovan Atwell provided 12 points and Leon Horner had 10. The Red Raiders lost four of their final five games, with a once-promising season veering off track after the loss of star JT Toppin to a season-ending injury.
EAST REGION
No. 5 St. John’s 67, No. 4 Kansas 65
Dylan Darling’s first points of the Red Storm’s NCAA Tournament win over the Jayhawks came as the buzzer sounded, sending St. John’s to its first Sweet 16 since 1999.
St. John’s (30-6) never trailed in the second half and led by as many as 14 points before Kansas (24-11), behind Darryn Peterson’s 21-point effort, rallied to force a 65-65 tie. The Red Storm shot just 25 of 69 (36.2%) from the floor, while the Jayhawks went 24 of 54 (44.4%).
One difference for St. John’s was its 3-point shooting — specifically, Bryce Hopkins’ 3-point shooting. Hopkins scored a team-high 18 points, all on 6-of-9 shooting from long range. The rest of the Red Storm went 5 of 26 from deep. Peterson shot 3 of 8 from beyond the arc for Kansas, but the rest of the lineup combined for just two triples.
No. 2 UConn 73, No. 7 UCLA 57
Alex Karaban scored a career-high 27 points, freshman Braylon Mullins added 17 and the Huskies took down the Bruins to return to the Sweet 16.
UConn (31-5) will face No. 3 Michigan State in the East Region semifinals. The program is shooting for a third national title to cap Karaban’s four-year career, after eventual champion Florida eliminated the Huskies in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year. Tarris Reed Jr. had 10 points and 13 boards but shot just 3 of 8 from the field. Jayden Ross had 11 points.
Xavier Booker had 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first half to fuel UCLA (24-12), but he was held in check after that and finished with 13. Eric Dailey Jr. put up 12, Donovan Dent added 11 with nine assists and Skyy Clark also scored 11.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Resurgent Rangers rout struggling Royals
May 29, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; The Texas Rangers bench celebrates as right fielder Brandon Nimmo (not pictured) hits a two run home run against the Kansas City Royals during the fifth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images MacKenzie Gore allowed four hits over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, and Ezequel Duran’s two-run single highlighted a four-run first, as the Texas Rangers sent the visiting Kansas City Royals to a fourth straight defeat with Friday night’s 9-1 victory at Arlington, Texas.
Brandon Nimmo and Nicky Lopez each clubbed a two-run homer, while Joc Pederson went deep in the eighth for the Rangers, who broke out after totaling 23 runs in losing six of the previous seven. Gore (4-4), meanwhile, didn’t face much trouble while also yielding a walk and striking out three on 99 pitches against a Royals’ club that’s totaled five runs in the last four.
Vinnie Pasquantino had two hits, including a ninth-inning RBI single, for Kansas City, which is mired in 3-14 rut.
After Kansas City failed to score with runners on second and third in top of the first inning versus Gore, the Rangers came through in the same scenario during their half of the frame against Royals starter Stephen Kolek (3-1) to essentially take control of the game.
Pederson walked to open the inning and went to third on Jake Burger’s two-out double. Duran then drove both home with a single to center field for his first of two hits on the night. After Noah Carter’s bloop double, Duran scored on second baseman Nick Loftin’s throwing error off Alejandro Osuna’s grounder. Carter then came home via a double steal on catcher Salvador Perez’s own throwing error.
Kolek, who didn’t yield a run in last two starts, a span of 15 1/3 innings, settled down and got into a rhythm until the Rangers added on in the fifth. Josh Jung recorded a one-out double before Nimmo sent a towering drive into the right-field seats for a 6-0 lead.
With Kansas City’s Steven Cruz on the mound in the sixth, Danny Jansen walked, then ninth-place hitter and ex-Royal Lopez cleared the left-center field fence for his first hit in seven games this season with the Chicago Cubs and Rangers.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Thunder G Jalen Williams out for Game 7 after Game 6 struggles
May 28, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams (6) attempt to get a loose ball in the second half during game six of the western conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams won’t play in Game 7 against the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night after making a brief appearance in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals.
Williams, who aggravated a left hamstring injury in Game 2 and sat out the next three contests, came off the bench for 10 minutes of Game 6. He went 0-for-1 from the floor, made one free throw, committed two turnovers and finished with a minus-18 rating.
“He’s obviously not 100%,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after his team’s 118-91 loss on Thursday. “He didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect. So, it was a matter of getting him out there in kind of an insulated role and see what he can bring to the team.
“He’s an All-Star player, he’s an All-NBA player. He hasn’t done a full return-to-play (protocol) like he would if this was the regular season, and yet, he just wants to do whatever he can to try to contribute whatever he can to the team.”
The Thunder listed Williams as out Friday evening on their injury report, alongside Ajay Mitchell, previously ruled out for the series with a soleus strain.
Williams, 25, was a third-team All-NBA selection in 2024-25. In that campaign, he averaged 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists during the regular season before helping Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and the Thunder win the NBA championship.
Wrist and hamstring injuries limited Williams to 33 games in the 2025-26 regular season, and he contributed 17.1 points, 5.5 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game. He has appeared in five postseason games — the first two first-round games against Phoenix and Games 1, 2 and 6 vs. the Spurs — and put up 14.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 41.7% shooting from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Hurricanes finish off Habs in Game 5, will face Vegas in Cup Final
May 29, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Eric Robinson (50) reacts after scoring an even strength goal against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) in game five of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs during the first period during the first period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven each posted one-goal, two-assist performances to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday in Raleigh, N.C., that sends them to the Stanley Cup Final.
Jackson Blake and Seth Jarvis both scored once and added an assist while Eric Robinson and Shayne Gostisbehere added singles for Carolina, which claimed the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals in five games.
Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen made 23 saves.
The Hurricanes will face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final, which begins on Tuesday in Raleigh. Vegas swept the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference finals.
The Golden Knights won the teams’ two meetings this season, both taking place in the opening month.
Cole Caufield tallied for the Canadiens, who won the series opener but became overmatched by the more veteran Hurricanes as the series continued.
Montreal goalie Jakub Dobes stopped 24 shots.
The Hurricanes have lost only one game en route to reaching the finals for the first time since they won the Stanley Cup in 2006. They are the first team to start the playoffs with a 12-1 mark since the 1976 Canadiens.
Just as in Game 4, the hosts used a three-goal first period to springboard to victory.
Hall opened the scoring just before the midway point of the opening frame when he pounced on a rebound opportunity created by Stankoven’s rush to the net.
Stankoven doubled the lead six minutes later when he rifled a top-corner shot from the right faceoff dot for his team-leading ninth tally of the postseason.
Robinson capped the dominant period by converting a breakaway chance at the 16:52 mark for his third goal of the playoffs, all in the Montreal series.
The Hurricanes did not let up after the intermission. Blake made it a four-goal edge at 7:19 of the second period when he buried a rebound after Stankoven was denied on a breakaway chance.
Gostisbehere recorded a power-play goal with 1:58 remaining in the middle frame, sliding home an opportunity from the doorstep to make it a 5-0 affair.
Caufield spoiled Andersen’s bid for a second consecutive shutout when he notched a power-play goal with 9:10 remaining in regulation.
Jarvis rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal.
–Field Level Media
Resurgent Rangers rout struggling Royals
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