Sports
Top 25 roundup: K-State takes down No. 16 Cincinnati
Dec 30, 2024; Manhattan, Kansas, USA; Kansas State Wildcats guard Coleman Hawkins (33) and guard Dug McDaniel (0) celebrate during the first half against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Bramlage Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Coleman Hawkins had 20 points and 10 rebounds as Kansas State knocked off No. 16 Cincinnati 70-67 on Monday night in Manhattan, Kan., in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
The Wildcats (7-5, 1-0 Big 12) also got 17 points from Dug McDaniel and 13 from David N’Guessan.
Dan Skillings Jr., who was 3-for-15 from 3-point range entering Monday, was 4-for-8 from deep to lead the Bearcats with 18 points. Dillon Mitchell had 15 points and 11 boards.
After Cincinnati (10-2, 0-1) tied the score at 31 early in the second half, McDaniel scored six straight points for the Wildcats. Kansas State soon extended the lead to nine points before the Bearcats tied it again at 56-56. N’Guessan then scored a three-point play to give Kansas State a 59-56 lead and the Wildcats never trailed again.
No. 2 Auburn 87, Monmouth 58
Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell each recorded double-doubles to lead the host Tigers past the stubborn Hawks in Auburn, Ala.
Broome led all Auburn scorers with 14 points and collected 11 rebounds, while Cardwell finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds as Auburn (12-1) picked up its fifth consecutive win. Monmouth (2-11) lost for the third time in its past four games.
The Hawks remained competitive with one of the nation’s best for more than 13 minutes of the first half before the Tigers, playing for the first time since Dec. 21, broke a 28-28 tie with an 18-0 run to close out the first half.
No. 3 Iowa State 79, Colorado 69
Curtis Jones scored 20 points, Keshon Gilbert added 14 points and the Cyclones held on for a win over the Buffaloes in Boulder, Colo., in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Joshua Jefferson finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and eight steals for Iowa State (11-1, 1-0 Big 12), which won its eighth game in a row.
Julian Hammond III scored 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting to lead Colorado (9-3, 0-1). RJ Smith finished with 14 points and Javon Ruffin scored nine as the Buffaloes fell to 8-1 at home.
No. 14 Houston 60, Oklahoma State 47
J’Wan Roberts scored a season-high 20 points and recorded his first double-double of the campaign as the Cougars beat the Cowboys in Stillwater, Okla., to open conference play.
Roberts corralled 11 rebounds to lead the Cougars (9-3, 1-0 Big 12) to their fifth consecutive victory. Houston seized control with a 17-1 run that closed the first half and yielded a 28-18 lead at the intermission.
Brandon Newman scored 12 points for Oklahoma State (8-4, 0-1) and Robert Jennings had 10. Marchelus Avery, the Cowboys’ leading scorer on the season, scored just five points on 2-for-8 shooting.
No. 17 Mississippi State 87, Bethune-Cookman 73
Riley Kugel scored 22 points off the bench and the Bulldogs used improved defense in the second half to pull away from the Wildcats in Starkville, Miss.
Josh Hubbard scored 16 and RJ Melendez and Claudell Harris Jr. had 12 each as the Bulldogs (12-1) held the Wildcats (3-10) to 28 points in the second half after allowing 45 in the first half. Mississippi State forced a total of 17 turnovers, leading to 24 points.
Trey Thomas and Brayon Freeman scored 21 each to lead Bethune-Cookman, which received just 15 points from its bench compared to 34 for the Mississippi State reserves.
No. 18 Michigan State 80, Western Michigan 62
Jaden Akins had 18 points as the Spartans extended their winning streak to six games by defeating the Broncos in East Lansing, Mich.
Carson Cooper had 13 points and six rebounds for Michigan State (11-2) in the nonconference game. The Spartans wound up with a 20-7 edge in points scored at the foul line.
Chansey Willis Jr.’s 12 points topped Western Michigan (3-9), which has lost five straight. Max Burton added 10 points.
No. 19 Gonzaga 89, Pepperdine 82
Khalif Battle scored 21 points as the Bulldogs held off a furious second-half rally to win their 29th consecutive West Coast Conference opener, defeating the host Waves in Malibu, Calif.
Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine for the 48th time in a row, a streak dating to 2002. Gonzaga’s Braden Huff scored 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field for the Bulldogs (10-4, 1-0 WCC).
Jaxon Olvera led the Waves (6-9, 0-2) with a game-high 27 points and Moe Odum scored all 24 of his points in the second half. Pepperdine outscored Gonzaga 50-39 in the second half, getting as close as four with little more than two minutes remaining, but could not pull off the comeback.
No. 23 Arkansas 92, Oakland 62
Adou Thiero tallied 16 of his 20 points in the first half, Boogie Fland scored 21 of his 24 in the second half, and the Razorbacks routed the Golden Grizzlies in Fayetteville, Ark.
Thiero added six rebounds, six assists and three steals while Karter Knox had 17 points for Arkansas (11-2). The Razorbacks shot 60.3 percent from the field while holding Oakland to 40 percent.
Tuburu Naivalurua recorded 18 points and nine rebounds while Allen Mukeba had 17 points and six boards as Oakland (4-10) lost for the sixth time in seven games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Knicks and Nuggets Blow Big Leads: What Went Wrong in Game 2?
Roughly 5,000 feet of elevation separate Denver and New York City.
Still, gravity works the same regardless of where one stands. Just ask the NBA teams in both towns.
“You get too high, and you get, I don’t want to say cocky, but feeling yourself,” Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said.
That sensation went south on either side of the country Monday night.
After squandering sizable leads that would have cemented commanding 2-0 advantages in their respective first-round playoff series, the Nuggets and Knicks now find themselves bracing for a fight.
Should their opponents ultimately have their number, Denver and New York will look back with disdain on 19 and 14. Those were the Game 2 cushions the teams coughed up as the No. 3 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference.
“It’s a game we should’ve won,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said. “In the playoffs, we can’t give away games.”
Be that as it may, the Knicks did just that against the Atlanta Hawks. They controlled the outcome for much of the night and took a 12-point edge into the fourth quarter after leading by as many as 14.
Then New York shot 5-for-22 from the floor in the final 12 minutes compared to 10-for-15 for Atlanta. Fighting through vulgar chants from the Madison Square Garden faithful, Hawks star CJ McCullom scored six straight points down the stretch during one key sequence on the way to a game-high 32.
“In that fourth quarter, you could tell [the Hawks] were playing with a level of desperation,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “There were four 50-50 balls, and they got three of the four. We always use that stat to gauge the level of aggression in a game. In that fourth quarter, their aggression stepped up.”
New York’s melted at the same time. How many late possessions saw the Knicks pass or hold the ball around the perimeter before settling for subpar looks from 3-point range? The Knicks went 3-for-11 from deep as part of their flop.
Denver led the Minnesota Timberwolves by 19 points early in the second quarter before crumbling. The Nuggets still were ahead by three points to start the fourth quarter but a combined 2-for-12 shooting effort from pillars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in the final 12 minutes took a toll.
“I feel like we had the game in hand, and then we just didn’t make our shots,” Murray said.
As with the Knicks and Hawks, the reversal of fortunes stemmed both from the hosts’ miscues and an outstanding effort from a visiting player, as Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards had 30 points.
“Great leadership, positive,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He recognized he needed to get into attack mode and get downhill a little bit more. He did that.”
The Knicks and Nuggets no doubt sensed the need to amp up their own urgency as things started slipping away Monday.
That neither could act upon it didn’t signal the end for either New York or Denver, of course. But now there’s unnecessary added weight for the climb back to the top.
Sports
Pistons seek return to identity vs. Magic after Game 1 shocker
Apr 19, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) is defended by Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) in the second half during the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images After an exceptional regular season, this wasn’t the start to the NBA playoffs that the Detroit Pistons envisioned.
Reeling from a stunning Game 1 loss in which only two players reached double figures, the Eastern Conference’s top seed heads into Game 2 Wednesday against the visiting Orlando Magic facing early pressure to reset the best-of-seven series.
The eighth-seeded Magic controlled the opener from the start, never trailing and leaning on a balanced offensive attack. Paolo Banchero led the way with 23 points while Franz Wagner scored 11 of his 19 in the fourth quarter to help close out the 112-101 win.
For Detroit, the issue wasn’t just the loss — it was how it happened. The Pistons never established their defensive identity and struggled to find consistent offense beyond star guard Cade Cunningham, two areas that will be central entering Game 2.
“It starts, always, with us defensively,” said Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “When you go back and watch the film of that (game), we weren’t ourselves defensively. The telling tale is typically when we play them, they go to the free-throw line a ton.
“… We went 38 (times) but they went 19. So that means we weren’t playing our brand of basketball, being physical, being handsy, being aggressive. That kind of sets the tone for us.”
Offensively, the Pistons leaned on Cunningham, who scored 39 points, but got little other support — scoring their fewest points in nearly three months, since a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 29. Detroit will need more help from All-Star center Jalen Duren, who was held to just eight points and seven rebounds in Game 1.
“They came out ready from the jump,” Duren said. “We didn’t really meet their intensity. They’ve been playing with their backs against the walls the last few weeks, so they were already kind of already rolling. I think we just got to do a better job meeting that intensity.”
Duren said the Pistons remain confident despite the loss, which extended their home playoff losing streak to 11 games, the longest in NBA history.
“We know the type of team we are,” Duren said. “We feel like we’re the better team. We know that we’ve just got to make adjustments and come out smarter, come out playing harder.”
Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said he has talked to his team about not becoming too overconfident coming off Sunday’s win.
“It’s one game at a time,” Mosley said of his message to the team. “It’s the reality that, yeah, you did get the Game 1 win, but now you have to go and figure out how to get a Game 2 (win). There’s going to be, obviously, the positive talk about what you’ve done, and thinking there’s reasons to celebrate, but at the end of the day, it’s one game, and that’s the most important piece that we’ve talked about: just taking it one game at a time.”
Banchero said the team has received the message, and he believes the key for the Magic is to play defense like they did in the opener.
“I thought we were on a string, just communicating, talking out coverages,” Banchero said. “I think it’s just going to continue to take that, being aggressive, being the aggressors on defense and just not trying to give them much. Obviously they’re going to make shots, but just not trying to give them any free looks.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lynx star Napheesa Collier (ankle) targets June for on-court work
Mar 2, 2026; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Unrivaled Co-founder Napheesa Collier at Barclay’s Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images The Minnesota Lynx said Tuesday that star forward Napheesa Collier’s rehab from left ankle surgery is “progressing as expected,” and she could resume on-court activities in early June.
The team plans to release updates on Collier’s progress when available.
The timeline means Collier will miss, at minimum, the first month of the WNBA season, which begins May 10 for the Lynx.
Collier underwent surgery on her ankle on March 24 after sustaining a severe injury during the 2025 playoffs. Per reports at the time, she sustained a Grade 2 tear of three ligaments in the ankle and a muscle in her left shin on a collision during Game 3 of the playoff semifinal series vs. Phoenix.
Collier, 29, averaged a career-high 22.9 points and shot 40.3% from 3-point range to go with 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game last year. The back-to-back WNBA Most Valuable Player runner-up, Collier is a five-time All-Star and earned MVP honors in the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup final and the 2025 All-Star Game.
–Field Level Media
The new Dyson Supersonic Travel is the cheapest Supersonic yet
The gorgeous yet budget-friendly Samsung QN70F Neo QLED TV is the cheapest its ever been
