Sports
Texas Tech star G Christian Anderson available for NCAA Tournament
Mar 7, 2026; Provo, Utah, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Christian Anderson (4) reacts to a made three point shot during the second half against the BYU Cougars at Marriott Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Baker-Imagn Images Texas Tech star guard Christian Anderson, injured during the team’s loss Thursday in the Big 12 tournament, will be available for the NCAA Tournament, the school announced late Saturday.
The sophomore is an All-Big 12 first-team selection who leads the conference and is fourth nationally with 7.6 assists per game. He also averages 18.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 31 games. Projected to be a first-round NBA draft pick, Anderson has eight double-doubles and set a program mark with 236 assists in a single season.
The Red Raiders (22-10, 12-6 Big 12) will find out their NCAA Tournament seed and opponent when the brackets are announced on Sunday.
Anderson slipped and injured his groin during the second half of the team’s 75-53 quarterfinal loss to Iowa State on Thursday.
“I’m feeling good,” Anderson said afterward. “Obviously the floor is a bit slippery, so I think I just kind of misstepped or did a movement that caused me to slip and kind of ended up in a little unnatural position. That’s what it was.”
Concerns about slipping prompted the Big 12 to swap out its innovative LED glass court for traditional hardwood for the remainder of the conference tournament on Friday and Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. Arizona beat Houston on Saturday for the title.
The LED court displayed various graphics in real time and featured other innovations such as lighting up the 3-point line on shot attempts from behind the arc.
However, several players during the first three days of the tournament — and during the previous week’s Big 12 women’s tourney — slipped and struggled with grip issues on the surface.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lasse Johnsen's debut goal helps Kansas City earn 1st win at Galaxy
Mar 14, 2026; Carson, California, USA; Sporting Kansas City defender Jayden Reid (99) handles the ball while LA Galaxy midfielder Marco Reus (18) defends during the first half at Dignity Health Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-Imagn Images Dejan Joveljic scored a goal against his former team and Lasse Johnsen also scored in his MLS debut as Sporting Kansas City earned a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy for their first win of the season Saturday at Carson, Calif.
John Pulskamp made four saves as Sporting KC (1-2-1, 4 points) doubled its goal total on the season after they were shut out twice over the first three weeks. It was the first victory with Sporting KC for new head coach Raphael Wicky.
Marco Reus scored a late goal and Novak Micovic had two saves for the Galaxy (1-2-1, 4 points), who lost their second consecutive MLS match after starting the season with a draw and a win.
Los Angeles played without midfielder Gabriel Pec, who was given a red card in last Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids. Pec scored three goals in a CONCACAF Champions Cup match Wednesday.
Joveljic, who scored 34 goals with the Galaxy from 2021-24, delivered his third of the season just before halftime when he moved into the penalty area, made his way around a Los Angeles defender and scored with his right foot past Micovic.
Johnsen, who was acquired in February from Malmo FF in Sweden, had his debut delayed by visa issues but made the wait worthwhile when he scored in the 74th minute. His score came off a touch pass from Joveljic.
Johnsen’s goal proved pivotal when the Galaxy finally got on the scoreboard in the 82nd minute after an offensive flurry when Pulskamp made a diving save and saw two subsequent shots hit off the right post before Reus was finally able to deliver his first of the season on a header.
Los Angeles forward Joao Klauss was replaced by a substitute in the 63rd minute and held without a goal for the first time in four regular-season games with his new club. Klauss was acquired from St. Louis City FC in a January transfer.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Stijn Spierings lifts RSL with late goal in debut
Mar 14, 2026; Sandy, Utah, USA; Real Salt Lake forward Morgan Guilavogui (9) reacts to a missed shot on goal during the first half against the Austin FC at America First Field. Mandatory Credit: Peter Creveling-Imagn Images Stijn Spierings scored on a swerving, long-range effort in the 88th minute — just six minutes after entering his MLS debut — and Real Salt Lake rallied to a 2-1 victory over visiting Austin FC on Saturday night in Sandy, Utah.
The 30-year-old Dutchman, signed in late January from Denmark’s Brondby IF, is the first player above age 23 to score for Salt Lake (3-1-0, 9 points) this season and the only one in Saturday’s victory, RSL’s third straight.
The Claret-and-Cobalt’s earlier tally was an own goal, created by pressure from Noel Caliskan down the left flank about midway through the first half.
Jon Bell scored early for Austin (1-2-1, 4 points), which lost its third straight match in Salt Lake and fifth out of six since the Verde joined MLS in 2021.
Brad Stuver made seven saves in an exceptional performance, but could not keep Spierings’ effort from knuckling into the bottom-left corner.
Diego Luna, RSL’s 2025 leading scorer and an American World Cup hopeful, made his season debut off the bench in the 70th minute after missing the first three games with a knee injury.
Luna nearly broke the tie in the 87th minute on a strong RSL attack down the left, his effort blocked off the line by defender Brendan Hines-Ike.
But Spierings sprung to life a minute later, taking a throughball from center back Justen Glad in stride, turning his hips and immediately firing toward the target from beyond the penalty area before sighting the goal.
Bell put Austin in front at 18 minutes from a set piece. Facundo Torres provided the in-swinging ball on a free kick from the left flank about 12 yards beyond the penalty area.
Bell rose above Sergi Solans near the far post and powered a header back across the goal, bouncing off the turf before it nestled inside the left post.
The advantage lasted only six minutes before Caliskan’s pressure resulted in an equalizer.
After playing a give-and-go with Juan Manuel Sanabria down the left, Caliskan drove in a menacing left-footed cross.
Defender Oleksandr Svatok tried to volley it clear of the area while retreating toward his line. Instead, he hammered it past Stuver into his own net from close range.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Down 2 early, Penguins rally to keep Mammoth reeling
Mar 14, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Avery Hayes (85) and Utah Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) collide on a play during the first period at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images Noel Acciari scored with just less than 12 minutes left in regulation for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who rallied from an early two-goal deficit to beat the Utah Mammoth 4-3 Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Anthony Mantha recorded a goal and an assist for the Penguins, and Bryan Rust and Tommy Novak also lit the lamp for Pittsburgh. Egor Chinakhov, Erik Karlsson and Parker Wotherspoon tallied a pair of assists each as Pittsburgh snapped a two-game skid.
Stuart Skinner made 26 saves for his first win since Jan. 31, ending a 0-1-4 stretch.
Dylan Guenther scored twice for the Mammoth and defenseman Ian Cole ended a 38-game dry spell. Alex Kerfoot and Kevin Stenlund finished with an assist apiece.
Karel Vejmelka stopped 19 shots for Utah.
Acciari set himself up for the game-winner, getting the puck off the forecheck behind the Mammoth net. He then stationed himself in front of the net and was in position to put back a rebound of a Wotherspoon shot from the point with 11:57 remaining.
Guenther gave the home team a 2-0 lead with 13:23 left in the first thanks to a pair of unassisted goals, including one on a power play, 91 seconds apart.
Pittsburgh cut into the Utah lead with 5:12 left in the second after Utah’s Lawson Crouse and Alexander Kerfoot committed minor penalties 33 seconds apart. Mantha beat Vejmelka short side from the circle on a 5-on-3.
Novak got the equalizer less than three minutes later, beating Vejmelka after Wotherspoon’s shot was deflected by Kailer Yamamoto.
Pittsburgh took advantage of Utah’s fifth second-period minor just 84 seconds into the third when Rust’s power-play goal gave the Penguins their first lead.
In losing its fourth straight (0-2-2), Utah gave Pittsburgh six power-play opportunities.
Cole, called for hooking Rust in the closing seconds of the second, atoned for his error with his third goal of the season at 15:43 to tie the game.
Utah had several chances for a late equalizer, none better than a Michael Carcone breakaway. However, his shot with 2:30 left hit off Skinner and the crossbar before going out of play.
–Field Level Media
