Sports
Wolverines dominant, chase 'one more' Monday
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) celebrates a play with Michigan guard Trey McKenney (1) in the first half of their Final Four game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, April 4, 2026. INDIANAPOLIS — UConn gets a turn in front of the Michigan steamroller on Monday night when the 2025-26 college basketball season closes with the national championship at Lucas Oil Stadium. And if the first five failed attempts can teach the Huskies anything, it might be just two words: Good luck.
Michigan stomped Arizona 91-73 on Saturday night in a no-contest national semifinal in the late game at the Final Four that followed UConn holding off Illinois.
Michigan was all gas, no brake in improving to 36-3 and earning a spot in the title game with a fifth consecutive blowout in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Aday Mara scored 26 points, Trey McKenney had 16 and generations of Wolverines celebrated with Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and the Fab Five courtside at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Michigan had 26 points off turnovers and made 12 of 27 3-pointers.
The barrage had Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd shaking his head long before Elliot Cadeau splashed his second 3 and gave the Wolverines a 27-point lead with 12:20 left in the game.
“We never could get in a rhythm. So they get a ton of credit for that. No one’s been able to do that to us all year,” Lloyd said. “So it was an impressive performance by them.”
There was little life remaining in the Wildcats, who were atypically frustrated for most of their third loss of the season (36-3).
With Michigan All-American Yaxel Lendeborg in and out of the game — first due to foul trouble, later to have his rolled ankle checked and taped to return — the Wolverines flexed their title-worthy depth.
“Yax, I think, had two fouls and a couple — then two injuries. And so we were obviously extremely concerned,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “But when we went small we were obviously concerned — when you’re playing Arizona going small and we were able to get stops, the guards were flat and wings were flying in and keeping balls alive.”
Cadeau missed 12 of his 14 shot attempts in the first half, but McKenney could scarcely miss and Arizona had no way to slow down 7-foot-3 center Mara.
McKenney made three 3s in less then five minutes during a second-half sprint that helped Michigan kick its way to a 77-47 lead with 10:31 on the clock.
Mara was more of a constant.
He made 11 of 16 field goals, three of them emphatic and emotional dunks. On defense he slapped away shots, changed countless more and harassed Arizona freshman Koa Peat into a night to erase from his memory.
Peat took a team-high 18 shots (made six) and had only 11 points with 10 minutes left in the game. He eventually led Arizona with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Arizona had a couple of roundhouse punches left as the deficit hovered around 30 points, but a true game never materialized.
“We got down a little bit, and we’ve been down a few times this year. But not like that,” Lloyd said.
Peat and Brayden Burries cashed 3s and Big 12 Player of the Year Jaden Bradley, limited to 25 minutes due to foul trouble, outsprinted the Wolverines for a layup that narrowed the gap to 81-60. The Wildcats forced a stop and then Cadeau’s fourth foul sent Bradley to the line for one-and-one. He came away with two and whittled the margin to 19.
Burries was 2 of 10 from 3-point range. He finished with 13 points, as did Bradley.
“They had a great defensive plan. They were pretty bigger,” Burries said. “But I feel like most of our shots were just, like, in and out. Like, it was in the rim and then out. Sometimes it’s just not your day, and today just wasn’t our day.”
It was still a 19-point game when Mara lowered his right shoulder and tugged Tobe Awaka with him for a five-footer on the baseline that gave him a career-high 25 points and added the free throw to balloon Michigan’s lead to 86-64 with 5:19 left.
“Aday was sensational. He was at the rim, catching lobs. He was a force down low. He was a pressure release up top. I mean, he’s such a smart basketball player,” May said. “And obviously his rim protection — he did a great job on Peat. He did a great job forcing a lot of those misses around the basket because of his aggression.”
Michigan improved to 8-1 in the Final Four and meets UConn (34-5) on Monday. The Huskies controlled the game until the final eight minutes when the Fighting Illini threatened, but UConn proved too much. The Huskies are now 7-1 all-time in the Final Four. Michigan is 1-6 and UConn is 6-0 all-time in the national title game.
“We know it’s just one more, so we’re going to try to get it,” Mara said.
–By Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media
Sports
St. Louis draws with Real Salt Lake to push unbeaten streak to 8
Jul 25, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis CITY SC midfield Marcel Hartel (17) controls the ball from the Colorado Rapids during the second half at Energizer Park. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images Marcel Hartel scored an equalizer in the 72nd minute Saturday night as St. Louis City SC tied visiting Real Salt Lake 1-1, extending their unbeaten streak to eight games.
Roman Burki made a pair of second-half saves for St. Louis (7-6-5, 26 points), who hasn’t lost since May 3. St. Louis outshot Salt Lake 18-7 in the draw.
Sergi Solans scored for Salt Lake (8-6-3, 27 points), who earned its first points since the World Cup break following back-to-back losses. Rafael Cabral recorded four saves as the club finished with one goal in its fourth straight game.
After St. Louis’ Conrad Wallem opened the second half with his second shot on goal — which were both saved by Cabral — Salt Lake finally recorded its first shot attempt of the match in the 54th minute. Stijn Spierings’ shot was blocked before Burki made his first save a minute later on Sam Junqua’s attempt to preserve the scoreless tie.
Salt Lake did push once across, though, when Saba Lobjanidze found Solans, who fired in a left-footed shot past the outstretched Burki to give the visitors a 1-0 edge. The tie-breaking goal was Solans’ seventh of the year.
St. Louis answered in the 72nd minute, when Hartel picked off Cabral’s pass and scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
Hartel had another opportunity in the 90th minute for a potential game-winner, but Cabral’s save on the last shot attempt of the night kept the game knotted at 1-1.
The closest either team got to scoring in the opening half was in the 18th minute, when Wallem’s left-footed shot from the right of the box was saved by Cabral.
St. Louis held possession for nearly 65% of the first half and recorded six total shots (just one on goal), while holding Salt Lake without a single attempt through 45-plus minutes.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Diamondbacks use 7-run seventh to blast past Guardians
Aug 1, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll (7) hits a three-run home run during the seventh inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Dermer-Imagn Images Geraldo Perdomo hit a go-ahead solo homer and Corbin Carroll belted a three-run shot in a seven-run seventh inning, powering the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 12-8 victory over the host Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night.
Perdomo smacked the first pitch thrown by reliever Hunter Gaddis (1-3) into the right field stands and Carroll went deep against Franco Aleman. James McCann added a two-run double and Ildemaro Vargas had an RBI single as Arizona seized a 9-2 advantage.
The Diamondbacks, who trailed 2-0 entering the fifth, won their fourth straight game to remain in the second wild-card spot in the National League. They are an NL-best 14-5 since July 9.
Gerardo Carrillo (2-0) tossed two scoreless innings for the victory. Gaddis, Aleman, Will Dion and Tim Herrin were torched for 10 runs in the final three frames.
Arizona extended its lead to 10-2 on a solo homer by Nolan Arenado in the eighth before Paul Sewald gave up five runs in the bottom of the inning without retiring a batter.
Perdomo finished with a career-high tying four hits along with three RBIs.
Steven Kwan had a two-run single and Chase DeLauter homered in the eighth for Cleveland, which fell to .500 for the first time since May 10 but remains tied for the third and final wild-card spot in the American League with the Minnesota Twins.
Arizona catcher Gabriel Moreno went 0-for-6, ending his on-base streak at 27 games. He also had safely reached in a franchise-record 46 consecutive starts.
The Diamondbacks tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth, scoring two runs (one earned) against All-Star Parker Messick. First baseman Rhys Hoskins made a diving stop of a grounder by Perdomo, but inexplicably threw the ball to no one at the bag.
Hoskins put the Guardians up 2-0 in the first with a two-run homer off Kohl Drake. The 424-foot blast to center scored DeLauter, giving Hoskins all three of Cleveland’s RBIs in the first 16 innings of the interleague series.
Messick labored throughout his 91-pitch outing, lasting a season-low 4 1/3 innings and remaining winless at home since May 13. The left-hander gave up six hits, two runs (one earned), walked one and struck out six.
Drake went four innings, allowing two runs on five hits with one walk and a career-high six strikeouts in his third appearance. The lefty made his major league debut on July 21 against the Athletics.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reports: Warriors bringing back key reserve Gary Payton II
Apr 7, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II (0) makes a layup past Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud (42) in the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images Gary Payton II is returning to the Golden State Warriors on a one-year contract for the veteran minimum of $3.9 million, according to multiple reports on Saturday.
Payton, 33, is a 6-foot-2 guard with the athleticism to play in the frontcourt. He’s coming off one of his best seasons after dealing with injuries in earlier seasons. Payton averaged a career-high 7.5 points along with 3.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 15.6 minutes in a career-best 73 games (one start) last season.
He averages 5.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 15.1 minutes in 343 regular-season games (52 starts) for the Milwaukee Bucks (2016-18), Los Angeles Lakers (2018), Washington Wizards (2019-20), Warriors (2020-22, 2023-present) and Portland Trail Blazers (2022-23).
He won the NBA championship with the Warriors in the 2021-22 season.
–Field Level Media
St. Louis draws with Real Salt Lake to push unbeaten streak to 8
Diamondbacks use 7-run seventh to blast past Guardians
