“THE SCOREBOARD”
INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL
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| FRANKLIN CENTRAL | 57 | SOUTHPORT | 55 | 3OT |
| GARY WEST | 54 | LOWELL | 43 | |
| GOSHEN | 59 | CONCORD | 53 | |
| INDIANAPOLIS HERRON | 50 | INDIANAPOLIS INTERNATIONAL | 40 | |
| MOORESVILLE | 66 | FRANKLIN | 54 | |
| UNIVERSITY | 64 | INDIANAPOLIS SCECINA | 52 | |
| WEST CENTRAL | 72 | RENSSELAER CENTRAL | 54 | |
| WHEELER | 39 | HIGHLAND | 36 | |
| HENRY COUNTY TOURNAMENT | ||||
| SHENANDOAH | 68 | BLUE RIVER | 37 | R1 |
| TRI | 60 | KNIGHTSTOWN | 51 | R1 |
| RANDOLPH COUNTY TOURNAMENT | ||||
| WINCHESTER | 39 | MONROE CENTRAL | 37 | SF |
| UNION (MODOC) | RANDOLPH SOUTHERN | 7:30 PM | ||
| WAYNE COUNTY TOURNAMENT | ||||
| NORTHEASTERN | 77 | CAMBRIDGE CITY LINCOLN | 48 | R1 |
| WHITE RIVER VALLEY CLASSIC | ||||
| SHAKAMAK | 43 | WHITE RIVER VALLEY | 33 | |
INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL
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| ATTICA | 49 | COVINGTON | 32 | |
| BROWNSTOWN CENTRAL | 62 | NEW ALBANY | 39 | |
| CENTER GROVE | 62 | CARMEL | 40 | |
| CORYDON CENTRAL | 76 | EASTERN (PEKIN) | 43 | |
| CRAWFORDSVILLE | 59 | SOUTH VERMILLION | 19 | |
| CROWN POINT | 67 | MICHIGAN CITY | 32 | |
| CULVER | 34 | CASTON | 26 | |
| ELKHART CHRISTIAN | 50 | MISHAWAKA | 33 | |
| FOUNTAIN CENTRAL | 49 | WESTERN BOONE | 39 | |
| FRANKLIN COUNTY | 59 | RUSHVILLE | 35 | |
| HAUSER | 47 | GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN | 42 | |
| INDIANA DEAF | 51 | BETHESDA CHRISTIAN | 19 | |
| INDIANAPOLIS ATTUCKS | 64 | INDIANAPOLIS SHORTRIDGE | 24 | |
| INDIANAPOLIS HERRON | 42 | INDIANAPOLIS LUTHERAN | 36 | |
| INDIANAPOLIS WASHINGTON | 30 | CHRISTEL HOUSE | 20 | |
| JASPER | 50 | FOREST PARK | 40 | |
| LAVILLE | 49 | LAKELAND CHRISTIAN | 23 | |
| LAFAYETTE CENTRAL CATHOLIC | 85 | TWIN LAKES | 40 | |
| LAKEWOOD PARK | 55 | BETHANY CHRISTIAN | 16 | |
| LANESVILLE | 36 | FLOYD CENTRAL | 34 | |
| MCCUTCHEON | 44 | BENTON CENTRAL | 28 | |
| MISHAWAKA MARIAN | 45 | NEW PRAIRIE | 24 | |
| MOORESVILLE | 53 | FRANKLIN | 41 | |
| MUNSTER | 49 | GRIFFITH | 26 | |
| NEW PALESTINE | 45 | BLOOMINGTON NORTH | 37 | |
| NORTH JUDSON | 48 | KANKAKEE VALLEY | 47 | |
| NORTH VERMILLION | 47 | RIVERTON PARKE | 38 | |
| NORTHFIELD | 41 | LEWIS CASS | 29 | |
| ORLEANS | 43 | NORTH DAVIESS | 32 | |
| PENN | 45 | ELKHART | 35 | |
| PIONEER | 63 | FRONTIER | 30 | |
| RENSSELAER CENTRAL | 56 | NORTH WHITE | 30 | |
| SEYMOUR | 60 | COLUMBUS EAST | 41 | |
| SOUTH BEND ST. JOSEPH | 56 | SOUTH BEND RILEY | 43 | |
| SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON | 71 | SOUTH BEND ADAMS | 21 | |
| SOUTH CENTRAL (UNION MILLS) | 59 | HEBRON | 21 | |
| SOUTHMONT | 34 | NORTH MONTGOMERY | 27 | |
| VALPARAISO | 74 | PORTAGE | 21 | |
| WAPAHANI | 48 | NEW CASTLE | 33 | |
| WASHINGTON | 66 | PIKE CENTRAL | 15 | |
| WESTVIEW | 45 | JIMTOWN | 17 | |
| WOODLAN | 73 | FORT WAYNE BLACKHAWK | 49 | |
| MADISON COUNTY TOURNAMENT | ||||
| LAPEL | 53 | ANDERSON | 48 | CON |
| ANDERSON PREP | 46 | LIBERTY CHRISTIAN | 41 | OT | CON |
| PENDLETON HEIGHTS | 57 | ALEXANDRIA | 45 | SF |
| FRANKTON | 57 | ELWOOD | 19 | SF |
| RIVERTOWN TOURNAMENT | ||||
| SWITZERLAND COUNTY | LAWRENCEBURG | PPD. | ||
| RISING SUN | SOUTH DEARBORN | PPD. | ||
| SHELBY COUNTY TOURNAMENT | ||||
| WALDRON | 63 | SOUTHWESTERN (SHELBYVILLE) | 24 | R1 |
| TRITON CENTRAL | 65 | MORRISTOWN | 40 | R1 |
| WAYNE COUNTY TOURNAMENT | ||||
| CENTERVILLE | 39 | HAGERSTOWN | 19 | R1 |
| WHITE RIVER VALLEY CLASSIC | ||||
| WHITE RIVER VALLEY | 49 | SHAKAMAK | 38 | |
INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
BOYS DUAL RESULTS: https://indianamat.com/index.php?/dualresults.html/
GIRLS DUAL RESULTS: https://indianamat.com/index.php?/dualresults.html/211_girls-dual-results/
BOYS TOURNAMENT RESULTS: https://indianamat.com/index.php?/curtournamentresults.html/boys-tournament-results/
GIRLS TOURNAMENT RESULTS: https://indianamat.com/index.php?/curtournamentresults.html/212_tournament-results-for-girls-events/
GIRLS REGIONALS:
1. GOSHEN | 10 AM ET | TICKETS | RESULTS
FEEDER SECTIONALS: ILLIANA CHRISTIAN, HOBART, MISHAWAKA, GOSHEN
2. ROCHESTER | 9 AM ET | TICKETS | RESULTS
FEEDER SECTIONALS: COLUMBIA CITY, LAFAYETTE JEFFERSON, CRAWFORDSVILLE, WESTERN
3. ALEXANDRIA MONROE | 9 AM ET | TICKETS | RESULTS
FEEDER SECTIONALS: ALEXANDRIA MONROE, MUNCIE CENTRAL, EASTERN HANCOCK, PERRY MERIDIAN
4. MOORESVILLE | 11 AM ET | TICKETS | RESULTS
FEEDER SECTIONALS: MT. VERNON, BEN DAVIS, WEST WASHINGTON, FLOYD CENTRAL
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
TOP 25
#20 PURDUE 68 RUTGERS 50
#15 OREGON 73 OHIO STATE 71
#16 MICHIGAN STATE 88 WASHINGTON 54
ELSEWHERE:
IU INDY 95 DETROIT 61
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
TOP 25
#2 SOUTH CAROLINA 90 TEXAS A&M 49
#15 KENTUCKY 71 FLORIDA 55
#3 NOTRE DAME 100 WAKE FOREST 64
#6 LSU 89 #16 TENNESSEE 87
ILLINOIS 62 #23 IOWA 57
MISSISSIPPI STATE 81 #10 OKLAHOMA 77
#5 TEXAS 84 #18 ALABAMA 40
#24 CALIFORNIA 78 #21 NORTH CAROLINA STATE 71
ELSEWHERE:
OREGON 63 PENN STATE 61
SOUTHERN INDIANA 93 SE. MISSOURI STATE 69
PURDUE FORT WAYNE 70 MILWAUKEE 58
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
THURSDAY, JAN. 9
NOTRE DAME 27 PENN STATE 24
FRIDAY, JAN. 10
TEXAS VS. OHIO STATE (COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SEMIFINAL GAME — COTTON BOWL) | 7:30 P.M. | ESPN
MONDAY, JAN. 20
NOTRE DAME VS. TBD (COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME — IN ATLANTA) | 7:30 P.M. | ESPN
NFL
NFL PLAYOFFS WILD CARD WEEKEND
SATURDAY, JAN. 11
AFC: 3:30 P.M. — 5 LOS ANGELES CHARGERS AT 4 HOUSTON (CBS, PARAMOUNT+)
AFC: 7:00 P.M. — 6 PITTSBURGH AT 3 BALTIMORE (PRIME VIDEO)
SUNDAY, JAN. 12
AFC: 12:00 P.M. — 7 DENVER AT 2 BUFFALO (CBS, PARAMOUNT+)
NFC: 3:30 P.M. — 7 GREEN BAY AT 2 PHILADELPHIA (FOX, FOX DEPORTES)
NFC: 7:00 P.M. — 6 WASHINGTON AT 3 TAMPA BAY (NBC, PEACOCK, UNIVERSO)
MONDAY, JAN. 13
NFC: 7:00 P.M. — 5 MINNESOTA/DETROIT AT 4 LOS ANGELES RAMS (ESPN/ABC/ESPN+/ ESPN DEPORTES; MANNINGCAST-ESPN2/ESPN+)
NBA SCORES
MINNESOTA 104 ORLANDO 89
GOLDEN STATE 107 DETROIT 104
CLEVELAND 132 TORONTO 126
DALLAS 117 PORTLAND 111
HOUSTON 119 MEMPHIS 115
PHOENIX 123 ATLANTA 115
MIAMI 97 UTAH 92
CHARLOTTE AT LA LAKERS POSTPONED
NHL SCORES
COLUMBUS 6 SEATTLE 2
PITTSBURGH 5 EDMONTON 3
BUFFALO 4 OTTAWA 0
NY RANGERS 3 NEW JERSEY 2 OT
TAMPA BAY 4 BOSTON 1
DALLAS 4 PHILADELPHIA 1
CAROLINA 6 TORONTO 3
ST. LOUIS 6 ANAHEIM 2
COLORADO 6 MINNESOTA 1
NY ISLANDERS 4 VEGAS 0
TOP NATIONAL NEWS RELEASES/HEADLINES
COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS
LATE FIELD GOAL LIFTS NOTRE DAME PAST PENN STATE, INTO CFP FINAL
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Mitch Jeter’s 41-yard field goal with seven seconds left lifted Notre Dame to a 27-24 comeback win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl — one of the College Football Playoff semifinals — on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Fighting Irish (14-1) won their 13th game in a row and advanced to the CFP national championship game, which will be played on Jan. 20 in Atlanta. Their opponent will be the winner of the Friday night Cotton Bowl matchup between fifth-seeded Texas and eighth-seeded Ohio State.
It will be the first time Notre Dame has played for a national title since 2013 when it lost to Alabama in a game played in Miami Gardens.
Christian Gray’s diving interception of a pass from Penn State quarterback Drew Allar with 33 seconds left set up the Fighting Irish’s winning score.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard completed 15 of 23 passes for 223 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions and converted a key first down on the Fighting Irish’s final drive to set up Jeter’s game-winner.
On third-and-3, Leonard found Jaden Greathouse for 10 yards to the Penn State 25, and Leonard subsequently ran for 2 yards to make the attempt closer. Jeter, who is 7-for-8 on field-goal attempts in the playoffs, snuck the ball just inside the right upright.
Greathouse, who finished with a career-high 105 receiving yards, made his biggest catch when he hauled in a 54-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to level the score at 24 with 4:38 to go.
The Fighting Irish regained possession after forcing a Penn State punt. However, Notre Dame’s own ensuing drive fizzled at midfield when Leonard was sacked by Coziah Izzard, forcing a punt with 47 seconds left.
The sixth-seeded Nittany Lions (13-3) were looking for a shot at their first national title since 1986. They fell despite a stellar game from Nicholas Singleton, who tied an Orange Bowl record with three rushing touchdowns.
Singleton ran for 84 yards on 15 carries. Kaytron Allen added 82 yards on 19 carries for a potent Penn State rushing attack, which amassed 204 yards on the ground overall.
Singleton tied an Orange Bowl mark set five previous times, most recently by a pair of Georgia Tech players, Synjyn Days and Justin Thomas, in 2014 against Mississippi State.
REPORTS: INJURED QB CARSON BECK ENTERING TRANSFER PORTAL, NOT NFL DRAFT
Injured Georgia quarterback Carson Beck is not entering the NFL draft, but opted for the transfer portal and another year of college football.
According to multiple reports, Beck delayed entering the NFL because he’s recovering from an injury to his throwing elbow. He was hurt in the SEC Championship win last month against Texas and unavailable following UCL surgery for the Bulldogs’ playoff game against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.
A two-year starter at Georgia, Beck passed for 7,912 yards with 58 touchdowns and 20 interceptions for the Bulldogs. He spent five seasons at UGA and has one year of eligibility remaining.
On3 reported Miami, Ohio State and Texas Tech are among the programs in the running for Beck. Miami is replacing record-setting starter Cam Ward, the current favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft. Beck, who is from Jacksonville, Fla., was widely expected to play for Florida as a baseball and football prospect before he opted to head to Georgia.
Sources cited by ESPN said Beck is hoping to select his next team within a week but won’t be cleared to throw until sometime in March.
Beck, 22, had surgery on his right elbow but is expected to be fully cleared for fall camp in August.
Field Level Media ranked Beck as the No. 6 quarterback in the 2025 draft before his decision.
At Mandarin High School in Florida, Beck was Mr. Football in the state in 2018, guiding Mandarin to the Class 8A state championship.
NFL NEWS
NFL MOVES VIKINGS-RAMS GAME TO ARIZONA DUE TO WILDFIRES
Monday’s NFC wild-card playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams will be moved from Inglewood, Calif., to the Arizona Cardinals’ stadium in Glendale, Ariz., the NFL said Thursday.
The game was moved out of the Los Angeles area as wildfires continued to ravage Southern California. The league said in its news release it was “in the interest of public safety” to make the move.
The game is still slated for 8 p.m. ET on Monday. The league had revealed Wednesday that its contingency plan for the game would be to move it to Arizona’s State Farm Stadium.
The Rams took off from practice Wednesday and returned Thursday, but they headed home early and canceled post-practice media availability as a new fire had broken out in the West Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Both the Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers are preparing for playoff games this weekend. The Chargers, the fifth seed in the AFC, will face the fourth-seeded Texans in Houston on Saturday.
It isn’t the first time a high-profile NFL game has been relocated due to wildfires in Southern California. The Chargers, based in San Diego at the time, had a “Monday Night Football” game against the Miami Dolphins in 2003 moved the Cardinals’ home stadium at the time.
THIRD COACH IN 5 YEARS ‘WEIRD FEELING’ FOR JAGS QB TREVOR LAWRENCE
For the third time in five seasons, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is preparing to play for a new head coach.
Lawrence ended 2024 on injured reserve, undergoing surgery on his left shoulder while also recovering from a high-profile concussion stemming from a blow to the head by Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who drew an NFL suspension.
Lawrence, wearing a sling for another two-plus weeks, told reporters Thursday he has no timeline for getting back to football workouts but expects to hit the field again soon. He called Monday’s firing of head coach Doug Pederson unfortunate and “a weird feeling.”
“It’s not ideal. Obviously you want stability, you want consistency,” Lawrence said.
The 25-year-old Lawrence said he wasn’t impacted by owner Shad Khan referencing limited input he collects from players by saying he didn’t want to create an “Aaron Rodgers 2.0” situation, an assertion that Rodgers wielded too much input with the Jets. Lawrence said he’s in regular contact with Khan and does have an opinion, but is careful not to cross the line or sway personnel decisions.
“I don’t ever want to cross any boundaries and try to do more than my job,” he said.
Part of the inconsistency for the Jaguars has been tied to Lawrence’s health. He played hurt to end the 2023 season and missed only one game, but missed seven games in 2024.
“I do feel like I’ve gotten better every year,” said Lawrence. “The main thing is I just gotta be healthy.”
Jacksonville holds the No. 5 overall pick in the 2025 draft. Counting Lawrence as the No. 1 pick in 2021 followed by defensive end Travon Walker first overall in 2022, this is the third time in five seasons the Jaguars are set to draft in the top five.
Lawrence said he’s “100 percent” confident the team can be back in the playoff mix, building around young cornerstones like 2024 rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.
“I know the guys we have, the playmakers we have,” Lawrence said. “This is a big offseason.”
Lawrence was 2-8 as the starter in 2024, completing 60.6 percent of his passes for 2,045 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Urban Meyer was the head coach to begin Lawrence’s rookie season in 2021, but he was fired after a 2-11 start and replaced by interim coach Darrell Bevell. Pederson was hired in February 2022.
RAVENS WR ZAY FLOWERS (KNEE) OUT VS. STEELERS
Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers did not participate in practice for the third straight day on Thursday and has been ruled out for Saturday’s AFC wild-card game versus the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers.
Flowers sustained a knee injury during Baltimore’s 35-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns last Saturday in the regular-season finale.
“Zay Flowers is not going to be able to make it to the game this week,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said on Thursday. “So, he’ll get started again next week and we’ll move forward with the guys we have, and we’re excited about the guys we have, which is everybody else.”
With Flowers sitting out against the Steelers, Rashod Bateman would be considered Baltimore’s top wideout.
Flowers caught a 12-yard pass from quarterback Lamar Jackson and went to the ground at the Cleveland 12-yard line, where he was hit on the knee by Mohamoud Diabate as the Browns linebacker fell to the turf.
After getting medical attention on the field, Flowers walked with a slight limp to the sidelines with 12:03 to go in the quarter. He went to the blue medical tent before leaving the sideline for the locker room. The Ravens ruled him out for the rest of the game.
Elected to his first Pro Bowl, Flowers leads the Ravens with 74 receptions for 1,059 yards. He caught four touchdown receptions.
He has not missed a game because of injury in his two seasons.
Flowers, 24, started all 16 games as a rookie in 2023, when he had 77 receptions for 858 yards and five TDs, and rushed eight times for 56 yards and another score. The Ravens selected him with the 22nd overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Boston College.
FALCONS GM: ‘VERY COMFORTABLE’ KEEPING KIRK COUSINS AS $27.5M BACKUP IN ’25
Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot claims benched quarterback Kirk Cousins could stick around Atlanta as a high-paid backup next season.
Fontenot said Thursday the franchise has no plan to release Cousins before his $10 million roster guarantee five days into the start of the new league year March 12, which had been widely reported in the aftermath of Atlanta benching Cousins and turning to Michael Penix Jr. for the final three games of the regular season.
Instead, Fontenot said the Falcons are fine abiding by the original structure and expectation of getting “two high-level seasons” of play from Cousins when they finalized a four-year, $180 million contract in March 2024.
“We understand that that didn’t happen,” Fontenot said. “Nobody was happy to make the switch at that time.
“So now what happens is we had to accelerate that plan and go to Mike earlier and yet the allocation of the quarterback position — the cap allocation — is we’re eighth in the league. That’s what we planned for with Kirk as the starter. He’s not the starter anymore but we’re very comfortable moving forward with him as the backup.”
Head coach Raheem Morris said after a Week 18 loss to the Carolina Panthers ended the season that he can tell by the look in Penix’s eyes that he’s the man for the job going forward.
Fontenot said health was a non-factor in Cousins’ struggles during a five-game stretch in which he threw one TD pass and nine interceptions, forcing Morris’ hand with the earlier-than-planned call to promote Penix. Cousins returned to the field after a season-ending Achilles injury with the Vikings in October 2023. He had bright spots before being benched.
Cousins engineered a game-winning drive in prime time to beat the Eagles in Week 2, steered the Falcons into first place with a 509-yard, four-TD overtime win against the Buccaneers on Oct. 3 and threw four more TD passes at Tampa in a 31-26 Atlanta win on Oct. 27. The next week, he had three TD passes and completed 79.2 percent of his passes in the Falcons’ 27-21 win over the Cowboys.
That’s when the five-game downturn began.
“Kirk is a great man and he’s been great support for Mike, a great teammate, great support for everybody in the building, so we’re very confident moving forward with him as the backup,” Fontenot said.
Cousins turns 37 in training camp and met the selection of Penix in the first round of the 2024 draft with surprise.
If the Falcons don’t keep Cousins, the alternative is absorbing a $65 million charge on the salary cap in dead money if he’s released. He is set to make $27.5 million in fully guaranteed base salary for the 2025 season and $37.5 million in remaining proration, according to reports. Cousins has a no-trade clause, but might be willing to entertain a chance to play a bigger role elsewhere in 2025. He was last a backup in 2014 playing behind Robert Griffin III in Washington.
Barring a trade, an accounting mechanism of releasing Cousins with a “post-June 1 designation” would allow the Falcons to spread the hit over two years: $40 million in 2025 and $25 million in 2026.
FORMER TITANS TE FRANK WYCHECK HAD CTE AT TIME OF DEATH
Former Tennessee Titans tight end Frank Wycheck suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy when he died in December 2023 at the age of 52.
The three-time Pro Bowler’s family confirmed the diagnosis of CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated blows to the head, in a statement Thursday.
“Our family is grateful to learn of his confirmed CTE diagnosis in hopes to continue our father’s desire to bring awareness, increased intervention, education, and support for NFL alumni and their families related to CTE,” Wycheck’s daughter, Deanna Wycheck Szabo, said in a statement. “Our hope is that NFL alumni, who believe they are suffering from CTE, will be given the much-needed resources and guidance prior to their symptoms reaching a debilitating state. With on-going CTE research and diagnosis’, we hope future NFL alumni and families will be explicitly given an outline and plan of action in receiving care and treatment.”
Wycheck was found dead in his Chattanooga, Tenn., home on Dec. 9, 2023 after an apparent fall.
His brain was examined at Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center, which concluded that he had CTE Stage III, according to his family. Stage IV is the most severe level.
Thursday’s announcement comes one day after the 25th anniversary of Wycheck’s starring role in the “Music City Miracle,” one of the most iconic plays in NFL history. It happened during the Titans’ AFC wild-card contest against the visiting Buffalo Bills on Jan. 8, 2000.
After the Bills kicked a field goal for a 16-15 lead with 16 seconds to play, Tennessee tried some trickery. Lorenzo Neal fielded the kickoff and handed it off to Wycheck, who tossed it across the field to Kevin Dyson. Dyson sprinted for a touchdown to give the Titans a 22-16 victory.
Tennessee advanced to Super Bowl XXXIV before dropping a 23-16 decision to the St. Louis Rams on Jan. 30.
A Philadelphia native, Wycheck was selected by Washington in the sixth round of the 1993 NFL Draft and spent two seasons with the club. He joined the Houston Oilers and remained with the team through its move to Tennessee and retired as a member of the club following the 2003 season. He was inducted into the Titans’ Ring of Honor.
Wycheck had 505 catches for 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns in 155 career games (135 starts) with Washington and the Houston/Tennessee franchise.
“My father put his body on the line throughout his career,” Wycheck Szabo said. “He loved the game and even more so loved his teammates. After retirement, he fought for years to bring light to his post-NFL journey and the fears he had around his struggles and symptoms that he knew whole-heartedly was CTE. He often felt forgotten and ignored, and that his situation was helpless.
“Reflecting back, I wish our family had been educated on the signs and symptoms of CTE. Instead of believing that something was inherently wrong with him, we now know he was doing the best he could as a father and friend under circumstances beyond his control.”
49ERS PLAN TO RELEASE JAVON HARGRAVE BUT NOT DEEBO SAMUEL
The San Francisco 49ers plan to release veteran defensive tackle Javon Hargrave with a post-June 1 designation when the new league year begins in March, general manager John Lynch confirmed.
Hargrave, 31, missed the last 14 games of the 2024 season with a torn right triceps. The two-time Pro Bowler has 45.5 sacks in 130 games with the Pittsburgh Steelers (2016-19), Philadelphia Eagles (2020-22) and 49ers.
Hargrave signed a four-year, $84 million deal in 2023 but restructured his contract last month. With a post-June 1 designation, he would count $8.6 million in dead money in 2025 and $17.5 million in 2026, compared to nearly $25 million without the designation, per ESPN.
Hargrave could return to San Francisco on a reduced deal.
“We do have some challenges and so this doesn’t mean we can’t compete for his services,” Lynch said. “Rather than waiting until post-June 1 and being [out of luck] because free agency already happened, it gives him an opportunity to go see what his market is. And that may include us.
“… We know Javon. He’s on a good track coming back from his injury. And would we be interested in having him? Of course. Is that something we can come to an agreement on and is it something that fits in our plans? We will see.”
Lynch said Wednesday that the 49ers have no such plans to release wide receiver Deebo Samuel, whose 806 yards from scrimmage in 2024 were his fewest since the 2020 campaign.
Samuel, 28, restructured his deal in September. Releasing him with a post-June 1 designation would cost the 49ers about $10.8 million over the next two years, per ESPN.
Samuel signed a three-year, $71 million extension with the 49ers following his All-Pro campaign in 2021. He carries a $15.8 million cap hit in 2025.
“Deebo is under contract,” Lynch said. “[He’s] a good player and has done a ton for this organization and we’re not in the business of letting good players out of here.”
Samuel has 4,792 receiving yards with 22 touchdowns and 1,143 rushing yards and 20 scores in 81 games since the 49ers drafted him in the second round in 2019.
COMMANDERS’ JAYDEN DANIELS LOOKS TO KEEP EMOTIONS IN CHECK VS. BUCS
Jayden Daniels’ rookie season is going so well that it makes sense that he sees Sunday night’s playoff contest as “just another game.”
Perhaps Daniels will feel differently once the ball is kicked off as he attempts to lead the sixth-seeded Commanders past the third-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an NFC wild-card game at Tampa, Fla.
The Commanders (12-5) enter the postseason with a five-game winning streak and won 12 regular-season games — just the fourth time in franchise history that Washington has won at least a dozen contests.
That success primarily is due to the multi-faceted quarterback who was drafted second overall. Daniels passed for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns against nine interceptions and also rushed for 891 yards and six scores.
“It’s exciting, but you got to deal with those emotions,” Daniels told reporters. “At the end of the day, you got to go out there and play ball. A lot of people are going to put a lot of emphasis on it because at this point, it’s really win or go home.”
The Washington franchise hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2005 season when Hall of Fame member Joe Gibbs was its head coach. Coincidentally, that triumph came at Tampa Bay, 17-10 in the wild-card round.
The following week, Washington lost to the Seattle Seahawks in the divisional round to start a five-game postseason losing streak.
The most recent playoff loss came in the 2020 season — again versus the Bucs. Tampa Bay won that wild-card matchup 31-23 at Washington.
The two teams met in September in Daniels’ NFL debut. Daniels rushed for two touchdowns but didn’t throw for any in a 37-20 road loss. The Buccaneers had the hotter quarterback as Baker Mayfield completed 24 of 30 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns.
Commanders coach Dan Quinn hasn’t forgotten the way Tampa Bay moved the ball at will. He’s also aware the Buccaneers (10-7) enter the postseason with six victories in their past seven games.
“I think they’ve just had a fantastic year,” Quinn said. “I think (Mayfield) has always been able to rip it and been aggressive in and outside the pocket. Having the run game balance for them, I think that’s what sets their offense apart this year.
“The addition of (Bucky) Irving, their run game, the play pass that goes with it that is an impressive thing.”
Mayfield established career highs of 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns this season while being intercepted 16 times.
Irving, a rookie, has excelled for the Buccaneers. The fourth-round draft pick has rushed for 1,122 yards and eight touchdowns.
Tampa Bay is in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season and second time under Mayfield. The Buccaneers beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild-card round last season before losing to the Detroit Lions in the divisional round.
“You’re excited to get to the playoffs and you’re excited for the next opportunity and getting to play with this group guaranteed for one more time,” Mayfield told reporters. “That’s the mentality going into it but other than that, preparation-wise you don’t want to psych everybody out. You want to handle it the best way you can but just a little bit more attention to detail and ensuring the fact that everybody is on the same page and can handle things correctly.”
The game could turn out to be an offensive showcase as Tampa Bay ranks fourth in scoring at 29.5 points per game and Washington stands fifth at 28.5.
“It’s (about) mentality for us, find any way to win, whether the game is a shootout, whether it’s low scoring,” Mayfield said. “Make the plays that matter when it counts.”
Tampa Bay standout safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (knee) was a full practice participant Wednesday and is expected to return after a four-game absence. Tight end Cade Otton (knee) was limited and could return after missing three games.
Washington hopes to have cornerback Marshon Lattimore (hamstring) back after a two-game absence. He was limited Wednesday, as was center Tyler Biadasz (ankle), who missed the regular-season finale against the Dallas Cowboys.
EAGLES, PACKERS RENEW ACQUAINTANCES IN WILD-CARD ROUND
The last time the Packers and Eagles tangled in the postseason, Green Bay won a wild-card game in Philadelphia before capping the 2010 campaign with a victory at Super Bowl XLV.
The first time these franchises ever met in the playoffs, the Eagles defeated Vince Lombardi’s Packers to capture the 1960 NFL Championship.
The first lines in perhaps another championship chapter will be written Sunday when the Eagles (14-3) welcome the Packers (11-6) to Lincoln Financial Field for an NFC wild-card game.
It’s a rematch of their season-opening game on Sept. 6 in Brazil. Philadelphia recorded a 34-29 win behind three total touchdowns and 109 rushing yards from 2024 NFL rushing king Saquon Barkley.
Jalen Hurts passed for 278 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the victory, while Jordan Love threw for 260 yards, two TDs and one pick for the Packers.
There were positive developments for both quarterbacks on Wednesday. Hurts practiced for the first time since he sustained a concussion in the first quarter of a Week 16 loss at Washington. Love also practiced on a limited basis after leaving the Week 18 loss to Chicago with an elbow injury.
Coach Nick Sirianni said he wasn’t worried about rust with Hurts, who took the Eagles to the Super Bowl during the 2022 season but lost wild-card games at Tampa Bay after both the 2021 and 2023 seasons.
“This is why you practice,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “This is why you go through the process of practicing and all the things that you do in practice to get on the same page to do everything there. We feel like we practice at a very high-intensity level. This is why you go out there and do these things.”
Love made his playoff debut last season, posting a 48-32 wild-card win at Dallas before falling 24-21 in the divisional round at San Francisco.
“We’ll see. Yeah, I’m hopeful,” Love told reporters after practice Wednesday about his chances of playing Sunday.
In this season’s Week 1 game in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Barkley scored on an 18-yard reception and on runs of 11 and 2 yards. A.J. Brown caught five passes for 119 yards with a 67-yard touchdown to lead the Eagles.
“They got a lot of playmakers, so you just gotta be on all your details and try to eliminate as much space as possible,” Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said Wednesday.
“… We know the margins are razor thin in this league and you gotta be at your best when your best is required, certainly against one of the premier football teams in this league.”
The offensive production was nearly identical, with the Packers outgaining the Eagles 414-410. Jayden Reed had 171 yards from scrimmage (138 receiving, 33 rushing) and two TDs for Green Bay.
For the season, Philadelphia finished seventh in scoring (27.2 points per game) and eighth in total offense (367.2 yards per game). The Eagles were No. 1 in total defense (278.4) and No. 2 in scoring defense (17.8).
Green Bay was No. 5 in total offense (370.8) and had the No. 6 defense (315.6). The Packers tied for third in the league with a plus-12 turnover margin.
In addition to Hurts, Brown (knee), backup QB Kenny Pickett (ribs) and rookie running back Will Shipley (ankle) were all limited in Philadelphia’s practice Wednesday.
The Packers lost Christian Watson for the season with a torn ACL against the Bears but fellow wide receiver Romeo Doubs is back after missing that game with an illness. Linebacker Quay Walker and rookie safety Evan Williams practiced Wednesday after both missed the past three games. Quarterback Malik Willis (thumb), linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (illness, knee), defensive lineman Brenton Cox (foot) and safety Javon Bullard (ankle) were limited. Defensive lineman T.J. Slaton (ankle) did not practice.
JOSH ALLEN, BILLS BEGIN SUPER BOWL QUEST AGAINST UPSTART BRONCOS
With Sean McDermott and Josh Allen in charge, the Buffalo Bills have churned out one great regular season after another. And year after year, the franchise’s first Super Bowl title has eluded them.
Buffalo, the No. 2 seed in the AFC for the third year running, begins its latest playoff journey against the seventh-seeded Denver Broncos on Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park, N.Y.
The Broncos (10-7) made the postseason for the first time since Peyton Manning guided them to the Super Bowl 50 title. In the nine years since, the Bills (13-4) have become a playoff staple: They’ve qualified for the sixth year in a row, and they won their wild-card game each of the past four postseasons.
Of course, they’ve managed just one AFC Championship Game appearance in that stretch. McDermott said that adversity has become part of the Bills’ identity.
“I would say yes and no,” the coach said. “I would say yes because it is in our history, of not getting to accomplish our ultimate goal year to year. But at the end of the day, we’ve had a lot of success and it’s a hard thing to win in this league. And you’re looking at an AFC that is loaded with high-level teams, and it starts right from the start with Week 1 for us with a really good football team in the Denver Broncos.”
Allen has thrown 13 touchdown passes in five appearances in the wild-card round (4-1 record). Only Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers have totaled more wild-card TDs in their careers.
One major difference this time around for Buffalo: The architect of the offense is Joe Brady. In his first full season as the coordinator following two years as quarterbacks coach, the Bills have the No. 2 scoring offense (30.9 points per game) and rank ninth in both passing and rushing yardage.
Asked Wednesday what Brady has done for the unit — as franchises in need of a head coach snoop around — Allen quipped, “Nothing. Teams should stay away from him.”
The key battle will be whether Buffalo can play mistake-free football against Denver’s disruptive defense.
The Bills gave up the fewest sacks (14) and fewest turnovers (eight) in the league. The Broncos racked up 63 sacks, nine more than any other team, and generated 25 takeaways.
Broncos coach Sean Payton explained the many benefits a sack-happy defense provides.
“It goes against trying to stay on schedule. It goes against getting to the third-down numbers that are manageable,” said Payton, a Super Bowl champion with New Orleans 15 years ago. “And then, there’s this emotional and psychological toll with a sack that you have to overcome.”
Nik Bonitto had a breakout season, leading the defense with 13.5 sacks among his 16 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. Jonathon Cooper added 10.5 sacks.
While the defense has been stellar, the Broncos also found their long-sought franchise quarterback in first-round draft pick Bo Nix. He finished the regular season with 3,775 passing yards, 29 passing touchdowns and four rushing scores.
Last week, Nix threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-0 win over a resting Kansas City Chiefs team to clinch Denver’s playoff bid.
“It means a lot. (The playoffs are) where I want to be,” the 24-year-old rookie said. “This is the moments that matter, these are the moments that people remember you by. We just got to go out there and cut it loose and go out there and play.”
These teams last met in November 2023, when the Broncos went to Buffalo and pulled out a 24-22 victory. Allen threw two picks and lost a fumble that day.
The injury reports are light for both teams. Broncos backup tackle Frank Crum (illness) didn’t practice Wednesday and reserve cornerback Damarri Mathis (back) was limited. The Bills’ only injury-related absence from Wednesday’s walkthrough was defensive back/kick returner Brandon Codrington (hamstring).
LAMAR JACKSON TRIES TO OUTRUN PLAYOFF DEMONS AS RAVENS FACE STEELERS
Lamar Jackson has won the same number of playoff games as NFL MVP trophies: two.
The dearth of postseason victories have been an issue and the Ravens star quarterback looks to change the narrative when third-seeded Baltimore hosts the sixth-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC wild-card round on Saturday night.
Jackson owns a 2-4 record in the playoffs, having thrown six interceptions while fumbling six times (losing three) in the postseason. He has thrown for six touchdowns and rushed for three in his playoff career.
In other words, production needs to increase and miscues need to decrease.
And the 28-year-old needs to be more relaxed.
“I’m just too excited — that’s all. Too antsy, that’s all,” Jackson said of his playoff troubles. “I’m seeing things before it happens like, ‘Oh, I have to calm myself down.’ But just being more experienced, I’ve found a way to balance it out.”
One person who could come to the rescue is star running back Derrick Henry.
In his first season with the Ravens, Henry rushed for 1,921 yards, second in the NFL, and 16 touchdowns, tied for first. He has played in seven postseason games, and he helped Tennessee reach the AFC Championship Game in the 2019 season before the Titans lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Henry is aware of the team’s reputation for coming up short in the playoffs. Just last season, the Ravens were the top seed but eventually lost at home to the Chiefs in the AFC title game.
“We’ve got to be different this time,” Henry said. “I think you all know that and we all feel that. We all know what we’re capable of. Let’s go get it.”
This will be the fifth postseason meeting between the teams. Pittsburgh won three of the previous four, but the Ravens prevailed in the most recent playoff matchup, 30-17 in the wild-card round on Jan. 3, 2015.
This season, the Ravens (12-5) and Steelers (10-7) split their two regular-season meetings, with each team winning at home.
The Steelers captured the first game 18-16 behind six field goals from Chris Boswell on Nov. 17. In the rematch on Dec. 21, Jackson threw three touchdown passes and Henry rushed for 162 yards in Baltimore’s 34-17 triumph.
Pittsburgh enters the Saturday clash on a four-game losing streak. The Steelers missed multiple chances to clinch the AFC North before eventually being overtaken by Baltimore, which won its last four contests.
“For us, it’s not about being in the tournament. It’s not about pouting over the last month,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “It’s about this week for us, we’re playing someone that we’re highly familiar with. They’re also highly familiar with us. … And so there’s a lot of work ahead of us in preparation for performance.”
Pittsburgh has been outscored 109-57 during the slide and hasn’t scored more than 17 points in any of the setbacks.
The Steelers lost 19-17 to the visiting Cincinnati Bengals last week, and the refrain from Pittsburgh players is consistent: Turn the page.
“Everybody doesn’t get a chance to play in the playoffs, everybody doesn’t get a chance to prolong their season week by week,” Pittsburgh cornerback Donte Jackson said. “So you have to be turned up. You’ve got to flush everything that happened, and you got to just detail in and hone in on this. The guys don’t worry about the last month.”
The Steelers will be counting on veteran quarterback Russell Wilson to be steady in his approach. The 36-year-old won a Super Bowl title with the Seattle Seahawks in the 2013 season and has a 9-7 record in the postseason.
Ravens receiver Zay Flowers (knee) missed his second straight day of practice on Wednesday and remains unlikely to play Saturday. Flowers was injured during the regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns.
Baltimore returner Deonte Harty (knee) missed practice on Wednesday after being a full participant the day before, when the team activated his 21-day window to return. Harty was injured in Week 6 and missed the rest of the regular season.
Pittsburgh star defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (illness) sat out his second straight practice on Wednesday. Boswell (illness) and tight end MyCole Pruitt (knee) also sat out.
STEELERS NOTES:
STEELERS seeking 1st playoff win since 2016. • QB RUSSELL WILSON was 1 of 5 QBs with 15+ TD passes (16) & 5-or-fewer INTs (5) this season. Has 10 TDs vs. 3 INTs & 106.2 rating in 5 road starts this season, with 90+ rating in each start. Had 2 TD passes with 92.6 rating in Week 16 meeting. Is 9-7 in 16 career postseason starts & can become 9th starting QB in NFL history with 10 career playoff wins. Has 105+ rating in 3 of his past 4 playoff starts. • RB NAJEE HARRIS totaled 1,326 scrimmage yards (1,043 rush, 283 rec.) & 6 rush TDs in 2024 & is only player in NFL with 1,000+ rush yards & 6+ rush TDs in each of past 4 seasons. Has 90+ scrimmage yards in 2 of his past 3 vs. Bal. • RB JAYLEN WARREN had 2nd-straight season with 800+ scrimmage yards (821) in 2024. Had 92 scrimmage yards (48 rush, 44 rec.) in Week 16 meeting. • WR GEORGE PICKENS led team with 900 rec. yards in 2024 & is 2nd player in franchise history (Santonio Holmes) with 800+ rec. yards in each of 1st 3 seasons. Has TD catch in 2 of his past 3 on road. Had 8 catches for 89 yards in Week 11 meeting. • TE PAT FREIERMUTH had career-high 65 catches & tied career high with 7 rec. TDs this season. Has TD catch in 2 of past 3 on road. • LB T.J. WATT led NFL with 6 FFs & had 11.5 sacks in 2024, 6th-career season with 11+ sacks, tied-most since entering NFL in 2017. Has 2 sacks & FF in 2 of past 3 on road. Has 17 sacks in 16 career games vs. Bal., with 0.5+ sacks in 11 of his past 12. Has PD in each of 3 career playoff games, with TFL in 2 of 3. • LB PATRICK QUEEN led team with 129 tackles in 2024, 3rd-straight season with 115+ tackles. Had 8+ tackles in both games vs. Bal. this season. • LB ALEX HIGHSMITH had 4th-straight season with 6+ sacks (6) in 2024. Has sack & FF in 2 of his past 3 vs. Bal. Aims for his 3rd in row in playoffs with sack. • DT CAMERON HEYWARD was only player in NFL with 10+ PD (11) & 5+ sacks (8) in 2024, 6th-career season with 8+ sacks. Had TFL in Week 16 meeting. • S MINKAH FITZPATRICK had 2 PD & INT in Week 16 meeting.
RAVENS NOTES:
RAVENS won AFC North for 2nd-straight year. Led NFL in total offense (424.9 yards per game) this season & ranked 3rd in scoring (30.5 points per game). • HC JOHN HARBAUGH has 12 playoff wins & can tie Mike Holmgren for 7th-most ever by HC. • QB LAMAR JACKSON became 1st player in NFL history with 4,000+ pass yards (4,172), 40+ TD passes (41) & fewer than 5 INTs (4) in a season. Had 125+ rating in 8 games, 125+ rating, 2nd-most in single-season all-time. Aims for 7th in row with 2+ TD passes. Had 3 TD passes with 115.4 rating in Week 16 meeting. Led QBs with 915 rush yards in 2024 & has most career rush yards ever by QB (6,173). Has 521 rush yards (86.8 per game) in 6 career playoff games, with 50+ rush yards in 5 of 6 games. • RB DERRICK HENRY ranked 2nd in NFL with 2,114 scrimmage yards (1,921 rush, 193 rec.) & tied-2nd with 18 TDs (16 rush, 2 rec.) in 2024, becoming 1st player in NFL history with 1,500+ rush yards & 15+ rush TDs in 3 career seasons. Aims for 4th in row with 160+ scrimmage yards. Had 189 scrimmage yards (162 rush, 27 rec.) in Week 16 meeting & has rush TD in 3 of his past 4 vs. Pit. Has 820 scrimmage yards (117.1 per game) & 4 rush TDs in 7 career playoff games. • WR ZAY FLOWERS led team with career-high 1,059 rec. yards this season. Had 5 catches for 100 yards in Week 16 meeting. Had 115 rec. yards in last playoff game. • TE MARK ANDREWS led TEs with career-high 11 rec. TDs in 2024. Can become 4th TE ever with TD catch in 7 straight games, incl. playoffs. • TE ISAIAH LIKELY has rec. TD in each of 3 career home games vs. Pit. • LB ROQUAN SMITH ranked tied-4th in NFL with 154 tackles in 2024, becoming 1st player since 2000 with 150+ tackles in 4 straight seasons. • LB KYLE VAN NOY ranked 4th in NFL with career-high 12.5 sacks this season. Aims for his 6th in row with sack. Had 1.5 sacks & FR in Week 16 meeting. • LB ODAFE OWEH had career-high 10 sacks this season Aims for 3rd in row with sack. • CB MARLON HUMPHREY had career-high 6 INTs with 15 PD in 2024. Aims for 4th in row with PD. Had INT in both games vs. Pit. this season. • S KYLE HAMILTON had 8 tackles, FF & PD in Week 16 meeting.
C.J. STROUD, TEXANS FACE TOUGH TEST VS. CHARGERS’ DEFENSE
Three wins in the final six regular-season games led the Houston Texans to a home playoff game nonetheless.
As they prepare to face the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC wild-card round on Saturday, the fourth-seeded Texans realize the urgency ramps up in January and beyond. That especially rings true against a fifth-seeded Chargers team that boasts the NFL’s top-ranked scoring defense.
“If you get hot as an offense, especially around this time of year, that’s a really good thing for your team and your organization,” Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said.
Assured of their second consecutive AFC South crown, the Texans opted to rest several key contributors in the regular-season finale on the heels of a 31-2 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Day.
Still, Houston (10-7) finished with a needed spark, ending a two-game skid with a 23-14 road victory against the Tennessee Titans, who secured the top pick in this year’s NFL Draft.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud connected on all six passes for 50 yards in his lone series on Sunday, punctuating the cameo with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Nico Collins. Thrust into an increased role after a midseason injury to Stefon Diggs, Collins led Houston in receptions (68), receiving yards (1,006) and receiving touchdowns (seven) this season.
For Houston to “get hot,” the passing game and a ground attack led by Joe Mixon (1,016 rushing yards, 11 touchdowns) must keep the Chargers off balance. That’s no easy task against a Los Angeles front seven led by veterans Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack.
“Obviously, Bosa and Khalil have been good for a very long time,” Slowik said. “Played a lot of football and it shows on tape. Constant pressure, constant impact in the run game and what they do to edges.”
Los Angeles (11-6) is in the playoffs in its first season under coach Jim Harbaugh, who returned to the NFL after spending nine years at the helm of his alma mater, Michigan.
In Week 18, the Chargers seized an opportunity to move up to the AFC’s fifth seed, handling the host Las Vegas Raiders 34-20 behind 346 passing yards and two touchdowns from Justin Herbert.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Cincinnati Bengals the night before created an opening for the Chargers, who stretched their winning streak to three games.
Herbert quickly developed a rapport with rookie wide receiver Ladd McConkey this season, whose 82 catches and 1,149 yards led the team. McConkey grabbed seven touchdown receptions, one behind teammate Quentin Johnston’s total.
The Texans allowed 201 passing yards per game during the regular season, the sixth-lowest figure in the league, while their 29 takeaways were fifth most in the NFL. Led by defensive linemen Danielle Hunter (12 sacks) and Will Anderson Jr. (11), Houston set a franchise mark with 49 sacks, tied for fourth most in the league.
Los Angeles may include a new wrinkle in its attack after signing veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott to the practice squad this week. Chargers rushing leaders J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards both battled injuries down the stretch.
“We’ve done a great job of marrying the run and the pass game and making things look similar,” Herbert said. “Having the threat of being able to run the ball out of a certain set and throw the ball out of the same set, it’s tough on defenses.”
That kind of guesswork could pressure Houston, which struggled with its red-zone defense (ranked 27th).
Saturday marks the first postseason meeting between the Texans and Chargers.
Houston is 1-2 against AFC West foes in the playoffs, having beaten the then-Oakland Raiders and having lost twice to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chargers are 3-1 against the AFC South in postseason play, including a defeat in their most recent playoff game. Visiting the Jacksonville Jaguars in a wild-card game after the 2022 season, Los Angeles squandered a 27-7 halftime lead en route to a 31-30 loss.
GAME CAPSULE
CHARGERS NOTES:
CHARGERS seeking 1st playoff win since 2018. • QB JUSTIN HERBERT became 2nd player in NFL history (Aaron Rodgers in 2018) with 500+ atts. (504) & 3-or-fewer INTs (3) in a season in 2024. Aims for 5th in row with 2+ TD passes & 4th in row with 110+ rating. Has 10 TDs vs. 0 INTs with 106.8 rating over past 8 road starts. Has 335+ pass yards in each of 2 career starts vs. Hou. Has 21,093 career pass yards, most-ever by QB in 1st 5 seasons. • RB J.K. DOBBINS had career-high 1,058 scrimmage yards (905 rush, 153 rec.) in 2024 & tied career high with 9 rush TDs. Has 50+ scrimmage yards in each of his 13 games this season. Had rush TD in his last game vs. Hou. (9/10/23 w/ Bal.). Has TD in 2 of 3 career playoff games, with 90+ scrimmage yards in each of past 2. • WR LADD MCCONKEY ranked 4th among rookies with 82 catches & 1,149 rec. yards in 2024, both most-ever by Chargers rookie. Aims for his 11th in row with 50+ rec. yards & his 8th in row with 5+ catches. • WR QUENTIN JOHNSTON set career highs in catches (55), rec. yards (711) & rec. TDs (8) this season. In Week 18, had career-high 113 catches & 186 rec. yards. • LB JOEY BOSA had 5 sacks in 2024, 8th-career season with 5+ sacks. Has half sack in each of 2 career games vs. Hou. • LB KHALIL MACK had 6 sacks in 2024 & is only player in NFL with 6+ sacks in each of past 10 seasons. Aims for his 4th in row vs. Hou. with sack. Has TFL in each of 4 career playoff games. Made 9th-career Pro Bowl in 2024. • LB DAIYAN HENLEY led team with career-high 142 tackles this season. • CB TARHEEB STILL ranked tied-2nd among rookies with 4 INTs in 2024. • S DERWIN JAMES led DBs with career-high 5.5 sacks in 2024. Has TFL in 5 of past 6. Had 7 tackles & 2 PD in last meeting. Has TFL in 2 of 3 career playoff games. Made 4th-career Pro Bowl this season.
TEXANS NOTES:
TEXANS clinched AFC South division title for 2nd-straight season. • QB C.J. STROUD became 7th QB all-time with 3,500+ pass yards & 20+ TD passes in each of 1st 2 seasons. Has 2 TD passes in 2 of past 3 at home. Had 3 TDs vs. 0 INTs with 109.3 in 2 playoff games last year & can become 6th QB ever to start & win playoff game in each of 1st 2 seasons. • RB JOE MIXON was 1 of 4 AFC RBs with 1,000+ rush yards (1,016) & 10+ rush TDs (11) this season, 5th-career season with 1,000+ rush yards. Is only player in NFL with 1,250+ scrimmage yards in each of past 4 seasons. Has rush TD in 2 of 3 career games vs. LAC. Has 582 scrimmage yards (83.1 per game) in 7 career playoff games. Sslected to 2nd-career Pro Bowl in 2024. • RB DAMEON PIERCE rushed for career-high 176 yards & TD in Week 18. • WR NICO COLLINS led team with 68 catches, 1,006 rec. yards & 7 rec. TDs in 2024 & selected to 1st-career Pro Bowl, 2nd-straight 1,000-yard season. Had 50+ rec. yards in 10 of his 12 games in 2024, ranking 4th in NFL with 83.8 rec. yards per game. Has TD catch in 6 of his past 7 at home, incl. playoffs. • TE DALTON SCHULTZ is 1 of 2 TEs (Travis Kelce) with 50+ catches & 500+ rec. yards in each of past 5 seasons. Has rec. TD in 3 of his past 4 in playoffs. • DE DANIELLE HUNTER ranked tied-5th in NFL with 12 sacks in 2024, 6thcareer season with 10+ sacks. Has sack & FF in each of 2 career games vs. LAC. Can become 7th player since 1982 with sack in 5 straight playoff games. • DE WILL ANDERSON totaled career-high 11 sacks this season, as he & Hunter were 1 of 4 pair of teammates each with 10+ sacks. Aims for his 5th in row at home with 0.5+ sacks. Has TFL in each of 2 career playoff games. • CB DEREK STINGLEY ranked 2nd in NFL with career-high 18 PD in 2024. • S CALEN BULLOCK led rookies with 5 INTs this season.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
TOP 25 ROUNDUP: NO. 15 OREGON EDGES OHIO STATE IN FINAL SECONDS
Jackson Shelstad made two free throws with seven seconds left to put No. 15 Oregon ahead for good as the Ducks defeated Ohio State 73-71 on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.
Shelstad made the shots for a 72-71 lead before the Buckeyes’ Bruce Thornton missed an open 3-point attempt with two seconds left. Nate Bittle added a foul shot with a second remaining for the final point for Oregon (14-2, 3-2 Big Ten).
Shelstad tied a career high with 24 points and Bittle added 21 and a team-high eight rebounds.
Earlier, with Ohio State trailing by one, Thornton stole the ball, which led to two free throws by John Mobley Jr. with 12.6 seconds left to put the Buckeyes (10-6, 2-3 Big Ten) ahead 71-70. Thornton led Ohio State with 20 points, and Mobley had 16.
No. 16 Michigan State 88, Washington 54
Jaden Akins had 20 points and the Spartans extended their winning streak to eight games with a victory over the Huskies in East Lansing, Mich.
Jeremy Fears Jr. notched his first career double-double with 12 points and a season-high 10 assists for the Spartans (13-2, 4-0 Big Ten), who trailed for only nine seconds. Jase Richardson supplied 12 points and Tre Holloman tossed in 11 while dishing out six assists.
Tyler Harris led Washington (10-6, 1-4) with 14 points and Zoom Diallo added eight points. The Huskies didn’t make a field goal during the first 10 minutes, missing their first 14 attempts while committing four turnovers.
No. 20 Purdue 68, Rutgers 50
Braden Smith scored 16 points and dished out 14 assists and the visiting Boilermakers never trailed in a Big Ten Conference win over the Scarlet Knights in Piscataway, N.J.
Trey Kaufman-Renn added 16 points for the Boilermakers (12-4, 4-1), who shot 50 percent from the field in a slow-paced game. Kaufman-Renn dunked off a Smith pass with 4:18 left that gave Purdue a 62-46 lead and sealed the outcome. Fletcher Loyer chipped in 13 points for the Boilermakers.
Freshman Ace Bailey scored a game-high 17 points for the Scarlet Knights (8-8, 1-4), hitting four 3-pointers and grabbing seven rebounds. But the team’s other prized freshman, Dylan Harper, made only 2 of 9 shots in 28 minutes and finished with just six points.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
WOMEN’S TOP 25 ROUNDUP: NO. 2 GAMECOCKS WIN 50TH STRAIGHT SEC GAME
Freshman Joyce Edwards had 19 points and 10 rebounds off the bench to lead the host No. 2 South Carolina to a commanding 90-49 victory over Texas A&M on Thursday night in Columbia, S.C.
Edwards also dished out three assists while shooting 8-of-10 from the floor for South Carolina (15-1, 3-0 SEC). The Gamecocks also got 17 points from MiLaysia Fulwiley, 12 points from Sania Feagin, 11 points apiece from Tessa Johnson and Chloe Kitts, and 10 points from Bree Hall. Feagin made a 3-pointer, which marked her first make from deep of the season and just the third of her career.
Sole Williams paced Texas A&M (8-7, 1-2) with 10 points.
South Carolina jumped out to a 25-10 lead by the end of the first quarter and went on to lead by as many as 49 points. The Gamecocks shot 50.8 percent from the floor while holding the Aggies to 28.4 percent.
It was the 50th consecutive win for South Carolina in SEC play, and the Gamecocks’ 66th straight victory in Columbia.
No. 3 Notre Dame 100, Wake Forest 64
Hannah Hidalgo poured in 23 points as the Fighting Irish got a home win over the visiting Demon Deacons in South Bend, Ind.
Hidalgo also tallied four rebounds, three assists and six steals for Notre Dame (13-2, 4-0 ACC) while shooting 8-of-11 from the floor. Olivia Miles piled up 13 points, nine assists and five rebounds, while Liatu King added 17 points, Sonia Citron chipped in 16, Maddy Westbeld scored 14, Kate Koval had 11. Notre Dame led wire-to-wire, shooting 55.2 percent from the floor and scoring 25 points off 19 turnovers by Wake.
Wake Forest (7-8, 0-4) was led by 17 points from Demeara Hinds, while Malaya Cowles contributed 15 points and 10 boards.
No. 15 Kentucky 71, Florida 55
Georgia Amoore scored 18 points to lead the Wildcats to a road win over the Gators in Gainesville, Fla.
Amoore added five rebounds, four assists and four steals in the victory for Kentucky (14-1, 3-0 SEC). Dazia Lawrence added 14 points, while Clara Strack stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Florida (10-7, 1-2) was powered by 15 points from Laila Reynolds, 13 points from Jeriah Warren and 10 points from Liv McGill. Florida turned the ball over 20 times, which Kentucky turned into 25 points.
NBA NEWS
NBA ROUNDUP: DARIUS GARLAND NETS 40 IN CAVS’ 12TH STRAIGHT WIN
Darius Garland scored 40 points on 14-of-22 shooting, helping the Cleveland Cavaliers narrowly avoid an upset with a 132-126 win over the visiting Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.
The Cavaliers, who trailed by 12 points in the third quarter, extended their winning streak to 12 games while handing the Raptors their fourth loss in a row.
Cleveland’s Evan Mobley scored 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting in addition to grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out six assists. Jarrett Allen chipped in 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds, while Caris LeVert also had 18 points.
Scottie Barnes led the Raptors with 24 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Chris Boucher followed with 23 points off the bench, hitting 5 of 8 from 3-point range, and pulled down 12 rebounds. RJ Barrett added 20 points, and Jakob Poeltl had 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Mavericks 117, Trail Blazers 111
Jaden Hardy came off the bench to score a season-high 25 points and Dallas closed with an 18-2 run to rally for a victory over visiting Portland.
P.J. Washington recorded 23 points, 14 rebounds and three steals, and Dereck Lively II added 21 points, a season-best 16 rebounds and three blocked shots for the Mavericks. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 17 points and Quentin Grimes added 13 for Dallas, which won its second game in a row following a five-game skid.
Shaedon Sharpe had 22 points and eight rebounds, and Anfernee Simons also had 22 for Portland, which led nearly the entire contest before the late collapse.
Rockets 119, Grizzlies 115
Alperen Sengun collected 32 points, 14 rebounds and five assists, Jalen Green added 27 points and Fred VanVleet contributed 22 to lead Houston past Memphis for its fifth straight road victory.
Ja Morant paced the Grizzlies with 27 points, and Jaren Jackson Jr. had 21 points and eight rebounds. Santi Aldama came off the bench to finish with 12 points and nine rebounds. Jackson, the Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month for December, had a season-high six blocks.
Morant and Aldama returned to action Thursday after brief injury-induced absences. Morant had been out since Dec. 27 with a shoulder injury, and Aldama hadn’t played since Dec. 26 because of an ankle sprain. Desmond Bane also returned after missing Monday’s win over Dallas with an ankle injury. He scored 16 points.
Timberwolves 104, Magic 89
Julius Randle collected 23 points and 10 rebounds and Anthony Edwards added 21 points, lifting visiting Minnesota to a victory over Orlando.
Edwards had seven assists and joined Donte DiVincenzo in draining four 3-pointers to pace the Timberwolves to their third win in a row. Edwards, however, made just 5 of 19 shots from the floor and 4 of 11 from beyond the arc. Naz Reid scored 16 points off the bench, DiVincenzo finished with 12 and Rudy Gobert recorded 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves.
Orlando’s Goga Bitadze collected 15 points and eight rebounds and Caleb Houstan had 14 points. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 13 points and Cole Anthony added 12 for the Magic.
Warriors 107, Pistons 104
Buddy Hield scored 19 points and Stephen Curry had 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists to help lead Golden State past host Detroit.
Trayce Jackson-Davis added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Golden State, which ended a two-game skid. Cade Cunningham had 32 points, eight assists, six rebounds and three steals, and Malik Beasley scored 21 points for Detroit, which had its five-game winning streak snapped.
After trailing by 18 midway through the fourth quarter, Detroit rallied and cut the deficit to 102-98 with 1:21 remaining in the game on a basket by Jalen Duren. A dunk by Beasley with 23 seconds left sliced the gap to 104-102, but the Pistons could not complete the comeback.
Suns 123, Hawks 115
Bradley Beal scored a game-high 25 points off the bench, leading Phoenix past visiting Atlanta for its second win in its last three games.
Grayson Allen and Kevin Durant added 23 points apiece for the Suns, and Devin Booker collected 20 points and 12 assists.
Trae Young led Atlanta with 21 points and seven assists and Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 17 points as the Hawks finished their road trip with a 2-4 record.
Heat 97, Jazz 92
Tyler Herro scored 23 points and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 20 as Miami sent Utah to its ninth consecutive home loss in Salt Lake City.
Herro and Jaquez each drained key free throws in the waning moments as Miami improved to 2-1 on its six-game trip. Bam Adebayo contributed 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots in the victory. Adebayo hit two buckets in a row with under three minutes left to break an 86-86 tie.
Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton each scored 23 points for the Jazz, who lost their second straight overall. Utah overcame an 11-point third-quarter deficit but fell short.
NHL NEWS
NHL ROUNDUP: SIDNEY CROSBY MOVES TO NINTH ON POINTS LIST
Sidney Crosby moved up in the NHL record book and Bryan Rust ignited a four-goal outburst in the first period as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the visiting Edmonton Oilers 5-3 on Thursday. It was the Penguins’ first win over the Oilers in more than five years.
Crosby collected a goal and two assists to pass Joe Sakic for ninth on the league’s all-time points list with 1,643. Sakic finished his Hall of Fame career with 1,641 points. Crosby also logged his 184th three-point game, breaking a tie with Phil Esposito and Mark Messier for fifth in NHL history.
Rust also scored a goal and earned two assists, all in the first period. Pittsburgh’s Drew O’Connor added a goal and an assist, Rickard Rakell and Kevin Hayes scored, Marcus Pettersson added two assists and Alex Nedeljkovic made a season-high 40 saves.
Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl scored twice to increase his NHL-leading goal total to 30. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added a goal, and Connor McDavid assisted on all three. Stuart Skinner stopped 21 shots.
Avalanche 6, Wild 1
Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Logan O’Connor each had a goal and an assist as Colorado cruised past Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minn.
Ross Colton, Parker Kelly and Artturi Lehkonen added one goal apiece for the Avalanche, while Jonathan Drouin and Josh Manson each finished with two assists. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 24 of 25 shots, helping Colorado improve to 8-1-1 in its past 10 games.
Zach Bogosian scored the lone goal for the Wild, whose four-game winning streak ended. Minnesota goaltender Filip Gustavsson gave up six goals on 27 shots.
Sabres 4, Senators 0
Jack Quinn scored twice and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 35 saves to help Buffalo earn a win at Ottawa. The shutout was Luukkonen’s second of the season and the seventh of his NHL career.
Ryan McLeod had a goal and two assists for the Sabres, who are 5-2-1 since a 13-game losing streak (0-10-3).
Anton Forsberg made 17 saves for the Senators, who have lost six of seven (1-5-1) after an 8-1-0 run.
Lightning 4, Bruins 1
Anthony Cirelli and Michael Eyssimont scored second-period goals as the host Tampa Bay defeated Boston, extending the Bruins’ season-worst losing streak to six games.
Ryan McDonagh notched two assists for Tampa Bay to eclipse 400 career points, while Brayden Point recorded his 600th point with the game’s final tally. Brandon Hagel registered a goal and an assist, Nikita Kucherov added two assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves in the win.
Mason Lohrei scored for Boston, which fell to 12-10-2 under interim coach Joe Sacco. Jeremy Swayman made 27 saves but dropped to 0-5-0 in his past five starts.
Rangers 3, Devils 2 (OT)
Sam Carrick scored with 2:12 remaining in overtime as New York earned a victory over visiting New Jersey.
Adam Fox and Panarin scored power-play goals for the Rangers, who have earned a point in three straight games (2-0-1). New York goalie Igor Shesterkin made 21 saves.
Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist and Jesper Bratt also tallied for the Devils, who fell to 1-4-1 in their past six games. Jacob Markstrom stopped 29 shots.
Hurricanes 6, Maple Leafs 3
Jordan Staal scored a hat trick and Carolina overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat Toronto in Raleigh, N.C. It was the captain’s fifth career hat trick (including one in the postseason) and his first since April 10, 2022.
Eric Robinson, Jackson Blake and Seth Jarvis also scored for the Hurricanes, who played in the first of three home games across four nights. Jordan Martinook supplied three assists, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves.
Nicholas Robertson, William Nylander and Auston Matthews provided the goals for Toronto, which had a five-game winning streak snapped. Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll, who had won in his past five starts, stopped 28 shots.
Blue Jackets 6, Kraken 2
Denton Mateychuk scored his first career NHL goal and Luca Del Bel Belluz scored in his season debut as Columbus defeated visiting Seattle.
Sean Kuraly, Zach Werenski, Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko also scored and James van Riemsdyk added a pair of assists for the Blue Jackets, who won their third game in a row. Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves.
Eeli Tolvanen tallied twice for the Kraken, who are 0-3-1 in their past four games. Philipp Grubauer was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals on 19 shots. Joey Daccord, who was activated off the injured list Wednesday, stopped all four shots he faced the rest of the way.
Islanders 4, Golden Knights 0
Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves for his 20th career shutout and Brock Nelson had a goal and an assist, leading New York to a victory in Las Vegas.
Anders Lee, Bo Horvat and Casey Cizikas also scored goals and Alexander Romanov had two assists for the Islanders, who won their second straight game, matching a season high. It was Sorokin’s second shutout of the season.
Adin Hill made 17 saves for Vegas, which had a three-game winning streak snapped. It was just the fifth home loss of the season (17-5-0) for the NHL’s point leaders.
Blues 6, Ducks 2
Robert Thomas scored twice to lead St. Louis past visiting Anaheim.
Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou each had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who have scored 37 goals in their past eight games. Dylan Holloway and Tyler Tucker also scored for St. Louis, Brayden Schenn had two assists, and Joel Hofer made 21 saves.
Nikita Nesterenko and Sam Colangelo scored for the Ducks, who got off to a tough start to their six-game road trip. Lukas Dostal allowed six goals on 22 shots before giving way to John Gibson, who stopped all 12 shots he faced.
Stars 4, Flyers 1
Casey DeSmith made 27 saves and four Dallas players scored as the Stars prevailed at Philadelphia for their sixth consecutive win.
Mavrik Bourque, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston and Miro Heiskanen tallied for Dallas, which is 7-0-1 in its past eight games. Jason Robertson chipped in two assists.
Morgan Frost scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who fell to 0-3-1 in their past four games. Samuel Ersson returned from a three-game absence caused by a lower-body injury and finished with 19 saves.
MLB NEWS
REPORT: LUIS ARRAEZ, PADRES SETTLE AT $14M FOR 2025
Three-time batting champion Luis Arraez agreed to a $14 million salary for the 2025 season with the San Diego Padres, MLB.com reported on Thursday.
The report comes on the same day as the 1 p.m. ET deadline for unsigned arbitration-eligible players and teams to exchange figures. The Padres have yet to confirm the report.
Arraez, 27, batted .314 last season while winning his third consecutive batting title. The three-time All-Star infielder was the first person to win three straight titles with three different teams — he won the American League crown in 2022 with the Minnesota Twins and the National League title with the Miami Marlins in 2023.
Arraez had 200 hits last season, his second straight year reaching the milestone. He also had four homers, 32 doubles and 46 RBIs in 150 games between the Padres (117) and Marlins (33).
San Diego acquired Arraez from the Marlins for four minor leaguers in early May.
Arraez batted .316 for Minnesota in 2022 and .354 for Miami in 2023.
Overall, Arraez has a .323 average with 28 homers and 247 RBIs in 686 career games over six seasons with the Twins (2019-22), Marlins (2023-24) and Padres.
INF THAIRO ESTRADA INKS 1-YEAR CONTRACT WITH ROCKIES
Infielder Thairo Estrada signed a one-year contract with the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.
Financial terms were not disclosed, however MLB.com reported that Estrada will earn $3.25 million this season with a mutual option for 2026 that contains a $750,000 buyout.
The versatile Estrada has appeared in 351 games at second base, 92 at shortstop, 27 in left field, 13 at third base, three in right field and one in center field.
Estrada, 28, batted .217 with nine homers and 47 RBIs in 96 games last season with the San Francisco Giants.
He is a career .251 hitter with 48 homers and 195 RBIs in 469 games with the New York Yankees (2019-20) and Giants (2021-24).
JAYS, VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR. AVOID ARBITRATION WITH $28.5M DEAL
One year after earning a record salary through arbitration, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided another boardroom faceoff by agreeing to a one-year, $28.5 million deal on Thursday.
The pact is the third largest ever landed by an arbitration-eligible player, trailing only the $31 million that Juan Soto got from the New York Yankees last year and the $30 million that Shohei Ohtani received from the Los Angeles Angels in 2023.
Guerrero, 25, made $19.9 million in 2024 after the arbitration panel went with that figure over the $18.05 million that the Blue Jays had offered.
Toronto got its money’s worth, as Guerrero turned in a fourth straight All-Star season, captured his second Silver Slugger Award and finished sixth in American League MVP voting. The first baseman hit .323 with a .396 on-base percentage, a .544 slugging percentage, 30 homers and 103 RBIs in 159 games.
Through six major league seasons, all with the Blue Jays, Guerrero owns a .288/.363/.500 batting line with 160 homers and 507 RBIs in 819 games.
Thursday was the deadline for unsigned arbitration-eligible players and teams to exchange figures.
EIGHT ASTROS AVOID ARBITRATION; FRAMBER VALDEZ LANDS REPORTED $18M
The Houston Astros came to terms on one-year contracts for all eight of their arbitration-eligible players on Thursday, including star left-handed pitcher Framber Valdez.
The Astros did not disclose financial terms, but according to multiple media reports, Valdez will make $18 million in 2025.
The other seven Houston players who avoided arbitration were right-hander Bryan Abreu and Luis Garcia, infielder/outfielder Mauricio Dubon, outfielder Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers, infielder Isaac Paredes and shortstop Jeremy Pena.
Thursday was the deadline for unsigned arbitration-eligible players and teams to exchange figures.
Valdez, 31, is a two-time All-Star who has taken over in recent years as Houston’s staff ace. He threw a no-hitter with just one walk against the Cleveland Guardians in 2023, and in August 2024 he came one out away from no-hitting the Texas Rangers.
Valdez went 15-7 with a 2.91 ERA across 28 starts in 2024, fanning 169 and walking 55 in 176 1/3 innings. In seven major league seasons, all with Houston, he is 68-41 with a 3.30 ERA in 157 games (135 starts). He received votes for both the American League Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player in 2024.
The Astros acquired Paredes, 25, from the Cubs last month in the trade that sent outfielder Kyle Tucker to Chicago. Paredes is a career .232 hitter with 72 home runs and 234 RBIs over 464 games with the Detroit Tigers (2020-21), Tampa Bay Rays (2022-24) and Cubs (2024).
Pena, Meyers, Dubon and McCormick were all full-time or part-time starters for the Astros in 2024. Pena made 157 starts at shortstop while ranking fourth on the team in RBIs (70) and sixth in homers (15). Meyers contributed 13 home runs and 61 RBIs in 148 games.
GOLF NEWS
SIX PLAYERS SHARE FIRST-ROUND LEAD AT SONY OPEN IN HAWAII
Tom Hoge and England’s Harry Hall are off to hot starts again in Hawaii, as they are among six players tied for the first-round lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Hoge and Hall tied for eighth last week at The Sentry, the PGA Tour’s season-opening event in Kapalua, Hawaii. They sit level with Adam Schenk, Eric Cole, Denny McCarthy and Paul Peterson after each shot a 6-under-par 64 on Thursday at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.
Seven players, none of them among the leaders, had yet to complete the round when play was halted due to darkness.
Ben Griffin, Patrick Fishburn, Sam Ryder, Ben Kohles, Sweden’s Henrik Norlander and Canada’s Adam Hadwin are tied for seventh place at 65.
Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who broke the PGA Tour’s scoring record in relation to par last week while winning The Sentry, is tied for 26th place at 67. Matsuyama won the Sony Open in 2022.
TOP INDIANA NEWS RELEASES/HEADLINES
INDIANA HS VOLLEYBALL
RONCALLI SENIOR LOGAN BELL NAMED 2024 GATORADE INDIANA VOLLEYBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Roncalli volleyball senior Logan Bell has been named the Gatorade Indiana Volleyball POY. the 5-11 outside hitter led the Royals to a 35-0 record and the Class 3A state championship, recording 333 kills (.313 hit%), 252 digs, 63 aces, 50 assists and 26 blocks. Bell will be taking her talents to Oregon next season.
INDIANA PACERS
GAME PREVIEW: PACERS VS WARRIORS
The Pacers (20-18) hope to keep rolling on Friday night, when they welcome Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors (18-18) to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for their annual visit.
Indiana remains unbeaten in 2025, reeling off four straight convincing victories to start the new year. How good have the Blue & Gold been during their four-game win streak? They have led for 177 minutes in those four games and trailed for a total of just six minutes.
The Pacers are coming off a 129-113 win over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night. They pounced on the Bulls early, led by 19 at halftime, and as many as 34 points in the second half. Starting center Myles Turner missed the game due to illness, but Thomas Bryant stepped up in his absence, scoring a season-high 22 points and pulling down eight rebounds.
On Friday, the Pacers will have an opportunity to sweep the season series with the Warriors. Indiana won at Golden State, 111-105, on Dec. 23. The Pacers, especially Andrew Nembhard, did an excellent job defending Curry in that win, limiting the future Hall of Famer to just 10 points on 2-of-13 shooting (2-of-9 from 3-point range).
Though Curry scored 11 or fewer points in three of his last six games in December, but he’s regained his scoring prowess in January, averaging 29 points and going 20-for-33 from 3-point range (60.6 percent) over his last three games. Curry is listed as questionable for Thursday’s game at Detroit with left knee inflammation. The Warriors will travel from Detroit to Indiana to face the Pacers on the second night of a back-to-back.
Friday’s game will also mark the return of Buddy Hield to Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Hield was a popular figure in the Pacers locker room during his two years in Indiana and had a close relationship with many teammates, including Tyrese Haliburton, who he played with in both Sacramento and Indiana. The Bahamian sharpshooter made an astounding 505 3-pointers in just 158 games in Indiana, a total which ranks seventh in franchise history despite his limited tenure with the organization.
After being traded to Philadelphia in February, Hield signed with Golden State in free agency. He has played in all 36 games for the Warriors this season, starting seven, and is averaging 12.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game while shooting 38.4 percent from 3-point range.
Projected Starters
Pacers: G – Tyrese Haliburton, G – Andrew Nembhard, F – Bennedict Mathurin, F – Pascal Siakam, C – Thomas Bryant
Warriors: G – Stephen Curry, G – Dennis Schröder, F – Andrew Wiggins, F – Draymond Green, C – Trayce Jackson-Davis
Injury Report
Pacers: Myles Turner – questionable (illness), Isaiah Jackson – out (torn right Achilles tendon), Aaron Nesmith – out (left ankle sprain), James Wiseman – out (torn left Achilles tendon)
Warriors: Stephen Curry – questionable (left knee inflammation), Draymond Green – questionable (left ankle sprain), Moses Moody – questionable (left knee patellar tendonopathy), Dennis Schröder – questionable (left hip contusion), Jonathan Kuminga – out (right ankle sprain), Gary Payton II – out (left calf strain), Brandin Podziemski – out (right abdominal injury management)
Last Meeting
Dec. 23, 2024: The Golden State Warriors erased a 12-point deficit and led for much of the fourth quarter, but the Pacers made timely shots down the stretch to come away with a 111-105 victory on the second night of back-to-back to sweep a three-game road trip. The win was the fifth straight for Indiana and moved the Blue & Gold back to .500 on the season at 15-15.
Myles Turner led the way with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting (3-of-7 from 3-point range), 10 rebounds, and three blocks, hitting a three in the closing seconds to seal the win.
Pascal Siakam added 20 points, while Tyrese Haliburton recorded a double-double with 16 points and 12 assists.
Jonathan Kuminga had 26 points, eight rebounds, and four assists off the bench in the loss for Golden State (15-13).
Noteworthy
While the Pacers have won six straight road games at Golden State, the Warriors have had a lot of recent success in Indiana, winning four of their last five and six of their last eight games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
If he is able to play on Friday, Myles Turner needs two blocks to pass Terry Tyler (1,342 career blocks) for 48th place in NBA history.
Trayce Jackson-Davis, the former Indiana University All-American and son of longtime Pacer Dale Davis, is in his second season with the Warriors.
Broadcast Information (TV and Radio Listings >>)
TV: FanDuel Sports Network – Chris Denari (play-by-play), Quinn Buckner (analyst), Jeremiah Johnson (sideline reporter/host)
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan – Mark Boyle (play-by-play), Eddie Gill (analyst), Pat Boylan (sideline reporter/host)
INDY FUEL
FUEL HOST WHEELING NAILERS FOR SECOND GAME IN A ROW
INDIANAPOLIS- The Fuel will host the Wheeling Nailers on Friday night after an overtime win against them on Wednesday night. A win would even the season series at 2-2 for the Fuel against Wheeling.
LAST TIME OUT
The last time these two teams met, the Fuel hosted the Nailers on Wednesday night. After scoring a goal apiece in the second period, the two teams headed to overtime where Ryan Gagnier was the hero for the Fuel. With his second overtime game winning goal of the season, Gagnier earned the Fuel two points as they inch closer to the top in the Central division standings.
MAD HAUS
With a goal and an assist in Wednesday’s game, Cam Hausinger remains the team leader in goals and points with 12 and 19 respectively. Having tallied those in 26 games with the Fuel, Hausinger is on pace to set the single season Fuel record for goals.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
After tomorrow, the Fuel will head to Iowa for a two-game set before returning to the Fishers Event Center ice on Wednesday night against the Maine Mariners. With two more home games next Friday and Saturday as well, Indy will need to rely on their depth and goaltending tandem to stay fresh.
INDIANA SWIMMING
NO. 2/6 MEETS NO. 13/7 MICHIGAN ON SENIOR DAY
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – No. 2/6 Indiana swimming and diving will host fellow Big Ten power and No. 13/7 Michigan in dual meet action Friday (Jan. 10) inside the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.
IU swim and dive will celebrate 28 senior athletes and eight senior managers in a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. ET prior to the start of the meet at noon. Fans unable to attend the meet can watch on the B1G+ digital platform.
MEET INFO
Friday, January 10 • Noon ET
Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center • Bloomington, Ind.
Opponent: #13/7 Michigan
Live Results (Swimming): Meet Mobile (App)
Live Results (Diving): divemeets.com
Live Stream: bigtenplus.com
OF NOTE…
FOUR HOOSIERS EARN BIG TEN WEEKLY AWARDS
Indiana swept both the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week and the Diver of the Week awards for the January 8 cycle, winning four of the six available weekly awards, after splitting its dual meet at No. 4/4 Florida last Friday.
Junior Owen McDonald captured his third Big Ten Swimmer of the Week award this season after sweeping his individual events (100 back, 200 back, 200 IM) in the men’s victory. Senior Anna Peplowski also swept her events (100 free, 200 free, 200 IM) and posted the meet’s fastest split in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
On the boards, senior Carson Tyler earned his seventh-career Big Ten weekly award as the men’s diver of the week. Tyler finished first on 1-meter (425.33) and second on 3-meter (385.43) in 1-2 finishes with teammate Quinn Henninger. A first-time weekly award winner, sophomore Ella Roselli won the women’s 1-meter event (297.53) and then took third on 3-meter (324.53).
SWIMMING SUCCESS AT SHORT COURSE WORLDS
Ten athletes and coaches with ties to the Indiana swimming and diving program – nine members of the active roster – participated in the 2024 World Aquatics Championships (25m) in Budapest, Hungary. Together, the athletes combined for two world championships, five medals and 13 national records during the early-December meet.
In a meet that saw 30 world records go down, it was perhaps Zalán Sárkány that received the greatest roar from his hometown Budapest crowd. Sárkány sent the Duna Arena into a frenzy when he touched first in the men’s 800-meter freestyle, Hungary’s first of two world titles at the meet. The reigning NCAA Champion in the 1,650-yard freestyle, Sárkány’s performance marked his first world championship as well as a national record with a time of 7:30.56.
INDIANA VOLLEYBALL
VINSON, GRAY EARN HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICAN HONORS
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana volleyball signees Charlotte Vinson (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown) and Victoria Gray (Temperance, Mich./Bedford) were honored as Prep All-Americans by select national outlets over the past month. The two players wrapped up their high school careers in the fall and will play their final season of club volleyball before reporting to campus this summer.
Vinson, a 6-foot-2 outside hitter, is a consensus top-25 recruit in the class of 2025 and was named a High School All-American by the AVCA, Prep Volleyball and Max Preps. She was a finalist for the Max Preps National Player of the Year and was a First Team All-America selection by the outlet.
The Yorktown, Indiana recovered from a life-threatening illness in the spring, returning in time to play the majority of her senior season. She led Yorktown High School to an IHSAA 4A state title game appearance and was named Ms. Volleyball by the IHSVCA. She contributed 361 kills while hitting .324 during her final season. For her career, she tallied 1,940 kills and 968 digs.
Vinson graduated high school in December but will spend next semester playing her final season of club volleyball with Munciana. She will join the Hoosiers this summer and will be in consideration to start on the left side during the 2025 season. Prep Volleyball and Prep Dig both ranked her as the No. 25 overall recruit, one of the top three recruits to ever sign with the Hoosiers.
Gray, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, is perhaps the best athlete in this year’s recruiting class. In her high school volleyball career, she tallied over 1,100 kills while hitting .413 across four seasons. She had over 430 blocks and was a finalist for Ms. Volleyball in the state of Michigan.
The Temperance, Michigan native is also an elite basketball player and is spending the winter playing her final season of high school basketball. She led Bedford to a 24-3 record in the 2023-24 season and a spot in the state quarterfinals. She’s the two-time reigning Monroe County Region Player of the Year in Michigan and will look to be the first player to win the award in three-straight years.
Vinson and Gray are joined in a prolific recruiting class by outside hitter Jaidyn Jager (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon), defensive specialist Avery Freeman (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North) and outside hitter/defensive specialist Audrey Jackson (Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound). All five players will report to campus in the summer.
All-American Honors – Charlotte Vinson
Max Preps – First Team
Prep Volleyball – Third Team
AVCA – Third Team
All-American Honors – Victoria Gray
AVCA – Third Team
PURDUE MEN’S BASKETBALL
#20 PURDUE SECURES FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN WITH ROUT OF RUTGERS
[20] Purdue 68, Rutgers 50 (Postgame Notes)
No. 20-ranked Purdue defeated Rutgers 68-50 at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Thursday night to improve to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten standings.
Purdue is 4-1 in the Big Ten for just the fifth time under Matt Painter (2025, 2023, 2018, 2011, 2008).
The Boilermakers have now won four straight games by at least 18 points. Three of the wins have come against Big Ten foes.
Purdue has won three straight Big Ten games by 18 or more points for the first time since Jan. 13-20, 2018.
The 50 points allowed were the fewest in a Big Ten game since holding Minnesota to 39 points on Jan. 19, 2023.
Purdue held two of the top four scorers in the league (Ace Bailey – 17 points, 5-15 FGs; Dylan Harper – 6 points, 2-9 FGs) to a combined 23 points. They entered the game averaging 40 points between them.
It marks the second straight game that Purdue has held the league’s leading scorers well below their average (Northwestern’s Brooks Barnhizer and Nick Martinelli combined for 21 points).
Purdue is now 19-2 in the month of January since the start of the 2022-23 season.
The Boilermakers are now 104-23 since the start of the 2021-22 season, trailing only Houston (106) for wins in that span. Caleb Furst’s 104 wins are tied for the fourth most by a senior class in school history.
Purdue won for the first time since Feb. 19, 2019 (48-46 over Indiana) when shooting under 20 percent from 3-point range (4-of-24) and 50 percent from the free throw line (8-of-16). Purdue was 24-of-32 (.750) from two-point range.
The starting backcourt of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are now 75-15 as starters in the Purdue lineup.
Purdue committed just eight turnovers, its fourth straight game with 11 or fewer turnovers. In the first 12 games, Purdue had just four games of 11 or fewer turnovers.
Purdue has won 20 straight games when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent.
Fletcher Loyer joined the 1,000-point club with 13 points, now with 1,009 career points. His backcourt mate, Braden Smith, surpassed the mark last Thursday.
Braden Smith had 16 points, 14 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals, his 17th career double-double. Smith now has 16 career point-assist double-doubles, the most for a Big Ten player in the last 20 years.
Smith now has 588 career assists, now 21st on the Big Ten’s career assists list, playing in just his 90th career game.
Smith is now averaging 15.4 points and 8.9 assists per game. In Big Ten play, Smith is averaging 17.6 points and 9.2 assists per game.
Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, having scored at least 10 points in all 16 games.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 16 points apiece to lead No. 20 Purdue to a 68-50 win over Rutgers on Thursday night.
Smith, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week, had 14 assists.
Fletcher Loyer added 13 points, giving him 1,009 for his career. He joined Smith in the 1,000-point barrier, which Smith accomplished earlier in the week.
The Boilermakers (12-4, 4-1 Big Ten) have won four straight for the second time this season. They opened the season on a four-game win streak.
Freshman sensation Ace Bailey led Rutgers (8-8, 1-4) with 17 points. Tyson Acuff added 10 points.
This was the second consecutive game in which the Scarlet Knights trailed throughout. They have dropped four of their last five games.
Rutgers’ other talented freshman, Dylan Harper, who has been slowed down by the flu over the past week, scored six points in 28 minutes.
Bailey and Harper had combined to score an average of 40 points per game entering Thursday.
Takeaways
Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights were not able to put together sustainable runs with their two top scorers struggling. The most unanswered burst they had was a 6-0 blip.
Purdue: The Boilermakers continued to have a sparkling assists-to-turnover ratio. They dished out 18 makers and committed just eight turnovers. Purdue has just 30 turnovers over its last four games.
Key moment
Rutgers got to within five points (46-41), before the Boilermakers went on a 9-0 run to increase its lead to 55-41 with 8:28 to play.
Key stat
Rutgers committed 16 turnovers, which led to 11 points from Purdue.
PURDUE TRACK
PURDUE OPENS 2025 SLATE AT ROD MCCRAVY MEMORIAL INVITE
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Indoor Track & Field will open the 2025 portion of the schedule at the Rod McCravy Memorial Invite in Louisville, Ky. The meet will be hosted by Kentucky.
Men’s Notes
• In the team opener on Dec. 13 in Chicago, Cameron Miller ran the sixth fastest 300m time in NCAA history at 32.43. The performance earned him both USTFCCCA Division I Men’s National and Big Ten Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors.
• Jasiah Rogers is currently 15th in Division I with his 6.70 in the 60m that earned him the victory at the Blue Demon Holiday Invitational.
• Bode Gilkerson took the high jump victory in the opener and ranks tied for 14th in Division I after clearing 2.09m (6-10.25). Including outdoor, it was the fourth time Gilkerson cleared at least 2.09m in 11 collegiate meets.
• Nolan Macklin opened his season with a 6.72 in the 60m and fell 0.01 shy of entering Purdue’s top 10 list. It was his fastest 60m time at Purdue after he ran 6.81 last season. Macklin’s 60m personal best is 6.68, set his freshman season at Louisville in 2023.
Women’s Notes
• Zoe Sullivan enters 2025 as the current NCAA No. 1 in the 60m hurdles (8.12). She twice set a personal best in the event with an 8.18 in the prelims. Her personal best heading into the season was 8.24. She also ranks eighth in the NCAA with a 24.13 in the 200m. Sullivan earned her first Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week honor after the opener.
• Nia Wilson’s current NCAA No. 8 in the 60m (7.35) moved her into a tie for third in the Purdue top 10s list. She was previously ranked fourth at 7.39. She also earned a runner-up finish to Sullivan in the 200m in 24.46. It was the first indoor 200m race of Wilson’s collegiate career.
• Jalen Elrod entered the program’s top 10 with an eighth-ranked 8.38 in the 60mH. She also holds the No. 7 rankings in the pentathlon (3,815 points).
• Two freshmen won their respective events in their collegiate debut. Jila Vaden won the long jump and broke the Blue Demon Holiday Invitational meet record with a 5.85m (19-02.50) and Gia Clay won the 300m in 39.36.
Next Up
Purdue returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 18 for the Simmons-Harvey Invite hosted by Michigan.
PURDUE FOOTBALL
BRANDON LEE NAMED GENERAL MANAGER OF PURDUE FOOTBALL AS ODOM ADDS SUPPORT STAFF
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Three of the most crucial off-field positions have been solidified for Purdue Football. Head coach Barry Odom selected Brandon Lee as the program’s general manager, while Brad Odom (Director of Recruiting) and Austin Van Poucke (Director of Operations) joined the team from UNLV. A player under Odom, Lee arrives at Purdue after serving as associate athletic director for student-athlete brand strategy and innovation at Mississippi State.
“I’ve had a long connection with Brandon and have seen his rise in the profession,” said Odom. “His experience and knowledge will transform Purdue Football and help take us to a new level. As a former player, he is passionate about the student-athlete experience, and we are so excited about his future with us at Purdue.”
Prior to Mississippi State, Lee spent three years at Missouri as assistant athletics director for Name, Image & Likeness (NIL). He had previous stops at Colorado (Special Projects Assistant and Discovery Officer) and Notre Dame (Director of Student-Athlete Professionalism).
While at his alma mater, Lee was responsible for leading Missouri’s NIL program by working collaboratively with both internal and external constituents to best support student-athletes. He developed relationships, education and programming that helped maximize Missouri’s efforts and student-athlete opportunities in the NIL space.
A native of Indianapolis, Lee is a two-time graduate of Missouri, earning a bachelor’s degree in personal finance in 2018 and a master’s in business administration in 2020. He served as the SEC’s representative on the NCAA Board of Governors Federal and State Legislation NIL Working Group from 2019-20.
A former football student-athlete for the Tigers (2014-18), Lee played in 48 games over his career, racking up 124 tackles. Three of those seasons included playing for Odom, in which he became a starting linebacker. Off the field, Lee served on the SEC Leadership Council and took part in the 2018 NCAA Convention.
Brad Odom spent the past two seasons as the director of player personnel at UNLV. Prior to making the move out to Las Vegas, he served as the assistant athletics director and an assistant coach at Ada High School in Oklahoma. The elder Odom returned to the world of education in 2021 after having worked in private business. He brings a wealth of experience in the sport of football, having coached at various schools since graduating from East Central University in Oklahoma, including serving as head coach at Dickson High School in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and Charles Page High School in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.
Van Poucke (rhymes with “BOOK”) served as UNLV’s director of football operations throughout the past two years under Barry Odom, joining the head coach in the move to Purdue. Before going out west, he was the director of operations for the Yale football program during the 2022 campaign. Van Poucke got his start in football operations by serving as a football operations graduate assistant at Arkansas for three seasons (2019-21). He moved to that position after working the previous two years as a football recruiting assistant for the Razorbacks. Van Poucke earned his bachelor’s degree in recreation & sport management from the SEC school in 2019 and his master’s in 2021.
PURDUE SWIMMING
BOILERS AT HOME VS. UK, ND WOMEN AS DUAL SCHEDULES RESUME
MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Men & Women host Kentucky, Notre Dame Women
Friday, Jan. 10 at 10 a.m. ET (Updated Time)
Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center / West Lafayette, Indiana
Purdue Women at Illinois
Saturday, Jan. 11 at 4 p.m. ET (Updated Time)
ARC Pool / Champaign, Illinois
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue Swimming & Diving teams resume their dual meet schedules the first of two home duals this month at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center, hosting Kentucky and the Notre Dame women Friday morning.
Friday’s 16-event meet begins at 10 a.m., a time that was moved up an hour to aid in the Wildcats’ return to Lexington on Friday afternoon with snow in the forecast for much of Indiana. There are traditionally two heats for each event at a triple dual. The teams have agreed to a few minor alterations to the default 16-event lineup. Friday’s meet will feature the 400 medley relay for both genders as well as the 400 individual medley and 200 freestyle relay for the women (vs. the traditional 200 IM and 400 free relay, which the men will race).
The Purdue women are set for a home-and-away weekend as they travel to Champaign-Urbana on Saturday to continue their annual home-and-home series with Illinois. The 16-event dual is set for 4 p.m. ET.
Kentucky is a newcomer to the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center for dual meet action, joining Missouri as the Southeastern Conference opponents on the Boilermakers’ schedules this season. Purdue alumna and All-American Caitlin Hamilton (2010-13) is currently an assistant coach at UK, but the former Illinois State head coach indicated in an Instagram post this week she would not be making the trip for Friday’s meet.
Notre Dame is expected to have at least one men’s diver in attendance. Friday’s meet was originally scheduled as a full co-ed triple dual. But Notre Dame Athletics announced in August it was suspending its men’s swimming program for a minimum of one academic year, primarily related to an internal gambling circuit within the team.
The Purdue women hosted three triple dual meets (or larger) last season, posting a 6-1 record in the team results at those meets to help power a 10-2 run in dual meet results dating back to the start of the 2023-24 campaign. It’s a successful surge that began with a dual meet victory at Notre Dame in the Boilers’ 2023-24 season opener.
Friday, the Fighting Irish will be making their first appearance at the Burke Aquatic Center since a co-ed dual in October 2019. Purdue visited South Bend in October 2021 and October 2023.
Daryn Wright set Purdue freshman records on both springboards while sweeping the events in the Boilermakers’ January 2023 dual at Illinois. Maggie Love also swept her three individual events (100 and 200 breast, 200 IM). A few days later, Love was recognized as the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week and Wright swept the Big Ten Diver and Freshman of the Week honors. At the time, it was Purdue’s first visit to Champaign since November 1991.
While the Boilermakers have not competed at home since the Purdue Invitational the weekend of Nov. 21-23, Purdue was represented at four meets in December. Brady Samuels was victorious in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly as 10 men’s swimmers competed at USA Swimming’s Toyota U.S. Open Championships. Wright (gold on 10M), Jordan Rzepka (silver on 10M), Sophie McAfee (bronze on 10M) and Avery Worobel (bronze on 3M) all medaled as 11 Boilermakers competed at the USA Diving Winter Nationals. Matheo Mateos (Paraguay) and Nathaniel Thomas (Jamaica) both raced for their countries at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in Budapest. And 10 distance swimmers – five from each team – represented Purdue at the CSCAA Open Water Championships.
PURDUE’S RECENT TRIPLE DUALS AT HOME
• February 2024: Co-Ed vs. Minnesota & Northwestern (plus Iowa Women)
• January 2024: Women vs. Missouri & Illinois (plus Men vs. Missouri)
• November 2023: Women vs. Oakland & Rutgers (plus Men vs. Oakland)
• November 2021: Co-Ed vs. Michigan & Missouri
• February 2021: Co-Ed vs. Indiana & Ohio State (plus Rutgers Women)
• January 2020: Co-Ed vs. Minnesota & Northwestern
• November 2018: Co-Ed vs. Tennessee & Wisconsin
• January 2017: Co-Ed vs. Minnesota & Northwestern
• October 2015: Women vs. Notre Dame & Ohio State (plus Men’s Divers)
• January 2014: Co-Ed vs. Minnesota & Wisconsin
• November 2013: Co-Ed vs. Northwestern & Ohio State (plus Men vs. Iowa)
• January 2011: Co-Ed vs. Minnesota & Wisconsin (plus Women vs. Illinois)
MORE MULTI-TEAM DUALS IN RECENT YEARS
Excluding annual Big Ten Triple Duals/Quad
• January 2021: Co-Ed vs. Minnesota & Wisconsin in Madison
• November 2016: Co-Ed vs. Iowa & Missouri State in Iowa City
• October 2016: Women vs. Miami, Notre Dame & Rutgers in South Bend (Men vs. UND only)
• October 2015: Co-Ed vs. Michigan & Michigan State in East Lansing (Outdoors)
• October 2014: Women vs. Cincinnati & Ohio State in Columbus (plus Men’s Divers)
• November 2011: Men vs. Iowa & Ohio State in Iowa City (Men vs. Iowa only)
• January 2011: Co-Ed vs. Brown, Florida Atlantic, LSU and Penn in Boca Raton
ACTIVE BOILERMAKERS TO WIN EVENTS IN THE WOMEN’S 2023 TRIP TO CHAMPAIGN
• Maggie Love – 100 & 200 Breast, 200 IM
• Daryn Wright – 1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving
• Abby Marcukaitis – 100 Back
NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL
IRISH OUTLAST PENN STATE IN INSTANT CLASSIC ORANGE BOWL WIN
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Notre Dame is headed back to the national title game.
On Thursday night, the Irish defeated Penn State in a 27-24 thriller that came down to the final possession. With 12 seconds left in a 24-24 game with a trip to the national championship game on the line, Mitch Jeter drilled a 41-yard field goal to send Notre Dame to Atlanta, giving the Irish the 27-24 victory over Penn State.
Just 21 seconds earlier, Christian Gray came up with the biggest play in his young career, intercepting a Drew Allar pass with 33 seconds left at the Penn State 42-yard line to set up the game-winning score.
The Irish offense racked up 267 yards passing on the evening, its highest output in a game this season. Jaden Greathouse was a big reason, posting a career-high 105 yards on seven catches, with 98 yards coming in the second half to help lead Notre Dame to the victory.
A crucial stat of the game was third down efficiency, as Notre Dame converted 11-of-17 attempts while the Irish defense held the Nittany Lions to just 3-of-11.
Notre Dame will play the winner of Ohio State and Texas in the title game at 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The game will air on ESPN.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gray pick came after a back and forth game with a pair of lead changes and three ties. Notre Dame was in a 10-0 hole to start the game, and the Nittany Lions were moving the ball at will, however, the Irish defense did enough to keep the team in the game and allowed just one touchdown and a field goal over the first 30 minutes of play.
Quarterback Riley Leonard exited the game with 1:35 to go in the second quarter after taking a hit from Zane Durant and Dvon J-Thomas. Steve Angeli took over behind a dwindling offensive line — Anthonie Knapp left the game with an ankle injury just prior — but completed his first four passes. The drive ended with an Angeli sack, but Notre Dame got on the board with a 41-yard field goal from Jeter. It was 10-3 in favor of the Nittany Lions heading into the halftime break.
Leonard returned to the game to start the second half and the Irish offense stormed back with a vengeance, as Jeremiyah Love had three consecutive runs, two of which went for 9 yards. Williams caught a 36-yard pass on a wheel route followed by a 15-yard run from Williams to set the Irish up for a Leonard touchdown run to level the game at 10-10. It was Notre Dame’s 43rd rushing touchdown of the year, surpassing the previous record of 42 set in 1989.
Notre Dame forced a three-and-out on the following drive, seizing all the momentum early in the third quarter. The two sides then traded possessions before the Irish pieced together a 10-play, 72-yard touchdown drive to take their first lead of the game at 17-10 with 14:07 remaining in the game.
The key play on the drive was a 17-yard pickup on a reception from Greathouse on 3rd-and-9. Love had a highlight touchdown run from two-yards out to put an exclamation point on the possession, his team-high 17th rushing touchdown of the season.
Penn State responded immediately, scoring 14 unanswered points off two rushing touchdowns from Nicholas Singleton with an interception from Dani Dennis-Sutton sandwiched between the two scores to put the Nittany Lions back in front at 24-17 with 7:55 left on the clock.
The Irish answered right back, using a huge 54-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to Greathouse to tie the game at 24-24 with 4:38 remaining.
Notre Dame’s defense rose to the occasion, forcing a three-and-out on the next possession and the Irish offense drove into Penn State territory before having to punt from the opposition’s 48-yard line with just under a minute left, setting up Gray’s heroic interception that led to Jeter’s game-winning field goal.
NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
SIX SCORE IN DOUBLE-FIGURES AS IRISH TOPPLE DEACS, 100-64
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Notre Dame offense continues to put up historic numbers, as the Irish downed Wake Forest on Thursday evening, 100-64. Through 15 games Notre Dame has 1337 total points, the most through the first 15 games of a season in program history. It is also the fourth time this season the team has posted 100 points, which has happened just three other times in program history.
It was a balanced effort with six players in double figures. Hannah Hidalgo led the way with 23 points followed by Liatu King (17), Sonia Citron (16), Maddy Westbeld (14), Olivia Miles (13) and Kate Koval (11). Additionally, five players had at least 5 boards, and Miles led the way with 9 assists. Hidalgo tied a season high with 6 steals.
“Having a lot of depth and opportunities for rotations and matchups, I was really pleased with this win,” Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Niele Ivey said after the game. “With the physicality and long stretch of the season, having more bodies to be able to compete is only going to help us.”
In terms of game flow, Notre Dame built a 10-0 run out of the gate and had a 25-15 advantage after Q1. Seven different players scored, and Hidalgo led with 6 points.
The All-American turned it up a notch in the second quarter and finished the half with a game-leading 17 points after going 6-8 from the floor and 4-4 from the charity stripe. The ACC’s leader in steals also had 5 of them.
Notre Dame had a 53-31 advantage at the break after a put-back jumper from Westbeld. She had her first 5 points of the season in the first 20 minutes.
“The way the crowd embraced her when she got into the game was awesome,” Ivey said. “It’s so hard as a senior to have to sit out for so long, so I’m really happy for her.”
As a team in the first half, Notre Dame had 21 fastbreak points, shot 62.5 percent from the floor, and went 5-8 from deep as the lethal Irish air attack continues this season. Notre Dame entered the game leading the nation with a 44.3 percent success rate from beyond the arc.
Wake Forest’s leading scorer, Rylie Theuerkauf did not score before the half.
After swapping buckets to open the third quarter, the Irish would go on an 8-0 run, sparked by 4 straight points from Citron to make it 62-33 heading into a Wake Forest timeout. The Demon Deacons went on a 10-0 run of their own, one which was stopped by a Hidalgo free throw.
The Irish would close the period with a jump shot from King and a layup from Koval to extend the Notre Dame lead to 24, making it 76-52 heading into the fourth.
The home team held the Demon Deacons to their lowest offensive quarter of the night to close it out as Wake Forest only scored 12 points in the final period. Notre Dame’s defense held them scoreless in the final 4:35.
The Irish were just as dominant on the offensive end of the floor in the final minutes as they closed out the fourth period with an 11-0 run. A Westbeld trey triggered the double-digit run, followed by baskets from Miles, Karlen, Prosper, and Koval to finish out their fourth ACC win of the season.
“It’s super exciting to have everyone back,” King said. “Coach Ivey says it all the time, ‘pick your poison.’ Any of us can go out there and give opponents a hard time.”
The Irish head to Clemson on Sunday for a clash at Littlejohn Coliseum. The game will air on The CW and starts at 2 p.m.
IU INDY MEN’S BASKETBALL
JAGUARS ROAR PAST TITANS IN 95-61 VICTORY
INDIANAPOLIS – The IU Indianapolis men’s basketball team unloaded more than a month’s worth of frustration into a 40-minute thrashing of Detroit Mercy inside the Jungle on Thursday night (Jan. 9), drilling the Titans 95-61. The 34-point win was the program’s largest winning margin over a league foe since a 38-point Summit League victory over UMKC back in February 2010.
Jarvis Walker led six Jaguars in double-digits with 20 points, including six threes, and was able to observe the final eight-plus minutes with the game well in-hand. Sean Craig added 19 points, seven assists and five rebounds and freshman DeSean Goode had a monster double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, 11 off the offensive glass. Alec Millender had 15 points and six assists and tallied the 1,000th point of his collegiate career in the closing moments of the victory.
“I thought we did a really good job. We came together. We’re a little banged up right now without two starters and I thought guys stepped up – next man up mentality,” head coach Paul Corsaro said. “I care about defense and that was the best defensive effort we’ve had. The basketball Gods are usually rewarding to people who play the right way and tonight I think they were rewarding to our defensive efforts.
“We need to get healthy, but this was really good. We’ve been playing good basketball. These guys deserve to win. I don’t think the record is indicative of how they’ve been playing and they deserved this.”
“It feels amazing to get back in that win column,” Millender said. “We’ve been so close in so many games, so it was time to get over that hump and it feels amazing. The icing on top was to get that 1,000 points is a great feeling.”
Freshmen Ron Rutland III (11 points) and Keenan Garner (10 points) also finished in double-digits. Rutland connected on 3-of-4 three-point attempts while Garner also added six rebounds and two steals.
Grant Gondrezick II had a game-high 21 points for Detroit Mercy (6-12, 2-5 HL) in the loss. IU Indy (6-12, 2-5 HL), with their top sniper Paul Zilinskas, sidelined due to injury, responded with an 18-of-38 (47.4 percent) shooting night from beyond the arc, falling one made three shy of tying the program record. The Jags made four threes in the opening four-plus minutes to build a quick 13-6 lead and never relinquished the advantage.
A 15-2 run turned a 15-14 game into a 30-16 advantage, fueled by a pair of Walker threes. The lead grew to 45-29 by the break as the Jaguars closed the first half with three straight Goode putbacks. The opening six minutes of the second half saw the Jaguars extend the lead beyond 30 as they outscored the Titans 21-6 to start the stanza. The Jags led by as many as 43 and outscored Detroit Mercy by 39 points from beyond the arc.
And when shots didn’t fall, they frequently cleaned up the misses, grabbing 17 offensive rebounds and owning a 24-7 margin in second chance points. IU Indy finished the game shooting 46 percent from the floor and limiting UDM to under 42 percent.
“Shots weren’t falling outside, but everything inside was feeling good, so I felt like that’s what I could do to help my team and that’s what I did,” Goode said of his second career double-double.
Beyond the six in double-digits, Ajay Holubar was the only other IU Indy player to score, contributing a career-high five points in eight minutes off the bench. Corsaro only had 10 players see action as Zilinskas and 7-footer Julian Steinfeld were both sidelined due to injury.
The Jaguars will return to action next Wednesday (Jan. 15) when they travel north to face reigning Horizon League champion Oakland University at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
BALL STATE MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL HEADS TO CALIFORNIA FOR STANFORD MATCHES
No. 5 Ball State (2-0) vs. No. 13 Stanford (0-0)
Last Meeting: Ball State 1, Stanford 3 (1/20/24)
Series History: Stanford leads the series 11-1
Coach Cruz: Ball State head coach Donan Cruz enters his fourth season at the helm of the Cardinals and owns an overall record at BSU of 66-23 (.742) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, three MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Last Serve: The Cardinals dominated their opening weekend, sweeping both Wabash College and Trine University. The victory over Wabash was led by senior opposite Rajé Alleyne who recorded eight kills and one block. Tinaishe Ndavazocheva and Patrick Rogers were also difference makers, each with five kills, two aces and a block to close out the night. Rogers carried his momentum into the victory against Trine, leading the team with ten kills, three aces and two blocks.
Scouting Stanford: Stanford will open its 2025 season welcoming Ball State for a two-game series. Last season, the Stanford Cardinal finished 14-12 after losing to Grand Canyon in the second round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament. They enter this season ranked 13th in the nation and sixth in the MPSF.
Rogers Earns MIVA Offensive Player of the Week: Following an impressive opening weekend, Patrick Rogers was named the MIVA Offensive Player of the Week. Rogers led the Cardinals in their sweeps against Wabash College and Trine University, totaling 15 kills with an average of three kills per set and a hitting clip of .321. To wrap up his strong performance, he also added five aces and three blocks to the records.
Preseason All-MIVA: The 2025 roster welcomes back many well-known faces and also offers several exciting new additions. Two impactful returners include senior outside hitter Tinaishe Ndavazocheva and junior outside hitter Patrick Rogers. Ndavazocheva and Rogers were named to the Preseason All-MIVA team, along with Cardinal newcomer Rajé Alleyne. Alleyne, the opposite senior transfer from Quincy, brings a wealth of experience at the net. Last season, Alleyene led the MIVA in kills per set (4.41) and in points scored (421.5), averaging 5.08 points per set. He also earned First Team All-MIVA honors and AVCA All-American Honorable Mention.
AVCA Preseason Poll: The Cardinals enter the season ranked #5 in the AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Preseason Poll with a total of 332 points. They will face nine other ranked opponents in the season, including #4 Hawai’i, #6 BYU, #7 Southern California, #8 Penn State, #11 Ohio State, #12 Loyola Chicago, #13 Stanford, #14 Lewis and #20 McKendree.
Looking Ahead: Next up, the Cardinals will return to Worthen Arena for a series against the BYU Cougars. Game one is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. ET, followed by game two on Friday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. ET.
BALL STATE SWIMMING
WOMEN’S S&D RETURNS TO ACTION SATURDAY VS. EVANSVILLE
MUNCIE, Ind. – – The Ball State women’s swimming & diving program opens the new year Saturday when it hosts Evansville for Senior Day at the Lewellen Aquatic Center. The meet, which is scheduled to being at 2 p.m., will also feature the men’s squad.
The women’s seniors set to be recognized during Saturday’s meet are Neely Agnew, Eliza Bader, Emma Horton, Hannah Jones, Lilia Newkirk, Gracey Payne and Grace Walker.
The Cardinals and the Aces have not crossed paths since the 2018 Indiana Intercollegiate hosted by Purdue. Ball State finished second among the six-team field that season with a score of 454, while Evansville took third place with a 348 total.
Fans can follow the action in Saturday’s meet via Meet Mobile.
IN THE MAC RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA Division I Top Time Rankings as compiled by CollegeSwimming.com, the Cardinals have 10 student-athletes ranked in scoring position in their respective events heading into Saturday’s competition at home.
Women’s Swimmers Currently Ranked in the MAC Top 16
50 Freestyle: 1st – Payton Kelly (22.52) / 5th – Anna Keen (22.82)
100 Freestyle: 2nd – Payton Kelly (49.06) / 10th – Anna Keen (50.10)
200 Freestyle: 2nd – Payton Kelly (1:47.77)
500 Freestyle: 14th – Callie Tuma (5:00.14)
1000 Freestyle: 3rd – McKenna Potteiger (10:17.41) / 6th – Payton Kelly (10:19.26) / 8th – Callie Tuma (10:23.18)
1650 Freestyle: 4th – McKenna Potteiger (17:03.20) / 5th – Callie Tuma (17:05.32)
100 Backstroke: 16th – Olivia Owens (55.86)
200 Backstroke: 7th – Olivia Owens (2:00.06) / 10th – Alyssa Messenger (2:01.49)
100 Breaststroke: 10th – Laura Wright (1:03.14) / 14th – Anna Keen (1:03.49)
200 Breaststroke: 14th – Julia Ofman (2:20.06)
100 Butterfly: 2nd – Anna Keen (53.84) / 16th – Ava Butterfield (56.00)
200 Butterfly: 1st – Alexa Von Holtz (1:59.70)
200 IM: 8th – Alexa Von Holtz (2:03.40)
400 IM: 5th – Alexa Von Holtz (4:21.48) / 13th – McKenna Potteiger (4:27.61)
200 Freestyle Relay: 4th – Ball State (1:31.95)
400 Freestyle Relay: 5th – Ball State (3:23.29)
800 Freestyle Relay: 5th – Ball State (7:31.98)
200 Medley Relay: 5th – Ball State (1:41.02)
400 Medley Relay: 5th – Ball State (3:42.94)
FROM THE DIVING BOARDS:
Graduate Grace Walker currently leads the Cardinals on both the 1M (293.10) and 3M (276.68) boards, with her 1M score being an NCAA Zone Diving Qualifying mark and the fourth-best individual score for six dives in program history.
Ball State Divers Top Results in 2024-25
Grace Walker (Gr.) – 293.10* on 1M / 276.68 on 3M
Leelah Fettig (So.) – 253.05 on 1M / 245.40 on 3M
Hannah Justice (Jr.) – 214.95 on 1M / 196.73 on 3M
Eeva-Liisa Gibson (Fr.) – 199.05 on 1M / 194.10 on 3M
Tommy-Anne Marriott (Fr.) – 185.85 on 1M / 237.30 on 3M
NCAA Zone Diving Qualifying Marks: 265 on 1M / 280 on 3M
MAC AWARD WINNERS:
So far this season, the Cardinals have already claimed one Mid-American Conference weekly award with junior Payton Kelly claiming her fifth career honor on December 11.
Swimming Award Winners:
12/11/2024 – Payton Kelly MAC Women’s Swimmer of the Week
EVENT WINNERS:
As a squad, the Cardinals have chalked up 38 individual event wins and five relay victories so far this season.
2024-25 Women’s Individual Event Winners (38)
10 – Payton Kelly (Jr.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 100 Freestyle (51.97) / 200 Freestyle (1:51.25)
Oct. 18 at Miami: 50 Freestyle (23.60) / 100 Freestyle (51.83)
Nov. 8 at IU Indy: 100 Freestyle (52.30)
Nov. 23 at Bellarmine: 100 Backstroke (57.16) / 1000 Freestyle (10:19.26)
Dec. 5-7 at Miami Invitational: 50 Freestyle (22.52) / 200 Freestyle (1:47.77) / 100 Freestyle (49.06)
6 – Alexa Von Holtz (So.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 200 Butterfly (2:05.06)
Nov. 8 at IU Indy: 200 Butterfly (2:02.62) / 200 IM (2:07.28)
Nov. 23 at Bellarmine: 200 Freestyle (1:57.05) / 100 Butterfly (57.44)
Dec. 5-7 at Miami Invitational: 200 Butterfly (1:59.70)
6 – Laura Wright (Gr.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 100 Butterfly (1:04.76) / 200 Butterfly (2:23.46)
Oct. 18 at Miami: 100 Butterfly (1:04.90) / 200 Butterfly (2:21.96)
Nov. 8 at IU Indy: 100 Breaststroke (1:04.71) / 200 Breaststroke (2:21.08)
3 – Grace Walker (Gr.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 1M Diving (293.10) / 3M Diving (276.68)
Oct. 18 at Miami: 1M Diving (283.50)
2 – Leelah Fettig (So.)
Nov. 8 at IU Indy: 1M Diving (253.05) / 3M Diving (242.63)
2 – Anna Keen (Fr.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 50 Freestyle (24.61)
Nov. 8 at IU Indy: 50 Freestyle (23.69)
2- Alyssa Messenger (Jr.)
Nov. 8 at IU Indy: 100 Backstroke (57.65) / 200 Backstroke (2:04.16)
2 – Lilia Newkirk (Sr.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 100 Backstroke (57.69) / 200 Backstroke (2:05.10)
2 – Kiran Stauffer (Jr.)
Oct. 18 at Miami: 200 Butterfly (2:03.88) / 400 IM (4:32.57)
1 – Kayla Newman (So.)
Nov. 23 at Bellarmine: 500 Freestyle (5:14.11)
1 – McKenna Potteiger (Fr.)
Oct. 18 at Miami: 1000 Freestyle (10:28.48)
1 – Haley Sakbun (Jr.)
Nov. 23 at Bellarmine: 100 Freestyle (53.79)
2024-25 Women’s Relay Winners (5)
3 – 200 Medley Relay
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: Keen, Sakbun, Stauffer, Kelly (3:30.84)
Nov. 8 at IU Indy: Messenger, Ofman, Keen, Kelly (1:44.92)
Nov. 23 at Bellarmine: Messenger, Ofman, Bader, Sakbun (1:47.56)
2 – 400 Freestyle Relay
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: Newkirk, Wright, Keen, Kelly (1:44.68)
Nov. 23 at Bellarmine: Stauffer, Sakbun, Tuma, Kelly (3:37.54)
MEN’S S&D SET FOR PAIR OF WEEKEND MEETS
MUNCIE, Ind. – – It will be a busy weekend of action to start the new year for the Ball State men’s swimming & diving program with two meets on the docket. First up, a trip to the Vigo County Aquatic Center to battle UIndy and Southern Illinois in a 1 p.m. contest hosted by Indiana State.
The Cardinals will have a quick turnaround following the double dual, as it returns to the Lewellen Aquatic Center Saturday for a 2 p.m. Senior Day battle versus Evansville. Ball State’s women will also be in action for Saturday’s showdown with the Aces.
The men’s seniors set to be recognized during Saturday’s meet are Michael Burns, Reece Manning, Michael Mitsynskyy, Erkan Ozgen and Ethan Pheifer.
Ball State last dueled Southern Illinois to close the 2024 regular season, suffering a 181-118 setback on Feb. 10. The Cardinals won five events on the day, led by diver Porter Brovont who swept the boards with scores of 307.73 on 1M and 328.50 on 3M. SIU also took third at last season’s MAC Championships, two spots ahead of the Cardinals.
When the Cardinals last met UIndy at the Butler Invite in February of 2024, Ball State came out on top with an overall score of 1205.5. UIndy came in second place with a score of 1105.5. The 1650 freestyle event was dominated by Seth Blossom, Tommy Brunner and Alexander Eddy who claimed a 1-2-3 sweep. Blossom’s first place finish is the seventh-fastest time in program history.
The last time the Cardinals saw Evansville during the regular season was Jan. 17, 2020, with the Aces earning a 156-132 victory in its home pool. The teams did battle together at last season’s MAC Championships, with BSU placing fifth (414) and UE taking sixth (262).
Fans can follow the action in this weekend’s meets via Meet Mobile.
IN THE MVC RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA Division I Top Time Rankings as compiled by CollegeSwimming.com, the Cardinals have 12 student-athletes ranked in scoring position in their respective events heading into this weekend’s meets.
Men’s Swimmers Currently Ranked in the MVC Top 16
50 Freestyle: 14th – Jacob Siewers (20.56) / 15th – Ethan Pheifer (20.66) / 16th – AJ Friend (20.73)
100 Freestyle: 11th – Jacob Siewers (44.68)
200 Freestyle: 5th – Jacob Siewers (1:38.04) / 15th – Malcolm Slater (1:39.61)
500 Freestyle: 3rd – Malcolm Slater (4:27.61) / 8th – Alexander Eddy (4:33.04) / 9th – Tommy Brunner (4:33.80)
1000 Freestyle: 4th – Malcolm Slater (9:31.78) / 7th – Tommy Brunner (9:35.50) / 16th – Seth Blossom (9:51.69)
1650 Freestyle: 1st – Malcolm Slater (15:44.50) / 2nd – Tommy Brunner (15:45.80) / 7th – Alexander Eddy (15:58.21) / 12th – Seth Blossom (16:11.47)
100 Backstroke: T-7th – Ethan Pheifer (49.25)
200 Backstroke: N/A
100 Breaststroke: 6th – Aidan Biddle (55.17) / 7th – Michael Burns (55.21) / 14th – Cutter Shipman (56.11)
200 Breaststroke: 8th – Cutter Shipman (2:02.00) / 9th – Aidan Biddle (2:02.09) / 13th – Michael Burns (2:03.60)
100 Butterfly: 15th – AJ Friend (49.46)
200 Butterfly: 11th – Michael Mitsynskyy (1:50.99) / 13th – Luke Pryor (1:52.09)
200 IM: 13th – Michael Burns (1:51.81)
400 IM: 9th – Tommy Brunner (4:01.98)
200 Freestyle Relay: 4th – Ball State (1:21.10)
400 Freestyle Relay: 4th – Ball State (2:59.82)
800 Freestyle Relay: 4th – Ball State (6:44.95)
200 Medley Relay: 5th – Ball State (1:29.67)
400 Medley Relay: 5th – Ball State (3:17.48)
FROM THE DIVING BOARDS:
Junior Porter Brovont currently leads the Cardinals on both the 1M (293.03) and 3M (304.85) boards.
Ball State Divers Top Results in 2024-25
Porter Brovont (Jr.) – 293.03 on 1M / 304.85 on 3M
Mitchell Mauck (Fr.) – 239.63 on 1M / 233.93 on 3M
NCAA Zone Diving Qualifying Marks: 300 on 1M / 320 on 3M
MVC AWARD WINNERS:
So far this season, the Cardinals have already claimed three Missouri Valley Conference weekly award with freshman AJ Friend being named the MVC Men’s Freshman of the Week twice and junior Porter Brovont earning MVC Diver of the Week honors once.
Swimming Award Winners:
10/16/2024 – AJ Friend MVC Freshman of the Week
10/23/2024 – AJ Friend MVC Freshman of the Week
Diving Award Winners:
10/23/2024 – Porter Brovont MVC Diver of the Week
EVENT WINNERS:
As a squad, the Cardinals have chalked up 15 individual event wins and two relay victories so far this season.
2024-25 Men’s Individual Event Winners (15)
7 – Malcolm Slater (So.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 200 Freestyle (1:41.42) / 500 Freestyle (4:41.59)
Oct. 18 at Miami: 500 Freestyle (4:36.99) / 1000 Freestyle (9:38.82)
Nov. 23 at Bellarmine: 500 Freestyle (4:41.30) / 1000 Freestyle (9:36.95)
Dec. 7 at Miami Invitational: 1650 Freestyle (15.44.50)
3 – AJ Friend (Fr.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 50 Freestyle (21.43) / 100 Butterfly (51.38)
Oct. 18 at Miami: 50 Freestyle (21.33)
2 – Porter Brovont (Jr.)
Oct. 18 at Miami: 1M Diving (267.75) / 3M Diving (285.95)
2 – Jacob Siewers (Jr.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 100 Freestyle (46.84)
Nov. 23 at Bellarmine: 100 Freestyle (46.59)
1 – Ethan Pheifer (Sr.)
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 100 Backstroke (52.08)
2024-25 Men’s Relay Winners (2)
2 – 400 Freestyle Relay
Oct. 12 vs. UIC: Friend, Young, Clarkston, Siewers (3:08.05)
Nov. 23 at Bellarmine: Clarkston, Friend, Perkowski, Siewers (3:07.99)
PURDUE FT. WAYNE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
‘DONS WIN NINTH IN A ROW, IMPROVE TO 7-0 IN HORIZON LEAGUE PLAY
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Purdue Fort Wayne women’s basketball’s historic start to Horizon League play continued on Thursday (Jan. 9). The Mastodons beat Milwaukee 70-58 in the Gates Sports Center to stay put atop the league standings at 7-0.
The Mastodons’ 7-0 start to Horizon League play matches the best league start in program history. The Mastodons were 7-0 to start Great Lakes Valley Conference play in 1995-96, which stands as the program record. With Thursday’s win, Purdue Fort Wayne owns a nine-game winning streak, extending the Division I era program record. If the Mastodons win on Sunday, it will be the first 10-game winning streak for the program since that same 1995-96 season.
Amellia Bromenschenkel and Lauren Ross carried the Mastodons on both ends of the floor on Thursday night. Bromenschenkel had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds while Lauren Ross scored 16 points and added eight boards. Jazzlyn Linbo (14) and Sydney Freeman (12) helped carry the offensive load, going a combined 10-for-14 inside the arc.
The Mastodons’ game plan of score at the basket was effective all night. The Mastodons shot 56.4 percent (22-of-39) inside the 3-point arc, finishing the game at 44.8 percent from the field after an off shooting night of 4-for-19. The Mastodons were equally good defensively, holding Milwaukee to 38.2 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent from 3-point range.
Milwaukee led for nearly two minutes, but never by more than two. The Mastodons led for nearly 36 minutes of the contest, continuing their impressive stretch basketball over the last nine games.
The Mastodons looked their best in a two-minute stretch to start the third quarter. Linbo had a 4-0 run herself, then Bromenschenkel had a 3-pointer and Ross scored at the hoop. This 9-2 run put the ‘Dons up 17. Later on in the third after Milwaukee got it within 12, Purdue Fort Wayne had an 8-2 run led by four from Jordan Reid. This put the ‘Dons up 18 at 55-37, which was the largest of the night.
Purdue Fort Wayne won the battle in the paint 44-26. The ‘Dons also got 31 points off of Milwaukee 21 miscues.
The Mastodons improve to 12-5 and 7-0 in Horizon League action as the nine-game winning streak continues. Milwaukee falls to 4-14, 1-6 in league play.
The unbeaten Mastodons will visit Horizon League preseason favorite Cleveland State on Sunday (Jan. 12) in a marquee regular season matchup.
PURDUE FT. WAYNE MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
PURDUE FORT WAYNE MEN’S VOLLEYBALL BEGINS A NEW CHAPTER WITH 2025 SEASON OPENER
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Purdue Fort Wayne men’s volleyball team will begin the 2025 season playing host to Central State on Friday (Jan. 10) at 7 p.m.
Game Day Information
Who: Central State Marauders
When: Friday, January 10 | 7 PM
Where: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Arnie Ball Court
Live Stats: Link
Watch: YouTube
Know Your Foe
Central State started its season with a loss to Roberts Wesleyan. Jaedyn Harris led the team in kills during the season opener with six. The Marauders were aided by the offensive production of Tyrone Sands during the 2024 season, finishing with 3.02 kills per set.
Series History
Purdue Fort Wayne has won the only meeting between the two programs, with a sweep in the 2022 season. The ‘Dons held the Marauders to a .000 hitting percentage in the last contest.
Fresh Faces
Head coach Donny Gleason, along with assistant coach Jake Gleason and graduate assistant coach Jon Diedrich, all enter their first year in their coaching positions for the Mastodons. Along with the coaching staff, Purdue Fort Wayne introduces five new players to the roster. Transfers Caleb Lipscomb (Thomas More) and Haven Wankerl (D’Youville) join a freshman class including: JP Candrian, Nick Gutka and Hunter Hopkins.
Last Time Out
The Mastodons finished the 2024 season with a record of 14-12, 8-8 in MIVA play. The ‘Dons held a 11-4 record while playing on the Arnie Ball court last year. The Purdue Fort Wayne men’s volleyball season came to a conclusion after a loss to No. 20 Lindenwood in the MIVA Quarterfinal.
Coming Up
The Mastodons travel to the west coast for a three game road trip, including: The Masters (Jan. 16), No. 15 CSUN (Jan. 17) and No. 18 UC San Diego (Jan. 18).
EVANSVILLE SOFTBALL
UE SOFTBALL UNVEILS 2025 SPRING SCHEDULE
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With the spring season quickly approaching, University of Evansville head softball coach Mat Mundell has announced the 2025 schedule for the Purple Aces.
On Friday, February 7, UE opens the season at the Paladin Tournament, which will be hosted by Furman. Along with the Paladins, Evansville will face Stonehill, UT Martin, and Tennessee Tech. UTM highlights the field after winning 30 games last season.
The next two weekends feature home tournaments at Tri-State Orthopadeics Field at James & Dorothy Cooper Stadium. From Feb. 14-16, the Aces welcome Butler, Green Bay, and USI. Another home tournament is set for Feb. 21-23 when Western Michigan, Ohio State, UT Martin, and Saint Louis will be facing off. All four visiting teams finished last season over .500 with the Buckeyes and Billikens winning 31 games apiece last year.
Another big tournament is on tap starting Feb. 28 and running through March 2 as UE will be taking part in Western Kentucky’s tournament. Aside from the Hilltoppers, the Aces face Kentucky and Tennessee Tech. WKU won 33 games in 2024 while UK was 31-24 on their way to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
In the final non-conference weekend, Evansville will be playing in Bellarmine’s tournament in Louisville. Set for March 7-9, the tournament field includes Bellarmine, Ball State, and Stonehill. The final tune-up before Missouri Valley Conference play opens will be on March 12 as the Aces welcome Lindenwood for a doubleheader.
UNI will mark the first conference series as UE faces the Panthers in Evansville from March 14-16. The Panthers are coming off a 33-17 campaign that saw them win 18 league contests while finishing second in the Valley. The Aces take to the road for the next two conference weekends, heading to Missouri State (March 21-23) and Valparaiso (March 28-30) before opening the month of April at home versus Belmont. The Bruins tied for third in the MVC last season, going 30-20 while taking 16 league wins.
Following a midweek doubleheader on April 8 at Indiana State, Evansville plays host to Drake from the 11th to the 13th before welcoming the Sycamores for a single game on the 15th. The Aces finish the month on the road with 3-game series at Murray State and Bradley before coming back home to wrap up the regular season against the reigning league champions – Southern Illinois. The winners of 44 games in 2024, SIU earned 23 Valley wins.
The 2025 MVC Championship will be held May 7-10 on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
SOUTHERN INDIANA MEN’S BASKETBALL
SCREAMING EAGLES OUTFLOWN BY REDHAWKS, 77-66
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball suffered a 77-66 setback at Southeast Missouri State University Thursday evening in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The Screaming Eagles are 6-9 overall and 1-4 in OVC action, while the Redhawks are 9-7, 4-1 OVC.
USI got the first bucket of the game for the 2-0 lead before the SEMO Redhawks flew out of an eight-point lead, 19-7, with 10:48 left in the opening half. The Eagles would battle back to knot the score at 20-20 when sophomore forward Stephen Olowoniyi threw down a dunk.
SEMO pushed the lead back to seven points, 31-24, with 3:58 remaining in the opening half, but USI closed the gap to 37-31 at the break. Olowoniyi and junior guard Damoni Harrison led the Eagles’ scorers with nine points each.
USI struggled to start the second half, going over three minutes before getting its first bucket of the half, while SEMO extended the margin to 10-points, 46-36, with 10:12 to play. The Eagles tried to rally, cutting the deficit to as few as two points (52-50) once and to a one-procession game three times, before the Redhawks pulled away for good in the 77-66 final.
Individually for USI in the scoring column, junior guard Sam Kodi led the Eagles with 15 points. Kodi, whose 15 points was one short of a season-high, was five-of-10 from the field and five-of-seven from the line.
Junior guard Braxton Jones followed with 13 points, while Olowoniyi posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Harrison rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points.
Next Up For USI:
USI concludes the three-game OVC road swing Saturday when it visits the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. in the Jack Stephens Center.
The Trojans are 8-7 overall and 2-2 in the OVC after losing 59-53 to Morehead State University this afternoon in Little Rock. Little Rock, who has won five of the last eight games, had its matchup with Morehead State moved up to 1 p.m. this afternoon due to the winter storm rolling through the Midwest.
The series is tied 2-2 after Little Rock took both games in the series last season. The Trojans took the opening game of the home-and-home series, 77-75, at Liberty Arena and 80-62 in Little Rock.
All of the USI Basketball action can be seen live on ESPN+. The game can also be heard on ESPN 97.7FM (http://listentotheref.com) and 95.7FM The Spin (http://957thespin.com).
Following the road trip, USI returns home for a pair of OVC games at Liberty Arena. The Eagles are slated to host Lindenwood University January 16 and Western Illinois University January 18.
The January 18 USI-WIU matchup is Military Appreciation Day at Liberty Arena. Veterans and their guests will receive free tickets with proof of service (limit to five per veteran) on Military Appreciation Day, which is sponsored by the USI Student Veteran Association.
Tickets for the homestand and all USI home dates are on sale now at USIScreamingEagles.com.
SOUTHERN INDIANA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
EAGLES GET BACK ON TRACK BEHIND RALEY’S CAREER-HIGH 29 POINTS AT SEMO
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball got back on track Thursday night behind a career-high 29 points from graduate forward Meredith Raley to earn a 93-69 road victory against Southeast Missouri State University.
The road win did not come easy for the Screaming Eagles. Southern Indiana registered its largest comeback win of the season after trailing by 12 points late in the opening quarter. USI put together three strong quarters to finish the game to improve to 12-4 on the campaign and 4-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference, grouping the Eagles in a three-way tie for second in the league. Southeast Missouri dropped to 4-10 overall and 2-3 in the OVC.
Southern Indiana tallied the game’s first four points out of the opening tip. However, Southeast Missouri answered with the next six. Neither side allowed easy looks in the early going, leading to a slow start offensively. With three minutes left in the first, SEMO pulled ahead by six, 13-7. USI closed the gap before the Redhawks caught fire from three-point range. An 8-2 run for SEMO in the last two minutes of the first led to a 24-14 lead for the Redhawks after the opening frame.
Junior guard Ali Saunders gave the Screaming Eagles an early second-quarter spark, knocking down a couple of jumpers in the first two minutes to help draw USI back within six, 27-21. Raley drilled a three later in the period to make it a four-point game, 33-29, in favor of Southeast Missouri. Trailing by nine halfway in the second quarter, USI turned the tides. The Screaming Eagles went on a 15-0 run in the first half’s final minutes and held SEMO without a field goal in the final five minutes. Saunders and Raley reached double figures before the intermission, as USI carried a 44-40 lead into halftime.
The Screaming Eagles picked up where they left off from the first half with a strong start to the second half. Southern Indiana stretched its lead in the third quarter up to 13, 59-46, with 6:32 on the clock when senior guard Vanessa Shafford cashed in her fourth trey of the contest to tie Stephanie Carpenter’s (2010-14) program record of 194 career three-pointers made. Down the stretch of the third period, USI leaned on its post play. Raley remained effective inside and reached the 20-point mark for the third time this season. Sophomore forward Amiyah Buchanan made her return to SEMO where she spent her freshman season last year. Buchanan converted a pair of inside buckets to help increase Southern Indiana’s lead to 19, 73-54, going to the fourth quarter.
Buchanan continued to make her presence felt at her old stomping grounds with a basket to push USI’s lead to 20 and blocking a shot on the perimeter early in the fourth quarter. With six minutes left in the game, Raley added to her big outing with a layup to extend Southern Indiana’s margin to 25, 85-60. A little over a minute later, Raley set her new career high on a layup, as USI led 89-60. Southern Indiana closed out the win from there.
Southern Indiana finished the game shooting over 60 percent overall for the first time since USI shot above 65 percent at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock last February. On Thursday, USI shot for 63 percent (35-56) against the Redhawks with a 45 percent clip from three (9-20). The Eagles were 14-19 for 74 percent at the foul line. USI outrebounded SEMO, 25-22, and the Screaming Eagles’ defense turned 22 SEMO turnovers into 31 points. USI also had 48 points in the paint.
Raley’s career-best 29 points, which surpassed her previous mark of 27 that she set at Southeast Missouri two seasons ago, led all scorers in Thursday’s game. Raley was 12-16 shooting in 32 minutes of action. Shafford was next in scoring for USI with 18 points while adding six rebounds and five assists in the contest. Shafford was 7-9 from the floor and 4-6 from three, as Shafford’s next made three will set a new program career record for three-pointers made. Saunders dropped 14 points with six assists and sophomore guard Triniti Ralston added 11 points.
After a hot start for Southeast Missouri, the Redhawks were limited to 41 percent shooting (24-58) and 41 percent from three (9-22). SEMO went for 86 percent (12-14) at the charity stripe. The Redhawks had three double-digit scorers including with 20-plus points. Senior guard Skylar Barnes had a team-high 21 points with freshman guard Zoe Best right behind at 20 points for the game.
The Screaming Eagles conclude their road swing this weekend at Little Rock. The game is slated for Saturday at 1 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN+ and heard on The Spin 95.7 FM. For the potential of any schedule changes due to inclement weather, stay tuned to usiscreamingeagles.com.
VALPO MEN’S BASKETBALL
VALPO SEEKS FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN ON SATURDAY
Valparaiso (10-6, 3-2 MVC)
at Murray State (9-7, 3-2 MVC)
Game No. 17 – Saturday, Jan. 11, 3 p.m. CT
CFSB Center (8,600) – Murray, Ky.
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valparaiso University men’s basketball team will look to secure a fourth straight victory as the Beacons hit the road for the first of back-to-back away tilts on Saturday afternoon against Murray State. Due to inclement weather in the forecast on Friday, the Beacons arrived a day early to the state of Kentucky on Thursday to begin a six-day road trip. Entering Saturday, the Beacons and Racers are both part of an eight-way tie for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference at 3-2, with the bulk of the league sitting one game behind Bradley at 4-1. Should Bradley fall to UIC on Saturday, the winner of the game between the Beacons and Racers would move into a tie for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Last Time Out: Valpo outlasted Indiana State 98-95 in overtime on Wednesday night at an electric Athletics-Recreation Center behind a trio of 20-point scorers – All Wright (25), Cooper Schwieger (23) and Tyler Schmidt (23). The Beacons led by 12 midway through the second half and rose to the challenge when the Sycamores made a run to send the game to overtime.
Following the Beacons: Streaming – ESPN+ – Dave Rowton (play-by-play) and Rob Cross (analyst)
Radio – WVUR 95.1 FM Valparaiso, TuneIn Radio App, ValpoAthletics.com – Todd Ickow (play-by-play) and Brandon Vickrey (analyst)
X updates – @ValpoBasketball
Links for video, audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com.
Head Coach Roger Powell Jr.: Roger Powell Jr. (17-31) is in his second season as the head coach of the Valpo men’s basketball program. After helping guide Gonzaga to a 121-13 record during his four seasons as an assistant coach, Powell returned to Valpo, where he was part of head coach Bryce Drew’s staff from 2011-2016 and led the team to 124 wins in five seasons, including a program-record 30 victories and a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) title game appearance in 2015-16. He was part of head coach Mark Few’s Gonzaga staff as the Bulldogs reached the 2021 national championship game after winning their first 31 games of the season. During Powell’s first season on staff in 2019-20, Gonzaga was 31-2 at the time the NCAA college basketball season was halted due to COVID-19. The Bulldogs reached the Sweet Sixteen in each of his final three seasons on staff, including two Elite Eight appearances and the aforementioned trip to the 2021 national title game. Prior to his arrival at Gonzaga, Powell served as the associate head coach at Vanderbilt University under Bryce Drew from 2016-2019. During his stint as an assistant at Valpo, he was part of four Horizon League regular-season championships in a five-year period while also leading the 2012-13 and 2014-15 squads to Horizon League tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. A product of Joliet West High School and a native of Joliet, Ill., Powell capped a prolific collegiate playing career at Illinois with a national title game appearance in 2005 before going on to a successful professional playing career.
Series Notes: Valpo is 3-5 all-time against Murray State and 0-4 since the Racers joined the Missouri Valley Conference prior to the 2022-23 campaign. The Beacons are seeking their first win in the series since a 93-58 victory on Nov. 29, 2014 as part of the Challenge in Music City multi-team event in Nashville. Valpo’s last success story in Murray, Ky. came on Dec. 29, 2012 (66-64). The teams faced off just once last season with the host Racers prevailing 80-68 on Feb. 24.
With the Win on Wednesday vs. Indiana State, Valpo…
Matched its Missouri Valley Conference win total from last season with 15 regular-season games remaining.
Holds a 3-2 record through five Valley games after starting league play 0-5 each of the last two years. Valpo was 1-4 in 2021-22, 2-3 in 2020-21, 2-3 in 2019-20 is now 3-2 or better through five league games for the first time since 2018-19.
Owns a three-game winning streak in league play for the first time since January 2023 (Evansville, UIC, Illinois State).
Owns 10 wins in the first 16 games for the first time since 2018-19. Valpo began 11-6 that season.
Improved to 8-2 at home, already matching the program’s home win total from 2022-23 and one away from matching the team’s highest home win total since 2019-20.
Has regular-season wins over Indiana State, Missouri State and UNI all in the same season for the first time since joining the Missouri Valley Conference.
Snapped a four-game head-to-head losing streak and beat Indiana State for the first time since Feb. 5, 2022 (W 79-72, 2OT).
Beat the defending conference regular-season champions for the first time since Feb. 13, 2020, a 70-57 victory over UNI, and snapped a six-game losing streak against the defending MVC regular-season champs.
Improved to 5-1 in the last six games with the only loss coming in double overtime at MVC preseason favorite Bradley.
With a Win on Saturday at Murray State, Valpo Would…
Surpass its Missouri Valley Conference win total from last season with 14 games remaining.
Possess a four-game winning streak for the first time since a five-gamer during the 2018-19 campaign – wins over Purdue Northwest, Illinois State, Missouri State, Bradley and Southern Illinois.
Hold a 4-2 record through six Valley games, which would mark Valpo’s best record through six league games since starting 5-1 in 2018-19.
Own 11 wins in the first 17 games of a season for the first time since 2018-19.
Pick up its first win over Murray State since the Racers joined the Missouri Valley Conference, snapping a four-game head-to-head skid.
Improve to 6-1 in the last seven games, which would mark the program’s best seven-game stretch since 2018-19.
20-Point Trio
All Wright (25), Cooper Schwieger (23) and Tyler Schmidt (23) all surpassed 20 points in the Jan. 8 win over Indiana State.
They became the first Valpo trio to score 20 points or more in the same game since Nov. 29, 2013. The trio that achieved the feat in that game – a triple overtime affair vs. Mercer – was comprised of Lavonte Dority (31), Bobby Capobiano (23) and Alec Peters (22).
Wright finished one point shy of his season best as the rookie previously tallied 26 on Dec. 14 vs. Central Michigan. He surpassed 20 points for the third time this season and first in conference play in the game against the Sycamores. Wright also tied a season high with four rebounds.
Wright joined Cooper Schwieger (2023-24) and Alec Peters (2013-14) as the only Valpo freshmen in the last 15 years with multiple 25-point games. He became just the sixth freshman nationally with multiple 25-point games this season, joining Jeremiah Fears (Oklahoma), Ian Jackson (North Carolina), Tre Johnson (Texas), Dylan Harper (Rutgers) and Tyrone Riley IV (San Francisco).
Schwieger’s 23 points represented his fourth time eclipsing 20 points in the last five games. He nailed three 3s in a game for the third time this season while also securing eight boards, his seventh time this year with eight or more.
Schmidt’s 23 points represented a season high, surpassing his previous best of 21 on Dec. 14 vs. Central Michigan. This was his third 20-point game of the year and his third straight game in double figures. He pulled down seven rebounds, his second-highest total of the year.
A High-Scoring Affair
Valpo defeated Indiana State 98-95 in overtime on Jan. 8, the program’s highest scoring output against a Division-I opponent since a 117-108, triple overtime loss vs. Mercer on Nov. 29, 2013.
The 98 points marked Valpo’s highest scoring output in conference play since Feb. 2, 2006, a 99-73 Mid-Continent Conference victory over Centenary.
This marked the first time Valpo gave up 95 points or more in a victory since Dec. 21, 2010, a 103-102 win at Oakland. The Beacons had lost their previous eight games when allowing 95 points or more.
Valpo improved to 3-44 all-time when allowing 95 points or more. In addition to this year’s win over Indiana State and the aforementioned game at Oakland, Valpo beat Western Illinois 104-100 on March 1, 1993.
Indiana State snapped a 15-game winning streak when scoring 95 points or more. The Sycamores last loss when scoring 95+ was 104-96 in double overtime at Loyola Chicago on Jan. 30, 2016.
The 98 points marked the most allowed by the Sycamores in a conference game since that aforementioned January 2016 game at Loyola Chicago.
Bonus Basketball
Valpo played overtime for the second time in its first five conference contests on Jan. 8, beating Indiana State 98-95 at the ARC.
That marked Valpo’s first OT win since Nov. 27, 2022 vs. James Madison, stopping a five-game losing streak in games that required an extra session. It was the squad’s first OT win in league play since a double overtime triumph on Feb. 5, 2022, also against Indiana State.
Valpo’s double overtime loss at Bradley on Dec. 29 marked the first overtime game of the Roger Powell Jr. head coaching era. It was the team’s first OT contest since a 77-76 loss at Murray State on Feb. 26, 2023.
The Beacons played their first double overtime game since Feb. 4, 2023 vs. Drake (L 85-82).
Bradley has played double overtime twice in the last nine seasons and both have come against Valpo.
Limiting the Giveaways
Valpo has won or tied the turnover battle in 13 out of 16 games this season.
Valpo turned the ball over just six times in the Jan. 4 win over UNI, the team’s second-lowest turnover total of the season behind four on Jan. 27 vs. Northern Illinois.
That marked the seventh time in the first 15 games this season that Valpo had a single-digit turnover total including the second straight.
The Beacons are averaging just 10.3 turnovers per game, the fewest in the MVC and 35th fewest nationally. They rank second in the league in turnover margin at +2.1 per game.
Making the Free Ones
Entering Jan. 11 at Murray State, Valpo is shooting a conference-best 79.5 percent at the free-throw line this season, ninth nationally. The Beacons make an average of 19.1 free throws per game, first in the league and ninth nationally.
Valpo made 32 free throws on Jan. 8 vs. Indiana State, the second most of the season behind 35 vs. Northern Illinois. Before that, you have to go back to 46 on Nov. 10, 2017 vs. North Park.
Valpo has posted a better free-throw percentage than its opponent in 14 out of 16 games this season.
Incredibly, Cooper Schwieger has made 23 consecutive free throws and is 37-of-38 (.974) at the line in his last nine games.
Tyler Schmidt (fifth, .887), Cooper Schwieger (7th, .877) and All Wright (12th, .822) all rank among the MVC leaders in free-throw percentage.
There is a lot of season left to be played, but for reference, the modern program record for team single-season free-throw percentage is 77.5 percent in 2016-17 followed by 77.4 percent in 1992-93.
All Wright Among Valley’s Top Freshmen
Valpo freshman All Wright is averaging 11.3 points per game, one of two Valley freshmen averaging in double figures and second in the league among MVC rookies behind only Evansville’s Gabriel Pozzato, who hasn’t played since Dec. 12 and has been limited to 10 games.
Wright also ranks second among Valley rookies in assists per game at 2.9 per contest, behind only Indiana State’s Josiah LeGree, who is handing out 3.5 helpers per game.
No Valley rookie has scored more points than Wright, as he eclipsed Pozzato on Jan. 4 vs. UNI as the league’s highest-scoring freshman. He has scored 180 points on the season.
No Valpo freshman has finished the season with at least 10.0 points per game and 3.0 assists per game since Milo Stovall in 1998-99 (10.6 ppg, 3.1 apg). Before that, it was Bryce Drew in 1994-95 (13.4 ppg, 6.0 apg).
No Missouri Valley Conference freshman has averaged 10.0 points per game and 3.0 assists per game since Wichita State’s Landry Shamet in 2016-17 (11.4 ppg, 3.3 apg).
In the last 30 seasons, Valpo has had eight freshmen finish the season with a double-figure scoring average – Bryce Drew (13.4 ppg, 1994-95), Milo Stovall (10.6 ppg, 1998-99), Lubos Barton (13.8 ppg, 1998-99), Samuel Haanpaa (12.0 ppg, 2006-07), Alec Peters (12.7 ppg, 2013-14), Tevonn Walker (10.3 ppg, 2014-15), Javon Freeman-Liberty (11.0 ppg, 2018-19) and Cooper Schwieger (13.2 ppg, 2023-24).
Schwieger Surging
Cooper Schwieger has gone on a tear of late, tallying 13 points or more in seven straight games. He’s poured in 20 points or more in four of his last five games.
Incredibly, Schwieger has made 23 consecutive free throws and is 37-of-38 (.974) at the line in his last nine games. He ranks seventh in the league in free-throw percentage at .877.
Through nine games this season, Schwieger was averaging 11.1 points per game. He is averaging 19.3 points per game over the last six.
Schwieger ranks fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring (14.7 ppg), seventh in rebounding (6.8 rpg) and second in blocked shots (1.3 bpg). He’s the only player in the Missouri Valley Conference averaging at least 14 points, six rebounds and one block per game.
Schwieger is one of four sophomores nationally averaging at least 14 points, six rebounds and one block, joining South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin and Iowa’s Owen Freeman.
The last Missouri Valley Conference player to finish a season averaging at least 14 points, six rebounds and one block was Missouri State’s Gaige Prim in 2021-22. The last Valley underclassmen (freshman or sophomore) to do so were Evansville’s Deandre Williams and Drake’s Liam Robbins in 2019-20.
Scouting the Racers
Coming off back-to-back road wins over quality competition, sweeping the Iowa swing with wins over Drake (66-59) and UNI (71-68).
Picked to finish third in the MVC preseason poll.
Led in scoring by Preseason All-MVC First Team choice JaCobi Wood at 13.6 points per game. Nick Ellington was a member of the Preseason All-MVC Second Team.
Ranked 106 in KenPom and 115 in NET, fourth in the MVC in both metrics. For comparison, Valpo is 186 in the NET and 200 in KenPom.
Under the direction of head coach Steve Prohm, who is in the third season of his second stint leading the program.
UINDY MEN’S BASKETBALL
DISKEN PROVIDES SPARK IN GREYHOUNDS’ WIN OVER QUINCY
INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy men’s basketball team led for the entirety of the second half on Thursday, closing out an 86-78 victory over Quincy at Nicoson Hall. The Greyhounds regained the lead for good with a pair of late triples from Grant Disken, including one in the team’s final possession with four seconds left.
Disken finished with a game-high 25 points, the most in his young UIndy career. Four other Hounds joined the graduate student in double figures, including freshman Tucker Tornatta, who scored all 10 of his points in the second half.
UIndy has now won six straight games dating back to its road win at Thomas More on Dec. 11.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a back-and-forth opening half, with Quincy leading for most of the first eight minutes. Dashawn Jackson scored five straight points to put the Hounds ahead early. Zac Szul provided a spark off the bench, scoring seven points in a five-minute stretch midway through the period and assisting on four of his teammates’ buckets.
The Hawks appeared to have momentum going into the break before Disken came knocking with two 3-pointers in the final 53 seconds to turn the tables. Brody Whitaker provided the dime in those closing moments for the baseline triple from Disken.
Quincy kept it within 10 for the entire second half, making it a one-point ballgame at the 14:17 mark. Jackson sunk a deep 3-pointer before a Lavonte Harris rebound turned into a layup for Kelvin Amoako to halt the Hawks’ run.
The Greyhounds only managed a pair of five-point stretches as the Hawks kept the game within striking distance. Tornatta hit a wide-open 3-ball from the left wing with 7:41 left to put the Hounds up 10, all but sealing it, as Quincy failed to make it a one-possession game the rest of the way. Just as he started it with a monster first half, Disken stamped UIndy’s sixth straight win with a 4-of-4 effort at the charity stripe in the final 38 seconds.
INSIDE THE BOX
– Whitaker scored the first eight points of the game for UIndy, returning to double digits in the scoring column with 14 in the win.
– Szul finished with six helpers, his most as a Greyhound over the past two seasons.
– The UIndy defense forced 14 second-half turnovers, thanks in large part to Tornatta’s four thefts. Overall, the Hounds committed 14 steals off Hawks’ miscues, with Dylan Ingram chipping in one.
– As a result of Quincy’s 22 turnovers, the Greyhounds scored 29 points with extra possessions compared to the Hawks’ 11. UIndy coughed up the ball just four times in the second half.
– The Greyhounds attempted 32 free throws in the win, marking the third time in the last seven games they have recorded at least 31 from the line.
HOUND BYTES
Szul on preparing for Quincy…
“They are one of the hardest playing teams in the league and knew it was going to be a dog fight when they come in here. It’s taking a lot of off-season work just getting our bodies ready for these kinds of games. Steve Barrick does a great job over there in the weight room getting us all ready to play physical, to take a beating and give a beating.”
Szul on Disken’s energy…
“Grant is an absolute sparkplug. You could tell from when he first stepped foot on campus that he had a different energy to him. Today we came out a little slow and when you look to that one guy to find you some energy, he’s got it all the time.”
MORE NOTES
UIndy leads all-time series, 27-14 … Quincy freshman Max Booher, a native of nearby Greenwood, finished with 12 points in a team-high 34+ minutes … the Greyhounds have now scored at least 40 points in each of the last three games.
UP NEXT
UIndy welcomes back Upper Iowa to Nicoson Hall on Saturday after a fast-paced barnburner last season in the teams’ lone matchup of the season, with the Greyhounds pulling out a 93-80 win.
UINDY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
GREYHOUNDS FALTER IN THURSDAY MEETING WITH HAWKS
INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy women’s basketball team dropped a 73-54 decision on Thursday evening to Quincy at Nicoson Hall.
The Hawks pulled away in the second half to earn their first win in the series since January 2019.
Halie Gilbert contributed all over the floor, recording a Swiss-army-knife type line of nine points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals.
INS & OUTS
The Greyhounds led for the first seven minutes of the contest, starting with a 15-8 advantage. Quincy responded with an 11-0 run to close the quarter, but not before Elana Wells swished a halfcourt buzzer beater to put the Hounds within a point.
Quincy did not look back, shooting a game-high 21 field goals in the second period. The visitors outscored the Hounds, 34-21, in the second half to pull away for the victory. Sanaa Thomas drilled a triple early in the third to inch within five, but Quincy led by double digits for more than 13 of the final 16 minutes.
The Hawks controlled possession for much of the league bout, securing 50 rebounds compared to the Greyhounds’ 36. UIndy limited Quincy’s second-chance scoring, however, as the Hawks tacked on an extra nine points due to offensive boards.
Patricia Chikamba scored a game-high 14 points in limited playing time due to foul trouble, adding seven rebounds and two assists.
INSIDE THE BOX
– Wells dished out a team-best five assists, while scoring 11 points.
– Jaelynne Murray logged nearly 29 minutes in her sixth start of the season, grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.
– Senior transfer Amyrah Sapenter stretched her steals streak to five games and has recorded at least one theft 12 times this season.
MORE NOTES
UIndy now leads the all-time series, 32-4 … ten Hawks recorded at least three points, including a team-high 12 from both Nicole McDermott and Cymirah Williams.
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds close their four-game home stand with Upper Iowa on Saturday afternoon. Tip from Nicoson Hall is scheduled for 1 p.m.
INDIANA SMALL COLLEGE WEB SITES
INDIANA WESLEYAN ATHLETICS: https://iwuwildcats.com/
EARLHAM ATHLETICS: https://goearlham.com/
WABASH ATHLETICS: https://sports.wabash.edu/
FRANKLIN ATHLETICS: https://franklingrizzlies.com/
ROSE-HULMAN ATHLETICS: https://athletics.rose-hulman.edu/
ANDERSON ATHLETICS: https://athletics.anderson.edu/landing/index
TRINE ATHLETICS: https://trinethunder.com/landing/index
BETHEL ATHLETICS: https://bupilots.com/
DEPAUW ATHLETICS: https://depauwtigers.com/
HANOVER ATHLETICS: https://athletics.hanover.edu/
MANCHESTER ATHLETICS: https://muspartans.com/
HUNTINGTON ATHLETICS: https://www.huathletics.com/
OAKLAND CITY ATHLETICS: https://gomightyoaks.com/index.aspx
ST. FRANCIS ATHLETICS: https://www.saintfranciscougars.com/landing/index
IU KOKOMO ATHLETICS: https://iukcougars.com/
IU EAST ATHLETICS: https://www.iueredwolves.com/
IU SOUTH BEND ATHLETICS: https://iusbtitans.com/
PURDUE NORTHWEST ATHLETICS: https://pnwathletics.com/
INDIANA TECH ATHLETICS: https://indianatechwarriors.com/index.aspx
GRACE COLLEGE ATHLETICS: https://gclancers.com/
ST. MARY OF THE WOODS ATHLETICS: https://smwcathletics.com/
GOSHEN COLLEGE ATHLETICS: https://goleafs.net/
HOLY CROSS ATHLETICS: https://www.hcsaints.com/index.php
TAYLOR ATHLETICS: https://www.taylortrojans.com/
VINCENNES ATHLETICS: https://govutrailblazers.com/landing/index
“SPORTS EXTRA”
FOOTBALL HISTORY
January 10, 1953 – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – The third NFL Pro Bowl was played. What a top notch group of players were on the field for this one! The list of quarterbacks alone per the Pro-Football-Reference website will give you goosebumps! Y.A. Tittle, Norm Van Brocklin, Bobby Layne and Otto Graham. In the backfield were names like Frank Gifford and Doak Walker on defense greats like Ernie Stautner, Chuck Bednarik and so many more! The National Conference defeated the American Conference by the score of 27-7. The game’s Most Valuable Player was Don Doll, the defensive back from the Detroit Lions.
January 10, 1965 – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – The 1964 NFL Pro Bowl game was played. The Eastern Conference was coached by Don Shula then of the Baltimore Colts and he matched wits with the head coach from the Cleveland Browns, Brant Collier who would mastermind the strategies of the Western Conference. According to the website sportshistorycollectibles.com, The West more than double the offensive production of the East 411 yards to 187. It was no wonder then that the Western Conference defeated their Eastern counterparts 34-14. The MVPs of the game were Quarterback Fran Tarkenton of the Minnesota Vikings and Defensive back Terry Barr, of the Detroit Lions.
January 10, 1982 – Candlestick Park, San Francisco – The NFC Championship Game where with :58 second remaining Joe Montana threw a miraculous pass to the back of the end zone and Dwight Clark lept to grab it, cementing “the Catch” as one of the top plays in NFL history.
January 10, 1982 – Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati – The San Diego Chargers had to put on their parkas and travel to chilly Cincinnati to play the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game. We found a great story on this game on FullPressCoverage.com where they tell that game time temperatures were 9 degrees below 0 on the fahrenheit thermometers! With a constant 27 MPH wind the wind chills were recorded at -59°F! If you remember back to our December 31 post we said that the 1967 NFC Championship game fondly remembered as the Ice Bowl had a temperature of -13°F and that was the coldest NFL game ever played, that game did not have the windchill factor that the Freezer Bowl did though. So windchill-wise the Freezer Bowl in the coldest NFL game on record. The Chargers coming from Southern California were not used to the cold and it froze their “Air Coryell” offense. The Bengals had a secret weapon, their head coach, Forrest Gregg was a hall of Fame tackle that played on that Green Bay squad that had won the Ice Bowl some decade and a half earlier. The Cincinnati Bengals had a true homefield advantage in this one as they cruised past the San Diego Chargers, 27-7.
January 10, 1990 – NCAA approves random drug testing for college football players
January 10, 1996 – The Miami Dolphins franchise announced that they hired a new head coach, former Dallas Cowboys Jimmy Johnson would be their next on field leader. Johnson who had big shoes in Big D by winning two Super Bowls with the “Boys” was filling some even bigger shoes of the now retired Don Shula, who spent 26 seasons as the Miami field boss. We discussed Shula’s legacy and his retirement in the January 5 post.
January 10, 2011 – University of Phoenix Stadium – The 13th BCS National Championship pitted the nation’s top division 1 College teams of Auburn and Oregon against each other for all the marbles. ESPN.com has the story of how Michael Dyer of Alabama had a run a a few yards where he then was spun down by a would be tackler. Everyone on the field stopped, including Dyer for a moment but then after hearing his sideline yelling to keep going he completed a 37 yard run to drive the ball deep into Oregon territory with about two minutes left to play. Michael had landed on top of the tackler for a moment but his body never hit the ground and he sprung back up so quickly that his progress was not judged to be stopped. The Tiger methodically inched the ball closer and milked the clock. Finally Dyer took off on another run burst to get the ball to the Duck one yardline. That is when kicker Wes Byrum nailed the nineteen yard field goal to break the tie and give Auburn the national title. #1 Auburn outlasted #2 Oregon, 22-19.
January 10, 2022 – The 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship was a college football bowl game played on January 10, 2022, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the contest the number 3 ranked Georgia Bulldogs faced their longtime rival the Crimson Tide of Alabama who were the top team in the land. The Bulldogs scored 20 4th quarter points, including a 79 pick six to cap the triumph 33-18. and become the 2021’s season National Champs.
Hall Of Fame Birthdays
January 10, 1892 – Jersey City, New Jersey – Army’s strong tackle, Alex Weyand was born. The National Football Foundation voters chose the name and statistics of Alex Weyand to enter into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974.
January 10, 1909 – – The great guard who played at the Washing University of St. Louis and Army Harvey Jablonsky celebrated the start of his life. Harvey Jablonsky was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1978 per the National Football Foundation website.
January 10, 1921 – Newark, Ohio – John Tavener the center of Indiana University was born. The National Football Foundation selected John Tavener to go into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1990.
YESTERDAY IN BASEBALL
In 1979, Larry Bird played in a college baseball game on a dare.
From SB Nation: Everyone remembers Michael Jordan’s decision to leave the Bulls and pursue a career in baseball, but it was Larry Bird who tried his hand at the game on April 28, 1979, and became a one-day legend in the process — and even better, he did it mostly because of a dare.
Bird’s status as an Indiana sports legend was cemented by the spring of 1979. The small forward had just led Indiana State to a 33-1 season, with the team’s sole loss coming to Magic Johnson and Michigan State. Everyone knew Bird was destined for greatness in the NBA, but that didn’t stop Indiana State baseball coach Bob Warn from roasting him. It began as gentle ribbing, poking fun at Bird’s propensity to spend a majority of his free time getting ice and massages in the ISU training room. Then one day, Warn called Bird a “wuss” for his seemingly endless postgame recovery and threw down the gauntlet when he picked up a baseball.
“Real men play with balls this size,” Warn said, glaring at Bird. It was merely an escalated version of Warn’s usual brand of teasing, but Bird had enough and was ready to prove a point. “I could do that. I could play baseball,” Bird responded, taking the coach by surprise.
It would have been easy for the story to end here, with a healthy round of shit-talking and little else. But Bird, ever the competitor, wanted to prove a point. And Warn, firm in his belief Bird would look foolish on a baseball field, was willing to give him the chance to embarrass himself.
The pair made an agreement: A non-conference doubleheader was looming against Kentucky Wesleyan, a perfect low-risk opportunity to put Bird in a baseball uniform. The team didn’t have equipment big enough to accommodate Bird’s 6’9 frame, so they stretched out the longest pair of pants they could find, procured the largest hat on campus, and trotted out onto the field one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Mike Hayes, a Kentucky Wesleyan player, recounted the game, vividly remembering Bird’s bizarre, ungainly swing.
“He definitely had a softball swing,” Hayes recalled. “It looked almost like a straight uppercut.” The massive strike zone should have given pitchers a field day, but they soon realized Bird wasn’t there to goof around. He was there to prove a point.
Warn noted that Bird played baseball with the same energy he brought to the court:
“He plays the game just as he does basketball, with every ounce he has. He’s very intense. He was remarking to one of the players before the game that he just wanted to do well; he didn’t want to let the team down.”
Bird didn’t let the team down. Far from it. When the doubleheader was over, he’d finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs while recording nine putouts from first base in the second game. It wasn’t just that Bird played; he stunned everyone watching that day.
The .500 batting average still exists in Indiana State history books as one of the highest ever recorded by a player for the team. You won’t find much on Larry Bird’s short-lived baseball career, but those who were there won’t soon forget. For one day, Bird got to prove he wasn’t just a basketball player icing up in the locker room; he was a star at anything he wanted to try.
Bird signed autographs for fans in attendance and Kentucky Wesleyan players before walking off the field that day. Two months later, he signed his NBA contract with the Boston Celtics. And the rest is history.
TODAY IN SPORTS
Jan. 10
1972 — The longest winning streak in major professional sports — 33 games — ends when the Bucks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 120-104 behind 39 points by Milwaukee’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
1980 — Goaltender Jim Stewart, in his first and only game with the Boston Bruins, yields three goals in the first four minutes and five in the first period. He’s replaced and never plays in the NHL again.
1982 — Joe Montana’s third touchdown pass of the game, a 6-yarder to Dwight Clark, with 51 seconds remaining, lifts the San Francisco 49ers to 28-27 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC title game.
1986 — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers scores his 34,000th career point during 124-102 win over Indiana Pacers; only NBA player to reach the milestone at that time; remains all-time leader (38,387).
1989 — LA Kings center Wayne Gretzky becomes NHL’s all-time leading scorer in combined regular season & playoff points; 4 assists in 5-4 home win over Edmonton brings his total to 2,011, 1 more than Gordie Howe.
1998 — Michelle Kwan receives eight perfect 6.0s out of nine marks for artistry in the free skate to win her second U.S. Figure Skating Championship in three years.
Jan. 11
1970 — The AFL wins its second straight Super Bowl as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 behind Len Dawson’s superb quarterbacking and Jan Stenerud’s three field goals.
1973 — The American League adopts the designated hitter rule.
1981 — Jim Plunkett completes 14 of 18 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Oakland Raiders to 34-27 victory over the San Diego Chargers for the AFC title. The Raiders are the first AFC wild-card team to advance to the Super Bowl.
1984 — The Denver Nuggets beats the San Antonio Spurs 163-155 in the highest-scoring regulation NBA game.
1987 — Denver’s John Elway leads the Broncos to a 23-20 overtime victory over the Cleveland Browns to win the AFC Championship. Elway caps a 15-play, 98-yard march with a 5-yard TD pass to Mark Jackson to tie the game with 37 seconds remaining. Rich Karlis kicks a 33-yard field goal in overtime to give Denver the win.
1992 — Kristi Yamaguchi, runner-up the previous three years, wins her first title in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Christopher Bowman, the 1989 U.S. champion, wins the men’s title.
1998 — Lleyton Hewitt, an Australian high school student ranked 550th, wins the Australian Men’s Hardcourt Championship to become the lowest-ranked player to win an ATP Tour event.
2004 — Detroit allows 100 points for the first time this season, but the Pistons were still able to outlast Dallas 115-102. Detroit has its NBA-record streak of not allowing 100 points snapped at 38 games, including 36 this season.
2009 — Philadelphia, led by Donovan McNabb, eliminates the New York Giants 23-11 to reach the NFC title game for the fifth time in eight seasons. This is the first game in NFL history to finish 23-11.
2011 — Toronto beats San Jose 4-2 to give Maple Leafs’ coach Ron Wilson his 600th career win. Wilson becomes the seventh coach to reach the 600-win milestone.
2014 — LeGarrette Blount rushes for 166 yards and four touchdown as the New England beats Indianapolis 43-22 to advance to their third consecutive AFC championship game. Blount joins Ricky Watters, who had five touchdowns for San Francisco on Jan. 15, 1994, as the only players with four or more in a playoff game.
2014 — Gracie Gold wins her first U.S. figure skating title and 15-year-old Polina Edmunds finishes second. Charlie White and Meryl Davis win a record sixth straight U.S. ice dance title — one more than American ice dance pioneers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto.
2014 — Alex Rodriguez is dealt the most severe punishment in the history of baseball’s drug agreement when arbitrator Fredric Horowitz rules the New York Yankees third baseman is suspended for the entire 2014 season as a result of a drug investigation by Major League Baseball. The decision cuts the suspension issued Aug. 5, 2013 by baseball Commissioner Bud Selig from 211 games.
2015 — Roger Federer beats the up-and-coming Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-4 to register his 1,000th career match and win the Brisbane International. Federer is the third player to win 1,000 times on the men’s professional tour’ joining Jimmy Connors (1,253) and Ivan Lendl (1,071).
2015 — Green Bay rallies from an eight-point deficit behind Aaron Rodgers, who throws two second-half touchdowns to beat Dallas 26-21 in an NFC divisional-round playoff. The Packers are helped by a video challenge with 4:06 remaining. Dez Bryant’s leaping catch at the Packers 1 on fourth-and-2 is reversed by referee Gene Steratore after Green Bay challenges. Instead of first-and-goal for Dallas, the ball goes to the Packers.
2016 — No. 2 Alabama wins its fourth national title in the last seven seasons, outlasting the dynamic play of Deshaun Watson and No. 1 Clemson in a 45-40 victory in the College Football Playoff championship game.
2021 — College Football, National Championship, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida: #1 Alabama beats #3 Ohio State, 52-24.
2024 — After 24 seasons and 6 Super Bowl titles, coach Bill Belichick and the NFL New England Patriots part ways; Patriots finished season in last place in AFC East at 4-13,
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Jan. 12
1951 — Ezzard Charles knocks out Lee Oma in the 10th round at Madison Square Garden in New York to retain the heavyweight title.
1958 — Dolph Schayes of the Syracuse Nationals sets an NBA record for career points in a 135-109 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Schayes scores 23 points to bring his career mark to 11,770, breaking the record of 11,764 held by George Mikan.
1958 — The NCAA rules committee makes the first change in football scoring rules since 1912 by adding the two-point conversion.
1960 — Syracuse’s Dolph Schayes becomes the first player in NBA history to score 15,000 career points.
1969 — New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath “guarantees” a victory before the game against the 17-point favorite Baltimore Colts, then leads the AFL to its first Super Bowl victory, a 16-7 triumph over a Baltimore team that had lost only once in 16 games all season.
1975 — The Pittsburgh Steelers totally shut down Minnesota’s offense, handing the Vikings their third Super Bowl defeat, 16-6. Franco Harris, the game’s MVP, sets a Super Bowl rushing record with 158 yards.
1986 — Chicago’s Denis Savard ties an NHL record for the fastest goal to start a period by scoring four seconds into the third period of the Blackhawks’ 4-2 victory over the Hartford Whalers.
1991 — Princeton beats Cornell 164-71 in an unusual swimming meet. The schools agree to compete by telephone due to a blizzard making transportation a problem to Ithaca, N.Y. Both teams swim in their owns pools and the results are exchanged by FAX.
2001 — Minnesota defenseman J.J. Daigneault ties an NHL record by playing for his 10th team when he appears in a 5-0 loss to the Avalanche.
2007 — Tadd Fujikawa, just shy of his 16th birthday, steals the show at the Sony Open. Fujikawa shoots a 4-under 66, making him the youngest player in 50 years to make the cut on the PGA Tour.
2008 — Tom Brady completes all but two of his 28 passes to lead New England to its second straight AFC championship game with a 31-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Patriots improve to 17-0, matching the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team to go unbeaten from the first game of the season through the Super Bowl.
2008 — The Green Bay Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks 42-20 to reach the NFC championship game. Ryan Grant recovers from two fumbles that put the Packers down 14-0 after only four minutes. Grant sets a team postseason record by running for 201 yards, and scores three times.
2012 — Dwight Howard breaks Wilt Chamberlain’s nearly 50-year-old NBA record for most free throw attempts in a game, making 21 of 39 in the Orlando Magic’s 117-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors. Chamberlain shot 34 for the Philadelphia Warriors against St. Louis on Feb. 22, 1962.
2013 — Colin Kaepernick rushes for a quarterback playoff-record 181 yards and two touchdowns and throws two scoring passes to Michael Crabtree in San Francisco’s 45-31 win over Green Bay.
2013 — Joe Flacco throws a 70-yard game-tying touchdown to Jacoby Jones with 31 seconds left in regulation, helping send it into overtime and Baltimore beats Denver in the second extra period, 38-35.
2014 — Jeremy Abbott wins his fourth U.S. figure skating title. Teenager Jason Brown finishes second and defending champion Max Aaron places third.
2015 — Ezekiel Elliott rushes for 246 yards and four touchdowns and Ohio State wins the first national title in college football’s playoff era, running over Oregon 42-20.
2017 Justin Thomas (23) becomes the youngest player to shoot a sub-60 round of 59 in the opening round of the Sony Open at Waialae CC in Hawaii; he also wins the tournament.
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Jan. 13
1962 — Wilt Chamberlain scores an NBA regulation-game record 73 points to lead the Philadelphia Warriors to a 135-117 triumph over the Chicago Packers.
1971 — Lenny Wilkens of the Seattle Supersonics, at 33, becomes the oldest All-Star MVP as he scores 21 points to give the West a 108-107 victory over the East.
1974 — The Miami Dolphins win their second straight Super Bowl in their third straight appearance with a 24-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Larry Csonka, the game’s MVP, gains 145 yards on 33 carries and scores a touchdown.
1986 — NCAA schools vote overwhelmingly in favor of adopting the controversial Proposition 48. The rule requires that incoming freshman maintain 2.0 grade point averages and score 700 or more on the Scholastic Aptitude Test or a 15 on the American College Testing program.
1987 — Lewis Lloyd and Mitchell Wiggins of the Houston Rockets become the third and fourth National Basketball Association players to be banned from the league for using cocaine.
1991 — Phil Mickelson overcomes an 8 on the 14th hole to become the second amateur since 1954 to win a PGA Tour event as he posts a one-shot victory over Bob Tway and Tom Purtzer in the Northern Telecom Open.
1995 — America3, the first all-women’s team in the 144-year history of America’s Cup, wins the first race of the America’s Cup defender trials, beating Team Dennis Conner by 1 minute, 9 seconds.
1999 — Basketball superstar Michael Jordan announces his second retirement just prior to start of lockout-shortened 1998-99 NBA season; returns in 2001 with Washington.
2003 — Jennifer Capriati becomes the first women’s Australian Open defending champion to lose in the first round in the Open era. Capriati, seeded third, loses 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to 90th-ranked Marlene Weingartner of Germany.
2006 — Larry Brown becomes the fourth coach in NBA history to win 1,000 regular-season games as New York beats Atlanta 105-94. Brown, 1,000-762 in 23 seasons in the NBA, joins Lenny Wilkens, Don Nelson and Pat Riley in the 1,000-win club.
2013 — Matt Bryant kicks a 49-yard field goal with 8 seconds left and the Atlanta Falcons bounce back after blowing a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter, defeating Seattle 30-28 in an NFC divisional playoff game. The Falcons lead 27-7 at the start of the final quarter before rookie quarterback Russell Wilson leads the Seahawks to three fourth-quarter touchdowns and a 28-27 lead with 31 seconds left.
2013 — Tom Brady becomes the winningest quarterback in postseason play, throwing for three touchdowns to beat Houston 41-28 and lift the New England Patriots into the AFC championship game. Brady gets his 17th victory, surpassing Joe Montana, by throwing for 344 yards.
2017 — Kelsey Plum scores 36 points to become the 12th player in women’s basketball history to top 3,000 career points and Washington routs Arizona 90-73.
2020 – Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow are fired by team owner Jim Crane for their roles in the sign-stealing scandal after MLB suspends both for one year
TV SPORTS FRIDAY
| NBA REGULAR SEASON | TIME ET | TV |
| Golden State Warriors vs Indiana Pacers | 7:00 pm | NBCS-BAY FanDuel Sports IND |
| Milwaukee Bucks vs Orlando Magic | 7:00pm | FanDuel Sports WI FanDuel Sports FL |
| New Orleans Pelicans vs Philadelphia 76ers | 7:00pm | NBATV GCSN NBCS-PHI |
| Sacramento Kings vs Boston Celtics | 7:30pm | NBCS-BOS NBCS-CA |
| Oklahoma City Thunder vs New York Knicks | 7:30pm | FanDuel Sports OK MSG |
| Washington Wizards vs Chicago Bulls | 8:00pm | CHSN MNMT2 |
| Brooklyn Nets vs Denver Nuggets | 9:00pm | YES ALT |
| NHL REGULAR SEASON | TIME ET | TV |
| Montreal Canadiens vs Washington Capitals | 7:00pm | ESPN+ MNMT Sportsnet |
| Vancouver Canucks vs Carolina Hurricanes | 7:00pm | ESPN+ FanDuel Sports South Sportsnet |
| Chicago Blackhawks vs Detroit Red Wings | 7:00pm | ESPN+ FanDuel Sports DET CHSN |
| Los Angeles Kings vs Winnipeg Jets | 8:00pm | ESPN+ FanDuel Sports West Sportsnet |
| San Jose Sharks vs Utah Hockey Club | 9:00pm | ESPN+ NBCS-CA Utah16 |
| COLLEGE FOOTBALL | TIME ET | TV |
| Goodyear Cotton Bowl: Semifinal: Ohio State vs. Texas | 7:30pm | ESPN |
| MEN’S NCAA BASKETBALL | TIME ET | TV |
| Merrimack at Sacred Heart | 11:00 AM | ESPN+ |
| Kent State at Buffalo | 6:00pm | CBSSN |
| Saint Peter’s at Niagara | 6:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Fairleigh Dickinson at Le Moyne | 7:00pm | NEC Front Row |
| LIU at Stonehill | 7:00pm | NEC Front Row |
| Mercyhurst at Saint Francis U | 7:00pm | NEC Front Row |
| Wagner at Central Connecticut | 7:00pm | NEC Front Row |
| Minnesota at Wisconsin | 7:00pm | Peacock |
| Siena at Quinnipiac | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Mount St. Mary’s at Manhattan | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Rider at Canisius | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Iona at Fairfield | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| UCLA at Maryland | 8:00pm | FOX |
| Central Michigan at Toledo | 8:00pm | CBSSN |
| GOLF | TIME ET | TV |
| PGA Tour: Sony Open | 7:00pm | GOLF |
| SOCCER | TIME ET | TV |
| Ligue 1: Nantes vs Monaco | 1:00pm | Fanatiz beIN Sports fuboTV |
| Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen | 2:30pm | ESPN2 ESPN+ fuboTV |
| Serie A: Lazio vs Como | 2:45pm | ESPN2 ESPN+ fuboTV |
| FA Cup: Wycombe Wanderers vs Portsmouth | 2:45pm | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Aston Villa vs West Ham United | 3:00pm | ESPN+ |
| La Liga: Rayo Vallecano vs Celta de Vigo | 3:00pm | ESPN+ fuboTV |
| Ligue 1: Auxerre vs Lille | 3:00pm | Fanatiz beIN Sports fuboTV |
| TENNIS | TIME ET | TV |
| Adelaide-ATP/WTA, Auckland-ATP & Hobart-WTA Semifinals | 3:00am | TENNIS |
TV SPORTS SATURDAY
| NFL PLAYOFFS | TIME ET | TV |
| (5) Chargers at (4) Texans | 4:30pm | CBS Paramount+ |
| (6) Steelers at (3) Ravens | 8:00pm | AMZN Peacock |
| NBA REGULAR SEASON | TIME ET | TV |
| Houston Rockets vs Atlanta Hawks | 3:00 pm | SCHN FanDuel Sports SE |
| Utah Jazz vs Phoenix Suns | 5:00pm | AFSN KJZZ |
| Toronto Raptors vs Detroit Pistons | 7:00pm | FanDuel Sports DET Sportsnet |
| Memphis Grizzlies vs Minnesota Timberwolves | 8:00pm | FanDuel Sports SE FanDuel Sports North |
| Miami Heat vs Portland Trail Blazers | 10:00pm | FanDuel Sports Sun Rip City |
| San Antonio Spurs vs Los Angeles Lakers | 10:30pm | FanDuel Sports SW Spectrum |
| Charlotte Hornets vs Los Angeles Clippers | 10:30pm | FanDuel Sports SE FanDuel Sports Socal |
| NHL REGULAR SEASON | TIME ET | TV |
| Boston Bruins vs Florida Panthers | 1:00pm | ABC ESPN+ |
| Seattle Kraken vs Buffalo Sabres | 4:00pm | ESPN+ KONG MSG-BUF |
| Ottawa Senators vs Pittsburgh Penguins | 7:00pm | ESPN+ ATTSN-PIT Sportsnet |
| Anaheim Ducks vs Philadelphia Flyers | 7:00pm | ESPN+ Victory+ NBCS-PHI |
| Dallas Stars vs Montreal Canadiens | 7:00pm | ESPN+ Victory+ Sportsnet |
| Tampa Bay Lightning vs New Jersey Devils | 7:00pm | ESPN+ FanDuel Sports Sun MSGSN |
| Vancouver Canucks vs Toronto Maple Leafs | 7:00pm | ESPN+ Sportsnet |
| Columbus Blue Jackets vs St. Louis Blues | 7:00pm | ESPN+ FanDuel Sports OH FanDuel Sports MW |
| Edmonton Oilers vs Chicago Blackhawks | 7:00pm | ESPN+ CHSN Sportsnet |
| Colorado Avalanche vs Winnipeg Jets | 7:00pm | ESPN+ ALT Sportsnet |
| Washington Capitals vs Nashville Predators | 8:00pm | ESPN+ MNMT FanDuel Sports South |
| New York Islanders vs Utah Hockey Club | 9:00pm | ESPN+ MSGSN Utah16 |
| Los Angeles Kings vs Calgary Flames | 10:00pm | ESPN+ FanDuel Sports West Sportsnet |
| New York Rangers vs Vegas Golden Knights | 10:00pm | ESPN+ MSG Scripps |
| Minnesota Wild vs San Jose Sharks | 10:00pm | ESPN+ FanDuel Sports North NBCS-CA |
| MEN’S NCAA BASKETBALL | TIME ET | TV |
| Creighton at Butler | 12:00pm | FOX/FS1 |
| Notre Dame at Duke | 12:00pm | ESPN |
| Louisville at Pitt | 12:00pm | ESPN2 |
| USC at Illinois | 12:00pm | BTN |
| Brown at Yale | 12:00pm | ESPNU |
| La Salle at St. Bonaventure | 12:00pm | YES |
| Wofford at Furman | 12:00pm | Nexstar |
| Auburn at South Carolina | 1:00pm | SECN |
| UNCW at Hofstra | 1:00pm | MSG |
| Charleston at Monmouth | 1:00pm | SNY |
| Binghamton at New Hampshire | 1:00pm | ESPN+ |
| NJIT at UMass Lowell | 1:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Northern Illinois at Ohio | 1:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Belmont at Indiana State | 1:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Holy Cross at Lafayette | 1:00pm | ESPN+ |
| UConn at Georgetown | 2:00pm | FOX/FS1 |
| BYU at TCU | 2:00pm | ESPN/2 |
| Iowa State at Texas Tech | 2:00pm | ESPN/2 |
| Temple at Rice | 2:00pm | ESPNU |
| Florida State at Clemson | 2:00pm | ACCN |
| Fordham at Davidson | 2:00pm | FanDuel Sports South |
| Delaware at Hampton | 2:00pm | MNMT |
| Towson at Drexel | 2:00pm | NBCS-PHI |
| Cleveland State at Youngstown State | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Cornell at Columbia | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Penn at Dartmouth | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Princeton at Harvard | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Bowling Green at Ball State | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Boston University at Colgate | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| East Texas A&M at Northwestern State | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| VMI at Chattanooga | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Longwood at Winthrop | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| UNC Asheville at Presbyterian | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Central Arkansas at FGCU | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Kansas at Cincinnati | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| UMass at George Mason | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| UAlbany at Maine | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| East Carolina at Memphis | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| South Florida at Tulane | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| James Madison at App State | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| North Carolina A&T at William & Mary | 2:00pm | FloSports |
| South Dakota State at Omaha | 2:00pm | Summit |
| Syracuse at Boston College | 3:00pm | CW |
| Loyola Chicago at Saint Joseph’s | 3:00pm | CBSSN |
| San Jose State at Air Force | 3:00pm | ALT2 |
| Bradley at UIC | 3:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Kennesaw State at WKU | 3:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Texas State at Southern Miss | 3:00pm | ESPN+ |
| North Dakota State at Denver | 3:00pm | Summit |
| Vanderbilt at Missouri | 3:30pm | SECN |
| Mercer at Western Carolina | 3:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Western Michigan at Miami (OH) | 3:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Akron at Eastern Michigan | 3:30pm | ESPN+ |
| FIU at Sam Houston | 3:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Florida at Arkansas | 4:00pm | ESPN/2 |
| Virginia at Stanford | 4:00pm | ESPN/2/U |
| Georgia Tech at SMU | 4:00pm | ESPN2/U |
| Xavier at DePaul | 4:00pm | FS1 |
| North Carolina at NC State | 4:00pm | ACCN |
| Hawai’i at Cal State Fullerton | 4:00pm | Spectrum |
| Green Bay at Milwaukee | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| UNLV at Colorado State | 4:00pm | MWN |
| Maryland Eastern Shore at North Carolina Central | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Morgan State at Howard | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Bucknell at American | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Valparaiso at Murray State | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Southern Indiana at Little Rock | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| The Citadel at ETSU | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Eastern Washington at Sacramento State | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Wichita State at UTSA | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Vermont at Bryant | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Jacksonville at Eastern Kentucky | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| North Alabama at Stetson | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Old Dominion at South Alabama | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Georgia Southern at Marshall | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Coastal Carolina at Georgia State | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| California Baptist at Utah Valley | 4:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Alabama State at Jackson State | 4:30pm | SWAC |
| Arkansas State at Troy | 4:30pm | ESPN+ |
| UTRGV at A&M-Corpus Christi | 4:30pm | ESPN+ |
| UIW at Houston Christian | 4:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Tennessee Tech at SIUE | 4:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Tennessee State at Western Illinois | 4:30pm | ESPN+ |
| UT Martin at Lindenwood | 4:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Morehead State at Southeast Missouri | 4:45pm | ESPN+ |
| Seton Hall at Providence | 5:00pm | CBSSN |
| Idaho at Portland State | 5:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Long Beach State at UC Davis | 5:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Queens at Austin Peay | 5:00pm | ESPN+ |
| West Georgia at Lipscomb | 5:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Navy at Loyola Maryland | 5:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Nicholls at McNeese | 5:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Wake Forest at Miami (FL) | 5:15pm | CW |
| Southeastern Louisiana at New Orleans | 5:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Oklahoma at Georgia | 6:00pm | ESPN/2 |
| Tennessee at Texas | 6:00pm | ESPN/2 |
| Charlotte at Tulsa | 6:00pm | ESPNU |
| LSU at Ole Miss | 6:00pm | SECN |
| Virginia Tech at California | 6:00pm | ACCN |
| Northern Colorado at Montana | 6:00pm | SWX |
| Jacksonville State at Middle Tennessee | 6:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Rhode Island at Richmond | 6:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Houston at Kansas State | 6:00pm | ESPN+ |
| UNCG at Samford | 6:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Evansville at Drake | 6:00pm | Mediacom |
| Oakland at Northern Kentucky | 6:00pm | ESPN+ |
| North Florida at Bellarmine | 6:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Villanova vs. St. John’s | 7:00pm | CBSSN |
| Northeastern at Stony Brook | 7:00pm | SNY |
| Nevada at Fresno State | 7:00pm | MWN |
| UNI at Illinois State | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Missouri State at Southern Illinois | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Detroit Mercy at Purdue Fort Wayne | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Stephen F. Austin at Lamar | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Army West Point at Lehigh | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Radford at USC Upstate | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Gardner-Webb at High Point | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Oklahoma State at Utah | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| San Francisco at Santa Clara | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Indiana at Iowa | 8:00pm | FOX/FS1 |
| Alabama at Texas A&M | 8:00pm | ESPN/2 |
| Liberty at Louisiana Tech | 8:00pm | ESPNU |
| North Dakota at Oral Roberts | 8:00pm | KGEB |
| UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly | 8:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Weber State at Idaho State | 8:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Northern Arizona at Montana State | 8:00pm | ESPN+ |
| ULM at Louisiana | 8:00pm | ESPN+ |
| South Dakota at St. Thomas | 8:00pm | Summit |
| Kentucky at Mississippi State | 8:30pm | SECN |
| Prairie View A&M at Mississippi Valley State | 8:30pm | YouTube |
| UTA at Southern Utah | 8:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Boise State at Utah State | 9:00pm | CBSSN |
| Washington State at Gonzaga | 9:00pm | KHQ |
| Tarleton at Utah Tech | 9:00pm | ESPN+ |
| NM State at UTEP | 9:00pm | ESPN+ |
| CSUN at CSU Bakersfield | 9:30pm | ESPN+ |
| Baylor at Arizona State | 9:30pm | ESPN+ |
| UCF at Arizona | 10:00pm | ESPN |
| UC Irvine at UC San Diego | 10:00pm | ESPNU |
| Abilene Christian at Seattle U | 10:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Saint Mary’s at San Diego | 10:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Loyola Marymount at Pepperdine | 10:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Oregon State at Pacific | 10:00pm | ESPN+ |
| MOTORSPORTS | TIME ET | TV |
| AMA Supercross | 8:00pm | USA |
| GOLF | TIME ET | TV |
| PGA Tour: Sony Open | 4:00pm | NBC |
| PGA Tour: Sony Open | 6:00pm | GOLF |
| SOCCER | TIME ET | TV |
| Women Serie A: Juventus vs Sampdoria | 6:30am | CBSSN Paramount+ fuboTV |
| Scottish Premiership: Ross County vs Celtic | 7:30am | Paramount+ fuboTV |
| FA Cup: Bristol City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers | 7:00am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Birmingham City vs Lincoln City | 7:00am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Middlesbrough vs Blackburn Rovers | 7:00am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Liverpool vs Accrington Stanley | 7:15am | ESPN+ |
| La Liga: Deportivo Alavés vs Girona | 8:00am | ESPN+ fuboTV |
| FA Cup: Leicester City vs Queens Park Rangers | 9:00am | ESPN+ |
| Serie A: Udinese vs Atalanta | 9:00am | CBSSN Paramount+ fuboTV |
| Serie A: Empoli vs Lecce | 9:00am | Paramount+ fuboTV |
| Bundesliga: Freiburg vs Holstein Kiel | 9:30am | ESPN+ |
| Bundesliga: Hoffenheim vs Wolfsburg | 9:30am | ESPN+ |
| Bundesliga: Heidenheim vs Union Berlin | 9:30am | ESPN+ |
| Bundesliga: Mainz 05 vs Bochum | 9:30am | ESPN+ |
| Bundesliga: St. Pauli vs Eintracht Frankfurt | 9:30am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: AFC Bournemouth vs West Bromwich Albion | 10:00am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Brentford vs Plymouth Argyle | 10:00am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Chelsea vs Morecambe | 10:00am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Exeter City vs Oxford United | 10:00am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Nottingham Forest vs Luton Town | 10:00am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Norwich City vs Brighton & Hove Albion | 10:00am | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Reading vs Burnley | 10:00am | ESPN+ |
| La Liga: Real Valladolid vs Real Betis | 10:15am | ESPN+ fuboTV |
| Ligue 1: Brest vs Olympique Lyonnais | 11:00am | Fanatiz beIN Sports |
| Serie A: Torino vs Juventus | 12:00pm | Paramount+ fuboTV |
| La Liga: Espanyol vs Leganés | 12:30pm | ESPN+ fuboTV |
| Bundesliga: Borussia M’gladbach vs Bayern München | 12:30pm | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Leeds United vs Harrogate Town | 12:45pm | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Manchester City vs Salford City | 12:45pm | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Coventry City vs Sheffield Wednesday | 1:00pm | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Leyton Orient vs Derby County | 1:00pm | ESPN+ |
| FA Cup: Mansfield Town vs Wigan Athletic | 1:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Ligue 1: Reims vs Nice | 1:00pm | Fanatiz beIN Sports |
| Serie A: Milan vs Cagliari | 2:45pm | Paramount+ fuboTV |
| Ligue 1: Rennes vs Olympique Marseille | 3:00pm | Fanatiz beIN Sports |
| La Liga: Sevilla vs Valencia | 3:00pm | ESPN+ fuboTV |
| Liga MX: Monterrey vs Puebla | 8:00pm | VIX |
| Liga MX: Guadalajara vs Santos Laguna | 8:05pm | Telemundo fuboTV |
| Liga MX: Cruz Azul vs Atlas | 10:00pm | VIX |
| TENNIS | TIME ET | TV |
| Adelaide-ATP/WTA Finals | 12:30am | TENNIS |