Sports
Liquid, Yandex charge into BLAST Slam VI semifinals
A Pace Center for Girls Jacksonville student uses a controller to play a video game with police after the Sheriff’s Office’s new mobile gaming center was unveiled at the facility. Team Liquid pulled out a marathon 3-2 win over Team Falcons on Friday to reach the semifinals of the BLAST Slam VI event in Attard, Malta.
In the other quarterfinal match, Team Yandex took down HEROIC 3-1.
The Saturday semifinals will feature Team Liquid vs. OG and then Natus Vincere vs. Team Yandex.
BLAST Slam VI is a 12-team Dota 2 event that pays $300,000 to the winner and $1 million overall. The event opened with three days of group play — a round-robin, best-of-1 format in which each team played each other team once. The top two teams in the standings, Natus Vincere and OG, moved on to the semifinals of the playoffs.
The teams finishing third through eighth in the standings advanced to the play-in round — four best-of-3 matches in which the winners advance to the playoffs and the losers were eliminated. The teams finishing ninth through 12th in group play competed in the last-chance playoff, another best-of-3 format where the winners advanced to the play-in round and the losers went home.
All playoff matches are best-of-5. The championship squad will receive $300,000 plus $100,000 in team earnings, while the runner-up will get $150,000 and $50,000 in team earnings.
On Friday, Team Falcons opened with a 45-minute win on red before Team Liquid posted a 33-minute victory on red and a 35-minute win on green. Team Falcons sent the match to the limit with a 43-minute victory on green before Team Liquid took the decisive fifth map in 38 minutes on red.
Poland’s Michal “Nisha” Jankowski recorded a 46/13/54 kill-death-assist ratio for Team Liquid. Slovakia’s Oliver “skiter” Lepko wound up at 40/17/28 for Team Falcons.
After HEROIC earned a 34-minute win on red, Team Yandex captured three consecutive maps, in 46 minutes on red, 46 minutes on green and 47 minutes on green.
Kazakhstan’s Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov produced a 43/12/43 K/D/A ratio for Team Yandex. Nicaragua’s Yuma “Yuma” Langlet finished at 38/13/30 for HEROIC.
BLAST Slam VI prize pool
1. $300,000 (plus $100,000 in team earnings)
2. $150,000 (plus $50,000)
3-4. $60,000 (plus $29,000)
5-6. $35,000 (plus $15,000) — Team Falcons, HEROIC
7-10. $22,500 (plus $6.250) — Team Spirit, Xtreme Gaming, Tundra Esports, GamerLegion
11-12. $10,000 (plus $2,500) — REKONIX, MOUZ
–Field Level Media
Sports
Minnesota, Washington chase reset as skids collide
Feb 1, 2026; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Niko Medved reacts from the bench during the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Bryce Jordan Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images Minnesota will look to break out of a slump when it travels to Seattle on Saturday for a Big Ten tilt against Washington.
At this point, watching game film has left Minnesota coach Niko Medved feeling stuck in a loop.
Kind of like Bill Murray’s character, TV weatherman Phil Connors, in the 1993 classic “Groundhog Day.”
Only Medved is watching his Golden Gophers, a different type of burrowing rodent.
“It’s kind of the same movie,” said Medved, referring to a 67-62 loss to visiting Maryland last Sunday in which his team allowed the final seven points. “We just had to find a way to get a few more stops down the stretch, and we still would have found a way to get out of here with a win, and we just couldn’t.”
Minnesota (11-13, 4-9 Big Ten) has lost eight of its past nine games, the only win in that stretch a 76-73 upset of No. 10 Michigan State on Feb. 4.
“Just look at our entire schedule over the whole season,” Medved said. “The margin for error is really, really small. We have to play one way and have to play with a certain edge regardless of our opponent.”
Washington coach Danny Sprinkle can relate. The Huskies (12-13, 4-10) have lost three in a row, including a 63-60 decision Wednesday against Penn State — the Nittany Lions’ first Big Ten road victory of the season.
“It was a game that you have to win at home,” Sprinkle said. “We can’t have some of our best players playing like that from an energy standpoint and a production standpoint if you’re going to win. They made plays. We didn’t.”
Senior Cade Tyson leads Minnesota with 19.4 points per game and shoots a team-best 38.5% from 3-point range. Washington is paced by freshman Hannes Steinbach, who averages 17.6 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Wisconsin blitzes No. 10 Michigan State, fells another top-10 foe
Feb 7, 2026; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Nick Boyd (2) rebounds the ball against the Indiana Hoosiers during the first half at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images Nick Boyd had 29 points and John Blackwell added 24 to pace Wisconsin to a dominant 92-71 victory over No. 10 Michigan State in a Big Ten Conference matchup Friday night in Madison, Wis.
It was the second consecutive top-10 victory for Wisconsin (18-7, 10-4 Big Ten), which won at No. 8 Illinois 92-90 in overtime Tuesday. The Badgers are also the only team to have beaten Michigan, currently No. 2 in the country.
Wisconsin’s Nolan Winter had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season. The Badgers had 38 rebounds to match the Spartans, who entered second in the nation with a 13.1 rebound margin.
Wisconsin went in front 67-45 with 13:10 left on consecutive 3-pointers by Blackwell and Boyd. The Spartans (20-5, 10-4) got no closer than 17 points the rest of the way for their third loss in four games.
Coen Carr had 19 points and Jeremy Fears Jr. added 14 points, along with 12 assists on Michigan State’s 24 field goals. Fears entered No. 1 in the country with 9.1 assists per game.
Wisconsin, 13-2 at home, improved to 16-0 this season when scoring at least 80 points. The Badgers hit 15 of 35 shots from deep, improving to 15-2 when making at least 10 3-pointers.
Wisconsin had a 28-14 edge in points in the paint and 19-8 advantage in second-chance points.
Wisconsin hit 7 of its first 10 3-pointers to open a double-digit lead midway through the first half.
Austin Rapp drained a 3-pointer from the top left to cap a 15-0 run that put the Badgers up 32-14 as Michigan State went scoreless for more than 5 1/2 minutes.
Michigan State pulled within 36-27 by hitting three consecutive 3-pointers, the latter two by Jordan Scott (11 points).
Boyd capped a 20-point first half with his fourth 3-pointer to give Wisconsin a 51-34 lead at the break. The Badgers shot 57.6% in the first half, including 10 of 17 beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tyson Fury's comeback fight to take place at Tottenham's stadium
Oct 9, 2021; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Deontay Wilder (red/black trunks) is knocked out by Tyson Fury (black/gold trunks) during their WBC/Lineal heavyweight championship boxing match at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images Tyson Fury’s return to the boxing ring will take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The former heavyweight champion’s April 11 bout against Arslanbek Makhmudov was announced last month, but the venue wasn’t revealed until this week.
Fury, a 37-year-old Manchester, England, native, hasn’t fought since losing back-to-back matches in 2024. He lost his title belts in a split decision against Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk that May in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, then dropped a rematch to Usyk in a unanimous decision at the same venue seven months later.
Those were the first two career defeats for Fury (34-2-1).
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was the site of Fury’s last title defense, on Dec. 3, 2022, against fellow Briton Derek Chisora. Fury won his next fight, vs. former UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou, in Riyadh on Oct. 28, 2023, before taking the two defeats the following year.
Makhmudov (21-2) will be fighting in England for the second straight time. The 36-year-old Russian defeated David Allen by unanimous decision in Sheffield last October.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in addition to being home of a Premier League soccer team, plays host to two NFL games per season.
The Fury-Makhmudov fight will be shown on Netflix.
–Field Level Media
Minnesota, Washington chase reset as skids collide
Wisconsin blitzes No. 10 Michigan State, fells another top-10 foe
