Sports
No. 2 Purdue knows No. 7 Miami's top two players well
Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith (3) passes the ball while being defended by Queens University of Charlotte Royals forward Gus Larson (7) during a NCAA Tournament first round game Friday, March 20, 2026, at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Second-seeded Purdue may not necessarily be familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of No. 7 seed Miami ahead of the teams’ meeting in West Region second-round play on Sunday in St. Louis.
But the Boilermakers certainly know what to expect from the Hurricanes’ top two scorers, having played them last season when they were in the Big Ten.
Malik Reneau, a 6-foot-9 senior who averaged 13.1 points and grabbed 5.6 rebounds in his third season at Indiana, transferred home to Miami and has enjoyed his best season. Reneau, who scored a game-high 24 points Friday night in the Hurricanes’ 80-66 elimination of Missouri, averages 19.0 points and 6.6 rebounds.
Then there’s 6-2 combo guard Tre Donaldson, who tallied 11.3 points per game a season ago for Michigan. This season, Donaldson supplies career-high averages in points (16.5) and assists (5.8) for the Canes. He comes off a 22-point effort Friday night, including multiple clutch 3-pointers down the stretch.
“It definitely helps,” said Purdue point guard Braden Smith of their familiarity with Reneau and Donaldson. “You gotta be ready to just bounce back quickly.”
Both teams are dealing with a quick turnaround after winning first-round games Friday night. It will be a bit quicker for Miami, which got off the floor at 11:28 p.m. local time after quieting a large Tigers crowd in Enterprise Center.
The Hurricanes (26-8) have defied expectations all season, though. First-year coach Jai Lucas inherited a bare cupboard, but he recruited a blend of veterans and freshmen that have played with poise and set a school record for wins by a new coach.
Friday night might have been its most impressive exhibition of poise. Missouri led 54-52 with less than eight minutes left when Lucas called a timeout. One 11-0 run later – highlighted by five straight points from Reneau and four from freshman Shelton Henderson — Miami was ahead for good.
“Just stay the course and continue to just keep pushing and pushing,” Donaldson said. “Don’t change nothing. Attack it the same way we have been all year.”
While the Hurricanes might be playing with house money, the Boilermakers (28-8) have been playing with high expectations for years. The 2024 national finalists were picked No. 1 in multiple preseason national polls. After a late-season lull knocked them down to the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they’ve found that championship form.
Purdue won four games in four days to win the conference tourney and carried that standard of play into Friday night’s 104-71 rout of Queens in the first round. Smith scored 26 points and dished out eight assists to break Bobby Hurley’s 33-year old NCAA mark for most assists in a career. Smith goes into Sunday’s game with 1,083 helpers in four seasons.
Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said Friday’s performance was another display of Smith’s judgment in terms of hunting his shot versus feeding his teammates.
“We let his instincts take over and if they’re going to play deeper, he has to look for his pullup,” Painter said. “It just depends on what we’re running, the angles we’re running … he took the shots that were there.”
The winner advances to a Thursday night semifinal against either third-seeded Gonzaga or 11th-seeded Texas.
–Bucky Dent, Field Level Media
Sports
FC Cincinnati upend CF Montreal with 2 late goals
Mar 22, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; CF Montreal midfielder Ivan Jaime (10) battles for the ball against FC Cincinnati forward Ender Echenique (66) in the first half at TQL Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images Substitute Tom Barlow scored in the 80th minute, Kevin Denkey followed in second-half stoppage time and 10-man FC Cincinnati rallied to a 4-3 victory over visiting CF Montreal on Sunday.
Barlow scored his first goal for his new club three minutes after his entrance, and 20 minutes after Miles Robinson’s ejection.
Denkey’s second league goal completed the comeback less than 72 hours after Cincinnati (2-3-0, 6 points) lost 5-1 to Tigres UANL in Mexico City, dropping their CONCACAF Champions Cup series 5-4 on aggregate goals.
Ender Echenique scored Cincy’s first goal and assisted its second from Ayoub Jabbari.
Prince Owusu scored his third and fourth goals of the season for Montreal (1-4-0, 3 points) as well as his second from the penalty spot, and added an assist.
Wiki Carmona added his third goal of the campaign and an assist, but Montreal again struggled up a man. The French Canadians have been outscored 4-1 when playing 11-on-10.
Both late Cincinnati goals came via uncontrolled touches from Montreal defenders.
First, Barlow reacted smartly when Samuel Piette poked the ball away from Denkey, arriving first to it in the penalty area and driving a low finish past Thomas Gillier.
Then on Cincinnati’s long throw-in from the left, a Montreal defender reached the ball first, but only sent his header bounding toward the back post. Denkey was the first man there, poking it over the line and then pulling his shirt off in celebration of what could be a pivotal moment in Cincinnati’s season.
Robinson was sent off in the 60th minute when referee Filip Dujic ruled he had hauled down Owusu trying to reach the rebound of Brayan Vera’s shot, denying a goal-scoring opportunity without trying to play the ball.
Owusu stepped up and converted the ensuing penalty inside the right post, hesitating slightly to send goalkeeper Even Lauro lunging in the opposite direction before striking his shot.
Carmona’s effort from distance opened the scoring in the fourth moment, and after Echinique leveled in the 40th, Owusu gave Montreal the lead again in the 45th. Jabbari made it 2-2 in the 52nd.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Alex Ovechkin becomes 2nd NHL player with 1,000 career goals
Mar 20, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) reacts after defeating the New Jersey Devils at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin became just the second player in NHL history with 1,000 career goals, including regular season and playoffs, with a power-play goal on Sunday to join Wayne Gretzky.
Ovechkin, 40, eclipsed Gretzky for the most regular-season goals in league history on April 6, 2025, with goal No. 895.
On Sunday, Ovechkin reached the milestone mark in the third period against the visiting Colorado Avalanche, ripping a slap shot past goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to tie the game at 2 with 5:43 left in regulation. Colorado rebounded to win 3-2 in overtime.
The Russian legend has 26 goals and 27 assists in 70 games this season, his 21st in the NHL — all with the Capitals, who made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2004. For his career, Ovechkin has 1,676 points (923 goals, 753 assists) in 1,562 regular-season games. In the postseason, he has 147 points (77 goals, 70 assists) in 161 games.
Among the numerous awards he has accumulated over his brilliant career, Ovechkin is a three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner as league MVP, a 12-time All-Star and a Stanley Cup champion with Washington in the 2017-18 season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
South Korea's Sungjae Im maintains Valspar lead for third straight day
Mar 21, 2026; Palm Harbor, Florida, USA; Sungjae Im putts on the sixth green during the third round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images South Korea’s Sungjae Im sank a 13-foot putt on the final hole to shoot 2-under-par 69 and stretch his lead to two strokes through the third round of the Valspar Championship on Saturday at Palm Harbor, Fla.
Im had gone nine holes without a birdie on Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club’s Copperhead Course before sinking his last birdie attempt. He enters Sunday’s final round at 11-under 202 in search of his first PGA Tour win since the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open.
Brandt Snedeker posted 67 to pull into a share of second place with David Lipsky, who turned in an erratic 70.
Snedeker’s bogey-free round — beginning with three birdies on the first four holes — gave him a score that matched the best rounds of the day.
England’s Marco Penge and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick shot matching 68s to hold a tie for fourth place at 8 under. That’s two shots clear of South Korea’s S.H. Kim and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart, a duo that shared the day’s best round with Snedeker.
Lipsky moved into a share of the lead with a birdie on No. 15 before giving it back with a bogey — his third of the back nine — on the next hole. His round included five birdies and four bogeys.
Im, who hadn’t led through 36 holes of a PGA Tour event since 2021, finished at 69 for the second day in a row. He saved par on No. 16 after a tee shot settled on a cart path.
Penge was at 2 over for the round after a double-bogey 6 on No. 6, but he played the backside bogey-free at 4 under.
Fitzpatrick was steadier. He fashioned nothing but pars — save a three-hole stretch of birdies on Nos. 10-12.
–Field Level Media
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