Sports
Lakers wrap up 8-game trek against woeful Nets
Jan 28, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and forward LeBron James (23) stand on the court in the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Lakers marked the one-year anniversary of acquiring Luka Doncic by fading in the fourth quarter on Sunday.
The Lakers conclude their eight-game road trip Tuesday night and hope to do enough to earn a win when they face the struggling Brooklyn Nets in New York.
Los Angeles is 4-3 on the trip with wins over the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards while losing to the Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks.
Doncic has six 30-point games on the trip, including a 46-point showing at Chicago on Jan. 26. On Sunday, he finished with 30 points, a season-high-tying 15 rebounds and eight assists but the Lakers took a 112-100 loss to the Knicks.
After shooting 61.2% in Friday’s 31-point win at Washington, the Lakers shot 45.2% and struggled in the second half. Los Angeles was outscored 60-44 after halftime and held to 18 points in the fourth.
“We’re in a good spot,” Doncic said. “Obviously, got some work to do. I think (Sunday) we obviously missed a lot of good looks, but I think we have a great group.”
“I like this group, but we got to continue to get better,” LeBron James added. “And that’s good. We should want to get better. We want to continue to get better and better. It’s a tough league.”
James finished with 22 points Sunday and is 17-of-31 from the floor in the past two games following a 3-of-10 showing in Cleveland last week.
The Lakers played what they hope is their final game without Austin Reaves due to a left calf strain. Reaves has missed 19 games with the injury and warmed up Sunday before the Lakers opted to sit him.
Reaves is averaging a career-high 26.6 points this season and the Lakers are 14-11 without him. He’s questionable for Tuesday’s game.
The Nets are 3-16 in their past 19 games after winning seven of 10. They return home after completing a five-game road trip with a 130-77 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
It was Brooklyn’s second-most-lopsided loss of the season, behind a 54-point loss to the Knicks on Jan. 21.
Unlike the loss in New York, Michael Porter Jr. did not play in Detroit due to personal reasons.
Without their top scorer, the Nets were held to their second-fewest points all season, trailed by as many as 55 and shot a dreadful 32.9%. It was Brooklyn’s second-lowest field-goal percentage only ahead of the 29.1% showing at New York.
The Nets also shot 22.6% from 3-point range (7 of 31), marking the 13th time they failed to hit at least 30% from behind the arc.
Brooklyn also committed a season-worst 25 turnovers, resulting in 39 points for the Pistons, who held a 70-30 edge on points in the paint.
Without Porter, the Nets started three rookies but the trio of Danny Wolf, Egor Demin and Nolan Traore were a combined 4-of-20 from the floor. No Net scored more than 12 points.
“It’s not just that you don’t play consistently hard. It’s that you quit. And we cannot allow that,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “So, it starts with me; gotta create habits. Obviously, this one hurts. Got to help them be better.”
The good news for Brooklyn is that Porter is off the injury report and appears poised to return after a two-game absence.
The Nets are hoping their follow-up game after a lopsided loss is similar to some of the previous instances.
On Jan. 23, Brooklyn took a 130-126 double-overtime loss to the Boston Celtics after getting drilled by the Knicks. Last Tuesday, the Nets took a four-point loss to the Phoenix Suns after a 126-89 loss to the Clippers.
–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
