Sports
No. 3 UConn enjoys balanced attack in easy win over Xavier
Feb 3, 2026; Hartford, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies forward Tarris Reed Jr. (5) reacts with guard Silas Demary Jr. (2) as they take on the Xavier Musketeers in the first half at PeoplesBank Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images Silas Demary Jr. collected 17 points and eight assists to help No. 3 UConn coast to its 18th straight win with a 92-60 victory over Xavier on Tuesday in Hartford, Conn.
Tarris Reed Jr. made all seven of his shot attempts from the floor to join Eric Reibe with 14 points. Reed, who also had eight rebounds, is 19-for-20 from the field in his last three games.
Braylon Mullins scored 10 of UConn’s first 12 points of the game and finished with 13 points for the Huskies (22-1, 12-0 Big East), who rode the fast start to a season sweep of the Musketeers. UConn cruised to a 90-67 victory over Xavier on New Year’s Eve.
Jayden Ross scored 11 points and Alex Karaban followed up his team-high 19 points in the previous encounter with the Musketeers with nine points, six rebounds and six assists on Tuesday.
UConn’s Solo Ball finished with nine points, hours after he was named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Midseason Watch List.
The Huskies shot 56.7% from the floor. They also owned the interior, as they held a 41-24 edge in rebounds (including 12-8 on the offensive end) and enjoyed a 46-20 edge in points in the paint.
Xavier’s All Wright scored 14 points and Roddie Anderson III and Malik Messina-Moore each added 10.
Tre Carroll, who entered the game scoring a Big East-best 18.3 points per game, was limited to just nine with four turnovers.
The Musketeers (12-11, 4-8) lost for the fourth time in their last five games.
Mullins started quickly with a 3-pointer, a three-point conversion and two dunks to stake UConn to a 12-2 lead. The teams split the next eight points before Demary drained a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions.
Mullins sank a wide-open 3-pointer to push the Huskies’ lead to 37-15, and the Huskies kept their foot on the gas to seize a 50-22 advantage at intermission. UConn held a 17-1 advantage in assists at that point.
The Huskies weren’t seriously threatened in the second half.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Golf Glance: PGA parties in Phoenix, LIV tees off '26 season in Saudi Arabia
Jan 25, 2026; La Quinta, California, USA; Scottie Scheffler hits his tee shot on the sixth hole during the final round of The American Express golf tournament at Pete Dye Stadium Course. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images The PGA Tour returns to “The People’s Open” in Phoenix this week, while LIV Golf tees off its 2026 season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
PGA TOUR
THIS WEEK: WM Phoenix Open, Scottsdale, Feb. 5-8
Course: TPC Scottsdale, Stadium Course (South: Par 71, 7,261 Yards)
Purse: $9.6M (Winner: $1.728M)
Defending Champion: Thomas Detry
FedEx Cup Leader: Chris Gotterup
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 3:30-7:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday: Noon-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6:30 p.m. (CBS); Sunday: Noon-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 9:15 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Saturday: 11:30-6:30 p.m.; Sunday: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @WMPhoenixOpen
NOTES: This is the 39th edition of “The People’s Open.” The field includes 32 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. … Brooks Koepka was added to the field under the Returning Member Program so as to not take a spot from another player, with Pontus Nyholm and A.J. Ewart also added to round out threesomes for the first two rounds. The winner of the 2015 and 2021 WM Phoenix Opens, Koepka finished T56 in his return to the tour last week. … Detry will not defend his title after signing with LIV Golf. … Scottsdale residents in the field include Wyndham Clark, Max Homa, Jake Knapp, Matt McCarty and Joel Dahmen. Dahmen is playing on a sponsor exemption along with Sahith Theegala after both finished T7 last week. … Three players have posted top-20 finishes in each of the first three events this season: Pierceson Coody, Ryan Gerard and Si Woo Kim. … The tournament scoring record of 256 is shared by Mark Calcavecchia (2001) and Phil Mickelson (2013).
AON SWING 5: This is the final event for players to earn exemptions into the first two signature events of the year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. The current leaders are Coody, McCarty, Patrick Rodgers, Ryo Hisatsune and Andrew Putnam.
BEST BETS: Scottie Scheffler (+225 at DraftKings) has won seven of his past 14 worldwide starts. He is also a two-time winner in six previous starts in Phoenix (2022-23) … Xander Schauffele (+1900) is seeking to rebound after having his streak of 72 consecutive made cuts snapped last week. He won his previous start to that at the Baycurrent Classic. … Cameron Young (+2400) finished T22 in his 2026 debut last week, snapping a streak of six consecutive results of 11th or better. … Hideki Matsuyama (+2500) is one of three players in the field who has won the WM Phoenix Open multiple times (2016-17). … Si Woo Kim (+2700) has not finished lower than T11 in his past four starts, including a runner-up last week. … Chris Gotterup (+3600) followed up his win in Honolulu with a T18 last week.
Last Tournament: Farmers Insurance Open (Justin Rose)
Next Tournament: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Pebble Beach, Calif., Feb. 12-15
LIV GOLF LEAGUE
THIS WEEK: LIV Golf Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 4-7
Course: Riyadh Golf Club (Par 72, 7,464 Yards)
Purse: $30M
Defending Champion: Adrian Meronk
2025 Season Winners: Individual: Jon Rahm; Team: Legion XIII
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Wednesday-Saturday: 10:05 a.m. ET shotgun start (Fox Sports, FS1, Fox Sports App, LIV Golf+)
X: @livgolf_league
NOTES: The season-opening event will be contested under the lights at night. … LIV Golf is moving to a 72-hole format for the league’s fifth season in 2026. The daily shotgun start includes 13 teams and 57 total players, including five wild cards. … Phil Mickelson (personal) and Lee Westwood (injury) will miss the first two events of the season. Ollie Schniederjans will replace Mickelson for the HyFlyers and Ben Schmidt will replace Westwood for the Majesticks. … Two teams have changed names: the Iron Heads are now the Korean Golf Club while the South African team is now called Southern Guards.
Last Event: Team Championship (Legion XIII)
Next Event: LIV Golf Adelaide, Feb. 12-15
DP WORLD TOUR
THIS WEEK: Qatar Masters, Doha, Feb. 5-8
Course: Doha Golf Club (Par 72, 7,508 Yards)
Purse: $2.75M
Defending Champion: Haotong Li
Race to Dubai Leader: Jayden Schaper
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 4-9 a.m. ET; Saturday: 4:30-9 a.m.; Sunday: 3:30-8:30 a.m. (Golf Channel)
X: @DPWorldTour
NOTES: This is the fourth of seven events on the tour’s International Swing. The winner of the International Swing will earn a $200,000 bonus and a spot in the Scottish Open if not otherwise exempt … World Golf Hall of Fame member Padraig Harrington will make his 500th career DP World Tour start.
Last Tournament: Bahrain Championship (Freddy Schott)
Next Tournament: Kenya Open, Nairobi, Feb. 19-22
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Stewart Cink
Last Tournament: Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii, Jan. 22-24 (Cink)
Next Tournament: Chubb Classic, Naples, Fla., Feb. 13-15
LPGA TOUR
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Race to the CME Globe Leader: Nelly Korda
Next Tournament: Honda LPGA Thailand, Pattaya, Chonburi, Feb. 19-22
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reports: Diamondbacks signing veteran 1B Carlos Santana
Aug 19, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Cleveland Guardians first baseman Carlos Santana against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images The Arizona Diamondbacks are signing free agent first baseman Carlos Santana to a one-year, $2 million contract, according to multiple reports on Tuesday.
Santana, who turns 40 on April 8, is a switch-hitter giving the Diamondbacks an option at first base with left-handed-hitting Pavin Smith, who turns 30 on Friday.
Santana batted a combined .219 with 11 home runs and 54 RBIs in 2025 after splitting time between Cleveland (116 games) and the Chicago Cubs (eight), who signed him on Sept. 1 after the Guardians released him four days earlier. He started 92 games at first base and 18 at designated hitter with one appearance at third base.
An All-Star first baseman with Cleveland in 2019, Santana won a Silver Slugger Award that season and the Gold Glove for American League first basemen with the Minnesota Twins in 2024.
Santana is batting .241 for his career with 335 homers, 1,136 RBIs, a .352 on-base percentage and a .425 slugging percentage in 2,204 regular-season games for Cleveland (2010-17, 2019-20, 2025), the Philadelphia Phillies (2018), Kansas City Royals (2021-22), Seattle Mariners (2022), Pittsburgh Pirates (2023), Milwaukee Brewers (2023), Twins (2024) and Cubs (2025).
He also batted .205 with five homers and 13 RBIs in 30 playoff games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Grading the NFL’s Worst Head Coaching Hires of 2026
Nearly a third of the teams in the NFL faced head-coaching vacancies this offseason, a rat race that concluded Sunday when the Arizona Cardinals tapped Mike LaFleur for the job.
The last hire of this coaching cycle wasn’t necessarily the best, though.
As with every class, someone’s got to bring down the curve. Read on to see which organizations rated an “F” for their coaching hires at first blush.
MIKE LAFLEUR, ARIZONA CARDINALS
Spurned by another burgeoning offensive mind from within their division, the Cardinals pivoted to LaFleur, the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive coordinator, after Seattle Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak elected to lead the Las Vegas Raiders instead.
But plucking from the staff of an NFC Championship Game entrant barely makes a dent in Arizona’s bid to return to respectability. Significant questions remain on a roster that managed just 19 wins over the past four seasons and has finished above third in the NFC West once in the last nine years.
One of those uncertainties happens to play the game’s most important position. Quarterback Kyler Murray, limited to only five starts in 2025, still has two years and a team option remaining on a monster contract.
LaFleur, the younger brother of Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, helped guide the Rams to the most yards (394.6) and points (30.5) per game in 2025. Apart from his family-tree pedigree, he also looms as the latest successful offshoot of the Sean McVay line.
Still, superior schemes won’t be enough at the start for an organization that needs rehauling beyond its Xs and Os.
JEFF HAFLEY, MIAMI DOLPHINS
Hafley only had been a head coach at Boston College before becoming Miami’s fourth HC hire since 2016.
Perhaps channeling that collegiate experience was a prescient move for an organization that’s been beset by infighting and still employs a mercurial quarterback whose best days came on campus.
Hafley has since proven to be a leader of NFL men, doing solid work in shaping the Green Bay defense as its coordinator the past two seasons. However, the unit’s slide after star pass rusher Micah Parsons’ late-season injury in 2025 isn’t an endorsement for his ability to overcome on-the-spot adversity.
Pairing with fellow Packers alum Jon-Eric Sullivan, Miami’s new general manager, could be a formula for Hafley to improve this grade. Until then, the unknown — and its ability to engulf first-time NFL head coaches — abounds.
TODD MONKEN, CLEVELAND BROWNS
Monken returns to his former stomping grounds with redemption on the brain. He served as Cleveland’s offensive coordinator during the one-year Freddie Kitchens Era in 2019, overseeing an attack that finished 22nd in the NFL in yards and points.
Kitchens’ dismissal opened the door for the since-dismissed Kevin Stefanski, while Monken got his groove back as OC at Georgia and with the Baltimore Ravens.
Monken, 59, brings established credibility and creativity to an offense lacking both. But he also knows from opposing the Browns twice a year about Cleveland’s question marks at QB and thinness at wide receiver and up front.
Plus, the ongoing Jim Schwartz saga reinforces Cleveland’s longtime organizational instability. Will Schwartz be back as Cleveland’s DC, or won’t he? If it’s the former, will fans think he’s only out to undermine a franchise that overlooked him for the top job after he built the defense into one of the league’s best?
Also, shouldn’t Monken have learned something when fellow candidates Mike McDaniel, Jesse Minter and Grant Udinski removed themselves from consideration for this post? Is he merely destined for second-guessing?
