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No. 23 Kansas looking to find form vs. Oklahoma State

NCAA Basketball: Kansas at UtahFeb 15, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self calls a play against the Utah Utes during the first half at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images

No. 23 Kansas is in jeopardy of seeing its 80-week streak of being ranked in the Associated Press poll come to an end after back-to-back road losses to Utah and BYU.

The Jayhawks will get a chance to right the ship Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma State in Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas (17-9, 8-7 Big 12) alternated losses and wins in its previous seven games entering the Utah game last Saturday. But with a chance to end that trend with a victory over the Utes, the Jayhawks followed that with a decisive 91-57 setback at BYU on Tuesday.

The situation is getting rough for Kansas coach Bill Self. And that was evident in his post-game press conference after the loss in Provo, Utah.

“We need to regroup, get away from each other,” he said. “A lot of times teams need to have something happen to pull everybody together that is ‘us against the outside.’ We’re going to have an opportunity to do that for sure.

“A lot of teams go through that. We just haven’t been through that much at all in a long time. All we have is each other, and we’re going to have to be strong for each other and be good teammates and good leaders. We need to look in the mirror — all of us — and say, ‘What can we do to change the momentum?'”

These are uncharted waters for Kansas under Self. The combined 20 losses the last two years are the most in any two-year period in Self’s 22 seasons at the helm. And there are still five games remaining in the regular season, including hosting No. 9 Texas Tech and No. 19 Arizona sandwiched around a trip to No. 5 Houston.

“I thought BYU could beat anybody tonight,” Self said. “They were great. And then we didn’t do anything to make them less than great. A lot of times with teams there needs to be something (to) happen to pull everybody together that is us against the outside. And we’re going to have an opportunity to do that for sure. We haven’t been through it much at all in a long time.”

The Jayhawks need to get things turned around against Self’s alma mater on Friday.

Oklahoma State (13-13, 5-10) has lost seven straight games to Kansas and has not won in Lawrence since 2018. The Cowboys are coming off a 104-95 victory over UCF on Wednesday night in Stillwater, Okla.

Bryce Thompson had a career-high 25 points for Oklahoma State, which posted its biggest point total of the season.

A lot of the credit for the high number of points goes to forcing UCF turnovers. The Cowboys outscored the Knights 20-0 in the first half in points off turnovers. The Cowboys had 82 possessions in the game, a high number even for the pace coach Steve Lutz prefers.

“(That’s) a lot of possessions,” Lutz said after the game. “I have a hard time thinking we can manage 82 possessions night-in and night-out, especially if we are going to play defense the way I would like our program to play defense.”

–Field Level Media

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Mateusz Bogusz brace carries Dynamo past Austin FC

Jul 25, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Dynamo FC midfielder Mateusz Bogusz (19) celebrates after scoring a goal during the first half against the Austin FC at Shell Energy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn ImagesJul 25, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Dynamo FC midfielder Mateusz Bogusz (19) celebrates after scoring a goal during the first half against the Austin FC at Shell Energy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Mateusz Bogusz had two easy goals in the first 29 minutes and Guilherme Santos had a goal and two assists in a dominating first half as the host Houston Dynamo swamped Austin FC 3-0 on Saturday in a clash between Copa Tejas rivals.

The Dynamo (8-6-2, 26 points) extended their home unbeaten streak to five matches (4-0-1) and earned a split in the season series with Austin FC. Houston is 4-1-2 since a 2-0 loss in Austin to the Verde on April 25.

Jonathan Bond saved five shots to earn his fourth clean sheet of the MLS campaign for the Dynamo.

Austin (4-8-5, 17 points) remains the only MLS team without a road victory this season and has dropped four of its last five contests to the Dynamo away from home. The Verde have won just once in their past six matches (1-4-1) and followed up a stirring 3-1 home win over Seattle on Wednesday by laying an egg against their Lone Star State counterparts.

Houston swept to the front with a stunning trifecta of goals in the first 32 minutes. After Austin pressed the action in the early going, the Dynamo burned the visitors via the counterattack when Bogusz was the beneficiary of passes from Guilherme and Ezequiel Ponce and opened the ledger with a goal in the 12th minute.

Bogusz waited on the doorstep to the right of Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver for the pretty give-and-go sequence that found him wide open for the easy tally and a 1-0 Houston lead.

Bogusz then scored again in the 29th minute, outsprinting two Austin defenders for a long clearing pass from Guilherme before unleashing a right-footed shot to the bottom left corner that Stuver had no chance to save.

The Dynamo continued their onslaught in the 32nd minute as Guilherme scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season after assists from Agustin Bouzat and Felipe Andrade.

That tally was again produced on the counterattack as Bouzat drove his pass deep and high over the Austin defense for Houston’s dynamic star to run under before hitting a shot that Stuver could only watch bounce into the bottom right corner.

The Verde made a tepid attempt to respond over the final 15 minutes of the first half, with Przemyslaw Placheta testing Bond and then Brandon Vazquez producing a pair of low-percentage shots that the Houston keeper gobbled up.

Austin did little to cut into the deficit after halftime.

–Field Level Media

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Tyrese Spicer comes off bench to propel Orlando City past Nashville SC

Jul 25, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando City SC forward Justin Ellis (22) battles for the ball against Nashville SC defense Jack Maher (5) during the first half at Inter.Co Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn ImagesJul 25, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando City SC forward Justin Ellis (22) battles for the ball against Nashville SC defense Jack Maher (5) during the first half at Inter.Co Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Second-half substitute Tyrese Spicer scored in the 72nd minute to lift Orlando City to a 1-0 home victory over Eastern Conference-leading Nashville SC on Saturday.

Justin Ellis notched the assist with a clever reverse pass to Spicer, who slipped behind the defense for a clear look at the goal. Orlando goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau turned in his second straight clean sheet with two saves.

The Lions (6-9-2, 20 points) had four shots on goal while Nashville (12-2-3, 39 points) had two. Nashville goalkeeper Brian Schwake had three saves.

In the 14th minute, Antoine Griezmann carried the ball wide into the attacking third and curled a cross to Ellis, whose header was on target but saved by Schwake.

Orlando kept up the pressure in the 28th minute when Ellis found Griezmann, whose left-footed shot bounced into Schwake’s hands.

Ellis threatened again moments later, shaking free of a defender before testing Schwake with a shot from the center of the box that lacked enough power to beat the goalkeeper.

As the first half wound down, Shakur Mohammed carried the ball out of midfield before slipping a pass to Andy Najar. Najar then played a through ball to a sliding Alex Muyl, whose attempt was saved by Crepeau at close range before the two collided.

Nashville had its best scoring threat in the 63rd minute when Najar settled a direct pass from midfield with a back-heel flick to Mohammed. The forward from Ghana blasted a shot in stride that Crepeau snared and quickly smothered.

Orlando withstood sustained pressure in the closing minutes. Crepeau came off his line to claim a corner kick in the 87th minute, denying Nashville a second opportunity.

Later, Daniel Lovitz’s cross in the 89th minute was headed away by Wilder Cartagena. Nashville finished with a 7-2 edge in corner kicks and a 52-48 advantage in possession, but couldn’t find the equalizer as Orlando dug in defensively.

Nashville had its five-match winning streak snapped and lost for the first time in 11 MLS matches (8-1-2).

–Field Level Media

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St. Louis City's Tomas Ostrak delivers only goal needed to beat Rapids

May 9, 2026; Commerce City, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rapids midfielder Paxten Aaronson (10) fields the ball ahead of St. Louis City defender Fallou Fall (27) in the second half at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn ImagesMay 9, 2026; Commerce City, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rapids midfielder Paxten Aaronson (10) fields the ball ahead of St. Louis City defender Fallou Fall (27) in the second half at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Tomas Ostrak scored in the 83rd minute to give St. Louis City a 1-0 home win over the 10-man Colorado Rapids on Saturday.

The victory extended St. Louis City’s winning streak to four regular-season matches and their points streak to seven matches (6-0-1).

After playing 71 minutes with an 11-on-10 advantage, St. Louis (7-6-4, 25 points) finally broke through on Ostrak’s tally. A nice passing play from Tomas Totland set up Ostrak for a superbly-placed shot from the edge of the box that sailed into the right side of the net.

Ostrak’s first goal of the season came seven minutes after the midfielder entered the match as a substitute. It was just Ostrak’s second regular-season match, as leg injuries sidelined him for most of St. Louis’ 2026 campaign.

Rapids defender Rob Holding was issued a straight red card in the 12th minute, and Colorado (6-10-1, 19 points) then went into a defensive shell. St. Louis outshot Colorado 18-2, with no Rapids shots on target.

It made for a quiet night for Roman Burki, as the St. Louis goalkeeper didn’t need to make a single save to earn his second shutout of the season. Nico Hansen made two saves for Colorado.

St. Louis also didn’t deliver much direct pressure, as only three of the home team’s 18 shots were on target. While the Rapids defended well, St. Louis City committed some self-sabotage with a season-high 22 fouls, continually interrupting their own attacks.

Jeong Sang-bin’s shot off the crossbar in the 37th minute was St. Louis’ best chance of the first half. Rapids defender Lucas Herrington made a pair of close-range blocks on Totland and Daniel Edelman during a St. Louis flurry in the 54th minute.

Holding was shown the early red card after he brought down Jeong in open play in the 12th minute, likely preventing Jeong from a breakaway chance. It was Holding’s second ejection in as many matches against St. Louis, as he also received a red card in the 50th minute of St. Louis City’s 1-0 win over the Rapids on May 9.

–Field Level Media

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