Sports
No. 2 UConn pursues 'nasty edge' as Creighton awaits
Jan 24, 2026; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley reacts from the sideline as they take on the Villanova Wildcats at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images UConn is off to its best Big East start this century and will take aim at its 17th straight victory when it visits Creighton on Saturday night at Omaha, Neb.
The No. 2 Huskies (20-1, 10-0 Big East) started 11-0 in conference play during the 1998-99 season. The 16-game overall winning streak this season is the third-longest in program history.
UConn won a school-record 23 straight games during the 1995-96 campaign and put together a 19-game winning streak in 1998-99.
However, Huskies coach Dan Hurley said he isn’t satisfied with what he’s seeing on the floor.
“I think we as a team need to get a lot meaner,” Hurley told reporters. “I think we need to play with more violence. We need to play with a nasty edge. We need to play with more of a killer instinct.”
UConn’s only setback this season came against then-No. 4 Arizona, 71-67 on Nov. 19 on the Huskies’ home floor. The Wildcats are still unbeaten and the only team ranked ahead of UConn.
The Huskies have had close calls in their last four games, starting with a five-point road win at then-No. 25 Seton Hall and a two-point victory at Georgetown. UConn then went to overtime against visiting Villanova before posting a 75-67 triumph last Saturday.
The four-game stretch includes Tuesday’s 87-81 home win against Providence. The Huskies led by just one point with less than seven minutes remaining before a nice finishing kick.
“When you’ve won a bunch in a row and have the record we have, and I continue to come in here somber,” Hurley said postgame in the press conference room. “There’s areas with this team that, it feels like on any night, are letting us down.”
Tarris Reed Jr. had 19 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots against Providence. His backup, Eric Reibe, added 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field and collected eight rebounds, while Solo Ball scored 17 points.
Ball leads UConn with a 14.8 scoring average, while Reed (14.5) is second and Alex Karaban (13.5) is third. Reed averages a team-best 7.9 rebounds.
Braylon Mullins (concussion) sat out against Providence, but Hurley hopes he can play against Creighton. Mullins averages 11.4 points a game, and Silas Demary Jr. (team-best 6.1 assists per game) also averages in double digits in scoring at 10.4.
Creighton (12-9, 6-4), meanwhile, isn’t as formidable as in recent seasons, but the Bluejays have controlled the all-time series with UConn, going 9-3 — including a 2-1 mark last season, when the Bluejays beat UConn in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.
But Creighton limps into Saturday’s contest with four losses in the past seven games. And little went right on Tuesday when the Bluejays were pounded 86-62 by host Marquette.
Creighton trailed 52-23 at halftime.
“That first half was embarrassing,” Bluejays coach Greg McDermott said. “One team had energy, one team had focus, and our team didn’t. We were a little better the second half, but you’re also playing against a team that’s up 30, so you take that with a grain of salt. We weren’t hooked up from the start.”
The Bluejays were outscored 52-24 in the paint and connected on just 7 of 34 3-point attempts.
Creighton’s Josh Dix missed all nine of his 3-point tries after making at least one 3-pointer in 32 straight contests, dating to his time at Iowa. Dix leads the Bluejays with a 12.3 scoring average.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Norway’s ‘King Klaebo’ reigns as greatest with 9 Winter Games golds
Johannes Klaebo of Norway celebrates with fans before crossing the finish line to win the Winter Olympics gold medal in the men’s 4×7.5 km relay on Sunday in Lago, Italy. TESERO, Italy — Norway’s Johannes Klaebo cemented his legacy on Sunday by winning a ninth Olympic cross-country gold to become the greatest Winter Olympian of all time.
Nine golds put him ahead of compatriots and fellow cross-country skiers Marit Bjoergen, Bjoern Daehlie and biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who have eight Olympic titles each.
“It was good to share the top with them for a couple of days, but it feels even better to be on the top. It’s a big achievement and will take some time to sink in,” said Klaebo, who won the medal in the men’s 4 x 7.5km relay.
Klaebo’s ninth gold puts him level with six Olympic greats, including Finn Paavo Nurmi, a distance runner, and U.S. sprinter Carl Lewis. One more would lift him to second on the all-time list for any Olympics — Winter or Summer — but he would have some way to go to surpass American swimmer Michael Phelps, who towers above all with 23.
Klaebo could win his 10th in the coming days with a victory in either the men’s team relay on Wednesday or the 50km classic race next Sunday.
“He (Klaebo) is the greatest of all time. We knew that, and now it is also in the numbers,” Italian skier Elia Barp said.
The 29-year-old Klaebo, who lives in Trondheim, Norway, is competing in his second Olympics. His 83-year-old grandfather, who is also his coach, was sitting in the stands at the Tesero Ski Stadium when he won gold on Sunday.
“This is something he has really worked hard for,” Klaebo said. “He’s been my coach since I was 15, and we have really worked hard for it.”
Klaebo is No. 1 in the World Cup standings, and at the Olympics, he has beaten competitors with wide enough margins to casually cross the finish line and wave at the crowd.
The men’s 10km interval freestyle race had been seen as the best chance to knock him off the top of the podium, but he still managed to win that competition by nearly five seconds.
“It makes our job that much harder. Nine more golds until we can get in front of him,” joked U.S. skier Ben Ogden after Sunday’s relay race.
“It is pretty cool, and I like that he’s starting to get some really big recognition for how talented he is because it’s well deserved.”
Klaebo became a household name after a video of him running uphill in the men’s classic sprint went viral, putting the spotlight on a sport that lacks the Olympic fanfare of figure skating or Alpine skiing.
“I think he’ll go down as the greatest of all time. To be racing the same era as him — it is crazy to witness that and to fight against that,” said Canadian skier Remi Drolet.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
Sports
Illinois G Kylan Boswell (hand) to return vs. Indiana
Jan 17, 2026; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Kylan Boswell (4) drives the ball around Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Isaac Asuma (1) during the first half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images Illinois starting guard Kylan Boswell is set to return for Sunday’s game against Indiana in Champaign, Ill., per the Big Ten availability report.
Boswell missed the last seven games for the eighth-ranked Fighting Illini since fracturing a bone in his right hand during practice on Jan. 19.
Illinois (20-5, 11-3 Big Ten) won the first five games in his absence before dropping a pair of overtime contests heading into Sunday’s encounter versus the Hoosiers (17-8, 8-6).
Boswell has averages of 14.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 18 games this season while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Mikael Kingsbury wins Canada's first gold of Games in his final Olympics
Mikael Kingsbury of Canada wins the gold medal in the men’s dual moguls in Livigno, Italy, on Sunday at the Milan Cortina Olympics. LIVIGNO, Italy — Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury, widely considered one of the best moguls skiers of all time, ended a decorated Winter Olympics career on Sunday with a fast-paced final run that earned him a gold in the Italian Alps.
Kingsbury won the new Olympic event of dual moguls, three days after he had to settle for silver in the single moguls, in what he said was his last Games appearance.
It was the first gold medal for Canada in the Milan Cortina Games.
He beat Ikuma Horishima of Japan, who started strong in the final head-to-head race but lost control and had to bail on the required second jump. Australia’s Matt Graham took bronze on a sunny day in the mountain town of Livigno.
Kingsbury, at 33 the oldest man racing in dual moguls, has claimed a medal in each of the four Olympics he entered.
His first win was a silver in Sochi in 2014, followed by gold at Pyeongchang 2018 and silver at Beijing 2022.
“I really wanted this one and I knew it was my last Olympic performance,” Kingsbury said on Sunday. “I gave everything. I had no regrets.”
The Canadian said he dreamed of becoming an Olympic champion when he was 8 years old. He said he printed the Olympic rings on a piece of paper and wrote “I will win.”
“I always believed I could do it,” he said. “I trusted myself.”
On Sunday, Kingsbury held both skis high in the air as he was proclaimed the winner. He closed his eyes and sang along to the national anthem as he stood on the podium. Fans in the crowd waved red-and-white Canadian maple leaf flags.
Dual moguls is a new event at the Olympics, pitting skiers together in a head-to-head elimination format in which two competitors race side-by-side through parallel bump fields. Speed counts, but so do turns and aerial maneuvers.
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
Norway’s ‘King Klaebo’ reigns as greatest with 9 Winter Games golds
Illinois G Kylan Boswell (hand) to return vs. Indiana
