Sports
No. 6 Houston pits sharp focus against frustrated Arizona State
Mar 15, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; Houston Cougars guard LJ Cryer (4) controls the ball while defended by Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Chance McMillian (0) in the second half at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-Imagn Images Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said his team has reached a “premium frustration level” with a five-game losing streak heading into Tuesday’s home game with No. 6 Houston.
The Sun Devils (12-13, 3-11 Big 12) lost in double overtime at Texas Tech last week and came up short after rallying from a 13-point deficit in the second half against TCU at home Saturday.
The Sun Devils played without freshman forward Jayden Quaintance (ankle sprain) in those losses, and veteran forward Adam Miller was ejected early in the second half against TCU, his second ejection in two weeks.
“My players didn’t even want me to talk to them after the game,” Hurley said after the 74-70 loss to the Horned Frogs. “‘What do you want me to say at this point?’ is some of the comments I got from my own players. We’re kind of finding new ways maybe each game to not be able to get a win.”
Houston (21-4, 13-1) strengthened its lead in the conference with Saturday’s 62-58 road win against No. 13 Arizona.
The Cougars hold a two-game lead in the Big 12 standings over Texas Tech and Arizona.
They are 7-0 on the road this season and going back to last season, they have won their last 11 road games, the longest active streak in the nation.
Houston has won four straight games and 17 of its last 18 since Dec. 7.
“We’re really good at staying in the moment,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “It’s not just about basketball lessons, it’s life lessons, focus. If you focus on what’s in front of you and not what’s ahead of you, you usually make better decisions.”
Houston leads the nation in scoring defense, giving up 57.3 points per game. It was sixth in field-goal percentage defense at 38.1 percent.
In an overall improved approach from recent Houston teams under Sampson, the Cougars are also efficient offensively.
They are averaging 75.8 points per game and were 11th nationally in 3-point shooting at 39.4 percent, entering NCAA play Sunday, despite going 5 of 17 (29.4 percent) against Arizona.
The Cougars’ top two scorers, LJ Cryer (14.3 points per game) and Emanuel Sharp (11.8), are shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the arc.
Cryer is making 40.8 percent of his 3-pointers while Sharp is shooting at a 41.5 percent clip.
“The main thing was just having the confidence to take the shot — that’s how you win on the road,” Cryer said. “You’ve got to be confident in your abilities.”
BJ Freeman, who had a game-high 21 points for Arizona State against TCU, said the Sun Devils must improve their confidence to adequately compete over the 40 minutes of a game.
“We play good basketball by getting stops, getting back on defense, rebounding the ball, kicking the ball ahead and playing real fast,” Freeman said. “Once we’re not doing that, we know something is up. We start playing sluggish and getting lazy and just watching the basketball.”
Freeman mentioned that the players are aware of the stress placed on Hurley and potentially Hurley’s job security because of the five-game losing streak. The Sun Devils have also lost six consecutive home games.
“We need to get that stress off his back,” Freeman said.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Virtus.pro claim top PUBG prize at Esports World Cup
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. Virtus.pro ran away with the PUBG: Battlegrounds title at the Esports World Cup, landing the $660,000 first prize on Sunday in Paris.
Virtus.pro also secured 1,000 Esports World Club points, vaulting them into second in the overall standings at 1,950 behind only Natus Vincere’s 2,250. NaVi placed third in PUBG: Battlegrounds to gain 500 points and maintain their lead.
Virtus.pro concluded the Grand Finals stage with 159 total points, a comfortable 33 points ahead of The Vicious in second place. NaVi ended with 124.
Twenty-four teams began the PUBG tournament competing for shares of a $2.025 million prize pool.
The group stage lasted from Tuesday to Thursday and saw the teams divided into three groups of eight for a round robin. The top 16 teams overall moved on to the Grand Finals and the remaining eight were eliminated.
In the Grand Finals, teams played six matches per day from Friday to Sunday. Winning a match garnered a team the maximum 10 placement points, the second-place team received six, third place received five and so on down to the seventh and eighth teams receiving one point apiece. One point was also awarded for every kill.
Virtus.pro finished second in Games 1 and 2 and dominated Game 4, winning top spot and adding 14 points off kills. They repeated that in Game 6 before Friday was through, prevailing with 15 kills in their column.
An otherwise quiet Saturday for Virtus.pro ended with a bang as they won Game 12 (eight kills). At that point, they had a healthy advantage with 126 total points. That allowed them to cruise to victory on Sunday, collecting a third-place finish in Game 13 and second in Game 15 along the way.
Croatia’s Nino “NIXZYEE” Mikec of Virtus.pro won MVP honors, which came with a $25,000 bonus.
Prize money was distributed at the end of both the group stage and the Grand Finals.
PUBG: Battlegrounds at Esports World Cup 2026 standings (prize pool, EWC club points)
1. Virtus.pro — $660,000, 1,000 points
2. The Vicious — $305,000, 750
3. Natus Vincere — $213,000, 500
4. Team Falcons — $145,000, 300
5. Team Vitality — $106,000, 200
6. Geekay Esports — $78,000, 150
7. Gen.G Esports — $57,000, 100
8. Twisted Minds — $57,000, 50
9. Made in Thailand — $52,000, no points
10. T1 — $46,000, no points
11. 17 Gaming — $37,500, no points
12. FULL SENSE — $28,500, no points
13. Team Liquid — $31,500, no points
14. AGAL International — $26,000, no points
15. GAM Esports — $29,500, no points
16. Shadow Esports — $20,000, no points
17. JD Gaming — $17,000, no points
18. SOOPers — $16,000, no points
19. R8 Esports — $15,000, no points
20. Sharper Esports — $14,000, no points
21. Team Nemesis — $13,000, no points
22. TYLOO — $12,000, no points
23. Petrichor Road — $11,000, no points
24. Four Angry Men — $10,000, no points
–Field Level Media
Sports
Corey Heim captures Brickyard 400 in stunner
NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11), right, works to stay ahead of NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey Heim (67), left, as they leave pit road Sunday, July 26, 2026 during the NASCAR Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Ind. For the second time in six weeks, part-timer driver Corey Heim shocked the racing world by taking the checkers in NASCAR’s top series, winning the 30th running of the prestigious Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday in Speedway, Ind.
The No. 67 23XI Racing driver left his boss Denny Hamlin in a restart with 34 laps, stayed in front of fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell in the remainder and won for the second time in his first 15 career starts — a feat last done by racing great A.J. Foyt.
The 24-year-old Heim, who won at San Diego’s road course last month, beat Bell’s No. 20 by 0.287 seconds. Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe and Hamlin rounded out the top five.
In the second-ever In-Season Challenge finale, Ryan Blaney ran in the top 10 much of the day, but the Team Penske driver wrecked late and finished 26th, turning the $1 million payout over to 24th-place finisher Todd Gilliland in their head-to-head clash.
Pole winner Carson Hocevar led teammate Daniel Suarez in an all-Spire Motorsports front row to the green flag for the first of the scheduled 160 laps at auto racing’s most famous track.
After the field immediately lined up single file, Hocevar soon stretched his lead to nearly three seconds over Suarez in the first 10 circuits of Stage 1’s 50 laps around the iconic 2 1/2-mile facility.
With only six laps left in the segment, leader Kyle Larson, the 2024 Brickyard winner, blew a tire low in Turn 3, crashed out his No. 5 Chevrolet and became the first car to go to the garage.
Ty Gibbs, who officially made the Chase with his 12th-place run, won a one-lap shootout to close Stage 1, beating Heim, Michael McDowell, Hocevar and William Byron.
Chase Elliott became the second former Cup champ for Hendrick Motorsports to have problems when he smacked the wall and had a flat tire after he cut in front of and brushed against Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 47.
Daniel Dye’s blown tire with four laps left in 50-lap Stage 2 set up a one-lap dash and ended the segment under caution with Ross Chastain leading Gilliland, Gibbs, Hamlin and Heim in collecting the top bonus points.
Leading Gilliland, Blaney saw his Challenge chances dashed on Lap 120 when John Hunter Nemechek spun Blaney’s No. 12 Ford on a restart.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Dominic Canzone, Randy Arozarena spark Mariners in win over Rangers
Jul 26, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Evan Carter (32) slides into second base as Seattle Mariners shortstop Colt Emerson (4) awaits the throw during the fourth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images Dominic Canzone and Randy Arozarena hit back-to-back homers in the seventh inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied to defeat the Texas Rangers 6-4 Sunday afternoon in an American League West showdown at Arlington, Texas.
Ezequiel Duran went deep for the Rangers, who had won the first two games in the four-game series.
The Mariners snapped a four-game skid and moved past Houston and into second place in the division, 1 1/2 games behind the Rangers.
Reliever Gabe Speier (2-2) pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings with three strikeouts to earn the victory and Andres Munoz struck out the side in the ninth for his 18th save of the season.
Trailing 3-1 with one out in the seventh, Colt Emerson and Cole Young singled to left field off Rangers reliever Tyler Alexander. Cole Winn (5-3) was summoned from the bullpen and got Julio Rodriguez to fly out to second baseman Nicky Lopez. Calzone launched a three-run shot 400 feet down the right-field line to give the Mariners a the lead. Arozarena went deep to right-center on the next pitch to make it 5-3.
The Rangers got a run back in the eighth as Duran hit a solo shot to left with one out off Eduard Bazardo.
Seattle scored again in the ninth as Rodriguez was hit by a Peyton Gray pitch with one out and Canzone lined a run-scoring double to right, giving him four RBIs.
The Rangers wasted no time in taking the lead. Joc Pederson led off the bottom of the first with a double to center field and Wyatt Langford lined a single to left, putting runners at the corners. Duran lifted a sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-0.
Seattle tied it in the third as Young tripled to left-center with two outs on a ball that went off the end of center fielder Evan Carter’s mitt after a lengthy run. Rodriguez followed with a broken-bat single that left fielder Langford trapped with a sliding attempt at the catch.
The Rangers regained the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth. With one out, Brandon Nimmo reached on an infield single on a comebacker off the left foot of Mariners starter Logan Gilbert. Following a walk to Jake Burger, Carter lined a run-scoring single to right with Burger taking third on the throw to the plate. Lopez hit a grounder up the middle on which second baseman Young made a diving stop, but his flip to second from his mitt to shortstop Emerson covering the bag was high, allowing all runners to advance safely and Burger to score to make it 3-1.
Neither starter factored into the decision.
Gilbert allowed three runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out four.
Rangers righty Jacob deGrom gave up one run on seven hits in five-plus innings. He didn’t walk a batter and fanned four.
–Field Level Media
Virtus.pro claim top PUBG prize at Esports World Cup
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