Looking to boost their chances of making the NCAA Tournament, California travels to Syracuse on Wednesday in an Atlantic Coast Conference game.

The Golden Bears (17-7, 5-6 ACC) had their two-game winning streak snapped on Saturday at home against No. 20 Clemson, 77-55. The 22-point margin was their second-largest defeat of the season — trailing only their 24-point loss Jan. 7 at Virginia — and left the team searching for answers.

“Our goal is to dominate every single game on both sides of the ball,” Cal head coach Mark Madsen said. “To have a dominating defensive performance and a dominating offensive performance. That’s always the goal and the standard.”

Despite that Clemson loss, the Golden Bears have climbed from 72nd to 58th in the NET rankings that have a large influence on NCAA Tournament at-large selections.

As Cal tries to climb into better position, it will ask leading scorer Dai Dai Ames (17.0 ppg) to lead the way. He ranks 10th among ACC scorers and has hit double figures in six consecutive games.

Justin Pippen (15.2 ppg) has scored in double figures in 11 consecutive games and tied for the team lead with five rebounds against Clemson trying to make up for the absence of Lee Dort. Cal’s leading rebounder (7.7 rpg) has missed the last four games with a thigh injury.

The Orange (13-11, 4-7 ACC) lost 72-59 on Saturday at No. 20 Virginia. It was the team’s sixth loss in the past seven games and frustration is starting to build.

“These losses are difficult and everyone’s frustrated,” Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry said after the game. “Tomorrow, we gotta reset and get ready for our next opponent. That’s the schedule. We still have games left on the schedule, so they have to reset. This is a resilient group, a tough group, and I’m sure that we’ll respond.”

That starts with Donnie Freeman. He leads the team in scoring at 17.7 points per game on 48.9% shooting from the field, but he scored a season-low five points against Virginia on 2-of-11 shooting.

William Kyle, 11th in the ACC in rebounding at 7.4 per game and first in blocks at 2.7 per game, will try to help Syracuse overcome its rebounding struggles and take advantage of Cal’s weaknesses in that area. Both teams get outrebounded by 1.7 per game, which ranks third-worst in the league.

–Field Level Media

The significant spike enjoyed by several LIV Golf players following the league’s first event that earned Official World Golf Ranking points has stirred plenty of debate in the golf world, but Sergio Garcia cautioned that only time will tell what the true impact is.

Following a win in his LIV Golf debut in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, Australia’s Elvis Smylie jumped from 133rd to 77th in the world rankings. Meanwhile, former World No. 1 Jon Rahm used his runner-up finish to climb from 97th to 67th, Sebastian Munoz moved from 767th to 566th, Abraham Ancer from 616th to 449th and Thomas Pieters from 564th to 419th.

That led many critics to call out LIV Golf players and CEO Scott O’Neill, who were highly critical of the OWGR’s decision to award points only through the top 10 finishers and ties in each event. While the early returns were tangible for those who earned points in Saudi Arabia, Garcia noted that it essentially equates to missing a cut for those who finish outside of the top 10 because it adds another event to their equation with zero points.

“It’s definitely a step forward. Is it fair? I mean, I guess time will tell us,” said the 46-year-old Spaniard, who added that he’d like to see the number of players earning points expanded. “It doesn’t feel like it’s totally fair.

“Now the first few weeks obviously when one of us is winning, that guy is going to make a jump in the rankings, which is great, but then every time you finish 11th or worse you’re getting a zero and you’re getting an extra event on your divisor. So that in the near (term). A little farther future, it can hurt a lot.

“But like I said, it’s a step forward, so it is positive. I think that at the end of the day, it’s going to help some of these kids performing well to move up the rankings. Hopefully they play really well.”

One of those kids is the 23-year-old Smylie. If he can rise into the top 50, Smylie would be eligible for each of the four majors, making this week’s event in Adelaide a tremendous opportunity as he eyes the Masters in April.

“Ultimately, the Masters is something that’s on my mind now,” Smylie said. “That’s a conversation that I can start to have and that is fuel to the fire for me. Let’s see what happens these next few weeks.”

Cam Smith was ranked No. 2 in the world when he signed with LIV. He’s now 227th, dropping six spots after tying for 13th in Riyadh. He also missed the cut in all four majors in 2025 before closing the year with a runner-up at the Australian Open.

Smith said he never considered accepting the PGA Tour’s offer following Brooks Koepka’s return, and called the initial OWGR inclusion a “work in progress.”

“It is nice to have that behind us. That’s been a long time coming, so it’s nice to get the recognition,” he said. “It’s so hard out here. I don’t think we get the respect of the golfing world that maybe we respect sometimes because of what it is and how we play.

“I think it’s a work in progress, but it’s a step in the right direction, nonetheless. It was good for Elvis last week. He loves it.”

Part of LIV’s effort to swing the tide with the OWGR was to expanding events from 54 to 72 holes in 2026. That has drawn mixed reactions from outside and from within LIV, with Bryson DeChambeau saying last week that’s not what players signed up for.

Garcia noted that 72-hole events should benefit players who are in the best form for a given week, and new Smash GC team captain Talor Gooch said those he has talked to are “over the moon” to be playing for LIV Golf.

“We have 14 great opportunities, and with the world ranking and majors and things kind of softening up on all of those fronts and kind of the ecosystem starting to accept us slowly but surely, I think it’s going to continue to make this place more and more enticing for people,” Gooch said.

“There’s obviously some frustrations with us not getting the whole (rankings) pie, let’s just say. But you know what, at least we got some pie and let’s keep trying to get some more pie.”

–Field Level Media

In a league where no game is a layup, No. 16 Texas Tech can’t afford a letdown to maintain any hope of staying in the hunt for a top-four finish in the Big 12 Conference.

That fact, plus the memory of last month’s meeting in Colorado, provides plenty of motivation as the Red Raiders get back to work Wednesday night against the Buffaloes in Lubbock, Texas.

Texas Tech (17-6, 7-3 Big 12) takes on a Colorado team that has won two of its last three games following a six-game losing streak.

Colorado’s nosedive began with a 73-71 loss Jan. 10 at home to Texas Tech. The Buffs (14-10, 4-7) roared back from a 24-point second-half deficit, but Barrington Hargress’ game-winning 3-point attempt at the buzzer was off the mark.

“We’re focused on what Colorado has done to get better since we played them because they almost came back and got us on a day when we played well most of the game,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “They’ve played really well offensively and have a lot of different players who can make you pay if you’re not locked in defensively.”

Texas Tech avoided a three-game losing streak for the first time since the 2023-24 season with a 70-63 win Sunday at West Virginia.

The Red Raiders got back to the things that have been strengths all season: shooting the ball well from beyond the arc and defending the Mountaineers well most of the day.

Sparked by Donovan Atwell’s hot hand, Texas Tech knocked down 8 of 11 3-point attempts in the first half on the way to connecting on 13 of 24 — the 18th time this season the Red Raiders made double-digit threes. The accuracy was just as vital, though: Texas Tech hit at a 54.2% clip from deep after going 12 of 40 vs. Kansas and 11 of 29 against UCF.

That contrast figures to be important in the rematch with Colorado. The Red Raiders are among the Big 12 leaders in 3-point shooting — they rank second at 39.1% with more makes (264) and attempts (675) than any other team — while the Buffs are last in 3-point defense at 36.9%.

Colorado nabbed a 78-70 victory Saturday against Arizona State with some of the same ingredients that helped the Buffs get off to 8-0 and 12-3 starts this season. They took care of the ball, with only 10 turnovers, and were strong on the backboards with a 40-26 edge on the glass.

“We did some good things because we had a really good practice the day before,” said longtime Buffs coach Tad Boyle. “These are the dog days of February for college basketball players. Guys get tired of practicing, but what young guys have to understand is that practice does matter and we play better and are a different team when we practice well.”

The Buffs will need to hone in on the Red Raiders’ top two scorers, J.T. Toppin and Christian Anderson. Toppin provides 21.8 points (third in the Big 12) and a conference-best 10.5 rebounds per game while Anderson, who was full strength at West Virginia after missing the Kansas loss with an illness, averages 19.3 points and a Big-12 best 7.7 assists.

Texas Tech’s defensive focus will be on freshman Isaiah Johnson, who leads Colorado with 16.3 points per game. He struggled through a 3-for-11 shooting night against the Red Raiders in the first meeting, but he keyed the Buffs’ 44-30 second-half surge by scoring all of his 21 points after halftime — buoyed by a 13-for-13 effort from the free-throw line.

–Field Level Media