Sports
Florida State continues surge as Stanford stumbles to 4th straight loss
Jan 31, 2026; Tallahassee, Florida, USA; Florida State Seminoles guard Robert McCray (6) drives to the net past Stanford Cardinal guard Jeremy Dent-Smith (25) during the first half at Donald L. Tucker Center. Mandatory Credit: Melina Myers-Imagn Images Chauncey Wiggins’ career-high 23 points helped Florida State beat Stanford 88-80 on Saturday and finish off a 2-0 week in Tallahassee, Fla., against the California schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Wiggins, a senior forward, notched 16 of his points in the second half for the Seminoles (10-12, 3-6 ACC), with three of his four 3-pointers coming after half.
Conversely, teammate Lajae Jones scored 13 of his 18 points in the first half and made 8 of 9 at the free-throw line for the game. Robert McCray V paired 19 points with seven assists and two steals, Alex Steen chipped in 12 points and Kobe MaGee added 10 for Florida State, which has won three of its last four games since an 0-5 start to conference play.
Florida State shot 54.7% from the floor — its best shooting percentage since its season opener — and was 23 of 29 (79.3%) at the free-throw line after making 52.4% of its free throws in Wednesday’s 63-61 win over Cal.
After Stanford leading scorer Ebuka Okorie (21.5 points per game) was held to three first-half points, he exploded for 23 over the final 20 minutes, making eight of 15 shots and adding a team-high four assists for the game.
Benny Gealer added 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting, AJ Rohosy scored 11 and Donavin Young chipped in 10.
The Cardinal (14-8, 3-6) fell behind by 19 early in the second half and were never able to cut that deficit to less than eight points, dealing another blow to their NCAA Tournament hopes which continue to trend in the wrong direction with four straight losses.
Stanford jumped out to a 19-14 lead seven minutes in, hitting eight of its first 11 shots. The Seminoles responded with a 19-7 run, opening up a 33-26 lead with 5:53 left in the half.
The Cardinal used a run to cut the deficit to two, but Florida State ended the opening 20 minutes on a 6-0 run to take a 41-33 lead into the half.
Stanford made five of its final 17 first-half shots (29.4%) after the hot start and turned it over eight times, which led to 12 Florida State points.
Jones led all scorers with 13 points and a team-high three rebounds in the first half. Gealer, Rohosy and Cameron Grant led Stanford with six points apiece.
The Seminoles went on a 12-0 run paired with a Stanford scoring drought of over four minutes to open a 63-44 advantage with 11:38 left in the game.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Surging Cubs turn to Matthew Boyd vs. frustrated Phillies
Apr 1, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd (16) delivers during the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images Owners of the longest current winning streak in the majors, the Chicago Cubs will look to continue their dominant starting pitching when they face the reeling Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night.
Chicago recorded its seventh straight win with a 7-4 decision Tuesday over Philadelphia, which has lost seven games in a row.
Since Chicago’s 13-7 loss to the Phillies on April 13, the Cubs’ starters have allowed an average of 1.6 runs per outing, helping manager Craig Counsell’s club post its longest winning streak since an eight-game run in July 2023.
“The starting pitching has been the key to this,” Counsell said. “When you’re getting that deep into a game with your starters and consistently going 6 2/3, seven innings, one run each night, you’re putting your team in a really good position. You’re not making the offense do everything.”
Shota Imanaga’s seven innings of one-run ball prolonged that trend on Tuesday, and fellow left-hander Matthew Boyd (1-1, 6.75 ERA) will get his chance in the third contest of a four-game set on Wednesday.
Boyd allowed eight runs in 9 2/3 innings in a pair of starts to open the year before serving a stint on the 15-day injured list due to a left bicep strain. Making his return after one start with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, Boyd is eager to continue the club’s momentum.
“It’s been good,” he said of his time away from the big-league club. “Obviously I would have loved to be up here that whole time, but we’ve used it to clean up some mechanical stuff. After that lingering soreness passed, we dove into the mechanics and continued to work down that path. Excited to go out there tomorrow and excited to compete and help our team get a win.”
Boyd, 35, has faced the Phillies twice in his career, compiling a 2.25 ERA in a pair of no-decisions.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, is riding its worst stretch in seven years. The franchise last lost seven straight games in June 2019. The Phillies’ four runs on Tuesday matched their most across the current slide.
Slugger Kyle Schwarber was one of Philadelphia’s lone bright spots in Tuesday’s loss, connecting on his eighth home run — tied for most in the National League.
Schwarber knows the team’s season is far from over in April, but halting the extended losing streak is a necessity.
“Obviously on both sides of the ball, we’re really struggling to find our stride,” said Schwarber, who’s hitting .217. “It’s our job to keep going out there, batting, working, figuring out what we have to do. … This isn’t the start that we wanted by any means, but we have to come in and focus on the controllables.”
Left-hander Kyle Backhus (0-0, 5.40 ERA) will serve as the opener and make the first start of his career in his 40th appearance in the majors. The 28-year-old faced the Cubs twice last week, allowing one run across 2 1/3 innings.
–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
How Stargate SG-1 Used A Classic Trope To Emotionally Wreck Its Fans
X makes it more expensive to post links through its API
