Sports
No. 14 Florida looks to extend SEC lead at Georgia
Feb 7, 2026; College Station, Texas, USA; Florida Gators forward Alex Condon (21) and Texas A&M Aggies forward Rashaun Agee (12) go for the rebound during the second half at Reed Arena. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images No. 14 Florida, sitting alone atop the Southeastern Conference, will try to duplicate its defensive effort from the weekend when they travel to play high-scoring Georgia on Wednesday night in Athens, Ga.
The Gators (17-6, 8-2 SEC) shut down Texas A&M’s prolific, frenetic attack and rolled to an 86-67 road win on Saturday. The Florida defense, No. 2 in the SEC at 71.2 points, put the clamps on the Aggies, who entered the game leading the SEC with 92.0 points per game.
The Gators limited Texas A&M to 17.1% shooting in the first half that included 23 consecutive missed shots – highlighted by five blocked layups as the Aggies went 10:25 between baskets.
Florida needs to bring the same defensive effort against Georgia (17-6, 5-5), the SEC’s new leader with 91.9 points per game. The Bulldogs are coming off an 83-71 win at LSU that ended a three-game losing streak.
The Gators have won four straight conference road games, something they had not done since 2017.
“Obviously, we’re really pleased where we are right now, but we’ve got eight more league games left and a lot can happen,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “There’s a lot of teams with three and four losses and it’s all about us taking care of our business. We’ve got to take one game at a time, as cliche as that sounds.”
Florida’s Rueben Chinyelu leads the SEC in rebounding (11.5 per game) and double-doubles (14). Thomas Haugh, who scored a game-high 22 against the Aggies, ranks seventh in the SEC with 17.8 points per game.
“The great thing about being in this position is we don’t have to worry about anybody else,” Golden said. “Just see what’s in front of us, one game at a time. And we’ll be ready to go against Georgia on Wednesday.”
Georgia is coming off one of its best defensive efforts of the season. The Bulldogs forced 14 turnovers and limited the Tigers to 5 of 23 (21.7%) from 3-point range.
“I thought we were pretty sharp for 40 minutes defensively,” said Georgia coach Mike White. “Proud of the effort. A lot of carryover from practice. These guys worked hard and their attention to detail was pretty good against an LSU team that’s capable of beating anyone in our league. That was a big win for us.”
White said the Bulldogs need to continue to get better on the boards. Florida leads the nation in rebounding margin (plus-15.2 per game) and owns a height advantage over the Bulldogs, who outrebound foes by just 1.5 per game.
“We made a significant improvement with our desire to compete on the glass,” White said. “Now here comes another SEC opponent who is prolific at rebounding the basketball. If we can just stay in the fight. We can’t get demolished on the glass. We’ve got to keep it close.”
The Bulldogs continue to share the offensive load. On Saturday it was Kanon Catchings, who finished with 23 points, including five 3-pointers — tying his career high in both categories. He averages 11.2 points to join Jeremiah Wilkinson (17.1), Blue Cain (13.2) and Marcus “Smurf” Millender (11.7) in double figures.
Florida leads the series 127-102, but Georgia is 62-47 in games played in Athens. That includes an 88-83 win on Feb. 25, 2025, that marked the Gators’ last loss on their way to the NCAA title.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reports: Pacers F Johnny Furphy out for season with torn ACL
Feb 8, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Indiana Pacers guard Johnny Furphy (12) reacts after injuring himself during the second half against the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images Indiana Pacers forward Johnny Furphy is expected to miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL, multiple outlets reported Monday.
Furphy injured his right knee on an awkward landing following a dunk in the third quarter of Sunday’s 122-104 loss to the host Toronto Raptors. He was helped off the court before he went to the locker room in a wheelchair.
The native Australian reportedly underwent MRI testing Monday which revealed the extent of his injury. The typical timeline for recovery from a torn ACL is 6-12 months, meaning Furphy’s absence could extend into next season.
In his second year in the league after being drafted by the Pacers in the second round in 2024, Furphy started 21 of his 35 regular-season appearances.
He averaged 5.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 18.4 minutes per game this season after he averaged 2.1 points per game last season in 50 games off the bench.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Joy Dunne leads US women's hockey to rout of Switzerland
Joy Dunne of the United States celebrates with Tessa Janecke and Laila Edwards after scoring the team’s second goal of its game against Switzerland in the Milan Cortina Olympics Caroline Harvey and Joy Dunne each collected a goal and two assists and Gwyneth Philips made 20 saves, fueling the United States to a 5-0 victory over Switzerland on Monday at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Alex Carpenter scored for the third time in as many games and added an assist for the Americans (3-0-0), who have outscored the Group A competition by a 15-1 margin in the preliminary round.
The U.S. will look for revenge against Canada on Tuesday in a rematch of the gold-medal game from the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Haley Winn and Hannah Bilka each scored a goal and team captain Hilary Knight notched two assists to boost her Olympic total to 31 points, one shy of tying Jenny Potter as the all-time U.S. leader.
Ava McNaughton relieved Philips late in the third period and made one save.
Andrea Braendli turned aside 45 shots for Switzerland (1-2-0), which has dropped two straight following a 4-3 shootout win over Czechia on Friday.
Braendli denied Taylor Heise on a breakaway early in the first period before the Americans solved her at 6:04 of the session.
Harvey skated in from the left-wing wall and wired a centering feed that Winn directed home from the doorstep.
Dunne doubled the advantage with 5:52 remaining in the second period after a brilliant individual effort.
Dunne forechecked a Swiss defender off the puck in the corner before backhanding a shot that caromed off a skate and into the net for an unassisted goal.
Bilka accepted a feed from Heise in front of the net and swept the puck past Braendli to give the Americans a 3-0 lead at 1:17 of the third period.
Carpenter converted a breakaway before Harvey used a brilliant deke on Braendli to cap the scoring.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Defending champ Amanda Anisimova bows out of Qatar opener
Jan 28, 2026; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Amanda Anisimova of United States in action against Jessica Pegula of United States in the quarterfinals of the women’s singles at the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images Amanda Anisimova, the No. 3 seed and reigning champion at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open 2026, was forced to retire due to illness in the third set of her opening match against Karolina Pliskova on Monday in Doha.
Anisimova fared well against her Czech opponent, splitting the first two sets 7-5, 6-7 (3), but trailed 4-1 in the third set when she packed it in.
“I was really happy to be back and excited to play,” Anisimova said in a statement afterward. “I got sick here, so I wasn’t feeling my best, but I thought it was a good match regardless. I feel we both played really well. Congrats to her, it’s good to see her back playing.”
Pliskova is also familiar with Qatar, winning there in 2017. She had seven aces and saved 6 of 10 break points on Monday.
“It feels great to be back,” Pliskova said in her on-court interview after missing a year with an ankle injury. “I missed (the fans) as well, last year. As you know, I won here, so I have great memories. Two years ago, I played the semifinals. So I just enjoy this place so much.”
Anisimova was not the only player to fall victim to illness in Qatar. Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu also retired in the third set of her opener Monday.
Raducanu was coming off a 6-0, 6-2 loss in the final of the Transylvania Open on Saturday, when she used a medical timeout and admitted afterward that she did not have her best effort. Her health was in question again Monday in her match against Colombia’s Camila Osorio; during a third-set timeout she saw a doctor who took her blood pressure, something that also occurred Saturday.
Osorio advanced out of the Round of 64, 2-6, 6-4, 2-0 (retired).
The Pliskova-Anisimova match was a Round of 32 affair, as was Russian No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva’s 7-6 (0), 6-1 win over Poland’s Magda Linette. Andreeva saved 10 of 11 break points in the one-hour, 43-minute battle.
The rest of Monday’s matches were Round of 64 fixtures.
Czech ninth seed Linda Noskova breezed past Australian Maya Joint 6-4, 6-0 in 65 minutes. No. 12 Emma Navarro defeated Germany’s Tatjana Maria 7-5, 6-1, while Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic upset No. 11 Clara Tauson of Denmark, 6-4, 6-1.
Indonesia’s Janice Tjen stuffed Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-0, 6-1 in 69 minutes, while Russian Anna Kalinskaya prevailed 6-2, 6-1 over Span’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in 67 minutes. Other winners included China’s Xinyu Wang and Qinwen Zheng, Maria Sakkari of Greece, Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska and the Czech Republic’s Tereza Valentova.
–Field Level Media
Reports: Pacers F Johnny Furphy out for season with torn ACL
Joy Dunne leads US women's hockey to rout of Switzerland
