Sports
Kentucky to test new winning formula against No. 18 Vanderbilt
Jan 24, 2026; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Otega Oweh (00) makes a lay up during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images Kentucky looks to extend a five-game league winning streak when it travels to No. 18 Vanderbilt on Tuesday night in Nashville.
The banged-up Wildcats (14-6, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) scored a 72-63 home win over Ole Miss on Saturday despite playing without key players in starting point guard Jaland Lowe and forwards Kam Williams and Jayden Quaintance. Otega Oweh, a senior guard who has averaged 19.7 points in league games and 16.1 for 20 games overall, scored 23 in the win.
Coach Mark Pope, who gave double-digit minutes to nine players, lauded his team for its toughness and unselfishness.
“What we have right now is we have guys making winning plays,” Pope said. “So, we have guys that are falling in love with making the dirty, non-scoring, massively important winning plays of the game. We have guys stepping up and doing that all over the place, and it’s why we’ve had so much success in all these close games, and it’s because guys are falling in love with it.”
Vanderbilt (17-3, 4-3) snapped a three-game losing streak with an 88-56 win at Mississippi State on Saturday. The Commodores played without one of their top three guards in Frankie Collins, but Tyler Tanner (24 points, five assists) and Duke Miles (17 points, seven steals) more than picked up the slack.
Vanderbilt had been awful defensively in that three-game skid, allowing 80 points to Texas, 98 to Florida and 93 to Arkansas in a 25-point loss. Coach Mark Byington, who called the Jan. 20 performance against Arkansas “embarrassing,” was thrilled with how the team held MSU’s Josh Hubbard — then the SEC’s leading scorer — to seven points on Saturday to drop his average to 21 per game.
“Our activity was great,” Byington said. “Our defense was really locked in today, and (Mississippi State has) some talented offensive players. The SEC’s leading scorer in the league, he’s tough to guard. Our guys’ approach to the game was really good.”
Kentucky’s Lowe (season-ending shoulder injury) and Williams (broken foot) are out, and Quaintance (knee) likely won’t be available for Wednesday’s game. But Vanderbilt’s Collins, who averaged 7.8 points, 20.9 minutes and 2.4 steals over nine games, might play after missing the last nine games with a meniscus injury.
Collins, Tanner (17.4 ppg, 2.4 spg) and Miles (16.6 ppg, 2.8 spg) are disruptive defenders who can get the Commodores easy buckets in transition off turnovers.
That presents a challenge for Kentucky and point guard Denzel Aberdeen, who’s turned it over just seven times compared to 16 assists over the five-game winning streak.
The Wildcats weren’t a good defensive team earlier in the year, but they have gotten there thanks to slowing tempo (18.4 seconds per defensive possession for the 341st slowest nationally, per KenPom) and a 16.6% defensive turnover rate in league games.
Vanderbilt is elite at protecting the ball (11.0% turnover rate in SEC games) but has struggled against bigger teams. That makes Kentucky’s 7-foot Malachi Moreno, 6-11 Andrija Jelavic and 6-10 Brandon Garrison, who combined to play more than 58 minutes vs. Ole Miss, players to watch.
Should Kentucky slow the pace to a half-court game, Vanderbilt’s Tyler Nickel (14.7 ppg, 46.3% on 3s) is a player to watch along with Tanner (40.2%).
The Wildcats aren’t a good outside-shooting team, but Oweh (33.3% on 3-pointers), Collin Chandler (40.4%) and Aberdeen (36.8%) have had some success from distance.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Alex Palou takes checkers at rain-delayed Music City Grand Prix
NTT IndyCar Series driver Alex Palou (10) crosses the finish line ahead of Josef Newgarden (2) and David Malukas (12) to win the Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., Monday, July 20, 2026. Alex Palou got a day off to celebrate his native Spain’s triumph in the World Cup final before hitting the racetrack and adding to his own trophy collection.
Palou won the rain-delayed Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix on Monday afternoon in Lebanon, Tenn., for his fifth title in 12 races this season.
The race was originally scheduled for Sunday after Fox concluded its coverage of the World Cup final, in which Spain bested Argentina 1-0 for the country’s second title. But as the racers waited — and Palou celebrated — storms rolled across Nashville Superspeedway. By the time the track was dried later Sunday night, another spate of storms made it impossible to fit in the race.
“That’s a pretty cool weekend for Spain, right? It was impressive what they did (Sunday) over at the World Cup. Happy to top it off today on Monday. My first-ever win on Monday, never raced on Monday, so it’s very cool.”
Palou, 29, inched closer to his fourth straight series championship and fifth in six years. He gained an additional 27 points on the field and leads David Malukas by 83 with six races left to go.
Driving his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Palou finished 0.8731 seconds ahead of defending Nashville champion Josef Newgarden. Malukas, Newgarden’s Team Penske teammate, placed third. Palou led a race-high 97 laps.
Malukas, 24, hit his right knee against the steering wheel in a crash at practice Saturday and spent some time in the hospital this weekend for tests. The Indianapolis 500 runner-up was told he didn’t break or tear anything in the knee.
He went from last at the start of the race to third, leading 59 laps along the way.
“It’s so cool to see, when you have all these people work on a collective project, you can see it come to fruition and it’s gonna happen,” Malukas said. “And what a result. We needed that for the championship (race). We’re still there. It’s a good result, good recovery. Big thank-you to everybody. That was the hardest race of my life.”
Kyle Kirkwood, starting from pole position, settled for 10th.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Marlins All-Star RHP Max Meyer (neck) goes on IL
Jul 18, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Miami Marlins pitcher Max Meyer (23) throws a pitch during the third inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images The Miami Marlins placed All-Star right-hander Max Meyer on the 15-day injured list Monday due to a neck strain.
The move is retroactive to Sunday.
Meyer departed after three innings of Saturday’s start against the Milwaukee Brewers. He gave up two runs and three hits before exiting.
Meyer, 27, struggled despite having off since July 7. He didn’t pitch in last Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Meyer (9-1, 2.68 ERA) has made 20 starts and pitched a career-high 111 innings. He has 121 strikeouts.
He entered the season with 25 games of big-league experience.
“We are in uncharted territory with this, but also, we don’t have any concern as much as, we do the responsible thing is just to be aware and cognizant of we do have a young athlete that is and already has surpassed a number of career highs,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough told reporters.
Miami recalled right-hander Zach Brzykcy from Triple-A Jacksonville. He gave up one run in two innings in his lone appearance for the Marlins on June 30.
Overall, Brzykcy has made 33 major relief appearances and is 0-1 with a 9.68 ERA.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Spain new No. 1 in FIFA rankings; Norway are biggest climber
Spain midfielder Rodri (16) holds up a trophy after the FIFA World Cup Final game at MetLife Stadium, Jul 19, 2026, East Rutherford, NJ, USA. Spain overtook Argentina for the No. 1 spot in the FIFA men’s world rankings Monday, as expected after La Roja defeated the defending champions 1-0 in the World Cup final on Sunday.
Argentina were the No. 1 team in the world rankings as of the last official rankings update on June 11, the day the 48-team World Cup began in Mexico. Spain entered the tournament No. 2.
France and England remained third and fourth, respectively, despite England’s 6-4 triumph over the French in the World Cup third-place match. France still had enough of a cushion in the total points column to absorb that head-to-head defeat.
Brazil and Morocco moved past Portugal for the fifth and sixth spots. Portugal lost 1-0 to regional rival Spain in the round of 16.
Mexico climbed four spots in the 10th position after their strong showing at the World Cup. They went 3-0-0 in the group stage and blanked Ecuador 2-0 in the round of 32 before England pulled out a 3-2 win in the next round in Mexico City.
The United States also inched up one spot to No. 16 after winning their group and shutting out Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32. The Americans’ tournament ended in a disappointing 4-1 defeat at the hands of Belgium, who are now ranked eighth in the world.
But the biggest climbers were none other than Erling Haaland and Norway, who moved up 12 spots to No. 19.
The Vikings became one of the darlings of the tournament after getting through to the knockouts and upsetting Brazil in the round of 16. Their tournament also ended at the hands of England, 2-1 in the quarterfinals, but it was Norway’s furthest World Cup run in their history.
The nation with the largest drop since June, Tunisia, also moved 12 spots. They now sit back at No. 57 after being the only African nation out of 10 in the field not to qualify for the knockouts.
FIFA Men’s World Rankings (as of July 20, 2026)
1. Spain
2. Argentina
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Morocco
7. Portugal
8. Belgium
9. Netherlands
10. Mexico
11. Colombia
12. Germany
13. Croatia
14. Switzerland
15. Italy
16. United States
17. Japan
18. Senegal
19. Norway
20. Uruguay
21. Denmark
22. Iran
23. Austria
24. Egypt
25. Ecuador
–Field Level Media
Alex Palou takes checkers at rain-delayed Music City Grand Prix
Marlins All-Star RHP Max Meyer (neck) goes on IL
