MARCH MADNESS
When the game was over, UConn star Paige Bueckers returned to the court with a microphone in her hand. It was a similar scene a year ago, when she announced she was coming back to play for the Huskies one last time. This time, it was her chance to thank the fans who supported her during her five seasons at UConn following her final home game at Gampel Pavilion. They had a lot to celebrate, too. Bueckers had just matched her career high with 34 points in a 91-57 victory over South Dakota State that moved the Huskies into their 31st consecutive Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament. Their next opponent will be the number-three Oklahoma Sooners, who they’ll play at 5:30 Saturday evening.
JuJu Watkins' season is over. One of the biggest stars in women's basketball sustained a knee injury in the first quarter of top-seeded USC’s game against Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament. A team spokesperson says she will undergo surgery. Watkins was driving to the basket when she went down with the non-contact injury. She grabbed her right knee with a pained expression on her face. The crowd in Galen Center went silent as coach Lindsay Gottlieb and two other USC staffers attended to before being carried off the court by multiple people.
Former Georgia Tech and Memphis coach Josh Pastner has agreed to take over UNLV’s program, two people with knowledge of the hiring process told The Associated Press on Monday night. The two people spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made. One of the people labeled it a “done deal.” Pastner takes over Kevin Kruger, who was fired March 15 after going 76-55 over four seasons and failing to reach the NCAA Tournament.
They’re playing for more than trips to the Final Four and a chance to cut down nets at March Madness. It’s also a chance to see and be seen – by other teams. In yet another sign of the times in college sports, the transfer portal opens Monday, giving basketball players a 30-day window to switch schools. It means some of the 1,000 or so players on the 68 teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament are playing to win, but also for more money, more playing time, a chance to be seen and potentially set things up for next year.
Texas has hired Xavier’s Sean Miller to take over the Longhorns basketball program. Texas is turning to the coach who just knocked the Longhorns out of the NCAA Tournament. Miller will try to spark a program that struggled in its first season in the Southeastern Conference. It is also the second time Miller is leaving Xavier, a Catholic school in Cincinnati that plays in the Big East, for a bigger program. He coached at Xavier from 2004-2009 before leaving for Arizona. He then returned to Xavier in 2022 after he was fired.
Minnesota has hired Colorado State’s Niko Medved as its next coach. The native of the Twin Cities area and former student manager for the Gophers had the Rams within one basket of the Sweet 16. Colorado State hit the 25-win mark and made the NCAA Tournament three times in Medved's seven seasons. He was 143-85 with the Rams for the second-best winning percentage in program history. Medved was the front-runner for the Minnesota job from the start. His predecessor Ben Johnson was fired after going 56-71 overall and 22-57 in the Big Ten Conference over four years on the job.
NBA
Naji Marshall scored 22 points off the bench to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 120-101 rout of the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. P.J. Washington and Spencer Dinwiddie finished with 16 each, Brandon Williams scored 15 and Kai Jones added 13. Anthony Davis, in his first game back after missing six weeks with a groin injury, had 12 points in 27 minutes. Brooklyn dropped to 23-49 with its fourth straight loss. Nic Claxton led the Nets with 19 points.
Jayson Tatum had 25 points, seven rebounds and eight assists before suffering a hard foul and leaving in the Boston Celtics’ 113-95 win over the Sacramento Kings. The six-time All-Star was hurt late in the third quarter of the Celtics’ sixth consecutive win. After making his fifth 3-pointer of the game, Tatum absorbed a Flagrant 1 foul by Kings 6-foot-11 center Domantas Sabonis. He remained down for several moments before eventually being making 1 of 2 free throws and being helped to Boston’s locker room. Kristaps Porzingis had 16 points and seven rebounds after missing Sunday’s win in Portland, and Payton Pritchard scored 20 points for the Celtics. Sabonis had 16 points and 17 rebounds for the Kings, and DeMar DeRozan added 20 points and 10 assists.
Karlo Matkovic had a season-high 19 points and eight assists, Antonio Reeves had five 3-pointers and 17 points and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Philadelphia 76ers 112-99. Rookie Yves Missi finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, Kelly Olynyk added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Keion Brooks Jr. added 10 points for New Orleans, which shot 43% (15 for 35) from long distance. Justin Edwards and Jared Butler, from nearby Reserve, Louisiana, scored 19 point apiece as Philadelphia dropped its fifth straight and finished a six-game trip 1-5.
Tyrese Haliburton finished with 24 points and 11 assists, and Obi Toppin made six 3-pointers and added 20 points to help the Indiana Pacers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 119-103. The Pacers have won five straight and seven of eight to stay ahead of Milwaukee in the chase for the Eastern Conference’s No. 4 seed. Indiana made nine of its 13 3s in the third quarter to build an insurmountable 95-73 lead. Naz Reid led the Timberwolves with 20 points. Minnesota has lost three of its last four.
Franz Wagner had 32 points and eight assists, Paolo Banchero added 30 points and seven rebounds and the Orlando Magic sent the Los Angeles Lakers to their third straight loss, 118-106. Luka Doncic scored 32 points and LeBron James added 24 points and eight assists for the Lakers, who have lost seven of their last 10. Anthony Black came off the bench and finished with 17 points, five rebounds and six assists for the Magic.
Jakob Poeltl had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors beat the Washington Wizards 112-104 to stop a four-game slide. Immanuel Quickley had 21 points and seven assists for Toronto. Scottie Barnes finished with 13 points, 10 boards and eight assists. Washington lost its fifth consecutive game. Jordan Poole scored 23 points for the Wizards, and AJ Johnson had 17. Bob Carrington finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. The Wizards lost Keyonte George after the guard sprained his left ankle early in the game. The 21-year-old George got hurt while going for a rebound.
Coby White scored 37 points to lead the streaking Chicago Bulls over the short-handed Denver Nuggets 129-119 on Monday night. Josh Giddey had 26 points and nine assists for Chicago, which finished its season-long road trip 4-2. Jamal Murray had 28 points and Peyton Watson scored a career-high 24 points for Denver, which played their fifth straight game without three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Jokic is expected to return from his left ankle injury during a five-game homestand. Denver was also without Aaron Gordon.
Devin Booker made a mid-range jumper with 2.4 seconds remaining to lift the Phoenix Suns over the Milwaukee Bucks 108-106 for their fourth straight win. It’s a crucial victory for the Suns, who stayed in the final position for the Western Conference play-in tournament. Kevin Durant scored 38 points, while Booker added 19, including the clutch 20-foot jumper after catching the in-bounds pass in the final moments. Brook Lopez missed a turnaround jumper at the buzzer that could have tied it, ending a frantic final stretch. Milwaukee was led by Giannis Antetokoumpo, who scored 31 points.
NHL
With the clock winding down in regulation in a tie game, the Islanders appeared to get the go-ahead goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, it was immediately waved off by officials, and New York ended up losing 4-3 in a shootout. Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri redirected a shot from Alexander Romanov past Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins with about 9 seconds remaining. After officials waved it off for goaltender interference, the situation room in Toronto reviewed the play and confirmed the no-goal call on the ice. Shortly before the deflection, Palmieri skated in front of the the crease and Merzlikins came forward and bumped into him. According to the league’s explanation, “Palmieri impaired Merzlikins’ ability to play his position in the crease prior to the goal."
Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored in regulation and got the deciding goal in the fourth round of the shootout, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the New Jersey Devils 4-3. Pius Suter scored twice for Vancouver, which improved to 3-1 in shootouts this season. Thatcher Demko finished with 22 saves in his first start since a lower body injury on Feb. 8. Timo Meier had two goals and Erik Haula also scored for the Devils, and Jacob Markstrom had 25 saves. Jake DeBrusk scored in the first round of the shootout for Vancouver, and Jesper Bratt tied it for New Jersey in the second round. In the fourth round, Lekkerimaki fired a wrist shot past Markstrom for the win.
Jake Oettinger shut out his home-state team stopping 32 shots, Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene scored 58 seconds apart late in the second period and the Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild 3-0 on Monday night. Oettinger, who grew up about 20 miles south of the Twin Cities in Lakeville, Minnesota, is 7-0-2 in regular-season play against the Wild and has an eight-game home winning streak beginning in late January. Mason Marchment added an empty-net goal in the final minute. Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves for the Wild. Roope Hintz had two assists.
Alex Lyon made 16 saves in relief of injured starter Petr Mrazek, powering the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-1 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Monday night. Lyon took over at goalie after Mrazek exited just 1:38 into the game with an apparent lower body injury. Elmer Soderblom, Marco Kasper, Austin Watson, Alex DeBrincat and Tyler Motte all scored to help Detroit snap a six-game skid away from home. Guenther reached 100 career points, scoring his 26th goal of the season for Utah. Karel Vejmelka made nine stops in his career-high 14th straight start.
SOCCER
The National Women’s Soccer League, its players union and the Orlando Pride and Gotham FC have denounced reports of “hateful language” directed at Pride forward Barbra Banda. The statements Monday came in response to a report about a fan behavior at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, where Gotham hosted the Pride on Sunday. A Gotham season ticket holder posted in an online forum that Banda was subjected to racist and transphobic comments. Banda has previously been subjected to transphobic online abuse stemming from a mishandled sex eligibility case. She was assigned female at birth and does not identify as transgender.
BASEBALL
Bold decisions to change Major League Baseball’s longstanding rules quickened the pace of games and revived the popularity of stealing bases over the last few years. A similarly creative move may be needed to help starting pitching regain the relevance it enjoyed as recently as a decade ago. Thirty-four pitchers worked as many as 200 innings and all 30 major league teams got over 900 innings from their starters in 2014. Only four pitchers threw 200 innings last season and just four teams got as many as 900 innings from their starters.
Federal prosecutors say the former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani who was supposed to begin his nearly five-year prison term on Monday, has had his surrender date postponed. A Justice Department spokesperson said Monday that the reason for the change and the new surrender day for Ippei Mizuhara are under seal. Mizuhara was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana last month to four years and nine months for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. His lawyer did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment.
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