Sports
No. 6 Alabama visits No.5 Tennessee in SEC heavyweight matchup
Feb 25, 2025; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward Grant Nelson (4) shoots against Mississippi State Bulldogs forward KeShawn Murphy (3) during the second half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Will McLelland-Imagn Images Following perhaps their most dominating performance of the season, No. 6 Alabama will attempt to duplicate that Saturday afternoon when they meet No. 5 Tennessee in a Southeastern Conference heavyweight matchup in Knoxville, Tenn.
After Tuesday night’s 111-73 mauling of No. 24 Mississippi State, Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats still somehow found a complaint: his club’s intensity and identity in the defensive end.
“We’ve got to have a disposition to get stops and really try to get a defensive mindset no matter what the score is,” said Oats after the massive blowout in which Alabama led the Bulldogs by 26 points at halftime. “A little unhappy with our defense, but it’s hard to be unhappy when you get a win like this.”
Seemingly, it would be hard for him to have much to be upset about regarding Alabama (23-5, 12-3), which has won nine of 11 contests and two straight.
Even the pair of setbacks in that stretch were not stunners: to No. 1 Auburn at home and at then-No. 15 Missouri in consecutive contests.
Muscle Shoals, Ala., native Mark Sears grips the steering wheel guiding the nation’s best offense — 91.5 points per game — which set a season high in the 111-point explosion.
The senior guard is averaging 19 points and five assists per game, but Oats praises his defensive play as much as anything.
“I’ve been telling you guys, he’s been playing the best basketball of his career on both sides,” Oats said. “For him to have a positive defensive leverage, that hasn’t always been the case.”
Aden Holloway and Grant Nelson each average 12 points, with the latter leading the team with 7.9 rebounds per game and 36 total blocks.
The Volunteers (23-5, 10-5) go about their business a little differently by relying on one of the top scoring defenses, allowing just 60.8 points per outing.
However, while the defense has carried the team, the club’s shooting has been critical: When Tennessee puts the ball in the bucket on an average basis, the Volunteers win.
When it does not, the numbers are generally similar to the atrocious shooting evident in a 73-43 blowout loss at then-No. 8 Florida, the Vols’ worst loss this season as they made just 12 baskets and were 4 of 29 from distance.
However, the long-range shooting has been strong during the Volunteers’ current three-game winning streak. Led by Chaz Lanier’s career-best 8 of 13 showing in last Saturday’s win over No. 12 Texas A&M, coach Rick Barnes’ squad has made 40 percent (28 of 70).
Lanier averages a team-best 17.8 points after his season-high 30-point outing. Zakai Zeigler scores 13.6 and leads in assists with 7.3. Igor Milicic Jr. leads with 7.6 boards and Felix Okpara grabs 6.4.
“We’ve had different guys have to slide into different roles like most teams. We won a game without Zakai one night when he couldn’t play,” Barnes said after winning 65-59 at LSU Tuesday. “Whatever, like (Jordan) Gainey was sick tonight.”
The focus from player-to-player at Tennessee is ultimately on defense, though.
“I’d argue Zeigler and (Jahmai) Mashack are two of the five best individual defenders in the country,” said LSU coach Matt McMahon. “We just weren’t able to create enough good looks there.”
The Vols have claimed the last three meetings in the series and are 49-24 at home all-time, but Alabama leads overall at 82-73.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Thunder set to take on injury-depleted Mavericks
Feb 25, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jared McCain (3) dribbles in the second half against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has only played one game with Jared McCain but the recently acquired guard has made a big impression for the Oklahoma City Thunder, both during Gilgeous-Alexander’s absence with an abdominal strain and during Friday’s overtime win over Denver.
Gilgeous-Alexander, McCain, and the Thunder take on the Dallas Mavericks on the road Sunday.
“He has great shooting touch, as we all see,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “He’s going to continue to get better as he plays in our system and learns our system more. Yeah, kid’s good. Really talented at basketball. He can grow as much as he wants to. Sky’s the limit.”
McCain was acquired in a Feb. 4 trade with Philadelphia, the day after Gilgeous-Alexander suffered the injury that kept him out nine games before his return Friday.
The sample size remains relatively small, but McCain’s production has turned upward significantly during his nine games with Oklahoma City.
After averaging 6.6 points and shooting 38.5% overall and 37.8% on 3-pointers in 37 games with the 76ers, McCain is averaging 11.9 points while shooting 48.1% from the field and 45.9% from deep since the trade.
Where McCain said he’s experienced the most growth, though, is on the defensive end as he acclimates to the Thunder’s system.
“Being able to have such elite defenders and just watch it every day, it helps me,” McCain said. “… I think when you focus on the defensive side, offense comes.”
McCain hit some big shots, including a fourth-quarter 3-pointer, in Friday’s come-from-behind win that gave Oklahoma City its sixth win in eight games.
McCain figures to continue to have a significant role, especially with Jalen Williams remaining out with a hamstring strain and Ajay Mitchell out with an abdominal strain.
Dallas comes into Sunday’s game having dropped back-to-back games and 12 of its last 14.
Sunday’s matchup is the last of three between the teams this season.
Oklahoma City has won the previous two, including 21-point win over the Mavericks on Dec. 5 in their most recent meeting.
While the Thunder got a big boost Friday with the return of Gilgeous-Alexander, Dallas is still without Cooper Flagg.
Flagg hasn’t played since Feb. 10 with a left foot sprain and figures to miss at least two more games.
The Mavericks were more short-handed than just missing Flagg in Friday’s 19-point home loss to Memphis, playing without Marvin Bagley III, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Caleb Martin among others.
“The continuity is definitely not there right now with the injuries,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “I think as we go forward, hopefully we’ll get some bodies back.”
While Oklahoma City has integrated McCain in quickly, the Mavericks are still working through things with their new-look lineup after the deadline deal that was centered around trading Anthony Davis to Washington.
“We’re learning on the fly,” Brandon Williams said. “… It’s pretty tough just trying to gel with each other in a short amount of time, and it’s on us point guards to try to take on that responsibility.”
Dallas made a roster move Saturday, waiving Tyus Jones. The Mavericks will sign Ryan Nembhard, who had been on a two-way contract, to a two-year deal, according to reports.
For the Mavericks, Sunday’s game is the last at home before a six-game road trip.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Benny Gealer shoots lights out in Stanford's runaway win over SMU
Feb 28, 2026; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach Kyle Smith gestures during the first half against the Southern Methodist University Mustangs at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images Benny Gealer posted a career-high 30 points and went 7-for-11 from beyond the arc as Stanford dominated visiting SMU 95-75 on Saturday.
Gealer added four rebounds and a career-high six steals for the Cardinal (18-11, 7-9 Atlantic Coast Conference), who finish their regular season next week on the road and went 12-6 at home.
Ebuka Okorie added 22 points and six assists, and Aidan Cammann contributed 15 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Stanford went 14-for-27 from outside the arc and made 90.6% of its free throws.
Boopie Miller posted 26 points and five assists for the Mustangs (19-10, 8-8), who finished their California road trip with an 0-2 record after a 73-69 loss to Cal on Wednesday.
Jaron Pierre Jr. added 21 points and six rebounds. SMU shot 47.4% from the field and 38.9% from beyond the arc, while allowing 17 points off of the team’s nine turnovers.
Okorie posted seven points, including a shot from beyond the arc, to give Stanford an early 12-7 lead with 16:03 remaining in the first half.
Gealer made his first three perimeter shots to increase Stanford’s lead to 20-12 with 12:55 remaining. Miller’s layup ended an SMU scoring drought to make it 20-18 with 8:04 left in the half.
The Cardinal failed to tally any points for over five minutes, but then went on a 12-2 run to go up 32-20 on a Ryan Agarwal three-pointer with 2:55 left in the half. The Cardinal held off a push by the Mustangs to take a 34-27 lead into halftime.
Stanford opened the second half on an 11-4 run to take a 45-31 lead with 17:34 remaining on another three from Agarwal.
SMU went on a 12-4 run to cut into the deficit and make it 53-47 at the 11:24 mark, but Stanford responded to increase the lead to 60-47 with 10 minutes to play.
That started a 19-4 surge for the Cardinal which effectively put the game away. They took their largest lead of the day, 72-51, with 7:50 left.
SMU attempted to climb back into things but failed to cut the deficit to less than 15 points. Stanford led by as many as 23 points in the final minute.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Women's Top 25 roundup: No. 8 Michigan rolls past No. 14 Maryland
Michigan’s head coach Kim Barnes Arico calls out to the team during the first quarter in the game against Michigan State on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. Olivia Olson scored 28 points with eight rebounds and Syla Swords added 17 points as No. 8 Michigan closed out its regular-season schedule with an 87-69 victory over No. 14 Maryland at Ann Arbor, Mich.
The Wolverines (24-5, 15-3 Big Ten) moved into sole possession of second place in the Big Ten Conference standings, a half of a game ahead of No. 9 Iowa, which concludes its season on Sunday at Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes beat Michigan in the lone regular-season meeting.
Mila Holloway had 12 points and six assists for Michigan, which won its second consecutive game after losing to Iowa last Sunday. The Wolverines went 3-1 to close out the regular season, all in games against ranked teams.
Oluchi Okananwa scored 19 points and Yarden Garzon added 14 for the Terrapins (23-7, 11-7), who allowed Michigan to score at least 20 points in every quarter and never recovered from a 46-31 deficit at halftime.
No. 25 Princeton 62, Harvard 49
The visiting Tigers didn’t let an early deficit prevent them from surging past the Crimson in Cambridge, Mass., for their fourth consecutive victory and sixth in their last seven games.
Fadima Tall scored a game-high of 18 points with nine rebounds for Princeton (23-3, 11-2 Ivy League). Skye Belker added 13 points, Ashley Chea had 12 and Olivia Hutcherson blocked three shots. The Tigers shot 24 of 51 (47%) from the field and scored 18 points off their opponent’s 15 turnovers.
Harvard, which led 13-11 after the opening quarter, lost for just the second time in its last nine games. The Crimson, which made just 17 of 57 field-goal attempts (29.8%), including 7 of 27 from long range, was led by Karlee White with 10 points and Olivia Jones with nine boards.
–Field Level Media
Thunder set to take on injury-depleted Mavericks
Benny Gealer shoots lights out in Stanford's runaway win over SMU
