Sports
Northwestern-Washington tale of teams walking down similar paths
Jan 29, 2026; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Northwestern Wildcats forward Nick Martinelli (2) high fives fans after scoring against the Penn State Nittany Lions during the second half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images The men’s basketball seasons for Washington and Northwestern have been nearly mirror images of each other.
Right down to the color purple on their uniforms.
Both the Huskies (11-10, 3-7 Big Ten) and Wildcats (10-11, 2-8) have endured multiple narrow losses heading into their Saturday matchup at Evanston, Ill.
But they did diverge Thursday night.
While Washington was taking a 75-66 loss at No. 9 Illinois, Northwestern was putting a 94-73 beatdown on visiting Penn State.
“That was a huge win for us, coming off the West Coast trip where we played pretty well last week,” Wildcats coach Chris Collins said. “I knew both teams were going to be hungry. I just kept telling my team that whatever team was going to start getting a few stops was going to win.”
Nick Martinelli, who leads the nation with an average of 24 points per game, matched his career high with 34 on 13-of-19 shooting from the field. Tre Singleton added 17 points and a career-best 18 rebounds, and Angelo Ciaravino scored a career-high 20 off the bench.
The Wildcats have won two of their past three games after getting their first conference victory last week 74-68 at Southern California.
“Regardless of wins, losses, I’ve just felt better about the way we’ve approached ourselves heading into these games,” Collins said.
The Huskies snapped a three-game skid with a 72-57 victory against rival Oregon on Sunday, but they couldn’t keep up with the Fighting Illini despite Hannes Steinbach’s 15 points and 12 rebounds. The freshman forward leads the Big Ten with 13 double-doubles this season.
“Northwestern is playing great basketball,” Huskies coach Danny Sprinkle said. “I know they beat Penn State (Thursday), they had a big road win at USC the other night, they played UCLA tough. They are getting better and better, just like we are.
“Sometimes, the results … their record doesn’t show how good of a team they are. They are very disciplined. They are great offensively, and they make it grimy defensively. We’re going to continue to get better and learn from some of the mistakes we made (at Illinois).”
–Field Level Media
Sports
US storms back, cruises to 6-3 win over Denmark
Feb 12, 2026; Milan, Italy; Auston Matthews of United States celebrates scoring their fifth goal with Matthew Tkachuk of United States against Latvia in men’s ice hockey group C play during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist for the United State in a 6-3 victory against Denmark in their second preliminary-round game at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday.
The U.S. beat Latvia 5-1 in their tournament opener on Thursday.
Matt Boldy, Brady Tkachuk, Noah Hanifin, Jake Guentzel, and Jack Hughes also scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 18 saves for the U.S., which will play Germany in its final preliminary round game on Sunday at 3:10 p.m. ET.
Nick Olesen, Nicholas B. Jensen and Phillip Brugisser scored, and Mads Sogaard had 32 saves for Denmark before leaving midway through the third period with an apparent injury.
Frederik Dichow came in and made seven saves.
Olesen was credited with the first goal of the game after his rebound went off the skate of U.S. defenseman Zach Werenski and through Swayman’s pads to give Denmark a 1-0 lead at 1:40 of the first period.
The U.S. tied it 1-1 at 3:35 of the first when Boldy scored on a wraparound.
Swayman surrendered a goal on a long shot by Jensen from just inside the red line to move Denmark ahead 2-1 at 11:16.
Tkachuk and Eichel each scored off face-off wins in the Denmark zone 57 seconds apart to move the U.S. ahead 3-2 at 10:23 of the second.
Hanifin slipped a shot through Sogaard’s pass off the rush to stretch the lead to 4-2 at 17:23 of the second, but Denmark cut it to 4-3 with three seconds left on another long shot from the point, this one by Brugisser.
The U.S. re-established a two-goal lead when Guentzel scored with a one-timer from the inside edge of the right circle to make it 5-3 at 7:24 of the third period.
Hughes drove to the net and banked the puck off Dichow from below the goal line to make it 6-3 at 14:27.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Women's Top 25 roundup: No. 1 UConn rolls past Marquette
Marquette Golden Eagles guard Jordan Meulemans (20) and guard Bridget Utberg (7) fights for position against UConn Huskies forward Sarah Strong (21) and guard Ashlynn Shade (12) during the fourth quarter of the game on Saturday February 14, 2026 at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Azzi Fudd scored 25 points and Sarah Strong had 22 as No. 1 UConn continued its undefeated season with a 71-56 win at Marquette on Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee, Wis.
Fudd knocked down five 3-pointers, while Strong had three steals and three blocks to lead the Huskies (27-0, 16-0 Big East). KK Arnold added 10 points, six rebounds and a career-best nine assists.
Lee Volker scored 15 points and Skylar Forbes chipped in 14 to pace the Golden Eagles (16-10, 10-7). Marquette jumped out to briefly lead by five, but the Huskies outscored the Golden Eagles 36-19 for the remainder of the first half and held their double-digit advantage through the final buzzer.
Strong was held to one rebound, the lowest the sophomore has grabbed in a single game in her career.
Oklahoma State 75, No. 16 Texas Tech 65
Jadyn Wooten scored 16 points off the bench to guide the Cowgirls to an upset victory over the Red Raiders at home in Stillwater, Okla.
Wooten also had seven assists and was one of five players to score in double figures for Oklahoma State (20-7, 9-5 Big 12). Amari Whiting collected 13 points and 11 rebounds, Achol Akot also scored 13 points and Stailee Heard and Haleigh Timmer each had 12 apiece.
Bailey Maupin scored 19 points for Texas Tech (23-4, 10-4) and Snudda Collins added 18.
After trailing by a point at the end of the first quarter, the Cowgirls outscored the Red Raiders 22-9 in the second frame and led for the rest of the game. Oklahoma State — which led by 17 at one point — won the rebounding battle by 10 and shot 8 of 16 from 3-point land.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Report: Suns agree to deal with F Haywood Highsmith
Apr 28, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Haywood Highsmith (24) reaches for the basketball to prevent it from going out of bounds against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second quarter during game four for the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images The Phoenix Suns agreed to a multi-year deal with forward Haywood Highsmith, per ESPN.
Highsmith was an integral rotation player for the Miami Heat for four seasons (2021-25). During that span, he started 80 games. Overall, he averaged 5.5 points and 3.2 rebounds across 20.3 minutes per game, while shooting 37.5% from 3-point range with the Heat.
In August 2025, he tore his meniscus while working out. Soon after, he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets.
He did not play a game for the Nets. They waived him at the trade deadline.
–Field Level Media
US storms back, cruises to 6-3 win over Denmark
Women's Top 25 roundup: No. 1 UConn rolls past Marquette
