Sports
No. 23 Kansas looking to find form vs. Oklahoma State
Feb 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
Sports
Cardinals support Andre Pallante with big 6th inning to down Reds
Jul 25, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson (41) hits a one run single against the Cincinnati Reds during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images The St. Louis Cardinals broke open a pitcher’s duel Saturday night with a six-run sixth inning to support right-hander Andre Pallante in a 7-0 victory against the visiting Cincinnati Reds.
Alec Burleson, Ivan Herrera and Blaze Jordan all had key hits for the Cardinals, who came in having dropped seven of nine.
Pallante (11-6) allowed two hits in seven innings. He finished with eight strikeouts, tying his season high for the sixth time, and was just one strikeout shy of his career best. Pallante also retired his final 12 batters, and walked just one overall. He lowered his ERA to 3.77 in what likely was his best start of the season.
The Cardinals scored an unearned run against Reds right-hander Hunter Greene in the bottom of the first inning, but poured it on in the sixth, which was Greene’s third time through the lineup.
JJ Wetherholt walked to lead off and Burleson lined a single to right. Herrera followed with a two-run double to left making it 3-0.
Bryan Torres later hit an RBI single and Jordan followed with two-run single to right on a two-strike count to make it 6-0, prompting Reds manager Terry Francona to remove Greene (2-2).
Nathan Church followed with a safety squeeze against left-hander Sam Moll to push across Torres as the seventh run.
Unable to keep the Reds’ three-game winning streak going, Greene’s era ballooned to 7.06 in his fourth start of the season.
Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz made three fielding miscues in the first inning, booting a soft grounder for an error, getting his feet tangled on a pop-up single, and making a poor relay throw to the plate on Burleson’s RBI single.
Burleson finished with three hits, and Wetherholt scored twice, helping the Cardinals improve to 13-2 when he scores at least two runs.
The Reds did not mount a scoring threat until the ninth, against Cardinals right-hander Gordon Graceffo, who loaded the bases with no outs after pitching a scoreless eighth. A strikeout and a double play followed.
The Cardinals have won five of seven from the Reds in the season series, which continues Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Miami extends win streak to 6 with late Luis Suarez PK at Montreal
Jul 25, 2026; Montreal, Province of Quebec, CAN; Inter Miami CF midfielder Casemiro (5) kicks the ball away as he defends against CF Montreal forward Prince Owusu (9) during the first half at Saputo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images Luis Suarez’s penalty-kick goal in the 81st minute lifted Inter Miami to a 1-0 victory over host CF Montreal on Saturday night.
With the win, Miami (11-2-4, 37 points) has won six straight matches, including the last two without Lionel Messi as he recovers from Argentina’s run to the World Cup final.
The loss extends Montreal’s (4-10-3, 15 points) winless skid to six matches (0-3-3). Montreal has not recorded a victory in the league since a 2-0 decision over Orlando City on May 9.
In the 70th minute, the ball was crossed into the box and Miami forward German Berterame went up for a header and collided with Montreal defender Efrain Morales. Berterame remained down for several minutes, and medical personnel were rushed onto the pitch to attend to Berterame, who was taken off the field in an ambulance.
On the ensuing penalty kick 11 minutes later, Suarez chipped a shot over keeper Sebastian Breza for his ninth goal of the season.
Montreal had opportunities at the game’s opening goal early in the second half.
In the 50th minute, Hennadii Synchuk’s right-footed strike from the right side of the box missed just to the right of the goal.
Seven minutes later, Miami’s Yannick Bright was awarded a free kick after being fouled by Prince Owusu. Montreal midfielder Matty Longstaff blocked Suarez’s ensuing free kick from just outside the box.
Miami had another glorious opportunity in the 68th minute, but a leaping Breza recorded his only save of the night on Telasco Segovia’s right-footed strike from just outside the box.
Miami dominated first-half possession, but it was Montreal with the lone shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.
In the 13th minute, Synchuk had a glorious opportunity, but Miami keeper Rocco Ríos Novo (two saves) got his right hand on the strike to make the save.
Saturday was the first of two meetings between the clubs this season. They’ll meet again in Florida on Aug. 29.
–Field Level Media
Sports
D.C. United, with help from Toronto, get in win column
Jul 25, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; D.C. United goalkeeper Sean Johnson (1) plays the ball against the Toronto FC during the first half at Audi Field. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images Tai Baribo scored on a penalty kick in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time to give D.C. United a 2-1 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday in Washington.
Baribo’s game-winner came after Toronto’s Jackson Gilman was called for tripping Andre Dozzell in the middle of the penalty box. The call came on a VAR review.
Baribo’s penalty shot was low and inside the left post, out of the reach of Toronto keeper Luka Gavran, who finished with six saves. It was Baribo’s 10th goal this season.
Against his former team, Sean Johnson had six saves as D.C. United (5-5-7, 22 points) snapped a five-match winless streak, which included ties in their previous three games.
D.C. also enhanced its position in the MLS Eastern Conference standings after entering the match holding the bottom rung of the playoff ladder.
Theo Corbeanu scored in the 76th minute for Toronto (3-7-7, 16 points), which also was victimized by an own goal as its winless streak reached 11 games.
D.C. United extended Toronto’s winless streak in Washington to 10 games as well, with the Reds’ last win in D.C. coming in 2016.
D.C. worked for several quality opportunities in the first half before finally cashing in off a corner kick. From the right side, Keisuke Kurokawa sent an in-swinger into the goal area.
Toronto’s Kobe Franklin rose amid a pack of players and inadvertently headed his attempt to clear just inside the left post in the 41st minute.
D.C. United center back Kye Rowles was initially credited with the score before officials switched it to an own goal.
Toronto had difficulty breaking through against Johnson. But after the 37-year-old made two brilliant saves in the second half, the Reds finally cashed in.
The opportunity came after D.C. defender Matti Peltola was called for a foul just outside the penalty box. Walker Zimmerman crossed to Jonathan Osorio, whose header from close range was blocked by Johnson.
But the rebound came to Corbeanu in the middle of the box and his left-footed shot hit the top middle of the net.
It was the first goal for the Reds after playing two scoreless draws following the World Cup pause.
–Field Level Media
