Sports
Victor Wembanyama, Spurs take on red-hot Thunder
Oct 28, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) drives to the basket during the second half against the Houston Rockets at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images Victor Wembanyama ran away with NBA Rookie of the Year honors last season.
His closest challenger for that honor, Chet Holmgren, spent last season helping his team to the best record in the Western Conference and a playoff series win.
Two of the league’s best young big men square off for the first time this season when Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs take on Holmgren’s Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.
“Two big guys going at it,” Spurs backup center Zach Collins told the San Antonio Express-News. “You don’t really see that too much anymore, so it is fun to watch. Kind of has a very old-school feel to it, two bigs going at it, two heavyweights, and it seems like both of those guys like that matchup and they take it personal.”
Last season, the Thunder won three of four games against the Spurs.
Wembanyama played in three of the four games, averaging 20 points, 13 rebounds and 4.3 assists. That included a 28-point, 13-rebound, seven-assist showing in late February, a key performance that helped Wembanyama win the award unanimously.
Holmgren averaged 14.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists against the Spurs last season across those four games.
So far this season, Wembanyama has shown some effects from a busy offseason that included playing for France in the Olympics.
In San Antonio’s 1-2 start, he’s averaging 20 points, 12 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.7 blocks but is shooting just 22.2 percent from beyond the arc. That’s down from his 32.5 percent average from last season.
“I’m in shape,” Wembanyama said. “But now it’s just getting used to playing again, my teammates, the different ways teams guard us, different strategies. Everybody’s going to get better as the season goes on.”
Holmgren has averaged 23.7 points, 13 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 4.0 blocks so far to help the Thunder start 3-0 for the first time since 2016.
Even with a second stretch of three games in four days early in the season, Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said he won’t be limiting minutes for either Holmgren or the Thunder’s other young core anytime soon.
“With all the guy’s minutes, I try to be aware of the schedule, I try to be aware of the game context,” Daigneault said. “These guys are young players and one of the benefits of having young players is they can go. They don’t need to be bubble-wrapped.”
Oklahoma City has won its three games by 15 or more points, though its offense continues to be inconsistent.
The Thunder have the best defensive rating in the league so far, though, allowing just 90.8 points per 100 possessions.
“Our compete level has been really high,” Daigneault said. “I understand the numbers have been really good in a very small sample, but none of that carries over.
“You are the level that you play at every night, so we have to play to that level again (Wednesday).”
The Thunder figure to be limited again in the frontcourt outside of Holmgren with Isaiah Hartenstein (hand), Jaylin Williams (hamstring) and Kenrich Williams (knee) all out.
The Spurs will be without Tre Jones for a third consecutive game after he suffered a right ankle sprain in the opener.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Baylor edges UCF on last-second free throw
Feb 28, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; UCF Knights guard Riley Kugel (2) shoots against Baylor Bears guard Cameron Carr (43) during the first half at Addition Financial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images Obi Agbim made a free throw with one second left Saturday night, lifting visiting Baylor to an 87-86 Big 12 Conference win over UCF in Orlando.
The Bears (15-14, 5-11 Big 12) led the entire second half until the Knights’ Jamichael Stillwell’s layup tied it at 84 with 1:08 left. After Agbim’s layup put Baylor up, UCF’s Devan Cambridge sank two foul shots with 25 seconds remaining to tie it again. UCF gave a foul with three seconds left, followed by each team using their final timeout to plot strategy.
Out of timeouts, Baylor fed Agbim for a 3-pointer and he was fouled by Riley Kugel. Agbim missed the first, made the second and missed the third but it was rebounded by teammate Cameron Carr, allowing the Bears to run out the clock.
Carr scored 26 points for Baylor, going 10 of 10 at the foul line. Dan Skillings Jr. came off the bench to add 15 points, while Isaac Williams chipped in 14 and Agbim finished with 12 to go along with seven assists.
Kugel scored 26 points to pace the Knights (20-8, 9-7), while Jordan Burks added 12 and Stillwell hit for 11. Themus Fulks managed only eight points, six under his average, but dished out a game-high 10 assists.
While UCF entered the game off a convincing win at No. 19 BYU on Tuesday night that likely sealed its at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, Baylor came in knowing it would need to win its last three regular-season games and then do damage in the Big 12 tourney to have a chance.
The Bears lit up the Knights for 56 first-half points, making 19 of 35 field goal attempts and going 8 of 15 from the 3-point line. Carr was instrumental in that effort, ringing up 20 points on just nine shot attempts. He was 4 of 6 on 3-pointers and made all six of his free throws.
UCF shot well for most of the half but went cold down the stretch. It was also outscored 10-2 in fastbreak points and went to the break trailing by 14.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Luka Doncic has happy birthday as Lakers crush Warriors
Feb 28, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward/guard Luka Doncic (77) dribbles against Golden State Warriors guard Moses Moody (4) in the second period at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images Luka Doncic celebrated his 27th birthday with 26 points, eight assists and six rebounds to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 129-101 rout of the Golden State Warriors on Saturday in San Francisco.
Los Angeles came into the Bay Area on a three-game losing skid but rebounded emphatically. The Lakers surrendered the game’s first two points, then went on to score the next 10 en route to a lead they never relinquished.
Doncic set the pace for the Los Angeles offense, shooting 9 of 17 from the field, including 4 of 9 from 3-point range. He knocked down consecutive triples to open the second half, then connected on another pair minutes later as part of a 16-9 surge.
Doncic scored 16 points in a third quarter that effectively snuffed any hope of a Golden State rally.
The Warriors showed signs of life in the second quarter when they trimmed what had been a 23-point deficit to 12 points on the strength of a 15-2 spurt. Gary Payton II scored six of his 12 points off the bench during the run.
Twelve was as close as Golden State came the rest of the night. The Los Angeles lead steadily ballooned throughout the second half behind five Lakers scoring at least 15 points.
LeBron James shot 4 of 6 from 3-point distance and 7 of 13 from the floor overall en route to 22 points. James also flirted with a triple-double, adding a game-high nine assists and seven rebounds.
Austin Reaves scored 18 points for Los Angeles and Luke Kennard came off the bench to connect on 4-of-7 3-point attempts on his way to 16 points. Jake LaRavia dropped in 15 points in reserve duty.
Golden State, meanwhile, had just one scorer with more than 12 points: Gui Santos, who finished with 14.
Moses Moody scored all 12 of his points on 4-of-10 3-point shooting. De’Anthony Melton added 10 points and Al Horford scored eight points off the bench.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ole Miss snaps losing skid at Auburn's expense
Ole Miss Rebels guard Ilias Kamardine (6) shoots a floater as Auburn Tigers take on Ole Miss Rebels at Neville Arena in Auburn, Ala. on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. Ole Miss snapped its longest losing streak since 2002-03 to crush Auburn’s seemingly slim March Madness dreams with a gutsy 85-79 Southeastern Conference road win Saturday night.
The Rebels (12-17, 4-12 SEC) had dropped their last 10 games but came alive with their second-best shooting day of the season, making 31 of 58 shots from the field (53.4%).
AJ Storr and Patton Pinkins led all scorers with 26 points apiece. Storr came off the bench for the Rebels shooting 9 for 15 from the field to go along with four assists. Pinkins made 8 of his 10 shots, including 4 for 5 from 3-point range, and Malik Dia finished with 10.
Keyshawn Hall helped lead the charge for Auburn (15-14, 6-10) with 21 points, including making 9 of his 10 free throw attempts. Tahaad Pettiford chipped in 24 points, Elyjah Freeman had 15 and Kevin Overton dropped 10.
Auburn built an early second half lead, but Ole Miss responded with a 22-4 run to blow open the game and take a 67-55 lead with 7:32 left.
The Tigers brought it close, but the Rebels never let go of the lead after that.
Ole Miss iced the game with a huge alley-oop, second-chance dunk by James Scott, who had a season-high four blocks, to stretch the lead to 78-71 with 1:11 left.
With the Help of Storr, Ole Miss’ bench dominated Auburn’s, outscoring the Tigers 28-4.
Both teams came out the gates hot with the Rebels making 7 of their first 8 shots and the Tigers making 6 of their first 8. Auburn fell behind by six early but used a 14-2 run that was capped by an acrobatic layup from Filip Jovic to pull ahead 31-25 with 4:46 left in the half.
The Rebels scored the last eight points of the half, including a layup and jumper from Storr, to take a 38-37 lead into the half.
Ole Miss was lights out in the first half making 16 of 27 shots (59.3%) and 5 of 11 from 3-point range. Dia, Storr and Pinkins each got into double digits in the first half with the latter two logging 10 points and the former with 11.
Auburn made 14 of 26 shots (53.8%) in the first half with Hall leading the way with 10 points.
This was Ole Miss’ first win over Auburn, breaking a 10-game head-to-head skid, since the Rebels pulled out an 86-84 overtime win Feb. 6, 2021.
–Field Level Media
