Sports
Top 25 roundup: No. 8 Michigan State stuns No. 16 Maryland at buzzer
Feb 26, 2025; College Park, Maryland, USA; Michigan State Spartans celebrate after a shot by Michigan State Spartans guard Tre Holloman (5) goes in at the buzzer against the Maryland Terrapins during the second half at Xfinity Center. Mandatory Credit: Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images Tre Holloman made a shot at the buzzer from just beyond halfcourt as No. 8 Michigan State stunned No. 16 Maryland 58-55 in College Park, Md., on Wednesday.
Holloman’s Hail Mary came after Maryland’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie missed a 3-pointer with two seconds left. The Spartans’ Jaxon Kohler got the rebound and passed to Holloman, who dribbled once and fired.
Jase Richardson scored 15 points for Michigan State (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten), which won its fourth straight. The last three have come against ranked teams. It also was the Spartans’ seventh straight victory over Maryland and third in a row in College Park.
Rodney Rice scored 20 points to pace Maryland (21-7, 11-6), which had won eight of its previous nine games. Gillespie scored 15 points and Derik Queen contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Terrapins.
No. 1 Auburn 106, Ole Miss 76
Johni Broome scored 24 points in a milestone outing, Auburn set a season high in points, and the Tigers hammered the visiting Rebels.
The shooting was outstanding for the Tigers (26-2, 14-1 SEC), who connected on 34 of 57 shots (59.6 percent) and hit 11 of 21 from long range. Broome, who added nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks, sank a free throw in the first half to become the 86th player in DI history to reach 2,500 career points. Chad Baker-Mazara had 22 points and was 4 of 5 from deep.
For the Rebels (19-9, 8-7), Sean Pedulla totaled 14 points, four assists and four rebounds. Jaemyn Brakefield had 13, while Matthew Murrell and Dre Davis had 12 each. Malik Dia added 11 in the team’s third straight defeat.
No. 7 St. John’s 76, Butler 70
RJ Luis Jr. scored 24 points to lead the Red Storm to a win over the Bulldogs in Indianapolis, clinching at least a share of the Big East regular-season title for the first time since 1992.
Luis shot 9-for-16 from the field for St. John’s (25-4, 16-2 Big East). The Red Storm can claim their first outright Big East crown since 1985 if they can beat visiting Seton Hall on Saturday.
Jahmyl Telfort led Butler (13-15, 6-11) with 13 points and seven rebounds. Pierre Brooks II and Boden Kapke each added 12 points.
Vanderbilt 86, No. 12 Texas A&M 84
Tyler Nickel scored 21 points on a career-high seven 3-pointers and the Commodores held on to upset the Aggies in College Station, Texas.
MJ Collins Jr. added 16 points and Jason Edwards contributed 15 for Vanderbilt (19-9, 7-8 SEC), which had to survive foul trouble.
Pharrel Payne led Texas A&M with 23 points and Wade Taylor IV contributed 21 points and six assists. Zhuric Phelps chipped in 14 and CJ Wilcher had 12 for Texas A&M (20-8, 9-6), which has lost three games in a row.
No. 13 Clemson 83, Notre Dame 68
Ian Schieffelin scored a career-high 24 points and the Tigers defeated the visiting Fighting Irish for their fifth win in a row.
Viktor Lakhin had 18 points, Jake Heidbreder notched 14 off the bench and Jaeden Zackery added 11 for Clemson (23-5, 15-2 ACC), which is one game behind Duke in the conference standings.
Markus Burton fired in 30 points and Tae Davis had 15 for Notre Dame (12-16, 6-11), which had won two of its previous four games.
No. 17 Kentucky 83, Oklahoma 82
Otega Oweh flipped in the game-winning layup with six seconds left to give the Wildcats a hard-fought win over the Sooners in its first-ever game at Norman, Okla.
Oweh, who played the previous two seasons with the Sooners, scored a career-high 28 points and pulled down six rebounds for the Wildcats (19-9, 8-7 Southeastern Conference). Brandon Garrison chipped in 12 points, three steals and three blocks off the Kentucky bench. He blocked Jeremiah Fears’ attempt for a game-winning layup at the buzzer.
Jalon Moore scored 20 points, Fears added 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Brycen Goodine chipped in 13 points for Oklahoma (17-11, 4-11).
No. 18 Memphis 84, Rice 72
Dain Dainja had game highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds as the Tigers pulled away in the last two minutes for an American Athletic Conference win over the visiting Owls.
PJ Haggerty added 21 points and five assists for the Tigers (23-5, 13-2 AAC), while Nicholas Jourdain contributed 19 points and nine rebounds. Memphis shot 49.2 percent from the field in securing a season sweep of the Owls.
Caden Powell scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures for Rice (13-16, 4-12). Denver Anglin added 14 points, Andrew Akuchie had 12 and Kellen Amos came off the bench for 11.
No. 22 Arizona 83, Utah 66
Caleb Love hit six 3-pointers and scored 23 points to help the Wildcats cruise to a victory over the Utes in Tucson, Ariz.
Tobe Awaka (10 rebounds and two blocks), Henri Veesaar (seven boards) and Jaden Bradley each scored 12 points as the Wildcats (19-9, 13-4 Big 12) bounced back from a one-point home loss to BYU on Saturday in impressive fashion. Love scored 17 first-half points to help Arizona jump out to an early double-digit lead. He finished 7 of 15 on field-goal attempts, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range, and logged seven assists and four rebounds for the Wildcats, who had lost three of their previous four games.
Keanu Dawes produced 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench and Ezra Ausar collected 18 points and five boards for the Utes (15-13, 7-10).
No. 25 BYU 91, Arizona State 81
Richie Saunders sank six 3-pointers while scoring 26 points in the Cougars’ win over the Sun Devils at Tempe, Ariz.
BYU hit half of its attempts 34 from beyond the arc. Trevin Knell shot 5-for-6 from long range and finished with 18 points as the Cougars (20-8, 11-6 Big 12) increased their winning streak to five games.
Arizona State (13-15, 4-13) was short-handed in its eighth consecutive Big 12 home loss. BJ Freeman was recently dismissed from the squad, and the Sun Devils also were without Jayden Quaintance (knee) and Alston Mason (illness). Basheer Jihad led Arizona State with 19 points.
–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
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