“THE SCOREBOARD”
INDIANA BOYS SEMI-STATE
CLASS 4A
NORTH (AT ELKHART)
SOUTH BEND RILEY (22-4) VS. FISHERS (28-0), 10 A.M.
HOMESTEAD (22-5) VS. CROWN POINT (22-2), NOON
CHAMPIONSHIP, 8 P.M.
SOUTH (AT NEW CASTLE)
TERRE HAUTE NORTH (21-5) VS. LAWRENCE NORTH (21-6), 10 A.M.
JEFFERSONVILLE (21-5) VS. MT. VERNON (21-5), NOON
CHAMPIONSHIP, 8 P.M.
CLASS 3A
NORTH (AT LOGANSPORT)
MACONAQUAH (21-5) VS. SOUTH BEND SAINT JOSEPH (24-3), 10 A.M.
EAST CHICAGO CENTRAL (20-8) VS. DELTA (17-7), NOON
CHAMPIONSHIP, 8 P.M.
SOUTH (AT SOUTHPORT)
PRINCETON (24-2) VS. CRISPUS ATTUCKS (20-6), 10 A.M.
NEW PALESTINE (25-3) VS. BROWNSTOWN CENTRAL (24-2), NOON
CHAMPIONSHIP, 8 P.M.
CLASS 2A
NORTH (AT MICHIGAN CITY)
GARY 21ST CENTURY (20-6) VS. WAPAHANI (26-1), 11 A.M.
MANCHESTER (23-2) VS. JIMTOWN (16-10), 1 P.M.
CHAMPIONSHIP, 8:30 P.M.
SOUTH (AT WASHINGTON)
PARKE HERITAGE (24-4) VS. FOREST PARK (19-6), 10:30 A.M.
UNIVERSITY (18-9) VS. LINTON-STOCKTON (21-6), 12:15 P.M.
CHAMPIONSHIP, 7:30 P.M.
CLASS A
NORTH (AT LAFAYETTE JEFF)
KOUTS (23-4) VS. MONROE CENTRAL (19-6), 10 A.M.
TRITON (23-4) VS. CLINTON PRAIRIE (24-2), NOON
CHAMPIONSHIP, 8 P.M.
SOUTH (AT SEYMOUR)
ORLEANS (22-4) VS. HAUSER (24-3), 10 A.M.
LIBERTY CHRISTIAN (18-8) VS. CLAY CITY (25-1), NOON
CHAMPIONSHIP, 8 P.M.
INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PRE-SEASON POLLS
4A
1 NOBLESVILLE 250 VOTES
2 CENTER GROVE 242
3 LAKE CENTRAL 216
4 VALPARAISO 154
5 CROWN POINT 120
6 FLOYD CENTRAL 102
7 FISHERS 82
7 HOMESTEAD 82
7 MOORESVILLE 82
7 WESTFIELD 82
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: PENN, MCCUTCHEON, AVON, WARSAW, CASTLE, EVANSVILLE NORTH, CHESTERTON, CARMEL, ZIONSVILLE, HARRISON, BLOOMINGTON SOUTH, FORT WAYNE CARROLL, NEW ALBANY.
3A
1 HANOVER CENTRAL 250 VOTES
2 ANDREAN 218
3 NEW PRAIRIE 180
4 WESTERN 116
5 TWIN LAKES 112
6 NEW PALESTINE 100
7 FORT WAYNE DWENGER 88
8 GUERIN CATHOLIC 82
9 DELTA 62
10 CATHEDRAL 58
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: BATESVILLE, PRINCETON, SOUTH BEND ST. JOSEPH, JASPER, EVANSVILLE MEMORIAL, BREBEUF, VINCENNES LINCOLN, GIBSON SOUTHERN, NORWELL, RIVER FOREST
2A
1 PROVIDENCE 188 VOTES
1 TRITON CENTRAL 188
3 LAFAYETTE CENTRAL CATHOLIC 154
4 BARR REEVE 144
5 NORTH POSEY 124
6 GREENCASTLE 90
7 BOONE GROVE 86
8 ROCHESTER 88
9 JIMTOWN 62
9 FOREST PARK 62
9 WESTVIEW 62
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: EASTERN GREENTOWN, SOUTHWESTERN HANOVER, EVANSVILLE MATER DEI, PARK TUDOR, DELPHI
1A
1 KNIGHTSTOWN 254 VOTES
2 LUTHERAN 184
3 KOUTS 166
4 UNION CITY 154
5 HAUSER 128
6 TECUMSEH 94
7 MORGAN TWP. 74
8 FRONTIER 68
9 SPRINGS VALLEY 48
9 SHAKAMAK 48
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: CLINTON PRAIRIE, FREMONT, TRI-TOWNSHIP, SOUTH-CENTRAL, TRI-COUNTY, TRITON, TRINITY LUTHERAN, FORT WAYNE CANTERBURY, BORDEN, CLAY CITY, RIVERTON PARKE, NORTH MIAMI, NORTH DAVIES, ROSSVILLE, BETHESDA CHRISTIAN, SOUTH DECATUR, JAC-CEN-DEL, BLOOMFIELD, BLACKHAWK CHRISTIAN
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TV SCHEDULE
ALL TIMES ET
TUESDAY, MARCH 18 (FIRST FOUR IN DAYTON, OHIO)
(16) ALABAMA STATE VS. (16) SAINT FRANCIS, 6:40 P.M. | TRUTV
(11) SAN DIEGO STATE VS. (11) NORTH CAROLINA, 9:10 P.M. | TRUTV
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19 (FIRST FOUR IN DAYTON, OHIO)
(16) AMERICAN UNIVERSITY VS. (16) MOUNT ST. MARY’S, 6:40 P.M. | TRUTV
(11) TEXAS VS. (11) XAVIER, 9:10 P.M. | TRUTV
THURSDAY, MARCH 20 (FIRST ROUND/ROUND OF 64)
(8) LOUISVILLE VS. (9) CREIGHTON, 12:15 P.M. | CBS
(4) PURDUE VS. (13) HIGH POINT, 12:40 P.M. | TRUTV
(3) WISCONSIN VS. (14) MONTANA, 1:30 P.M. | TNT
(1) HOUSTON VS. (16) SIU EDWARDSVILLE, 2 P.M. | TBS
(1) AUBURN VS. (16) SAINT FRANCIS/ALABAMA ST., 2:50 P.M. | CBS
(5) CLEMSON VS. (12) MCNEESE, 3:15 P.M. | TRUTV
(6) BYU VS. (11) VCU, 4:05 P.M. | TNT
(8) GONZAGA VS. (9) GEORGIA, 4:35 P.M. | TBS
(2) TENNESSEE VS. (15) WOFFORD, 6:50 P.M. | TNT
(7) KANSAS VS. (10) ARKANSAS, 7:10 P.M. | CBS
(4) TEXAS A&M VS. (13) YALE, 7:25 P.M. | TBS
(6) MISSOURI VS. (11) DRAKE, 7:35 P.M. | TRUTV
(7) UCLA VS. (10) UTAH STATE, 9:25 P.M. | TNT
(2) ST. JOHN’S VS. (15) OMAHA, 9:45 P.M. | CBS
(5) MICHIGAN VS. (12) UC SAN DIEGO, 10 P.M. | TBS
(3) TEXAS TECH VS. (14) UNC WILMINGTON, 10:10 P.M. | TRUTV
FRIDAY, MARCH 21 (FIRST ROUND/ROUND OF 64)
(8) MISSISSIPPI STATE VS. (9) BAYLOR, 12:15 P.M. | CBS
(2) ALABAMA VS. (15) ROBERT MORRIS, 12:40 P.M. | TRUTV
(3) IOWA STATE VS. (14) LIPSCOMB, 1:30 P.M. | TNT
(5) MEMPHIS VS. (12) COLORADO STATE, 2 P.M. | TBS
(1) DUKE VS. (16) MOUNT ST. MARY’S/AMERICAN, 2:50 P.M. | CBS
(7) SAINT MARY’S VS. (10) VANDERBILT, 3:15 P.M. | TRUTV
(6) OLE MISS VS. (11) NORTH CAROLINA/SAN DIEGO STATE, 4:05 P.M. | TNT
(4) MARYLAND VS. (13) GRAND CANYON, 4:35 P.M. | TBS
(1) FLORIDA VS. (16) NORFOLK STATE, 6:50 P.M. | TNT
(3) KENTUCKY VS. (14) TROY, 7:10 P.M. | CBS
(7) MARQUETTE VS. (10) NEW MEXICO, 7:25 P.M. | TBS
(4) ARIZONA VS. (13) AKRON, 7:35 P.M. | TRUTV
(8) UCONN VS. (9) OKLAHOMA, 9:25 P.M. | TNT
(6) ILLINOIS VS. (11) XAVIER/TEXAS, 9:45 P.M. | TNT
(2) MICHIGAN STATE VS. (15) BRYANT, 10 P.M. | TBS
(5) OREGON VS. (12) LIBERTY, 10:10 P.M. | TRUTV
AP MEN’S BASKETBALL POLL
1 DUKE
2 HOUSTON
3 FLORIDA
4 AUBURN
5 ST. JOHN’S
6 TENNESSEE
7 ALABAMA
8 MICHIGAN STATE
9 TEXAS TECH
10 LOUISVILLE
11 MARYLAND
12 CLEMSON
13 WISCONSIN
14 MICHIGAN
15 IOWA STATE
16 MEMPHIS
17 BYU
18 KENTUCKY
19 TEXAS A&M
20 ST. MARY’S
21 ARIZONA
22 PURDUE
23 MISSOURI
24 GONZAGA
25 OREGON
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:
DRAKE 107, MARQUETTE 69, UC SAN DIEGO 57, ILLINOIS 55, VCU 28, CREIGHTON 28, MISSISSIPPI 13, MCNEESE ST. 4, UCONN 4, COLORADO ST. 4, KANSAS 3, HIGH POINT 3, UCLA 3, AKRON 3.
MEN’S NET RANKINGS
| DUKE | 31-3 | 1 | 1 |
| AUBURN | 28-5 | 2 | 2 |
| HOUSTON | 30-4 | 3 | 3 |
| FLORIDA | 30-4 | 4 | 4 |
| TENNESSEE | 27-7 | 5 | 5 |
| ALABAMA | 25-8 | 6 | 6 |
| TEXAS TECH | 25-8 | 7 | 7 |
| GONZAGA | 25-8 | 8 | 8 |
| IOWA ST. | 24-9 | 9 | 9 |
| MARYLAND | 25-8 | 10 | 10 |
| MICHIGAN ST. | 27-6 | 11 | 11 |
| ARIZONA | 22-12 | 12 | 12 |
| ST. JOHN’S (NY) | 30-4 | 13 | 13 |
| KENTUCKY | 22-11 | 14 | 15 |
| WISCONSIN | 26-9 | 15 | 14 |
| MISSOURI | 22-11 | 16 | 16 |
| ILLINOIS | 21-12 | 17 | 17 |
| TEXAS A&M | 22-10 | 18 | 18 |
| PURDUE | 22-11 | 19 | 19 |
| KANSAS | 21-12 | 20 | 20 |
| SAINT MARY’S (CA) | 27-5 | 21 | 21 |
| CLEMSON | 27-6 | 22 | 22 |
| MICHIGAN | 25-9 | 23 | 25 |
| LOUISVILLE | 27-7 | 24 | 23 |
| BYU | 24-9 | 25 | 24 |
| MARQUETTE | 23-10 | 26 | 26 |
| UCLA | 22-10 | 27 | 27 |
| OLE MISS | 22-11 | 28 | 28 |
| OREGON | 24-9 | 29 | 29 |
| BAYLOR | 18-14 | 30 | 30 |
| VCU | 27-6 | 31 | 31 |
| UCONN | 23-10 | 32 | 32 |
| GEORGIA | 20-12 | 33 | 33 |
| MISSISSIPPI ST. | 21-12 | 34 | 34 |
| UC SAN DIEGO | 28-4 | 35 | 35 |
| NORTH CAROLINA | 22-13 | 36 | 36 |
| UTAH ST. | 25-7 | 37 | 37 |
| CREIGHTON | 24-10 | 38 | 38 |
| TEXAS | 19-15 | 39 | 39 |
| ARKANSAS | 20-13 | 40 | 40 |
| OHIO ST. | 17-15 | 41 | 41 |
| NEW MEXICO | 25-7 | 42 | 42 |
| OKLAHOMA | 20-13 | 43 | 43 |
| BOISE ST. | 23-10 | 44 | 44 |
| XAVIER | 21-11 | 45 | 45 |
| SMU | 23-10 | 46 | 46 |
| COLORADO ST. | 25-9 | 47 | 47 |
| VANDERBILT | 20-12 | 48 | 48 |
| MEMPHIS | 29-5 | 49 | 50 |
| CINCINNATI | 18-15 | 50 | 49 |
WOMEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENT TV SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19 (FIRST FOUR)
(11) IOWA STATE VS. (11) PRINCETON, 7 P.M. | ESPNU
(16) UC SAN DIEGO VS. (16) SOUTHERN U., 9 P.M. | ESPNU
THURSDAY, MARCH 20 (FIRST FOUR)
(11) COLUMBIA VS. (11) WASHINGTON 7 P.M. | ESPN2
(16) HIGH POINT VS. (16) WILLIAM & MARY, 9 P.M. | ESPNU
FRIDAY, MARCH 21 (FIRST ROUND/ROUND OF 64)
(6) MICHIGAN VS. (11) IOWA STATE/PRINCETON, 11:30 A.M. | ESPN2
(4) KENTUCKY VS. (13) LIBERTY, 12 P.M. | ESPN
(8) UTAH VS. (9) INDIANA, 1:30 P.M. | ESPN2
(3) NOTRE DAME VS. (14) STEPHEN F. AUSTIN, 2 P.M. | ESPN
(5) KANSAS STATE VS. (12) FAIRFIELD, 2:30 P.M. | ESPNEWS
(4) BAYLOR VS. (13) GRAND CANYON, 3:30 P.M. | ESPNU
(2) TCU VS. (15) FDU, 3:30 P.M. | ESPN2
(1) SOUTH CAROLINA VS. (16) TENNESSEE TECH, 4 P.M. | ESPN
(7) VANDERBILT VS. (10) OREGON, 5:30 P.M. | ESPNEWS
(4) OHIO STATE VS. (13) MONTANA STATE, 5:30 P.M. | ESPN2
(5) OLE MISS VS. (12) BALL STATE, 6 P.M. | ESPNU
(7) LOUISVILLE VS. (10) NEBRASKA, 6 P.M. | ESPN
(8) RICHMOND VS. (9) GEORGIA TECH, 7:30 P.M. | ESPNEWS
(2) DUKE VS. (15) LEHIGH, 8 P.M. | ESPNU
(5) TENNESSEE VS. (12) SOUTH FLORIDA, 8 P.M. | ESPN
(1) UCLA VS. (16) UC SAN DIEGO/SOUTHERN U., 10 P.M. | ESPN
SATURDAY, MARCH 22 (FIRST ROUND/ROUND OF 64)
(6) IOWA VS. (11) MURRAY STATE, 12 P.M.| ESPN
(2) UCONN VS. (15) ARKANSAS STATE, 1 P.M. | ABC
(5) ALABAMA VS. (12) GREEN BAY, 1:30 P.M. | ESPN2
(2) NC STATE VS. (15) VERMONT, 2 P.M. | ESPN
(6) WEST VIRGINIA VS. (11) COLUMBIA/WASHINGTON, 2 P.M. | ESPNEWS
(3) OKLAHOMA VS. (14) FGCU, 2:30 P.M. | ESPNU
(1) SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA VS. (16) UNC GREENSBORO, 3 P.M. | ABC
(7) OKLAHOMA STATE VS. (10) SOUTH DAKOTA STATE, 3:30 P.M. | ESPN2
(4) MARYLAND VS. (13) NORFOLK STATE, 4 P.M. | ESPN
(3) NORTH CAROLINA VS. (14) OREGON STATE, 4:30 P.M. | ESPNU
(7) MICHIGAN STATE VS. (10) HARVARD, 4:30 P.M. | ESPNEWS
(8) CALIFORNIA VS. (9) MISSISSIPPI STATE, 5:30 P.M. | ESPN2
(8) ILLINOIS VS. (9) CREIGHTON, 7:15 P.M. | ESPNEWS
(6) FLORIDA STATE VS. (11) GEORGE MASON, 7:45 P.M. | ESPN2
(1) TEXAS VS. (16) HIGH POINT/WILLIAM & MARY, 9:45 P.M. | ESPN2
(3) LSU VS. (14) SAN DIEGO STATE, 10:15 P.M. | ESPN
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
AP POLL
1 UCLA
2 SOUTH CAROLINA
3 UCONN
4 USC
5 TEXAS
6 TCU
7 DUKE
8 NOTRE DAME
9 NC STATE
10 LSU
11 OKLAHOMA
12 NORTH CAROLINA
13 KENTUCKY
14 BAYLOR
15 OHIO STATE
16 WEST VIRGINIA
17 OKLAHOMA STATE
18 MARYLAND
19 KANSAS STATE
20 TENNESSEE
21 ALABAMA
22 FLORIDA STATE
23 CREIGHTON
24 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
25 OLE MISS
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:
VANDERBILT 41, MICHIGAN 31, MICHIGAN ST. 20, LOUISVILLE 14, IOWA 14, GEORGIA TECH 8, JAMES MADISON 7, HARVARD 5, FAIRFIELD 5, CALIFORNIA 3.
USA TODAY POLL
| RANK | SCHOOL (RECORD) | POINTS | LAST WEEK’S RANKING | FIRST-PLACE VOTES |
| 1 | UCLA (30-2) | 761 | 1 | 21 |
| 2 | SOUTH CAROLINA (30-3) | 744 | 2 | 7 |
| 3 | UCONN (31-3) | 719 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | USC (28-3) | 667 | 4 | 0 |
| 5 | TEXAS (31-3) | 642 | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | TCU (31-3) | 623 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | DUKE (26-7) | 583 | 7 | 0 |
| 8 | NOTRE DAME (26-5) | 558 | 8 | 0 |
| 9 | NORTH CAROLINA STATE (26-6) | 531 | 9 | 0 |
| 10 | LSU (28-5) | 502 | 10 | 0 |
| 11 | OKLAHOMA (25-7) | 462 | 11 | 0 |
| 12 | KENTUCKY (22-7) | 400 | 12 | 0 |
| 13 | OHIO STATE (25-6) | 392 | 13 | 0 |
| 14 | NORTH CAROLINA (27-7) | 388 | 14 | 0 |
| 15 | WEST VIRGINIA (24-7) | 311 | 15 | 0 |
| 15 | BAYLOR (27-7) | 311 | 16 | 0 |
| 17 | MARYLAND (23-7) | 268 | 17 | 0 |
| 18 | KANSAS STATE (26-7) | 218 | 18 | 0 |
| 19 | OKLAHOMA STATE (25-6) | 198 | 20 | 0 |
| 20 | TENNESSEE (22-9) | 197 | 19 | 0 |
| 21 | ALABAMA (23-8) | 146 | 21 | 0 |
| 22 | CREIGHTON (26-6) | 138 | 22 | 0 |
| 23 | SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (29-3) | 126 | 23 | 0 |
| 24 | FLORIDA STATE (23-8) | 70 | 24 | 0 |
| 25 | OLE MISS (20-10) | 45 | 25 | 0 |
NET RANKINGS
| UCONN | 31-3 | 1 | 1 |
| SOUTH CAROLINA | 30-3 | 2 | 2 |
| TEXAS | 31-3 | 3 | 3 |
| UCLA | 30-2 | 4 | 4 |
| NOTRE DAME | 26-5 | 5 | 5 |
| SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | 28-3 | 6 | 6 |
| DUKE | 26-7 | 7 | 7 |
| TCU | 31-3 | 8 | 8 |
| KANSAS ST. | 26-7 | 9 | 9 |
| LSU | 28-5 | 10 | 10 |
| OLE MISS | 20-10 | 11 | 11 |
| WEST VIRGINIA | 24-7 | 12 | 12 |
| OKLAHOMA | 25-7 | 13 | 13 |
| TENNESSEE | 22-9 | 14 | 14 |
| BAYLOR | 27-7 | 15 | 15 |
| NC STATE | 26-6 | 16 | 16 |
| ALABAMA | 23-8 | 17 | 17 |
| KENTUCKY | 22-7 | 18 | 18 |
| OHIO ST. | 24-6 | 19 | 19 |
| NORTH CAROLINA | 27-7 | 20 | 20 |
| MICHIGAN ST. | 21-9 | 21 | 21 |
| VANDERBILT | 22-10 | 22 | 22 |
| MICHIGAN | 22-10 | 23 | 23 |
| IOWA | 22-10 | 24 | 24 |
| FLORIDA ST. | 23-8 | 25 | 25 |
| UTAH | 22-8 | 26 | 26 |
| OKLAHOMA ST. | 25-6 | 27 | 27 |
| MARYLAND | 23-7 | 28 | 28 |
| GEORGIA TECH | 22-10 | 29 | 29 |
| CREIGHTON | 26-6 | 30 | 30 |
| MISSISSIPPI ST. | 21-11 | 31 | 31 |
| ILLINOIS | 21-9 | 32 | 32 |
| RICHMOND | 27-6 | 33 | 33 |
| HARVARD | 24-4 | 34 | 34 |
| INDIANA | 19-12 | 35 | 35 |
| LOUISVILLE | 21-10 | 36 | 36 |
| IOWA ST. | 22-11 | 37 | 37 |
| CALIFORNIA | 25-8 | 38 | 38 |
| MINNESOTA | 20-11 | 39 | 39 |
| NEBRASKA | 21-11 | 40 | 40 |
| OREGON | 19-11 | 41 | 41 |
| COLUMBIA | 23-6 | 42 | 42 |
| WASHINGTON | 19-13 | 43 | 43 |
| SOUTH DAKOTA ST. | 27-3 | 44 | 44 |
| GEORGE MASON | 26-5 | 45 | 45 |
| VIRGINIA TECH | 18-12 | 46 | 46 |
| PRINCETON | 21-7 | 47 | 47 |
| UNLV | 25-7 | 48 | 48 |
| STANFORD | 16-14 | 49 | 49 |
| FLORIDA | 16-17 | 50 | 50 |
COLLEGE BASEBALL TOP 25-BASEBALL AMERICA
1 TENNESSEE
2 LSU
3 ARKANSAS
4 FLORIDA STATE
5 TEXAS
6 GEORGIA
7 CLEMSON
8 FLORIDA
9 OKLAHOMA
10 ALABAMA
11 OREGON STATE
12 WAKE FOREST
13 OREGON
14 STANFORD
15 LOUISVILLE
16 NORTH CAROLINA
17 AUBURN
18 VANDERBILT
19 OLE MISS
20 UC IRVINE
21 DALLAS BAPTIST
22 VIRGINIA
23 ARIZONA
24 KENTUCKY
25 WEST VIRGINIA
COLLEGE BASEBALL TOP 25-D1BASEBALL
1 TENNESSEE
2 LSU
3 ARKANSAS
4 GEORGIA
5 FLORIDA STATE
6 OREGON STATE
7 CLEMSON
8 TEXAS
9 OREGON
10 OKLAHOMA
11 WAKE FOREST
12 ALABAMA
13 FLORIDA
14 STANFORD
15 DALLAS BAPTIST
16 LOUISVILLE
17 NORTH CAROLINA
18 OLE MISS
19 SOUTHERN MISS
20 AUBURN
21 UC SANTA BARBARA
22 VANDERBILT
23 VIRGINIA
24 COASTAL CAROLINA
25 TROY
USA TODAY BASEBALL COACHES POLL
THE USA TODAY SPORTS TOP 25 BASEBALL POLL, WITH TEAM’S RECORDS THROUGH SUNDAY IN PARENTHESES, TOTAL POINTS BASED ON 25 FOR FIRST PLACE THROUGH ONE POINT FOR 25TH, RANKING IN LAST WEEK’S POLL AND FIRST-PLACE VOTES RECEIVED.
| RANK | SCHOOL (RECORD) | POINTS | LAST YEAR’S RANKINGS | FIRST-PLACE VOTES |
| 1 | TENNESSEE (20-0) | 750 | 1 | 30 |
| 2 | LSU (20-1) | 715 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | ARKANSAS (18-2) | 671 | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | FLORIDA STATE (18-1) | 653 | 4 | 0 |
| 5 | GEORGIA (21-2) | 628 | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | CLEMSON (19-2) | 588 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | TEXAS (17-1) | 555 | 9 | 0 |
| 8 | OREGON STATE (15-3) | 506 | 11 | 0 |
| 9 | OREGON (17-4) | 452 | 10 | 0 |
| 9 | OKLAHOMA (17-2) | 452 | 12 | 0 |
| 11 | FLORIDA (16-5) | 442 | 7 | 0 |
| 12 | ALABAMA (20-1) | 434 | 16 | 0 |
| 13 | WAKE FOREST (18-3) | 388 | 13 | 0 |
| 14 | STANFORD (15-3) | 329 | 18 | 0 |
| 15 | NORTH CAROLINA (16-4) | 322 | 8 | 0 |
| 16 | AUBURN (16-4) | 217 | 23 | 0 |
| 17 | DALLAS BAPTIST (14-5) | 205 | 19 | 0 |
| 18 | MISSISSIPPI (15-4) | 188 | 15 | 0 |
| 19 | VANDERBILT (15-5) | 173 | 14 | 0 |
| 20 | LOUISVILLE (16-3) | 162 | NR | 0 |
| 21 | UC SANTA BARBARA (15-4) | 152 | 17 | 0 |
| 22 | VIRGINIA (12-6) | 147 | 20 | 0 |
| 23 | SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI (14-6) | 124 | 25 | 0 |
| 24 | WEST VIRGINIA (16-1) | 120 | 24 | 0 |
| 25 | COASTAL CAROLINA (15-5) | 80 | NR | 0 |
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: UC IRVINE (14-5) 55; TROY (15-5) 38; ARIZONA (15-4) 37; UCLA (16-4) 30; GEORGIA TECH (16-4) 29; KANSAS (17-3) 23; KENTUCKY (14-4) 19; HAWAII (14-5) 11; WESTERN KENTUCKY (19-1) 10; ARIZONA STATE (14-6) 7; FLORIDA ATLANTIC (17-3) 7; KANSAS STATE (12-7) 7; OKLAHOMA STATE (9-8) 7; CENTRAL FLORIDA (15-4) 6; RICHMOND (18-2) 5; PURDUE (17-2) 2; TEXAS A&M (10-9) 2; SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (16-3) 1; TEXAS-RIO GRANDE VALLEY (14-3) 1.
INDIANA COLLEGE BASEBALL SCOREBOARD
NO GAMES SCHEDULED
COLLEGE SOFTBALL TOP 25-D1SOFTBALL
1 OKLAHOMA
2 TEXAS
3 FLORIDA
4 LSU
5 TENNESSEE
6 TEXAS A&M
7 UCLA
8 OREGON
9 ARIZONA
10 OKLAHOMA STATE
11 TEXAS TECH
12 FLORIDA STATE
13 DUKE
14 SOUTH CAROLINA
15 VIRGINIA TECH
16 GEORGIA
17 MISSISSIPPI STATE
18 STANFORD
19 ARKANSAS
20 OLE MISS
21 CENTRAL FLORIDA
22 NEBRASKA
23 AUBURN
24 ALABAMA
25 LIBERTY
INDIANA COLLEGE SOFTBALL SCOREBOARD
NO GAMES SCHEDULED
INDIANA COLLEGE MEN’S LAX
NO GAMES SCHEDULED
INDIANA COLLEGE WOMEN’S LAX
NO GAMES SCHEDULED
NBA SCOREBOARD
NEW YORK 116 MIAMI 95
DETROIT 127 NEW ORLEANS 81
HOUSTON 144 PHILADELPHIA 137 OT
INDIANA 132 MINNESOTA 130 OT
CHICAGO 111 UTAH 97
SACRAMENTO 132 MEMPHIS 122
PHOENIX 129 TORONTO 89
DENVER 114 GOLDEN STATE 105
PORTLAND 112 WASHINGTON 97
LA LAKERS 125 SAN ANTONIO 109
NHL SCOREBOARD
NEW JERSEY 2 COLUMBUS 1
TAMPA BAY 2 PHILADELPHIA 0
BUFFALO 3 BOSTON 2 OT
TORONTO 6 CALGARY 2
MINNESOTA 3 LOS ANGELES 1
MLB SCOREBOARD
PITTSBURGH 4 MINNESOTA 2
BALTIMORE 12 BOSTON 3
BOSTON 2 ATLANTA 1
DETROIT 9 PITTSBURGH 6
PHILADELPHIA 4 TORONTO 2
ST. LOUIS 6 WASHINGTON 2
TORONTO 6 NY YANKEES 5
NY METS 6 MIAMI 5
TAMPA BAY 2 NY METS 0
SAN FRANCISCO 3 CHICAGO WHITE SOX 0
KANSAS CITY 12 ARIZONA 1
LAS VEGAS 7 SEATTLE 6
LA ANGELS 11 ARIZONA 5
SAN DIEGO 14 MILWAUKEE 8
CLEVELAND 3 CINCINNATI 0
MLS SCOREBOARD
NO GAMES SCHEDULED
TOP NATIONAL HEADLINES
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
DUKE REMAINS AT NO. 1 IN AP TOP 25 ENTERING MARCH MADNESS; ST. JOHN’S RISES TO NO. 5
Duke remained atop The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday a day after the committee that selects the 68-team field for the NCAA Tournament went with Auburn as the No. 1 overall seed.
The Blue Devils (31-3) earned 49 of 59 first-place votes in the latest poll after sweeping the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles. That marks Duke’s second straight week at No. 1, the first such stint in the three-year tenure of Jon Scheyer as the successor to retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski.
The Blue Devils completed its ACC title run despite losing freshman star Cooper Flagg (ankle) and versatile defender Maliq Brown (shoulder) to injuries in the quarterfinals. Scheyer has said he’s optimistic Flagg will be ready to go for the first round of the NCAAs, with the Blue Devils headlining the East Region.
Big 12 Tournament champion Houston also stayed at No. 2 while collecting six-first-place votes, followed by Southeastern Conference Tournament champion Florida and then Auburn, which had spent a national-best eight weeks at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 this season.
The Gators and Tigers each earned the remaining two first-place votes, and the top four teams of the AP Top 25 all earned 1-seeds for March Madness with Sunday night’s bracket unveiling.
The top tier
St. John’s climbed one spot to No. 5 after winning the Big East title, with Rick Pitino guiding the Red Storm to its highest ranking since spending a week at the same spot in January 1991. St. John’s (30-4) has reached the 30-win mark for the first time since late coaching great Lou Carnesecca won a program-record 31 games in both the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.
SEC runner-up Tennessee, which beat Auburn in that league’s semifinals, was next at No. 6, followed by Alabama, Michigan State, Texas Tech and Louisville.
Rising
Michigan made the biggest jump among ranked teams, jumping eight spots to No. 14 after beating three straight ranked teams on the way to Big Ten title. Runner-up Wisconsin also made a healthy jump of five spots to No. 13 after beating regular-season champ Michigan State in the semifinals. Only six ranked teams moved up in the poll this week.
Sliding
No. 19 Texas A&M took the week’s biggest tumble, falling five spots after losing to Texas in a one-and-done showing at the SEC Tournament. No. 15 Iowa State and No. 18 Kentucky each fell three spots. In all, 11 ranked teams slid from last week’s position.
Status quo
Six teams held their position from last week, including No. 11 Maryland, No. 16 Memphis and No. 17 BYU.
Comings and goings
No. 21 Arizona and No. 24 Gonzaga were the week’s new additions, though they had both been in the poll for numerous weeks this season. The Wildcats reached the Big 12 title game before falling to Houston, while the Zags beat regular-season champion Saint Mary’s to win the West Coast Conference Tournament.
Illinois (No. 24) and Marquette (25th) fell out to make room for Arizona and Gonzaga.
Conference watch
The SEC, which thrice had as many as 10 ranked teams this season, led the way with seven AP Top 25 teams. The Big Ten was next with six, followed by the Big 12 with five, the Atlantic Coast Conference with three and the WCC with two.
The Big East and American Athletic Conference each had one.
The road since October
Four teams have held the No. 1 ranking through 20 polls this season, starting with Kansas for the preseason and the first four weeks of the regular season. Tennessee took over for five weeks before giving way to Auburn’s long reign and now Duke.
In all, 50 teams have spent at least one week in the poll this season. Forty-three ultimately earned NCAA bids, with West Virginia, Cincinnati, Dayton, Pittsburgh, Indiana, Rutgers and Ohio State as the outliers. Of that group, the Mountaineers were the first team out, followed by the Hoosiers and Buckeyes.
One to go
This is the penultimate edition of the AP Top 25 for the 2024-25 season. The final rankings will move April 8, the day after the NCAA championship game. This is the second year with a post-tournament poll.
MARCH MADNESS PUTS IZZO-LED MICHIGAN STATE IN CONVERSATION WITH BLUEBLOODS KENTUCKY, NORTH CAROLINA
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State has joined some rare air in college basketball history over the last half-century with coaching longevity and NCAA titles.
Since 1976, the Spartans have had just two coaches and both won a national championship.
Hall of Famer Tom Izzo cut down the nets in 2000 and Jud Heathcote won it all in 1979.
Kentucky, North Carolina and Michigan State are the three programs to have two basketball coaches in a span of at least four decades with each winning a national championship that was not vacated due to violating NCAA rules.
“That means the world to me because I don’t think Jud got the credit he deserved,” Izzo said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The Spartans, seeded No. 2 in the South Region, will open the NCAA Tournament against 15th-seeded Bryant on Friday night in Cleveland.
Izzo has become synonymous with March Madness, earning a spot in college basketball’s annual showcase 27 straight times in the longest streak by a coach.
He trails just Kansas’ record of 28 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, a run that the governing body ended in its record books in 2017 due to sanctions, and is tied with North Carolina’s stretch of success from 1975 to 2001.
The 70-year-old Izzo is in his 30th season in charge of a program he began working for as a part-time assistant under Heathcote in 1983.
He has been around long enough to coach a father and son, Jason and Jase Richardson, and to recruit a high school basketball player who has become a coaching peer.
When Izzo broke former Indiana coach Bob Knight’s record for Big Ten wins with his 354th conference victory, 54-year-old Purdue coach Matt Painter compared his ability to consistently win while enduring the test of time to Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941 that still stands.
“It’s unbelievable,” Painter said.
When Izzo took over a solid program, following Heathcote’s retirement, no one would have believed the Spartans would be in a conversation with college basketball bluebloods.
The Tar Heels were led by coaches Frank McGuire (1952-61) and Dean Smith (1961-1997) for 40-plus seasons, winning three NCAA titles while combining to advance to 12 Final Fours.
The Wildcats had Adolph Rupp (1930-72) and Joe B. Hall (1972-85) on the bench for more than a half-century, winning five national titles and playing in a combined nine Final Fours.
Heathcote was hired by Michigan State nearly 50 years ago, winning a national title with Magic Johnson against Larry Bird-led Michigan State, and pushed for the school to give Izzo a shot in 1995.
Izzo proved it was a good move, winning an NCAA championship in 2000 with a team led by Mateen Cleaves. His eight appearances in the Final Four trail the total of just four coaches: Mike Krzyzewski, John Wooden, Smith and Roy Williams.
The old-school coach showed he can still win in the new era this season, winning an 11th Big Ten title to tie the record set in 1940 by Purdue’s Ward “Piggy” Lambert and Knight equaled in 1993.
The Big Ten Coach of the Year for a fourth time, Izzo led a team that started the season unranked and went into the tournament ranked No. 8 in the AP Top 25 after winning the conference by three games without a first- or second-team All-Big Ten player.
“I think he has maybe dialed it back a little bit, it’s a different era as far as kids, but the passion and the care he has for the players, that’s still the same,” Cleaves said. “It’s such a joy to watch.”
By turning down opportunities to leave the school and lead the Cleveland Cavaliers and Kentucky among other teams in the NBA and college, Izzo has helped the Spartans say they’ve done what just the Wildcats and Tar Heels have in college basketball history.
“That is really an honor to be in that group with that group of coaches,” Izzo told the AP. “Especially my mentor because without him, I’m not here.”
Heathcote created a culture in which former players, including Johnson, wanted to come back to campus. Izzo took it to another level, welcoming professional players such as Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green to return to mentor current Spartans on and off the court in what’s called “Grind Week” each summer.
“Grant Hill talks about the culture, and he comes from an unbelievable culture (at Duke),” said former Michigan State and NBA great Steve Smith, who was recruited by Izzo and played for Heathcote. “This is second to none. The guys come back. You don’t have to be asked or emailed to come back.
“It’s just a part of our DNA.”
SEC SUPERIORITY GETS INITIAL TEST AS TEXAS FACES XAVIER IN FIRST FOUR
DAYTON, Ohio — The team with the shortest commute to the First Four will meet the team with the second-longest when No. 11 Xavier plays No. 11 Texas Wednesday for the right to advance to the first round in the Midwest Region.
The winner of the Wednesday contest will face No. 6 Illinois on Friday in Milwaukee.
The Musketeers (21-11), whose campus is less than 50 miles from the University of Dayton Arena, earned an at-large bid after finishing the Big East regular season with a seven-game winning streak before falling, 89-87, to Marquette in the Big East quarterfinals.
The Longhorns (19-15) earned their fifth straight bid after defeating Vanderbilt and Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference tournament. They were eliminated by Tennessee in the quarterfinals and had to wait until Sunday to hear their name called.
Only San Diego State has a longer trip than Texas to the First Four destination. The Longhorns will be the first of the record 14 SEC teams participating to begin NCAA Tournament action.
The Musketeers spent the last month of the season firmly on the bubble of many bracket projections for the NCAA Tournament. Xavier finished the Big East regular season with a flourish, passing Marquette for the No. 4 seed in the Big East tournament.
However, after their late run, they lost 89-87 to the Golden Eagles in their first Big East tourney game and had to wait until Selection Sunday to find out their NCAA Tournament fate. The team gathered at Sean Miller’s house to get to the good news.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced a better feeling in sports than the one I had when our name was announced,” Miller said. “It was hard to describe. It was magical.”
Xavier grad student Zach Freemantle will get his first taste of NCAA action after missing the school’s charge to the Sweet 16 in 2023 due to a foot injury. He also was sidelined for the 2024-25 season before returning this season.
Freemantle leads Xavier in scoring (17.3 points per game) and rebounding (7.1 per game).
“It was honestly one of the craziest feelings I’ve had in my life,” Freemantle said of hearing the Musketeers’ name announced on Sunday. “The room was just too emotional. There wasn’t really any message said. There were a lot of hugs, a lot of cheering.”
Like Xavier, Texas had a nervous wait to see if it would be chosen on Sunday night.
While Xavier didn’t need to win a conference tournament game to get a bid, the thinking was that Texas needed at least two victories to get a berth after going 6-12 in the SEC regular season. The overtime win against Texas A&M, then ranked 14th in the country, appeared to seal the Longhorns’ fate and punch their ticket.
“We’ll be watching tape and trying to get a good feel for Xavier,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “This season in the SEC is the most challenging conference race I’ve ever been a part of as a coach.”
Guard Tre Johnson leads the Longhorns in scoring at 19.8 points per game. Forward Arthur Kaluma is averaging 7.6 rebounds to pace Texas on the boards while also scoring a 12.4 points per contest, second on the team.
“I give my guys a lot of credit for staying the course and continue to work the season,” Terry said. “I think we’re playing our best basketball of the season right now, and we’re excited for the chance to keep playing.”
AFTER JUST MAKING CUT, SAN DIEGO STATE, NORTH CAROLINA TO CLASH
DAYTON, Ohio — One of the final teams to make the 68-team NCAA Tournament field takes on a team that came close to a national title two years ago when North Carolina battles San Diego State in a First Four showdown Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio.
The winner in a duel of No. 11 seeds will play No. 6 Ole Miss in a first-round South Region contest on Friday at Milwaukee.
North Carolina (22-13) was the most controversial at-large selection of the NCAA Tournament selection committee, chaired by North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham.
San Diego State (21-9) entered 2024-25 off its best two-season run in program history, losing to UConn in the national championship game in 2023 and reaching the Sweet 16 last year.
The Tar Heels boosted their NCAA Tournament hopes with a late-season four-game winning streak. They won their first two games in the conference tournament at Charlotte, N.C., before falling to Duke for the second time in seven days.
North Carolina was just 1-12 in Quad 1 games but managed to win all eight Quad 2 games it played.
According to NCAA Tournament selection committee vice chair Keith Gill, when Memphis beat UAB in the American Athletic Conference title game, that ensured that Memphis would not take up an at-large berth, allowing the Tar Heels to receive a bid for the third time in four years under coach Hubert Davis.
Davis gave credit to his players for playing their best basketball of the season leading up to the ACC tournament, giving themselves a chance to get into the NCAAs.
“For them to, in the midst of those questions (about the NCAA Tournament), be able to focus on preparation and practice to play and focus on what is real in regards to whomever we’re playing that particular week (was impressive),” Davis said. “Being able to do that basically playing must-win games for a month and a half, in that stretch, we’ve actually played our best basketball all season.”
RJ Davis leads Carolina in scoring at 17.0 points per game while Ian Jackson adds 12.4 points. Seth Trimble adds 11.6 points and 5.1 rebounds.
“We’ve been playing our best,” said North Carolina wing Ven-Allen Lubin, who contributes 8.5 points and 5.6 rebounds. “We’ve learned a lot and we’ve grown a lot. I really think we can play against anybody.”
The Aztecs are coached by Brian Dutcher, the only San Diego State men’s coach with at least 21 wins in each of his first eight seasons. Dutcher’s teams are averaging 24.8 wins per season, including 21 so far this year.
SDSU had an anxious wait Sunday while hoping to hear name called by the selection committee after losing to Boise State in the Mountain West quarterfinals.
“We play our best basketball in March,” Dutcher said. “That’s what we always do. I’ve been in the (Mountain West) championship game seven times. Unfortunately, I’m 3-4, but I’ve made the game. This is the first time we’ve bowed out early, and it’s unfortunate, but that’s basketball.”
The Aztecs are led by Nick Boyd and Miles Byrd, the only two players averaging in double figures in scoring. Boyd averages 13.4 points a game while Byrd is scoring 12.6 points. Magoon Gwath grabs 5.2 rebounds with 2.6 blocks to go with an 8.5 scoring average.
Gwath, the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, is slated to play Tuesday. He missed the previous five games with a knee injury but practiced with the team on Sunday.
“He showed that he looked really good for a guy that’s been off since February 22nd,” Dutcher said. “He looked really good so we’re excited to have him back.”
SOUTH ALABAMA FUMING AFTER NIT BID IS RESCINDED
South Alabama coach Richie Riley is fuming after his program accepted a bid to the NIT on Sunday evening and had the invitation rescinded later that night.
Riley informed his players that they would be playing in the tournament after the NIT told him it was OK to do so.
But UC Riverside had invitations from both the NIT and College Basketball Invitational. The school had previously accepted the CBI bid so it declined the invitation from the NIT. But later Sunday night, UC Riverside got out of the CBI commitment and informed the NIT it was accepting its bid.
Riley received the news from NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt and the reversal didn’t sit well with him.
“Whatever time it was, 10:45 (CT), 11 o’clock. Dan’s like, ‘No, UC Riverside is back in. I hate that we had to do this,’” Riley said of the conversation.
“This is unacceptable. You can’t do that.”
Gavitt issued an apology on Monday.
“After the NIT bracket was released Sunday evening, it was brought to the NIT’s attention that one of the teams scheduled to participate in the tournament had also committed to a non-NCAA affiliated postseason event,” the statement said. “In an effort to secure another participating team, the NIT prematurely extended an invitation to the South Alabama Jaguars, prior to learning that the original team chose to accept its invitation to the NIT.
“Regrettably, the NIT rescinded its invitation to South Alabama. We understand the emotional impact this confusion created, and we sincerely apologize to South Alabama, Head Coach Richie Riley, and all the student-athletes for the error.”
Riley wasn’t the least bit impressed by the apology.
“A meaningless apology to the most meaningful group of players I’ve ever coached!” Riley wrote on social media. “What they did to us last night is inexcusable! These guys in our locker room don’t deserve this and it’s sad your idea of making it right is a copy and paste apology!”
The Jaguars (21-11) tied for the Sun Belt regular-season crown with three other teams and were the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. They were knocked out in the tournament semifinals by Arkansas State to end their third 20-win campaign in Riley’s seven seasons.
So the end result is no postseason play for South Alabama.
“It’s just unfair for our players,” the 42-year-old Riley said. “We’ve got a team with zero NIL. They’re a bunch of underdogs that fought their asses off. And now I have to tell them they’re not in the NIT. It’s just an absolute joke.”
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UCLA AND SOUTH CAROLINA HEADLINE AP TOP 25 WOMEN’S POLL AND ARE TOP SEEDS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
UCLA remained No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 on Monday one day after the Bruins earned the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
The Bruins head into March Madness with two losses, both coming to Southern Cal during the regular season. UCLA received 19 first place votes from the 32-member national media panel. South Carolina, the defending national champion, garnered eight first-place ballots as was No. 2.
UConn was third after winning the Big East Tournament championship over Creighton in the only game with ranked teams last week.
USC and Texas rounded out the top five and are also No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament that starts later this week.
TCU, Duke, Notre Dame and N.C. State were next. LSU was 10th.
The only change in the poll from last week was Creighton dropping one spot to 23rd, switching places with Florida State. There will be a final poll the day after the national championship game that will be played in Tampa, Florida, on April 6.
Conference breakdown
The Southeastern Conference has eight ranked teams. The ACC and Big 12 each have five while the Big Ten has four. The Big East has two and the Summit League one.
Games of the week
NCAA Tournament action starts Wednesday with play-in games.
NBA NEWS
NBA ROUNDUP: AARON GORDON LEADS SHORT-HANDED NUGGETS PAST WARRIORS
Aaron Gordon scored a season-high 38 points, Russell Westbrook recorded a triple-double and the Denver Nuggets, playing without Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, stunned the Golden State Warriors 114-105 in San Francisco on Monday.
With Jokic nursing a sore elbow and ankle and Murray dealing with a sprained right ankle, the Nuggets rode Gordon, Westbrook and a double-double from Michael Porter Jr. to their second straight win over the Warriors this season and ninth in a row dating back to 2022.
Westbrook, the NBA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles, secured his 203rd by amassing 12 points, 11 rebounds and 16 assists. Porter chipped with 21 points and 10 rebounds as Denver improved to 3-3 in its past six games.
Jimmy Butler III had 23 points and Stephen Curry 20 for the Warriors, who saw a seven-game winning streak come to an end.
Rockets 144, 76ers 137 (OT)
Jalen Green had 30 points and 13 assists, helping Houston stage the largest comeback in franchise history to defeat visiting Philadelphia in overtime.
Jabari Smith Jr. also scored 30 points for Houston, which won its seventh straight game and did so despite trailing by 25 points early in the third quarter. Dillon Brooks scored 25 points and Tari Eason added 21, while Alperen Sengun chipped in 13 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Philadelphia lost for the seventh time in nine games, despite Quentin Grimes’ career-high 46 points, which he paired with 13 boards. Jared Butler scored 21 points and Justin Edwards had 18.
Bulls 111, Jazz 97
Coby White scored 26 points and Chicago held Utah scoreless for a 5 1/2-minute stretch of the fourth quarter to earn a victory in Salt Lake City.
Tre Jones added 18 points, 12 assists and three steals, Kevin Huerter and Matas Buzelis each totaled 17 points and nine rebounds, and Nikola Vucevic had 10 points and 10 boards to lift the Bulls to their fifth win in six games.
Former Bulls player Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George each scored 16 for Utah, but the Jazz saw their losing streak increase to 10. Utah, which fell at Minnesota on Sunday, had a particularly rough night shooting from 3-point range. The Jazz only made 9 of 42 beyond the arc (21.4 percent), with Markkanen hitting just 1 of 8.
Pacers 132, Timberwolves 130 (OT)
Obi Toppin scored 34 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds remaining in overtime, while leading Indiana to a win over Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Toppin made 7 of 10 3-point shots and tied his season-best point total for Indiana, which won for the third time in four games. He added 10 rebounds. Bennedict Mathurin finished with 22 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Anthony Edwards scored 38 points in a losing effort for Minnesota, which had an eight-game winning streak end. Reserves Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo tallied 21 and 19 points, respectively.
Lakers 125, Spurs 109
Luka Doncic had 21 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds, Austin Reaves added 30 points and Los Angeles extended its home winning streak to eight games with a victory over San Antonio.
Jordan Goodwin and Dorian Finney-Smith each scored 15 points and Dalton Knecht had 13 for the Lakers, who were without LeBron James (groin) for the fifth consecutive game and Rui Hachimura (knee) for the 10th straight contest. Jaxson Hayes finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.
Stephon Castle scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Devin Vassell had 17 points and eight boards for the Spurs, who lost for the fifth time in their past seven games. San Antonio is without Victor Wembanyama (shoulder) and De’Aaron Fox (finger) for the remainder of the season.
Suns 129, Raptors 89
Devin Booker scored 27 points to lead six Phoenix scorers in double figures as the Suns opened a five-game homestand with their most lopsided win of the season.
The 89 points surrendered marked the second fewest the Suns have given up this season, the result of holding Toronto to 35.6 percent shooting. The Suns hit 51.1 percent from the floor and a torrid 20 of 39 (51.3 percent) from 3-point range.
Scottie Barnes scored 16 points as Toronto lost its second game in a row.
Kings 132, Grizzlies 122
Malik Monk scored 28 points, Zach LaVine added 23, and Sacramento snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over visiting Memphis.
DeMar DeRozan had 22 points and eight assists for Sacramento, which led by as many as 21 in the fourth quarter and never trailed after moving ahead late in the first quarter. Keegan Murray added 16 points and nine rebounds to help the Kings win the season series against Memphis 2-1. Jake LaRavia added 12 points off the bench against his former team.
The Kings withstood a season-high 44-point performance from Desmond Bane, who shot 15-of-25 from the field and 7-of-7 from 3-point range. Brandon Clarke added 15 points, Jaylen Wells scored 14, and Jaren Jackson Jr. and Zach Edey had 12 points apiece.
Pistons 127, Pelicans 81
Cade Cunningham scored 24 points and visiting Detroit never trailed, routing New Orleans. The result tied the Pelicans’ franchise record for largest margin of defeat.
Cunningham, who tied his season low with 11 points after being ejected late in the third quarter of a 113-107 loss to Oklahoma City on Saturday, had nine as the Pistons opened a 22-point lead after one quarter. Detroit’s Simone Fontecchio scored a season-high 23 points.
Zion Williamson scored 30 points to lead the Pelicans, who lost Trey Murphy III to a shoulder injury early in the first quarter and finished with their lowest point total of the season.
Knicks 116, Heat 95
Josh Hart tied a franchise record with his eighth triple-double of the season for host New York, which overcame a slow start to rout reeling Miami.
Hart finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, matching the mark set by current Knicks broadcaster Walt “Clyde” Frazier in 1968-69. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 15 unanswered points early in the second quarter as the Knicks erased a 13-point deficit. Mikal Bridges ended with a game-high 28 points for the Knicks. Towns finished with 23 points.
Duncan Robinson had 22 points for the Heat, who raced to a 12-0 lead before suffering their eighth straight loss and falling to 4-14 since trading Jimmy Butler III. Tyler Herro scored 20 points.
Trail Blazers 112, Wizards 97
Anfernee Simons made five 3-pointers and scored 30 points to help Portland notch a victory over visiting Washington.
Shaedon Sharpe netted 16 points while Deni Avdija and Duop Reath scored 15 apiece as Portland (30-39) won its second straight game. The Trail Blazers are three games behind the 10th-place Dallas Mavericks, who hold the final Western Conference play-in position.
Alex Sarr scored 20 points for Washington, which failed in its bid to match a season-best three-game winning streak. Tristan Vukcevic added 17 points while Jaylen Martin and Kyshawn George each had 11 points for the Wizards, who are 3-3 on a seven-game road trip.
NHL NEWS
NHL ROUNDUP: WILD END KINGS’ WINNING STREAK
Mats Zuccarello’s power-play goal with 4:38 left in the final period allowed the Minnesota Wild to snap the Los Angeles Kings’ five-game winning streak with a 3-1 come-from-behind victory on Monday in Saint Paul, Minn.
Ryan Hartman also scored for the Wild, who had lost four of their past five (1-3-1), and he assisted on Zuccarello’s game-winner.
Minnesota’s Marcus Johansson added an empty-netter in the final minute, and Jared Spurgeon notched two assists in the victory. Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves.
Adrian Kempe scored for Los Angeles, on assists from Kevin Fiala and Drew Doughty. Darcy Kuemper stopped 19 shots as he saw his four-game winning streak end.
Devils 2, Blue Jackets 1
Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier scored a goal apiece and Jake Allen shined in a 45-save performance as visiting New Jersey defeated Columbus.
It was the 20th goal of the season for both Bratt and Meier — just 39 seconds apart in the second period — as the Devils won for the fourth time in five games. The two forwards extended their point streaks to four games.
Mathieu Olivier scored for the Blue Jackets, who have dropped four straight games and six of the past seven. Jet Greaves made 18 saves in the loss.
Maple Leafs 6, Flames 2
Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist, William Nylander added a goal and two assists, and Toronto dismantled visiting Calgary 6-2.
Maple Leafs forward Max Domi also tallied a goal and an assist, while Nicholas Robertson and Bobby McMann added a goal apiece. Joseph Woll made 24 saves in Toronto’s second win in seven games (2-4-1).
Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl scored for the slumping Flames, who have dropped three straight (0-2-1). Calgary’s Dustin Wolf was pulled after allowing five goals on 26 shots in the loss.
Sabres 3, Bruins 2 (OT)
Alex Tuch netted the game-winning power-play goal with 10.7 seconds remaining in overtime to lift visiting Buffalo past Boston.
Owen Power notched a tying goal for the Sabres at 12:48 of the second period, and he added two assists. Peyton Krebs also scored for Buffalo, while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 17 saves.
Both of Boston’s goals came in the first frame. Morgan Geekie finished with a goal and an assist to pace the Bruins, and Pavel Zacha added the other tally. Joonas Korpisalo recorded 27 saves.
Lightning 2, Flyers 0
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves and Nikita Kucherov scored the game-winning goal with 89 seconds remaining in the first period for host Tampa Bay.
Jake Guentzel had five shots on target and added an insurance empty-net goal for the Lightning with 90 seconds to go in the third period.
Ivan Fedotov stopped 21 shots for the Flyers, who have dropped seven of nine games in March. Nick Deslauriers had seven hits in the game and Nick Seeler had six.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL NEWS
SPRING TRAINING ROUNDUP: BLUE JAYS WALK OFF YANKEES
Carter Cunningham hit a walk-off home run with two strikes and two outs to lift the Toronto Blue Jays’ split squad over the visiting New York Yankees 6-5 on Monday in Dunedin, Fla.
Matt Whatley tied the game with a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth before the 2024 10th-round draft pick went deep to right center. Yankees reliever Baron Stuart (0-1) gave up both homers.
Bo Bichette had a two-run homer for the Blue Jays, while starter Kevin Gausman allowed three runs on four hits in three innings. Eric Pardinho (1-0) struck out two in the top of the ninth.
Ben Rice hit a solo homer and a run-scoring single, Trent Grisham hit a two-run bomb and Brenny Escanio put the Yankees ahead 5-4 with a dinger in the top of the eighth.
Phillies 4, Blue Jays 2
Keaton Anthony’s eighth-inning home run capped Philadelphia’s comeback win over visiting Toronto in Clearwater, Fla.
J.T. Realmuto (double) and Dylan Campbell (single) also had RBIs for the Phillies. Jordan Romano (1-0) got two outs against his former team as the fourth of six Philadelphia pitchers after Aaron Nola struck out five in a 4 2/3-inning start.
Rainer Nunez and Davis Schneider hit home runs to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. Zach Pop (1-1) blew the save, allowing two runs in 2/3 of an inning.
Orioles 12, Red Sox 3
Daz Cameron went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs to highlight visiting Baltimore’s 16-hit attack in a blowout of Boston’s split squad in Fort Myers, Fla.
The Orioles’ hits consisted of 14 singles and doubles by Cameron and Livan Soto. Luis Vazquez went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI singles, including the go-ahead hit early in an eight-run sixth inning. Zach Fruit (1-0) threw four strikeouts and allowed two runs (one earned) over three innings of relief.
Rafael Devers, Trevor Story and Alex Bregman drove in runs for the Red Sox. Greg Weissert (0-1), who relieved starter Tanner Houck after 4 1/3 frames, was shelled for six runs on four hits and three walks in 2/3 of an inning.
Red Sox 2, Braves 1
Marcelo Mayer’s two-run single in the sixth inning held up as the decisive blow as Boston edged host Atlanta in North Port, Fla.
The Red Sox finished with just two hits but had two aboard via walks when Mayer singled to left off Ian Anderson (2-2). Adam Ottavino (1-0) threw 1 2/3 innings of relief for Boston.
Braves starter Spencer Strider struck out six in 2 2/3 perfect innings in his spring debut. Orlando Arcia got the Braves on the board with a sac fly in the seventh.
Pirates 4, Twins 2
Ke’Bryan Hayes, Joey Bart and Bryan Reynolds went yard to supply all of Pittsburgh’s offense in a split-squad win over visiting Minnesota in Bradenton, Fla.
Hayes’ home run was a two-run blast and Nick Yorke finished 2-for-3 for the Pirates. Paul Skenes (2-0) struck out seven and scattered five hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball.
Mike Ford hit an RBI double and Matt Wallner homered for the Twins. Joe Ryan (1-1) yielded three runs over four innings, including Hayes’ and Bart’s long balls. Ryan fanned four.
Tigers 9, Pirates 6
Kevin McGonigle hit a tiebreaking single and scored on a wild pitch to help host Detroit beat Pittsburgh in Lakeland, Fla.
Gleyber Torres and Colt Keith (3-for-3) hit two-run doubles in a five-run first inning for the Tigers, who later let the Pirates come back to tie it 6-6 on a two-error play in the fifth. Tommy Kahnle (1-0) pitched a scoreless sixth, scattering two hits for Detroit.
Endy Rodriguez hit an RBI triple, and Nick Gonzales had a two-run double for the Pirates. Justin Lawrence (0-2) allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in the sixth.
Cardinals 6, Nationals 2
Jose Fermin followed an RBI double in the third inning with a three-run double in the seventh to power visiting St. Louis past Washington in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Victor Scott II added a solo home run among his two hits for the Cardinals. Onetime Nationals starter Erick Fedde (1-2) struck out four and yielded one unearned run on three hits in five innings for St. Louis.
Mackenzie Gore (2-1) went five innings and allowed two runs on seven hits and a walk. He fanned four. Keibert Ruiz and former Cardinal Paul DeJong drove in the Nationals’ runs.
Mets 6, Marlins 5
Alexander Canario’s two-run home run in the top of the ninth proved crucial as New York’s split squad held on to beat host Miami in Jupiter, Fla.
Canario also drew three walks while Nick Roselli’s RBI double sparked a three-run eighth for the Mets. Justin Hagenman (1-0) followed Paul Blackburn’s four innings with four of his own for the win; the pair combined for 10 strikeouts.
Dane Myers hit a two-run homer early for the Marlins before they clawed back with three runs in the ninth, one on a fielding error and two more on Jesus Hernandez’s ground-rule double. The blown save and loss went to Anthony Bender (1-1).
Rays 2, Mets 0
Mike Vasil led a combined three-hitter as Tampa Bay struck out 14 batters to blank host New York in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Vasil (1-1) pitched the first three innings and fanned four, scattering three walks and two hits. Jacob Waguespack threw two perfect innings with four Ks for the save. Josh Lowe homered for the second straight day for the Rays.
Francisco Lindor had two of the Mets’ three hits, including a double. Griffin Canning (1-1) tossed nine strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings, giving up one run on three hits.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
COLLEGE BASEBALL NOTEBOOK: VOLS’ CLEAR DOMINANCE MAKES THEM CONSENSUS NO. 1 AFTER SWEEP OF FLORIDA
Tennessee’s dominance through the first month of the season has become so apparent that one of the most authoritative college baseball media outlets demoted an LSU team on a 15-game winning streak from No. 1 in its Top 25 and replaced the Tigers with the Volunteers on Monday.
At 20-0, the Vols are the only remaining unbeaten team in Division I. They’re off to the best start in program history and coming off a three-game home sweep against what was a top-10 Florida.
D1Baseball.com promoted the defending national champions over a now-No. 2 LSU (15-1) that went 4-0 last week and swept Missouri. D1Baseball said that since it began its rankings in 2015, it had never taken a No. 1 team off the top perch after an unbeaten week.
Tennessee, ranked No. 1 by Baseball America for a third straight week, is now the consensus top team. Arkansas (18-2) remains No. 3.
“Just got to keep going,” said Cannon Peebles, whose pinch double gave Tennessee the lead in a 7-4 win Sunday. “Last year we were very fortunate to do what we did. Last year doesn’t really matter anymore. Every single person on this team is focused on this year and we take it game by game, and I think that’s why we’ve had this start.”
There are no weaknesses. Liam Doyle, who leads the nation with 53 strikeouts, heads a staff that ranks first with a 1.72 ERA and 5.61 hits allowed per nine innings. Offensively, the Vols lead the nation with 2.65 homers per game and .662 slugging percentage and are second at 11.3 runs per game.
Tennessee hosts East Tennessee State (15-4) on Tuesday before traveling to a top-10 Alabama (20-1) for a Thursday-to-Saturday series. The Crimson Tide swept Texas A&M on the road over the weekend.
Swattin’ Sasaki
It took 66 at-bats for Stanford freshman Rintaro Sasaki to break through with his first collegiate home run. Japan’s all-time high school leader went deep three times over six at-bats Saturday and Sunday as the Cardinal swept Duke. He was 6 of 14 with eight RBIs in the series and is batting .338/.424/.500 through 18 games.
Sudden surge
Northwestern’s Trent Liolios had three homers in a 13-5 win over Penn State and a total of four in the doubleheader split Saturday. Liolios had nine homers and batted .209 in 52 games last season. So far this season he has eight homers and a .382 batting average through 17 games.
Devil of a time
Arizona State’s offense, held to a combined four runs in two straight losses last week, unleashed some pent-up frustration in the second game of its road series with TCU on Saturday.
The Sun Devils won 26-9, the most runs they’ve scored in a conference game since 2000 and tied for the most TCU has ever allowed. ASU’s 28 hits also were a TCU opponent record. Kyle Walker hit the first of ASU’s five homers leading off the game. The Sun Devils won 12-11 on Sunday to take the series.
Cleanup spot
Kansas (17-3) hit nine home runs while winning two of three against Baylor. The Jayhawks, who are third in the nation in scoring at 10.4 runs per game, have gone deep 46 times through 20 games. Jackson Hauge, a transfer from Division II Mankato State, has a team-best 11. … Oregon State’s Ethan Kleinschmit has allowed just six hits and a run with two walks and 15 strikeouts in his last 11 2/3 innings over two appearances. … Florida State left-hander Wes Mendes allowed no earned runs and struck out eight over a career-high seven innings as the Seminoles beat Boston College 6-2 Saturday to complete a three-game sweep. … Texas Southern stole 17 bases in a 20-7 win over Mississippi Valley State on Friday, the most since Alabama State had the same number of steals against Tuskegee in 1991.
NFL NEWS
NFL TRANSACTIONS ROUNDUP: BENGALS SIGN LB OREN BURKS
The Bengals signed linebacker Oren Burks to a two-year contract on Monday. Financial terms were not revealed.
A third-round draft pick by Green Bay in 2018, he spent four seasons with the Packers, two with the 49ers and one with the Super Bowl champion Eagles.
Burks, who turns 30 on Friday, has appeared in 108 games (17 starts) and has 217 tackles (eight for loss), two sacks, three passes defensed, one interception, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
–The Buccaneers signed veteran offensive tackle Charlie Heck. Terms were not disclosed.
Heck, 28, split last season with Arizona and San Francisco following four seasons with Houston.
He has played in 50 games (23 starts) with the Texans, Cardinals and 49ers since Houston drafted him in the fourth round in 2020.
REPORT: GIANTS SET TUESDAY VISIT WITH QB JAMEIS WINSTON
Free agent quarterback Jameis Winston will visit the New York Giants on Tuesday, NFL Network reported.
The 31-year-old becomes the latest veteran to chat with the quarterback-needy Giants, who have only Tommy DeVito — initially signed as an undrafted free agent in 2023 — under contract.
The Giants reportedly have an offer out to four-time NFL Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers and are awaiting his decision. They previously met with former Super Bowl winners Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco.
Winston, drafted No. 1 overall by the Buccaneers in 2015, spent five seasons with Tampa Bay and four with the New Orleans Saints and the 2024 season with the Browns.
In Cleveland, he appeared in 12 games (seven starts), completing 61.1 percent of his passes for 2,121 yards, 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
In 105 games (87 starts) he has a 36-51 record. He has thrown for 24,225 yards with 154 touchdowns and 111 interceptions. He also has 1,297 rushing yards and 12 scores.
REPORT: TEXANS CB DEREK STINGLEY TO SIGN $90M EXTENSION
The Houston Texans and cornerback Derek Stingley agreed to a three-year, $90 million extension that makes him the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history, according to multiple reports Monday.
Stingley’s average annual salary of $30 million smashes the previous record of $25 million set last week when the Carolina Panthers gave cornerback Jaycee Horn a four-year, $100 million extension.
Stingley’s deal includes $89 million guaranteed, per the report.
Stingley, 23, earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro first-team honors last season with five interceptions, 18 passes defensed and 54 tackles in 17 starts. He allowed the second-lowest completion percentage (46.7 percent) among CBs with at least 200 snaps in coverage, according to Next Gen Stats.
Drafted third overall in 2022 out of LSU, Stingley has recorded 11 interceptions, 36 passes defensed and 136 tackles in 37 games (all starts).
GOLF NEWS
RORY MCILROY DEFEATS J.J. SPAUN IN PLAYOFF FOR SECOND PLAYERS TITLE
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by winning a three-hole aggregate playoff against J.J. Spaun to capture his second title at The Players Championship on Monday morning at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
McIlroy took a one-shot lead when he birdied the par-5 16th hole, and the task of protecting that advantage became much easier when Spaun hit his tee shot over the famed island green at the par-3 17th and into the water.
Spaun struggled his way to a triple-bogey 6 and dropped to 3 over, trailing by three after McIlroy made a three-putt bogey. Both players missed to the right of the fairway at the par-4 18th, and the tournament was all McIlroy’s once Spaun’s third shot narrowly missed the green.
McIlroy finished up with a bogey and finished the playoff at 1 over.
McIlroy, 35, picked up the 28th victory of his PGA Tour career and his second of the year, following the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. His first Players Championship victory came in 2019, and he is the eighth player to win the prestigious event multiple times.
Spaun, 34, is stuck on just one victory in 228 tournaments in his PGA Tour career. But he continued a stellar start to the season this week by notching his third top-three finish, following a T3 at the Sony Open and a T2 at the Cognizant Classic.
On Sunday, Spaun shot a 72 after holding the overnight lead and McIlroy posted a 68 to get to 12-under 276. Spaun had a 30-foot birdie putt to win on No. 18 and left it 3 inches short.
Tom Hoge mixed seven birdies with a lone bogey en route to a 66 to share third place at 10 under with Akshay Bhatia (70) and Lucas Glover (71).
Danny Walker (70), Bud Cauley (74) and Canada’s Corey Conners (71) were a further stroke back in a tie for sixth.
TOP INDIANA HEADLINES
INDIANA PACERS
On Monday night in Minnesota, there was no stopping Obi Toppin.
Down by a point with 3.5 seconds left in overtime, Toppin sprinted to the left corner, received a short pass from T.J. McConnell, elevated, and buried a sideways, fading 3-pointer to and push the Pacers past the Timberwolves 132-130 at Target Center
Toppin made all four of his 3-point attempts in overtime, including the go-ahead basket, as a severely undermanned Pacers (38-29) squad snapped an eight-game Timberwolves (40-30) winning streak. Indiana now returns to the Circle City to prepare for a five-game homestand.
“That last shot it was just be in the corner, T.J. is getting to the rim. If I got the shot, shoot it,” Toppin said of the final play. “The clock is running down, I just need to make a shot.”
The Pacers were without four starters Monday, as Tyrese Haliburton (low back soreness), Aaron Nesmith (left ankle injury management) and Myles Turner (left hip contusion) were sidelined with injuries, and Pascal Siakam was out for personal reasons.
After tying at 30 in the first quarter, the Pacers held the Timberwolves to 25 percent shooting in the second quarter to lead 60-46 at halftime. The Timberwolves then scored 41 points in the third quarter to make it a two-point game going into the final frame.
In a back-and-forth fourth quarter, McConnell retied the game with five seconds left in regulation by making a clutch layup to force extra minutes.
Toppin then couldn’t miss in overtime, making his free three 3-pointers, and Thomas Bryant also added a trey, to give the Blue & Gold a 129-128 edge with 27 seconds on the clock.
Wolves star Anthony Edwards made two free throws to retake the lead before Toppin’s magical shot – similar to Haliburton’s game-winner from a week prior against the Milwaukee Bucks – fell in on St. Patrick’s Day. On the ensuing final possession, Bryant took Julius Randle one-on-one and got the stop.
Toppin scored 12 of Indiana’s 15 points in overtime en route to his season-high 34 points.
“Obi Toppin had one of the most spectacular runs at the end of the game I’ve ever seen,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said.
Toppin finished 12-for-19 shooting (7-for-10 3-point range) and pulled down 10 rebounds, while Bennedict Mathurin posted 22 points, Quenton Jackson had 13, and McConnell logged 11 points and 13 assists for Indiana. Eight players scored in double figures for the Pacers.
Edwards led the Timberwolves with 38 points on 9-for-24 shooting, Naz Reid supplied 21 points, and Donte DiVincenzo added 19.
There were 29 lead changes and 19 ties in the game. Indiana outshot Minnesota 49.5 to 45.4 percent overall and won the rebounding margin 48-44.
On Monday, the Pacers trotted out the starting five of Andrew Nembhard, Jarace Walker, Mathurin, Toppin and Bryant.
Both teams shot 52 percent and scored 30 points in the first quarter, as there were 11 lead changes and seven ties.
After starting 1-for-5 shooting, the Pacers settled into the game thanks to back-to-back buckets from Nembhard. Minnesota then got itself rolling thanks to a three-point play and floater from Edwards before the teams traded the lead at rapid fire.
Tony Bradley, on his second 10-day contract with the Pacers, made a trio of baskets from close range midway through the period, and a 3-pointer from Walker and a layup by Jackson concluded the Pacers’ scoring in the opening frame.
Indiana mustered a 23-4 scoring stretch midway through the second quarter to go up 60-46 before the break. The Timberwolves shot just 25 percent in the second quarter for 16 points.
Minnesota managed a 9-2 run early in the second quarter thanks to seven points by Reid, but the Pacers answered with a 14-0 scoring streak, where Mathurin scored six points, and Toppin and Nembhard each hit 3-pointers, to give the Pacers a 46-39 lead with 5:13 left in the half.
A putback dunk by Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert momentarily ended the Wolves’ drought, but Walker scored five points, Bradley tipped in a loose ball, Toppin scored on a fastbreak layup, and Nembhard hit a fadeaway jumper to keep the visitors up by 14 at the break.
In a contentious third quarter, the Timberwolves outscored the Pacers 41-29 thanks to 15 points by Edwards and 11 by DiVincenzo. On the other side, Mathurin took over the offense for the Pacers in the frame, finishing with 11 points in the quarter.
The Timberwolves managed a 17-6 scoring stretch from 10:48 to 6:10 in the third quarter, thanks to two 3-pointers, a layup by DiVincenzo, and two baskets from Jaden McDaniels, to cut it to 68-66.
With 8:06 left in the third quarter, Gobert was assessed a Flagrant 2 for unnecessary contact with Nembhard and was ejected from the game. During the same exchange, Nembhard threw the ball at Gobert after the contact and was given his second technical, removing him from the game as well.
Edwards then scored eight straight points and Jaylen Clark added a bucket to give the Wolves the lead back at 76-75 with 3:01 left in the period before the teams traded the lead eight times before the end of the quarter. Indiana led 89-87 heading into the final frame.
The Timberwolves opened the fourth quarter with 10 unanswered points, capped by threes from Reid and Mike Conley, to lead 97-89.
Five points by Mathurin, a 3-pointer by Walker, and thunderous dunk and free throws by Jackson retied the game at 101 with 5:45 remaining before a 10-2 stretch put the Pacers back ahead 115-112 with 57 seconds remaining. Mathurin fouled with 3:53 on the clock.
After Randle made two free throws to put the Timberwolves back ahead 112-111, Walker hit a 13-footer and Toppin converted a layup to 115-112 Pacers with 57 seconds left. Out of a timeout, McDaniels hit a three before the Pacers turned the ball over and Edwards made two free throws to make it 117-115 Wolves with 30 ticks remaining.
With five seconds left in regulation, McConnell took a pass from Ben Sheppard and went full steam to the rack to tie the game.
In overtime, the Pacers were able to get it done thanks to Toppin’s four threes and Bryan’t clutch trey and defensive stand.
“It’s big time,” Bryant said of the win. “It speaks to our resiliency and our depth we have on this team to be able to go out there against a really great defensive team like Minnesota … and get a win like that, in their house, is big time for us.
The Pacers will open their homestand against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Inside the Numbers
Indiana had eight players score in double digits for the first time this season.
Both T.J. McConnell and Obi Toppin recorded their second double-doubles of the season.
McConnell dished out a season-high 13 assists.
Tony Bradley, who is on a 10-day contract, recorded a season-high 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting – the first time he’s reached at least 10 points in a game in an NBA game in three years.
Indiana finished 19-for-23 on free throws and Minnesota was 29-for-36.
The Timberwolves outscored the Pacers 60-52 in the paint.
The Pacers assisted on 28 of 48 made baskets while the Timberwolves dished 22 dimes on 44 made field goals.
Anthony Edwards made 19 of 20 free throw attempts en route to 38 points.
Minnesota outscored Indiana 71-57 in the second half.
INDY FUEL
INDY FUEL WEEK TWENTY RESULTS 1-2-0-0
INDY FUEL OVERALL RECORD 24-27-4-4 (6th in Central Division)
GAME 58 – FRIDAY, MARCH 14 VS KALAMAZOO – 6-2 L
The Fuel hosted the Kalamazoo Wings on Friday night to start their weekend. After falling behind in the first period, the Fuel could not make the comeback and fell 6-2 to the K-Wings.
GAME 59 – SATURDAY, MARCH 15 AT CINCINNATI – 2-1 W
The Fuel headed to Cincinnati for a Saturday night matchup with the Cyclones. After a low-scoring game, it came down to a goal in the final three minutes and Indy took the 2-1 victory.
GAME 60 – SUNDAY, MARCH 16 VS FORT WAYNE – 4-2 L
The Fuel finished their weekend at home on Sunday with an afternoon game against the Fort Wayne Komets. Despite outshooting them by a wide margin, the Fuel fell to the Komets, 4-2 on Sunday afternoon.
ROSTER MOVES
Defenseman Spencer Cox signed on 3/14
Goaltender Ryan Ouellette signed on 3/14
Defenseman Max Coyle claimed off waivers on 3/15
OIL DROPS
Goaltender Ryan Ouellette and defenseman Spencer Cox made their professional debuts this weekend.
Bryan Lemos is seven assists away from tying the all-time Fuel assists record of 123 held by Alex Wideman.
Lemos is also chasing Wideman’s single season record of 50, he is 11 away from that.
TEAM NOTES
The Fuel are projected to pass their single season attendance record on Saturday vs. Bloomington.
Indy is 28-17-5-3 when scoring first in a game.
The Fuel are still ranked first in road penalty killing with a success rate of 92.6%. They are ranked third overall in the league with 85.4%
Indy still scores the most in the third period, with 52 goals in the third period this season. Despite this, they have not won a game this season where they went into the third period down.
INDY FUEL WEEK 23 SCHEDULE
GAME 61 – FRIDAY, MARCH 21 VS CINCINNATI
GAME 62 – SATURDAY, MARCH 22 VS BLOOMINGTON
GAME 63 – SUNDAY, MARCH 23 VS WHEELING
INDIANA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana women’s basketball will make its sixth-consecutive NCAA Tournament with an at-large selection into the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament field.
As a No. 9 seed, the Hoosiers will face No. 8 Utah on Friday at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. It’s the second time in program history that Indiana will be at 9-seed with its only other time in 2016. This will be the first meeting between the two teams. Game time is set for 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
IU makes its 11th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history in 2025 and seventh under 11th year head coach Teri Moren. All-time tournament appearances include 1983, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023. Overall, they are 11-10 all-time in the Big Dance.
This season’s team is 19-12 overall and finished 10-8 in Big Ten play. They have four Top 25 wins to their resume, a 35 NET ranking and the 11th toughest schedule in the nation. Junior guard Yarden Garzon leads the pack with 14.1 points per game as three others add double figures including graduate student guard Sydney Parrish (11.9 ppg.), junior guard Shay Ciezki (11.6 ppg.) and senior forward Karoline Striplin (10.1 ppg.).
INDIANA SOFTBALL
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– Indiana Softball will look to bounce back on Tuesday as the Hoosiers are set to face Notre Dame at 6 p.m. in South Bend.
Indiana is coming off of a two-game losing skid after dropping both games over the weekend to Iowa.
QUICK HITTERS:
Team 52 holds a 19-7 record and 0-2 mark in Big Ten play entering the game against Notre Dame.
Indiana leads the nation in batting average, hitting .394 at the plate, as of their last game against Iowa (March 16). The next closest is Texas, who is hitting .387 at the plate.
Melina Wilkison, a redshirt junior outfielder from Greensburg, Ind. joins the Hoosiers after spending three seasons at Ohio State. Wilkison was a two-year starter for the Buckeyes, including being an NFCA All-Region and All-Big Ten performer in 2023. She missed almost all of 2024 due to injury.
Prior to the Iowa series, Indiana had won seven games in a row, including six-straight run rules.
Brianna Copeland, Taylor Minnick and Avery Parker were all named to the Big Ten’s preseason Players to Watch List.
LAST TIME OUT:
Indiana fell in two close games to start Big Ten play at home against Iowa. Both matchups were decided by one run as Iowa won on Saturday, 7-6, and the Hawkeyes won on Sunday, 7-6.
In both games, Indiana trailed early by a big margin and then made a valiant comeback to claw back but just couldn’t close the gap late in the game.
On Saturday, Indiana trailed 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth before Taylor Minnick hit a solo home run to make it 7-6. The Hoosiers got a single from Sydni Burko to get the tying run aboard, but they couldn’t get her home.
In the Sunday game, Indiana was down 6-2 in the fourth before making it 6-5 by the sixth thanks to RBIs from Melina Wilkison, Brianna Copeland and Avery Parker, but Indiana could not get the bats going in the seventh.
Earlier in the week, Indiana dominated Butler, 13-0, in five innings on Tuesday and topped Southern Indiana, 6-5, on Wednesday.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
Notre Dame’s season is off to a 12-15 start with a 2-4 mark in the ACC. The Irish started the season with a 3-3 showing at the NFCA Leadoff Classic that featured wins over No. 15 Missouri and Penn State.
Kris Ganeff is in her first season leading the Irish after serving on staff for 23 years prior.
At the Judi Garman Classic, Notre Dame went 2-3, but picked up its other signature win on the season with a 5-4 defeat against No. 23 San Diego State.
In the ACC, the Irish have taken one game in each of their three-game series to start conference play. They went on the road to Louisville and most recently took a trip to NC State where in each series they won one game.
Last year, Notre Dame went 27-23 with one win in the ACC Tournament before being eliminated by No. 2 seed Florida State.
SERIES HISTORY NOTES:
The Hoosiers and Fighting Irish are tied in the all-time series, 11-11. Indiana won the last meeting last year, 6-5, when Alex Cooper hit a walk-off grand slam, 5-3.
INDIANA BASEBALL
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A four-win week was just what head coach Jeff Mercer and the Indiana Baseball team (11-9, 4-2 B1G) needed after the first month of the season. IU returned to its home state and dispatched of Indiana State on Tuesday (March 11) evening before sweeping a three-game set against Ohio State at Bart Kaufman Field.
Freshman outfielder Hogan Denny enjoyed a breakout week that featured a walk-off winner against the Buckeyes on Friday (March 14) evening. He had six hits in four games and hit .600 (6-10) while recording one home run, two doubles, four RBIs and three runs scored.
Redshirt sophomore outfielder Korbyn Dickerson hit his ninth and tenth home runs of the season in the series victory over Ohio State while freshman first baseman Jake Hanley got on the board with a pair of long balls in the weekend opener. Freshman third baseman Cooper Malamazian became the 48th unique IU player to hit a home run in the Mercer era with his eighth-inning blast on Friday evening.
Redshirt senior pitcher Gavin Seebold has found a new role on the staff and thrived over the course of the week. He pitched three times and combined to throw 6.2 innings of work out of the bullpen. He allowed just two earned runs in the three appearances and picked up four strikeouts.
After IU’s midweek with Evansville, it will head to UCLA for a three-game set in Los Angeles this weekend (March 21-23). That series will bring a brief hiatus from home before playing nine-straight games inside the friendly confines of Bart Kaufman Field.
Veteran pitcher Cole Gilley will get the start after throwing just two innings over the weekend. The Hoosiers are expected to use at least five arms to cover nine innings on Tuesday. This game will be carried on B1G+ with a first pitch at 6:00 p.m. Austin Render will have the radio call on whcc105.com/iuhoosiers.com.
Gameday Info
vs. Evansville (Tuesday, March 18th – 6:00 PM ET)
Live Video: t.ly/Cvx9c
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: t.ly/CNCOc
Probable Starters
Evansville
• Tuesday: RHP Cole Gilley, Gr. (2-1, 2.75 ERA)
Leading Off
HOGAN THE HERO: Freshman outfielder Hogan Denny was the walk-off hero in game two of the doubleheader against Ohio State. He was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week (March 17) after hitting .600 on the week. He is 11-for-20 (.550) in the last 10 games for the Hoosiers.
KEEPS HITTIN’: Freshman first baseman Jake Hanley just keeps doing his thing at the plate. He is the Big Ten leader and tied for the NCAA lead among freshman in base hits (32). Hanley has hit safely in 19-of-20 games this season and hasn’t made an error at first base.
WALKIN’ AWAY: Junior outfielder Devin Taylor and sophomore outfielder Andrew Wiggins just know how to get on base. The IU duo is 1-2 in the Big Ten in walks with 22 and 21 respectively. Having them at the top of the order has set it up for IU RBI leader Korbyn Dickerson (36) in the three hole.
KD THE MVP: Redshirt sophomore center fielder Korbyn Dickerson is having a breakout season for the Hoosiers. He’s the only Big Ten player to reach 10 home runs, 30 runs scored and 30 RBIs this season. He also happens to lead the conference with 35 hits.
THE RISE OF GILLEY: Graduate student pitcher Cole Gilley has been a revelation for IU’s pitching staff and now will likely be used as a piece the Hoosiers call on to win games. His most impressive feat is his 24 strikeouts compared to just five walks.
SERIES SWEEP: IU’s weekend sweep of Ohio State was the first of the season and the ninth Big Ten sweep in the tenure of head coach Jeff Mercer. IU outscored the Buckeyes 34-12 while recording 33 hits, seven home runs and 18 free bases. The Hoosiers made zero errors on the weekend.
Scouting the Opponent
Evansville
• The Purple Aces went on a miracle run to the NCAA Super Regionals last season, coming within a game from a trip to Omaha. Evansville knocked out Wake Forest and East Carolina in the Greenville Regional enroute to a three-game set with eventual national champions, Tennessee.
• Most of that veteran roster is gone this year and Evansville has struggled through the first month of the season. Evansville is just 5-14 entering Tuesday and lost all five games it played last week.
• Senior outfielder Ty Rumsey leads the offense with a .370 batting average. He has 27 hits and has scored 16 times. Senior outfielder Harrison Taubert is the only other qualified hitter batting above .300 (.342). He also leads the team with four home runs.
• Evansville has a collective 9.00 earned run average as a team. After five games last week, the Purple Aces will bullpen their way through nine innings against the Hoosiers. Kevin Reed, now a weekend starter, was fantastic in the midweek against IU last year.
Inside the Series
Evansville
• This will be the 56th all-time meeting between the two in-state foes. The 57th meeting will come later this season down in Evansville. There have been 11 meetings between the sides since head coach Jeff Mercer took over in 2019.
These matchups tend to produce close ballgames. The last eight meetings between IU and Evansville have been decided by four-or-fewer runs. Last year’s was a one-run win for the Purple Aces.
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Hogan Denny, who played hero for the Hoosiers on Friday (March 14) night against Ohio State, was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday (March 17) evening, as announced by the league office. He is the second-straight IU player to earn the award after Cooper Malamazian was dealt the honor last week.
Denny helped lead IU to a 4-0 week including a series sweep of Ohio State at Bart Kaufman Field. He had multi-hit efforts in all three games against the Buckeyes. His most important hit came in the bottom of the tenth on Friday evening – a RBI single over the head of the second baseman to score the winning run. He also had an important pinch-hit double in the eighth inning to keep the rally going.
He returned to the starting lineup on Sunday (March 16) afternoon and finished the game going 2-for-3 with a home run, one run scored and three RBIs. Entering the month of March, he was batting just .050 on the season. Denny has worked that overall average up to .300 and could see more playing time as the designated hitter going forward.
Denny is the 11th different IU player, and the second this year, to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors under head coach Jeff Mercer (since 2019). It is the fourth-straight season that IU has had multiple players win the award in one year. It’s the fifth time overall that it has happened under Mercer (2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025).
Big Ten Weekly Awards (March 17)
Player of the Week: Mitch Voit, Jr., 2B, MICH
Pitcher of the Week: Collin Clarke, So., S-RHP, ORE
Freshman of the Week: Hogan Denny, Fr., OF, IND
PURDUE BASEBALL
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Milwaukee (3-15, 2-1 Horizon) at Purdue (17-2, 2-1 Big Ten)
Tuesday, March 18 at 4 p.m. ET / Stream B1G+
Alexander Field / West Lafayette, Indiana
Probable Starting Pitchers: Cole Van Assen (So, RHP) vs. MKE’s Tyler Deleskiewicz (Jr, RHP)
All-Time Series: Milwaukee leads 1-0
Previous Meeting: MKE 6, Purdue 1 (March 2019 – Home Opener at Alexander)
TUESDAY PROMOTIONS
Purdue Trading Cards Set 1 Giveaway
$3 Deals on GA Tickets, Hot Dogs, Beers, Popcorn & Nachos (Presented by Indiana Packers)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Week No. 2 of Purdue Baseball’s season-long homestand continues with a midweek visit from the lone NCAA Division I baseball program in Wisconsin as the Milwaukee Panthers make their second appearance at Alexander Field.
With the forecast calling for temperatures in the high-60s, first pitch is slated for 4 p.m. ET. It’s the first Trading Card Tuesday giveaway of the season. Fans can take home set No. 1 (of 6) of Purdue Baseball cards. The $3 deals on general admission tickets, hot dogs, beers, popcorn and nachos are also in play.
The Boilermakers have won seven of their last eight games dating back to March 2. That hot stretch coupled with the season-opening 10-game win streak has Purdue aiming to reach the 20-win mark this week. Michigan comes to town this weekend as Big Ten play resumes. Each of the Boilers’ next nine weekends will feature a Big Ten Conference series.
Milwaukee was the opponent for the 2019 home opener at Alexander, at the time the earliest ever (March 12) in program history and also Purdue’s first game against a team from the state of Wisconsin since 1991. The Panthers went on to win 35 games that year. The teams were scheduled to play an in-season midweek home-and-home series the following year but both games were canceled when the season was shutdown, coincidentally also on March 12.
Milwaukee’s challenging schedule this season has featured weekend series at Mercer, South Carolina, UNLV and Kansas plus a midweek game at common opponent Minnesota. After winning on Opening Day at Mercer, a 14-game losing streak followed. Three of the defeats were one-run affairs but MKE also surrendered a double-figure run total eight times during the skid. However, the Panthers opened Horizon League play on a high note over the weekend by sweeping a Friday doubleheader at Youngstown State to take two of three in the series.
Milwaukee’s pitching staff took its lumps over the first five weeks, surrendering 35 home runs in 145 innings while averaging 5.9 walks per nine innings (1.16 strikeout-to-walk ratio).
Offensively, Gabe Roessler (4 2B, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 10 SB) and Charlie Marion (5 2B, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 12 BB) have wielded the most productive bats. Eleven different Panthers have hit a home run over the first 18 games (19 total). Conversely, eight Boilermakers have combined for Purdue’s 25 home runs in 19 games.
ACTIVE STREAKS
• Albert Choi – 19-game on-base (as a Boilermaker), 7-game hit
• Brandon Anderson – 18-game on-base
• Cole Van Assen: 9 consecutive scoreless innings
• Lukas Cook: 9-game hit
• Brandon Rogers – 6-game on-base, 5-game hit
LEADERS LAST WEEK
• Albert Choi: 6-for-11, 2B, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 4 R, SB, 0 K – hit safely, drove in a run, scored a run in all 3 games
• Brandon Rogers: 4-for-9, 3 RBI, 2 BB, HBP, 4 R, 4 SB – hit safely, scored a run in all 3 games
• Lukas Cook: 4-for-10, RIB, 2 BB, HBP, 4 R, Sac Fly, Sac Bunt – hit safely, scored a run in all 3 games
• Houston Russell: 2-for-7, 3B, RBI, 4 BB, HBP, 3 R
• Brandon Anderson: 2-for-9, HR, 5 RBI, BB, 3 HBP, 3 R – reached base safely, scored a run in all 3 games
• Carter Doorn: 6+ IP, 3 H, 0 ER, BB, 5 K
• Cole Van Assen: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, BB, 3 K
• Gavin Beuter: 2 App, 3 2/3 IP, 4 H, R, 0 BB, K, 2 Pickoffs
PURDUE WRESTLING
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — No. 13 Purdue Wrestling is set to close its season with a trip to the 2025 NCAA Championships inside Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center.
As a result of Purdue’s 10th-place finish at the recent Big Ten Championships, five Boilers qualified for the national tournament:
125 lbs – Matt Ramos (R-Sr.) – 2 seed
157 lbs – Joey Blaze (So.) – 8 seed
174 lbs – Brody Baumann (R-So.) – 26 seed
141 lbs – Greyson Clark (So.) – 27 seed
285 lbs – Hayden Filipovich (R-Jr.) – 33 seed
The event will start at noon ET on Thursday, March 20, before concluding with the final session at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 22. All sessions will be available to watch on the ESPN family of channels as designated below.
All times listed in ET | All sessions also on ESPN+
Thursday, March 20
12 p.m. – Session 1 – First Round – ESPNU
7 p.m. – Session 2 – Second Round & Consolations – ESPN
Friday, March 21
12 p.m. – Session 3 – Quarterfinals & Consolations – ESPNU
8 p.m. – Session 4 – Semifinals & Blood Round – ESPN2
Saturday, March 22
11 a.m. – Session 5 – Medal Round – ESPNU
7 p.m. – Session 6 – Finals – ESPN
Stats and live scoring will be available on TrackWrestling.
To keep up with the Boilermakers, follow @PurdueWrestling on X/Twitter for period-by-period updates of their matches.
Thanks to Blaze (8) and Ramos (2), Purdue will be represented by multiple top-10 seeds for the first time since 2006. If not for the COVID-19 pandemic cancellation, that drought would’ve ended in 2020 when Purdue earned spots for Dylan Lydy (4), Devin Schroder (5), Christian Brunner (6) and Kendall Coleman (6).
Making his fourth and final NCAA appearance, Ramos carries a career-high No. 2 seed at 125 lbs. It’s the highest seed for a Boilermaker in the national championships since Chris Fleeger held the top spot in 2003.
The last Boilermaker who held a No. 2 seed at NCAAs was Charles Jones in 1992 — also the most recent instance of a Purdue wrestler winning a national championship.
If Ramos goes the distance, he would be the fourth Boilermaker to ever do so, and it would be the fifth national title in school history.
Purdue Wrestling NCAA Champions
1948 Arnold Plaza (114.5 lbs)
1949 Arnold Plaza (121 lbs)
1950 Joe Patacsil (128 lbs)
1992 Charles Jones (167 lbs)
At 26-1, Ramos holds the best overall record in the 125-pound class. He finished the regular season undefeated, the first time a Purdue wrestler has done so since Fleeger in 2003. Ramos had also not allowed a single takedown all year entering the Big Ten Championships.
Ramos suffered his first defeat of the season in the conference tournament to Penn State’s Luke Lilledahl, who went on to win the Big Ten title and now holds the No. 1 seed at this year’s national championships.
But on day two at Big Tens, the redshirt senior responded with impressive wins over then-No. 20 Jacob Moran (Indiana) and No. 17 Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) to win the bronze medal, matching his best career finish at the event.
Sophomore Blaze put forth arguably the team’s best performance at the Big Ten Championships, winning bronze and becoming Purdue’s first true sophomore to finish top-three since 2003.
He went 5-1 with signature victories over then-No. 31 Jason Kraisser (Illinois), No. 16 Chase Saldate (Michigan), No. 8 Tommy Askey (Minnesota) and No. 4 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska).
Blaze’s bronze medal match with Taylor was a thriller that went into 30-second tiebreaker frames after four periods of deadlocked action.
The Perrysburg, Ohio, native finally earned a win over his Big Ten rival with a penalty point and escape, grinding out a 3-2 decision.
After climbing the conference podium for the first time, Clark is seeded No. 27 at 141 after a seventh-place finish at Big Tens.
Clark upset Indiana’s then-No. 26 Derek Gilcher twice by a combined score of 23-2 on the weekend.
Baumann will also be competing in his second national tournament in as many seasons after finishing eighth in the conference tournament.
Hailing from Evansville, Baumann (No. 26, 174) is one of 12 Indiana natives competing in the 2025 NCAA Championships alongside teammate Filipovich. Baumann is also one of three wrestlers out of Evansville Mater Dei High School.
Filipovich, the only wrestler from Indianapolis competing at nationals, is making his NCAA debut after a breakout redshirt-junior season as Purdue’s starting heavyweight (No. 33).
Proven to be one of the team’s most flexible wrestlers, he has also competed at 184 and 197 before his move to 285. Just 13 months ago, Filipovich was wrestling at 184 before bulking up roughly 50 pounds since.
He is also the most battle-tested Boilermaker after facing a team-high 17 ranked opponents this season.
BRACKET BREAKDOWN
The highest-seeded 125-pounder who already knows his first-round opponent, Ramos will face Cal State Bakersfield’s No. 31 Richard Castro-Sandoval. A win over him would pit Purdue’s star against the victor of No. 18 Moran and No. 15 Maximo Renteria (Oregon State).
Ramos is 2-0 against Moran this season, winning the dual match inside Mackey Arena (11-2 major decision) and again at the Big Ten Championships, a 9-0 major.
Ramos previously beat Renteria back when the now-Beaver wrestled for Illinois in a close 3-2 decision on Jan. 14, 2023. Earlier last season, Renteria notably beat Arizona State’s Richard Figueroa, the eventual 2024 national champion at 125 lbs.
Blaze will square off with North Carolina’s No. 25 Sonny Santiago (11-8), whom he has not wrestled before.
Should the 157-pound sophomore advance, he’d draw the winner of No. 9 Askey and No. 24 Dylan Evans (Pittsburgh). Blaze beat Askey last weekend in a 4-1 sudden-victory decision in the Big Ten third-place semifinals.
Baumann will scrap with No. 7 Danny Wask (Navy) in a rematch from the 2024 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 6. Wask topped Baumann that day in a 9-5 decision before the Boilermaker went on to win six of his next seven matches.
Clark takes on Minnesota’s No. 6 Vance VomBaur, whom he did not face in Purdue’s road dual at Minnesota in February. VomBaur enters with a 23-4 record after upsetting No. 1 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) for the Nittany Lion’s first loss of the season in the B1G tournament.
Filipovich will fight as the final heavyweight seed, No. 33. In what can be described as a “wrestle-in” match, he faces Appalachian State’s No. 32 Stephan Monchery (19-9) for the right to battle No. 1 Gable Steveson (14-0) in the first round. Steveson is Minnesota’s two-time national champion, two-time Hodge Trophy winner and the only heavyweight in Big Ten history to have won four conference titles.
PURDUE SEEDS & MATCHUPS
125 | #2 Matt Ramos (R-Senior)
First Match: #31 Richard Castro-Sandoval (Cal State Bakersfield)
Second Match (if advanced): winner of #15 Maximo Renteria (Oregon St.) vs. #18 Jacob Moran (Indiana)
141 | #27 Greyson Clark (Sophomore)
First Match: #6 Vance VomBaur (Minnesota)
Second Match (if advanced): winner of #11 Dylan Cedeno (Virginia) vs. #22 Jordan Soriano (Drexel)
157 | #8 Joey Blaze (Sophomore)
First Match: #25 Sonny Santiago (North Carolina)
Second Match (if advanced): winner of #9 Tommy Askey (Minnesota) vs. #24 Dylan Evans (Pitt)
174 | #26 Brody Baumann (R-Sophomore)
First Match: #7 Danny Wask (Navy)
Second Match (if advanced): winner of #10 Alex Cramer (Central Mich.) vs. #23 MJ Gaitan (Iowa St.)
285 | #33 Hayden Filipovich (R-Junior)
First Match: #32 Stephan Monchery (Appalachian State)
Second Match (if advanced): #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota)
NOTRE DAME SWIMMING
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — The Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving program will close out its 2024-25 campaign this week with the NCAA Championships out West at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center outside of Seattle. Freshman Carli Cronk will headline the Irish on the individual side, and four seniors will compete on a pair of relays.
Cronk, who has already rewritten the Notre Dame record books in her first season, qualified for the meet in the 400 IM and earned B cuts in both the 500 free and 200 fly. She holds the Irish record in the 400 IM (4:07.63) and 500 free (4:42.59), and she ranks fourth in school history in the 200 fly (1:55.28).
Senior Maggie Graves rounds out the individual swimming events for Notre Dame and is slated to compete in the 1650 free for the second straight year. She recorded a best time at last year’s meet (16:10.82) and finished 28th overall.
For the relays, Jess Geriane, Imogen Meers, Katie Drumm and Madelyn Christman will swim both the 200 free relay and 200 medley relay. Geriane, Meers and Drumm all rank in the top 10 all-time in the 50 free, and Hollie Widdows, Geriane, Meers and Christman broke the school record in the 200 free relay earlier this season with a time of 1:27.84. Geriane, Gigi Baldacci, Drumm and Christman also broke the school record in the 200 medley relay at ACC Championships in February with a time of 1:36.73.
In the diving well, junior Grace Courtney will compete in the 3-meter springboard after finishing sixth in the event at the Zone C Championships last week. She placed 21st in the 3-meter at last year’s NCAA Championships.
NOTRE DAME BASEBALL
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame baseball team looks to their home opener on Tuesday, March 18 against Butler.
| Date | Time (ET) | Opponent | Location | Probable Starters | TV |
| Mar. 18 | 4:30 PM | Butler | Jake Kline Field – Frank Eck Stadium | RHP Dylan Heine vs. RHP Colin Dailey | ACCNX |
THE MATCHUP
- The Irish enter the midweek contest with an 11-6 overall record.
- The Bulldogs are 6-13 headed into Tuesday’s contest.
- Notre Dame leads the all-time series by a 70-15 margin.
- The Irish took an 11-2 win at home over Butler last season.
LAST TIME OUT
- Notre Dame took the final game of the series by a 7-3 score at No. 10 Clemson on Sunday.
- Jared Zimbardo hit a lead-off home run and Estevan Moreno added a two-run shot in the top of the first as Notre Dame took the lead and never looked back in a 7-4 win in the series finale.
- The Irish pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts, and Chase Van Ameyde earned his first collegiate pitching win on the bump.
2025 CAPTAINS
The 2025 Irish baseball team will look to four captains to help guide the way this spring. John P. and Catherine Murphy Head Baseball Coach Shawn Stiffler announced graduate students OF Brady Gumpf and RHP Jackson Dennies, senior RHP Radek Birkholz, and junior INF Estevan Moreno as team captains for the season.
- Gumpf has played in 92 career contests for the Irish heading into the spring season. He had a single-season career-high 48 games played in 2024 and boasted a .352 on-base percentage with 31 RBI, 12 doubles, and nine home runs.
- Dennies has 41 career appearances and 76.1 innings pitched over his career heading into 2025. During his 2023 campaign, Dennies struck out 49 batters over 46.1 innings of work.
- Birkholz has made 48 appearances with 83.0 innings of work over three seasons for the Irish. He went 3-0 on the mound during the 2024 season with 20 strikeouts in 17.1 innings over nine appearances.
- Moreno had a team-best .625 slugging percentage in 2024 with 13 home runs and 17 doubles. His 42 runs scored was third on the team, and he has competed in 100 games for the Irish through two seasons of play.
TOP TALENT
The Irish have four players listed in the D1baseball.com Preseason rankings by position.
- Junior Estevan Moreno was 24th on the Top 50 shortstops list.
- Sophomore Carson Tinney was tabbed 47th on the Top 50 catchers listing.
- Graduate student Jared Zimbardo was 40th on the Top 100 outfielders report.
- Junior Rory Fox was 106th on the Top 150 starting pitchers list.
NOTRE DAME SOFTBALL
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – After 27-straight road/neutral games to begin the 2025 season, the Notre Dame Softball team opens up the home schedule tomorrow night under the lights at 6:00 p.m. against Indiana on ACC Network. It’s the first of a nine-game homestand for the Irish and the next 14 of 15 games will be played at Melissa Cook Stadium.
Notre Dame comes into the home stretch 12-15 on the season, looking to bounce back after some gut wrenching losses this past week. The Irish have played in nine one-run games already this season. They are 5-6 in games decided by two runs or less.
Freshman Brianne Weiss has turned it on the past couple of appearances. The left hander leads the team with a 3.47 ERA in 2025. She threw a complete game shutout in her first career start last Friday in the 3-0 victory at NC State.
Notre Dame pitching continues to get a lot of swings and misses in the circle. The 171 strikeouts by the staff is the third-most in the ACC. The Irish have three pitchers with at least 44 punchouts (Micaela Kastor, Kami Kamzik, Weiss).
Sydney Poeck had a big week for the Irish, posting multi-hit games at Ohio State and in game one at NC State. The sophomore left fielder is hitting .328 on the season and has moved comfortably into left field and the two-spot in the batting order.
Notre Dame is 11-11 all-time against in-state foe Indiana, but is 6-5 at home. It’ll be the first matchup in South Bend since 2023 after the Irish played in Bloomington last season.
On Wednesday, Notre Dame is set to host Western Michigan at 5 p.m. The Irish are a dominant 33-6 overall against the Broncos and have won 10-straight. That game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
Admission to all Notre Dame Softball games is free at Melissa Cook Stadium. Parking around the stadium is free after 4 p.m. on weekdays and all day on the weekends.
BUTLER SOFTBALL
DATE: Tuesday, March 18
LOCATION: Indianapolis, Ind. / Butler SB Field
LIVE STATS: butlersports.com
LIVE VIDEO: N/A
The Butler softball team hosts Ball State for a midweek non-conference game on Tuesday. The Bulldogs (16-7, 5-1 BIG EAST) are coming off a 2-1 series win at Providence. The Cardinals (15-7, 2-1 MAC) most recently won two of three games in a weekend conference series at Akron.
Bulldog Bits
(through games 3/16/25)
Cate Lehner is tied for the BIG EAST lead with 19 stolen bases. She is third in batting average (.430) and hits (37).
Makena Alexander is tied for the BIG EAST lead with 7 home runs, third with a .735 slugging percentage, and fourth with 25 RBI.
Ella White is third in the BIG EAST with a .519 on base percentage and fifth with 24 RBI.
Leigh Vande Hei is fifth in the BIG EAST with a .419 batting average.
Gwen Baker is fourth in the BIG EAST with 7 wins.
Butler leads all BIG EAST teams in batting average (.330) and slugging percentage (.461) and is second in on base percentage (.410), runs scored (136), hits (205), stolen bases (49), and RBI (122).
vs. Providence
Leigh Vande Hei led Butler’s offense going 6-for-9 (.667) with three stolen bases and two runs scored.
Paige Dorsett, Makena Alexander, and Olivia Moxley each had a home run in the game-three victory.
After her performance in the conference series at Providence, Leigh Vande Hei was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
SCOUTING BALL STATE (15-7, 2-1 MAC)
Series- Ball State leads, 21-6
Butler won most recently, a 5-4 victory in 2021 in Indianapolis.
Butler has won the past three games held in Indianapolis (2021, 2018, and 2016)
The teams have split the most recent ten meetings, 5-5, dating back to 2008.
Wins this season for the Cardinals include: Oregon State, UAlbany, Illinois State, Bellarmine, Evansville, and Akron.
Losses include: Oregon State, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Middle Tennessee, and Charlotte.
Ball State vs. (opponents) Butler
runs: 154-79 136
hits: 169-146 205
RBI: 137-73 122
SB: 40-10 49
ERA: 3.51-6.72 3.66
Batting Leaders:
McKayla Timmons (.500) 29H, 4-2B, 10HR, 30RBI, 11SB
Maia Pietrzak (.343) 24H, 3HR, 9RBI, 5SB
Kara Gunter (.333) 21H, 3-2B, 2HR, 15RBI
Ella Whitney (.314) 22H, 5-2B, 4HR, 24RBI
Pitching Leaders:
Ella Whitney (10-1) 1.59 ERA, 37K
Breanna Severino (2-4) 4.74 ERA, 21K
Brinkley Kita (3-2) 5.33 ERA, 14K
BUTLER BASEBALL
The Butler baseball team will play two midweek games this week against in-state rivals. Game one will be played in South Bend against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The next day, Butler will travel up I-69 to play the Ball State Cardinals.
Bulldog Schedule
Tuesday, March 18: at Notre Dame – 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 19: at Ball State – 3 p.m.
Watch the Games
Butler and Notre Dame will play on ACCNX. ACC Network Extra is a digital platform for the ACC Network that offers even more live events than the main ACC Network channel. Wednesday’s game at Ball State will stream on ESPN+.
Scouting Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish will host Butler in their 2025 home opener on Tuesday. ND heads into the matchup at 11-6 overall with a 1-5 record in the ACC. Wins over Iowa and Belmont highlighted the non-conference slate before the team was swept at Wake Forest. Clemson was the next ACC team to host ND and they won the first two games over the Irish before falling 7-3 in the finale.
Head Coach Shawn Stiffler is in his third season at the helm of the program. His 2025 team is batting .238 at the dish and is led by freshman Parker Brzustewicz. The infielder has a team-best 22 hits including four doubles and a triple to help him reach eight RBI and 28 total bases. Seven every day starters have at least two home runs this season and the Irish arms have only allowed 13 in their first 17 games.
Scouting Ball State
The Cardinals are 14-6 overall and 5-1 in the MAC standings after winning their weekend series against Toledo last weekend. BSU run-ruled the Rockets on Friday and won the series with a tight 8-7 victory on Saturday. They will return to action on Tuesday with a home game against Valparaiso.
Head Coach Rich Maloney has been at Ball State for 20 years. He is one of 16 active coaches to have reached 900 career wins and is the winningest baseball coach in Ball State history. His 2025 club hits .293 as a team and holds a staff ERA at 5.08.
Dylan Grego and Nick Husovsky are the top bats in the BSU order. Grego leads the team with 28 total hits and 19 runs scored. He has four doubles and three homers to push his RBI total to 13. The RBI leader is Husovsky with 19. He has five doubles this year and a pair of home runs.
Series History
Butler played at Notre Dame last year with the Irish claiming an 11-2 win on April 10. ND was schedule to come back to Indy in May, but rain wiped out the contest. The Bulldogs did play Ball State twice with the Cardinals winning 7-6 in Indy and 24-7 in Muncie.
About Butler
The Bulldogs are 6-13 overall with all 19 games coming on the road. Scoring has not been the issue with Butler as the team averages 7.4 runs per game. BU recently tied a program record by hitting six home runs in a single game against Belmont on March 14. It was the third time for a Bulldog team to hit six homers in a single game. The first time was against Morehead State in February of 1998. BU did it again in 2008 against Valparaiso.
Home Run King
Jack Moroknek leads the BIG EAST and ranks third in the country in home runs with 11. Justin Lebron of Alabama and Ryland Zaborowski of Georgia are tied for the NCAA lead with 12 each. Robbie Burnett (Georgia), Grant Gallagher (ETSU), and Jackson Hauge (Kansas) are all tied with Moroknek with 11.
One-Two Punch
Jack Moroknek and Jack Bello rank second and third in the country in batting average. Moroknek is second at .486 and Bello is right there in third at .485. They trail Edian Espinal of UCF and his .527 average. Moroknek ranks eighth in the NCAA in total hits with 36. Bello is tied for 22nd with 33.
A Look at Last Week
Butler went 0-5 last week with a midweek setback at Purdue followed by a sweep at Belmont. Jack Moroknek hit .588 with 10 hits in his 17 at-bats. Jack Bello was also awesome from the plate to hit .421 with a team-best two home runs. Ryan Drumm and David Ayers also homered twice last week while Danny Barbero, AJ Solomon and Harry Carr all hit above .300.
Best in the BIG EAST
Butler leads the BIG EAST in hits (203), batting average (.315), doubles (42), home runs (33), on-base percentage (.396), and slugging percentage (.552).
Bulldog Bits
– Butler leads the league in sacrifice flies (15)
– The ‘Dawgs rank third in the BIG EAST in triples with six
– Jack Moroknek leads the BIG EAST with eight doubles
– Moroknek and Bello both have 12 multi-hit games this year
– Bello is on a four-game hitting streak
– AJ Solomon has reached base safely in eight-straight games
– Tre Benjamin threw a clean inning at Belmont in his last appearance
– Harry Carr recorded three RBI’s for the third time this season in his last game vs. Belmont
– Logan Crock’s first extra base hit of his collegiate career came over the weekend in Nashville
– Colin Dailey has not given up an earned run this year over five appearances
– Gunnar Duncan’s first hit as a Bulldog came on Sunday at Belmont
– Jack Moroknek has an extra-base hit in three-straight games
– Corbin Snyder lasted four innings at Belmont; his longest outing of the season
– AJ Solomon had a season-high three RBIs in game two at Belmont
BIG EAST Standings
Creighton 10-5
Villanova 10-8
Xavier 8-13
UConn 6-10
Seton Hall 6-11
St. John’s 6-11
Georgetown 7-13
Butler 6-13
Up Next
Butler will play at Saint Louis on March 25. That game will be the last before Butler’s home opener. The Bulldogs will host a four-game series against Northern Illinois from March 28-30.
BUTLER WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
FORT COLLINS, CO – The 2025 Postseason WNIT launches this week, with times, dates and locations now secured for the 16 Round 1 games on the schedule. The Butler Bulldogs received a first-round bye and will face the winner of the game between UIC vs. UAB slated for Friday night in Chicago.
Round 1 Schedule (All Times ET)
Thursday, March 20
Army West Point (24-7) at Bryant (17-14), 5 p.m.
Campbell (21-12) at Coastal Carolina (23-8), 6 p.m.
Longwood (22-11) at Duquesne (19-12), 6 p.m.
Stonehill (17-15) at UMass (16-14), 6 p.m.
Lipscomb (20-11) at Western Illinois (16-16), 7 p.m.
Northwestern State (16-15) at Abilene Christian (20-12), 7 p.m.
Saint Mary’s (14-16) at Texas Southern (16-15), 7:30 p.m.
UIW (18-13) at UT Arlington (17-13), 7:30 p.m.
Tulsa (17-14) at Lindenwood (21-10), 8 p.m.
New Mexico State (17-15) at Pacific (15-18), 9 p.m.
Friday, March 21
Siena (17-13) at Howard (21-11), 7 p.m.
UAB (16-15) at UIC (14-17), 8 p.m.
Utah Valley (18-12) at Air Force (18-14), 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 22
Navy (19-11) at Old Dominion (17-15), 2 p.m.
Alabama A&M (21-10) at Chattanooga (16-14), 2 p.m.
Coppin State (18-14) at Colgate (23-9), 5 p.m.
Round 2 in Bracket Order (Dates, Times, Locations TBA)
Air Force/Utah Valley vs. Washington State (20-13)
Pacific/New Mexico State vs. North Dakota State (19-11)
UT Arlington/UIW vs. North Texas (24-8)
Chattanooga/Alabama A&M vs. Troy (20-13)
Abilene Christian/Northwestern State vs. Central Arkansas (23-9)
Western Illinois/Lipscomb vs. Illinois State (21-12)
Lindenwood/Tulsa vs. Tarleton State (20-13)
Texas Southern/Saint Mary’s vs. Louisiana Tech (16-15)
UMass/Stonehill vs. Buffalo (25-7)
Coastal Carolina/Campbell vs. Southern Indiana (22-12)
Bryant/Army West Point vs. Rutgers (11-19)
Howard/Siena vs. College of Charleston (24-7)
Duquesne/Longwood vs. Miami (OH) (19-11)
Colgate/Coppin State vs. Cleveland State (24-9)
Old Dominion/Navy vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (25-8)
UIC/UAB vs. Butler (15-17)
Here’s the rest of the schedule for the 27th edition of the Postseason WNIT:
Round 2 – March 23-25, 2025
Super 16 – March 26-28, 2025
Great 8 – March 29-31, 2025
Fab 4 – April 1-2, 2025
Championship – Saturday, April 5, 2025 at 3 p.m. ET (CBS Sports Network)
BALL STATE BASEBALL
The Ball State baseball team is set to host midweek baseball games at 3 p.m. against in-state opponents Valparaiso on Tuesday and Butler on Wednesday at Shebek Stadium.
Both games will be streamed on ESPN+ and have a free audio broadcast option. Links to those and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.
Ball State (14-6, 5-1 Mid-American Conference) took a series win over the weekend against Toledo with a 12-2 win on Friday and 8-7 win in Saturday’s game that finished up on Sunday. The Rockets salvaged the set with a 6-3 triumph on Sunday that snapped the Cardinals’ eight-game winning streak.
Valpo claimed a 9-6 decision last March 19 at home in the only game of the season against the Beacons for Ball State. The Beacons (4-11) have yet to begin Missouri Valley Conference play but have taken single games in recent series at Ohio State and Illinois.
Brian Schmack is in his 12th season as the head coach at Valpo. The Beacons went 14-38 (6-21 MVC) last season to finish in a tie for ninth in the 10-team conference.
Valpo ranks fourth in the Valley in on base percentage (.385) while ranking eighth in scoring (5.5 runs per game) and 10th in ERA (10.60).
Senior outfielder Ryan Maka has the top OBP (.516) in the MVC and the fifth-best batting average (.375) while pacing the Beacons with three home runs. Graduate catcher Liam Patton has hit two homers and a team-high 14 RBI.
Ball State beat Butler 7-6 last March 20 in Indianapolis before run-ruling the Bulldogs 24-7 on May 7 in Muncie. Former Ball State player and assistant coach Blake Beemer is in his third season leading the Butler program.
The Bulldogs (6-13) have also yet to begin conference play in the Big East and have lost six in a row heading into Tuesday’s game at Notre Dame. Butler took one of three games at MAC foe Ohio a couple of weekends ago.
Butler has the top batting average (.315), OBP (.396) and slugging percentage (.552) in the Big East while also leading the league in home runs (33) and doubles (42). Redshirt junior outfielder Jack
Moroknek ranks near the top of the NCAA Division I leaderboards in batting average (.486, No. 2), slugging percentage (1.041, No. 2), home runs (11, No. 3), hits (36, No. 8) and runs scored (30, No. 11).
Up next for the Cardinals is a three-game series at Xavier starting at 3 p.m. on Friday in Cincinnati.
BALL STATE SOFTBALL
MUNCIE, Ind. – – The Ball State softball team will take a quick break from Mid-American Conference play Tuesday, when it heads to Butler for a 4 p.m. first pitch at the Butler Softball Field.
The Cardinals enter the midweek match up with a 15-7 (2-1 MAC) record after winning two of three games at Akron last weekend.
The Bulldogs have put together just as solid of a season to date, earning the showdown with a 16-7 (5-1 Big East) record after winning two of three games at Providence over the weekend.
BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
– Redshirt senior McKayla Timmons enters the contest ranked second in the nation with a 1.121 slugging percentage … The mark is helped by her MAC-leading 10 home runs so far this season, which ranks 21st nationally.
– Timmons has hit at least one home run in each of Ball State’s last five games, as well as seven of the last nine outings … The effort has helped her amass 30 RBIs which ranks first in the MAC and 58th nationally.
– Timmons also enters Tuesday’s game at Butler ranked third in the nation with a .646 on base percentage … Along with her team-leading 29 hits, Timmons has walked 15 times and been hit by a pitch nine … The nine times being hit by a pitch rank eighth nationally and have helped her break to program record for times being hit by a pitch at 38.
– Led by Timmons’ MAC-leading .500 batting average, the Cardinals as a whole rank 90th nationally with a .297 average … The effort has helped Ball State rank 25th among all 300 ranked NCAA Division I programs with a 7.00 scoring average.
– In the circle, junior Ella Whitney leads the MAC and ranks 21st nationally with her 10 pitching victories … Over 74.2 innings of work, the two-time MAC Pitcher of the Week honoree has compiled a 1.59 ERA which ranks 42nd in the country.
– Whitney has also limited opposing batters to a MAC-best .205 average against and ranks 97th nationally by allowing just 5.44 hits per seven innings.
– A two-way player for the Cardinals, Whitney is also a big offensive threat, boasting a .314 average and ranking second on the team in home runs (4) and RBIs (24) … She recorded Ball State’s first triple of the season and leads the squad with five doubles.
– Aiding Whitney in the field is one of the Mid-American Conference’s best defenses, with Ball State ranking second in the MAC with a .975 fielding percentage … Ball State has committed just 15 errors in its first 22 games, with its fielding percentage also ranking 20th nationally.
– Ball State has also proven to be one of the nations’ craftiest teams on the base paths, ranking first in the MAC and 34th nationally with a 1.82 stolen-bases per game average … The Cardinals have successfully stolen 40 of the 43 bases it has attempted to steal this season, led by an 11-for-12 rate of success for Timmons … Overall, 10 different Cardinals have stolen at least one base, with redshirt junior second baseman McKanna Mulholland ranking second on the squad with nine.
– Conversely, Ball State has limited opposing squads to 10 stolen bases in 16 attempts, with Timmons having thrown out six of the 15 runners attempting to steal on her … The six runners caught stealing rank fourth in the MAC and 55th nationally.
– Senior outfielder Kara Gunter enters the weekend as one of the nation’s toughest batters to strike out, with just one strikeout in 63 official at bats … The total has her ranked first in the MAC and 13th among all NCAA Division I players … Not far behind is sophomore shortstop Maia Pietrazk, who is sixth in the MAC 76th nationally at one strikeout per every 23.3 at bats.
INDIANA STATE BASEBALL
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State baseball hits the road again on Tuesday afternoon as the Sycamores travel to Illinois Field in Champaign, Ill. for a midweek contest with the University of Illinois. First pitch in the Tuesday evening contest is set for 7 p.m. ET and will be carried live on the Big Ten Network and 105.5 The Legend.
The Sycamores (9-11) and the Fighting Illini (10-7) continue a series that resulted in the teams competing against each other four times over the course of the 2024 season, including twice in the NCAA Lexington Regional hosted by the University of Kentucky over May 31 – June 2. The Sycamores and the Illini split the series, 2-2, with Indiana State winning the home game at Bob Warn Field, as well as the Lexington Regional elimination game, while Illinois took the win in Champaign and the Lexington Regional opener.
Indiana State enters the midweek contest coming off their second series win of the 2025 season as the Sycamores took two of three this past weekend at home against Pacific. Indiana State took the opener on Friday afternoon, 5-3, and then rallied back after Saturday’s 14-2 loss, to run-rule the Tigers on Sunday at Bob Warn Field, 12-2.
Keegan Garis and Eli Gipson both homered in support of Aaron Moss’ 5.0-inning relief stint to take the series opener against Pacific. Carter Beck homered in the second game of the series, while Carson Seeman and Jack Armstrong combined for over five innings of strong relief in the Saturday contest. Sunday’s game saw Indiana State jump ahead early with a pair of RBI triples off Andrew Ortiz and Carlos Pena’s bats, while Beck homered for the second time of the weekend in the win.
For the weekend, Garis (.444) and Gipson (.444) paced the Indiana State offense that combined to hit .256 from the plate. Jackson Taylor added his first collegiate three-hit game to hit .333 from the plate over the series against the Tigers. Garis and Beck both homered twice to highlight 11 extra-base hits by the Sycamores over the three-game series.
Ten different Indiana State pitchers combined for a 6.84 ERA over the three-game series with Jack Armstrong (2.0 IP) highlighting the weekend with a 0.00 ERA and four strikeouts. Aaron Moss went a career-long 5.0 innings in picking up his first win of the weekend, while Gavin Morris worked 4.2 innings in relief on Sunday afternoon to pick up the series-clinching win.
The Indiana State bats have been paced by Carlos Pena (.338) on the season as the senior infielder/designated hitter leads the Sycamores in hits (24), RBIs (20), and doubles (7), while adding three home runs. Garis (.318) is also hitting above the .300 mark on the season leading Indiana State in runs scored (22) and home runs (5), while also pacing the Sycamores getting hit by eight pitches on the year.
Andrew Ortiz has seen his bat come to life over the last two weekend and leads Indiana State with two triples, while Beck (5) is among the home run leaders and Thomas Emerich (7) the doubles leaders. The Sycamores have also had a number of players make their Indiana State debuts in the lineup over the last week including Ben Waliczek and Sean McGurk.
Indiana State’s pitching staff has utilized 17 different arms on the mound in 2025 in combining for a 5.92 team ERA over 170.1 innings pitched. The Sycamores have posted a 124:91 strikeout-to-walk ratio while allowing opponents to hit .269 from the plate. Breyllin Suriel (0-1, 6.97 ERA) was brilliant in last week’s midweek start against Indiana, while Aaron Moss (1-0, 3.07 ERA), Jack Armstrong (0-0, 3.52 ERA), and Brady Banker (0-0, 5.79 ERA) have been frequently called upon over the last two weeks.
Scouting Illinois
Illinois enters the midweek game with a 10-7 overall record in the 2025 season, including a 1-2 mark in Big Ten play. The Fighting Illini dropped two of three in their weekend contest against Michigan two weeks ago, but responded by winning three of their last four, including taking the series win against Valparaiso this past weekend at Illinois Field.
Illinois, a 2024 NCAA Regional participant last season, was not among the six teams ranked by the Big Ten Conference’s coaches in the preseason poll. The Illini were represented on the preseason team by Ben Plumley (RHP), Jacob Schroeder (C), and Drake Westcott (1B).
Offense has been the name of the game for Illinois early in the season as the Illini are hitting .290 from the plate with 23 home runs and a team .421 on-base percentage. Nick Groves (.393) is the team’s hitting leader on the season with an Illinois-high 10 stolen bases, while Jack Zebig (.354) paces Illinois with five home runs and 26 RBIs. Vytas Valincius (.338) and Kyle Schupmann (.306) are also hitting above the .300 mark on the year with Valincius posting three home runs and 23 RBIs.
The Illinois pitching staff has combined for 6.54 team ERA over 150.0 innings over the course of the season. The Illini have posted a .294 opponent batting average and a 123:74 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Multiple Illinois arms have seen starts over the 2025 season including Julius Sanchez (1-0, 4.50 ERA), Regan Hall (2-0, 5.52 ERA), Ryan Daly (1-1, 9.39 ERA), and Brayden Mazzacano (0-0, 10.80 ERA).
Series History
Illinois holds the all-time 47-40-2 record against Indiana State dating back to the inaugural matchup in 1906. The Sycamores and Illini split the 2024 season’s matchups between the programs last year with Indiana State winning the contest in Terre Haute, while Illinois returned the favor in Champaign.
The series continued in the 2024 NCAA Lexington Regional with Illinois taking the opening round game thanks to a strong pitching performance from Jack Crowder and key hitting from Dylan Westcott and Brody Harding in the 4-1 win. Indiana State returned the favor in an elimination game as Brennyn Cutts went the distance in a complete-game effort and the Sycamores scored seven runs in the top of the third inning to seize control in the 13-2 win.
Against the Big Ten Conference
Indiana State is 0-2 against the Big Ten Conference early in the 2025 season after dropping home games to both Purdue (14-4, Mar. 4) and Indiana (9-4, Mar. 11). The pair of losses ended Indiana State’s nine-game home winning streak against the Big Ten and dropped the Sycamores’ record to 162-168-5 all-time against the current iteration of the conference.
The Sycamores currently have return trips to Purdue (Apr. 8) and Indiana (Apr. 15) on schedule, while Illinois comes to Bob Warn Field on April 22.
PURDUE FT. WAYNE BASEBALL
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Purdue Fort Wayne travels to Bowling Green on Tuesday (March 18) to face the Falcons. Bowling Green is in first place in the MAC with a 6-0 mark in league play.
Game Day Information
Who: Purdue Fort Wayne (1-17) at Bowling Green (13-5)
When: Tuesday, March 18 | 3 PM
Where: Bowling Green, Ohio
Weather: 65, partly sunny
Series History: Bowling Green leads 16-5
Know Your Foe: Bowling Green has swept Ohio and Akron in MAC play this year. DJ Newman is hitting .434 with a 1.112 OPS. He had two home runs in the three-game series with Akron. The Falcons have won eight straight games.
‘Dons & Ends
– Dillon Fischer (9) and Cole Newell (3) combined to strikeout a season-high 12 batters on March 14 vs. NKU.
– Trent Murphy has allowed just four earned runs in 10.2 innings out of the pen.
– Brooks Sailors owns a current 13-game on-base streak.
– Justin Osterhouse has a team-best five multi-hit games.
– Jackson Micheels and Justin Osterhouse are the only two Mastodons to start in all 18 games this season.
– Justin Osterhouse has 18 hits on the year, 10th in the Horizon League.
– In the Horizon League, Zane Danielson ranks first in innings pitched (28.0), second in opposing batting average (.245) and third in ERA (4.50).
– Dillon Fischer is third in the league in innings pitched (26.1).
– Brooks Sailors leads the league in caught stealing (5).
– Camden Karczewski and Justin Osterhouse each have 41 assists, tied for second in the league.
– Last week in one game at Ball State and three at Northern Kentucky, Justin Osterhouse each had six hits, a home run and two walks.
Fischer Honor: Dillon Fischer was picked as a top 100 pitcher from the fourth weekend of the season by DI Baseball. Fischer allowed no runs in 6.1 innings at Tennessee Tech.
Nice to Meet You: This season isn’t the first time Kevin Hall and Nick Hockemeyer are teammates. They spent the summer of 2024 playing for the Elizabethton River Riders of the Appalachian League. Hall had a .453 OBP in 26 games for the River Riders. Hockemeyer hit .296 in 18 games.
Blood Lines: Mastodon head coach Doug Schreiber coached Trent Murphy’s father, Rob, when Schreiber was an assistant at Ball State.
Up Next: The Mastodons travel to Youngstown State this weekend.
PURDUE FT. WAYNE SOFTBALL
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Purdue Fort Wayne softball team will play host to Akron on Tuesday (March 18) for its first home game of the season.
Who: Akron Zips
When: Tuesday, March 18
Where: Purdue Fort Wayne Softball Field | Fort Wayne, Ind.
Live Stats: Link
Watch: None
Know Your Foe
Akron is 13-13 this season, coming off a 1-2 weekend against Ball State. The Zips split two games with Cleveland State in Murray State’s tournament, beating the Vikings 9-1 and losing 3-2. The Zips are batting .290 as a team, led by Meagan Lee’s .354. Sydney Selker is the team’s best slugger at .544. Madie Jamrog is the Zips’ best pitcher, tossing a 2.72 ERA in 54.0 innings pitched. She has a 6-2 record with a save.
Series History
Akron leads the all-time series 4-0, but the two teams have never met in Fort Wayne. The two met in Akron last season and had three neutral games in Montgomery, Alabama in 2017 and 2018.
We Love the Long Ball
The Mastodons have 14 home runs, which is second-most in the Horizon League, behind only Robert Morris. Bailey Manos leads the team with four, behind only Courtney Poulich of Robert Morris.
Lineup Locks
Four Mastodons have started all 19 games this season: Grace Hollopeter, Brooke Lickey, Addison Zimpleman and Bailey Manos.
Minton Magic
In Horizon League play, McKenna Minton is slashing .500/.444/.750. Her .500 batting average is eighth in the Horizon League.
She’ll Find a Way
Grace Hollopeter has reached the base paths in the last nine games. Bailey Manos has done the same in the last eight.
Last Time Out
Purdue Fort Wayne took one of three at IU Indianapolis last weekend to open Horizon League play.
Up Next
The Mastodons will head to Columbus, Ohio to face off against Ohio State for its final non-league contest of the season.
EVANSVILLE BASEBALL
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Sophomore left-handed pitcher Kenton Deverman (Dardenne Prairie, Mo. / Fort Zumwalt West HS) has been named one of two starting pitchers on the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason All-Conference Team by league Head Coaches while the University of Evansville baseball team plays at Indiana on Tuesday evening.
Deverman was the Purple Aces breakout pitcher during the 2024 season in a historic run to the NCAA Super Regionals. Named the 2024 MVC Freshman of the Year Deverman had a stellar first collegiate season with a 9-2 record and a 4.22 ERA. In 2024 Deverman also lead all NCAA freshmen in victories (nine) and innings pitched (111.0). He set UE freshman records in both categories while striking out 83 men against just 23 walks in 111.0 innings of work. He also left the mound with the lead in 11 of his final 13 starts for Evansville. Deverman has made four starts in 2025 with a 1-1 record and a 6.55 ERA. He has pitched 22 innings so far striking out 17 batters while only allowing four walks.
Along with the preseason team, the league announced the preseason poll, which has the Aces picked fifth out of 10 schools with 49 votes. Missouri State was picked as the league favorite with five first place votes and 90 overall votes. Rounding out the top three in the preseason poll are Southern Illinois with four first place votes and 86 overall votes and Murray State with one first place vote and 84 overall votes. The other six teams in the Valley were selected as follows; Illinois State with 72 votes, Indiana State with 49 votes, UIC with 46 votes, Belmont and Bradley with 39 votes, and Valparaiso with 19 votes.
UE had a tough week across the diamond over spring break with five games in only six days. Evansville had 32 hits while scoring 24 runs on offense while the defense struck out 47 batters, committed seven errors, and turned two double plays. The Aces will quickly go back to work with their first game in the Hoosier state in over three weeks on Tuesday at Indiana. It will be the first of two games UE plays against IU as the two teams are playing a home-and-home series for the first time since 2022. In 2022 three games were played in Bloomington while one game was played at Evansville. The last true home-and-home series between the two was scheduled in 2016 but the game in Bloomington was called in the top of the fifth due to weather. Indiana makes the return trip to GAB Field on April 29.
The Aces had their fifth batter of the season record a home run over the weekend. Sophomore outfielder Charlie Longmeier hit his first collegiate home run for UE in the second game of the team’s doubleheader with Samford on Friday afternoon. Longmeier hit a ball out past the left center field wall in Birmingham recording the Aces eighth home run of the year. Only senior right fielder Harrison Taubert (Casper, Wyo. / Northeast CC) has multiple home runs for UE as he has launched four long balls in 19 games in 2025.
Senior center fielder Ty Rumsey has taken over the top of the offense for Evansville after this past week. As one of only three Aces to appear in every game this season Rumsey has a .370 batting average while leading the team in at-bats, hits, hit-by-pitches, and stolen bases. He is also the Missouri Valley Conference leader in four categories; hit by pitch (9), hit by pitch per game (0.47), stolen bases (12), and stolen bases per game (0.63).
SOUTHERN INDIANA SOFTBALL
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Softball returns home to USI Softball Field Wednesday at 4 p.m. when the Screaming Eagles look to cool off Austin Peay State University in a midweek contest.
Southern Indiana (5-15, 2-3 OVC) aims for its second win in a row and to snap Austin Peay’s (25-3, 3-0 ASUN) 22-game winning streak. The Governors’ current 22-game winning streak is second-best in the nation behind no. 1 University of Oklahoma’s 29-game winning streak. Austin Peay’s last setback was on Valentine’s Day against South Dakota State University.
Wednesday’s midweek contest is USI’s second midweek game of the season and in as many weeks. USI narrowly fell at Indiana University last Wednesday, 6-5, in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Screaming Eagles are coming off what ended up being a three-game road swing last week. Following the IU game, Southern Indiana traveled to Tennessee State University for an Ohio Valley Conference series. USI and Tennessee State split Friday’s doubleheader before Saturday’s series finale was canceled due to inclement weather in Nashville, Tennessee. The Eagles were edged 6-5 in the opener against the Tigers before rebounding for a 9-2 win in the backend of Friday’s twin bill.
Freshman catcher Jordan Mackey had a stellar week for USI, hitting .600 with nine RBIs and three extra-base hits. Mackey had six RBIs, a double, and a home run in the two-game set against Tennessee State. Sophomore infielder Sydney Long went 4-6 at the plate against the Tigers, and senior outfielder Kennedy Nalley drove in three runs in the doubleheader.
In the pitching circle, freshman pitcher Kylie Witthaus notched her second win and complete game of the season in the second game of the twin bill, striking out four with only two runs allowed. Senior pitcher Josie Newman struck out 12 in a complete-game loss in the first game.
Following Mackey’s standout week, the freshman moved into the team lead for doubles (5), RBIs (11), and into a tie for a team-best two home runs. Junior outfielder Caroline Stapleton is USI’s top hitter this season with a .338 batting average among qualifying batters. Stapleton has also scored a team-high 12 runs. Freshman first baseman Lilly Brown has gotten more at-bats as of late and higher in the batting order, hitting .414. USI has three players tied for a team-high two home runs.
On the pitching side, Witthaus (2-5) has a team-best 4.17 ERA in 43.2 innings with 25 strikeouts. Newman (3-9) has a 4.59 ERA. Newman has thrown the most innings with 71.2 innings pitched, including eight complete games. Newman has an OVC-high 114 strikeouts.
Austin Peay comes in Wednesday off a series sweep against Bellarmine University to begin the Atlantic Sun Conference season. The Governors outscored the Knights 12-4 with two shutouts.
The Governors have hit over .330 as a team and have scored nearly 200 runs already this season. Senior utility Kylie Campbell tops the squad with a .432 batting average, 1.247 OPS, and 28 runs scored. Sophomore infielder Kiley Hinton is hitting .380 and is tied for the team with nine doubles and seven home runs. Hinton has 25 RBIs. The team leader in RBIs and also tied with Hinton in home runs is senior catcher Sam Leski.
Austin Peay’s pitching staff features senior Ashley Martin, who is 7-0 in 21 appearances and 48.2 innings pitched with 44 strikeouts, and senior Samantha Miener, who is 8-1 in 20 appearances and 14 starts. Miener has a 2.61 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 67 innings. Miener is the reigning ASUN Pitcher of the Week.
Austin Peay leads the all-time series against USI, 16-13. The Governors won the last meeting against the Screaming Eagles, 8-0 in five innings, at USI Softball Field on May 2, 2023.
Wednesday’s game can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+ and heard on The Spin 95.7 FM. Additional coverage can be found at usiscreamingeagles.com.
SOUTHERN INDIANA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball learned it will have a first-round bye in the 2025 Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The WNIT, powered by Triple Crown Sports, released the 2025 bracket Monday afternoon.
The WNIT begins with first-round action this week, March 20-22. Second-round games will be March 23-25.
Southern Indiana (22-12, 12-8 OVC) will face the winner of the first-round matchup between Coastal Carolina University (23-8) and Campbell University (21-12). Coastal Carolina and Campbell will play Thursday at 5 p.m. CT at Coastal Carolina.
The date and time of the second-round game, as well as whether USI will host or travel for it, will be determined later this week.
If USI were to host its second-round game at Liberty Arena, home of the Screaming Eagles, ticket information will be announced later in the week via usiscreamingeagles.com and through the USI Ticket Office.
VALPO BASEBALL
Valparaiso (4-11, 0-0 MVC)
at Ball State (14-6, 5-1 MAC)
Tuesday, March 18, 2 p.m. CT / 3 p.m. ET
Shebek Stadium (1,500) | Muncie, Ind.
Next Up in Valpo Baseball: The Valparaiso University baseball team will play its final game prior to the start of Missouri Valley Conference action on Tuesday by visiting Ball State for an instate showdown. The Beacons, who are in the midst of a stretch of 15 straight road games, just finished off a sequence of seven consecutive games against power-conference competition.
Last Time Out: Valpo picked up its second win over a Big Ten Conference opponent this season, capturing the middle game in a road series with defending B1G regular-season champion Illinois by a 13-10 score. The Beacons had lost a high-scoring series opener 13-9 and the Illini invoked the run rule in the rubber match for a 14-4, seven-inning win. Ryan Maka hit .500 over four games this past week, highlighted by a four-hit game in the victory over the Illini and a 436-foot home run in the series finale.
Following the Beacons: Tuesday’s game will air on ESPN+. For links to live video and stats, visit ValpoAthletics.com. For in-game updates, follow @ValpoBaseball on X.
Head Coach Brian Schmack: Brian Schmack (206-343) is in his 11th season in charge of the program. He ranks third in program history in seasons coached and games coached as he coached his 500th game on March 17, 2024 at Campbell. On April 19 vs. Missouri State, he became the third head coach in program history to secure his 200th win. Schmack, a member of the 2003 Detroit Tigers, served as pitching coach/associate head coach at Valpo for seven seasons prior to his promotion.
A Look Back at 2024: Valpo finished 14-38 overall and 6-21 in Missouri Valley Conference play last season and hopes to return to the MVC Tournament field in 2025. Kaleb Hannahs earned Second Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors last season, while Kyle Schmack finished one home run shy of tying the program’s career and single-season records. The team launched 71 home runs, the second most in program history and most since 2001. Alex Ryan made an incredible leaping catch that was featured at No. 4 on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays, robbing a grand slam as part of a 20-0 victory at UIC on April 28. The 2024 campaign also saw Valpo post a fielding percentage of .970 that ranked fourth in program history. The season also saw head coach Brian Schmack reach the 200-win threshold.
Series Notes: Valpo holds a 29-40-1 all-time record against Ball State. Last season, the Beacons prevailed 9-6 when the two teams clashed on March 19 at Emory G. Bauer Field, ending a five-game head-to-head losing streak that dated back to 2012. Valpo is hoping to end an eight-game skid in games played in Muncie by securing the program’s first road triumph over Ball State since head coach Paul Twenge’s team prevailed 9-1 on March 18, 2001. This will be Valpo’s first visit to Muncie since a 14-8 loss on March 26, 2019.
Notes Wrapping Up March 14-15 at Illinois (L 13-9, W 13-10, L 14-4 [F/7])
Liam Patton homered in each of the first two games in the series, lifting his career total to five in a Valpo uniform.
Kevin Denty’s home run in the series opener was his first of the year and the fourth of his collegiate career. Denty was a triple shy of the cycle in the series opener.
Valpo accrued 13 hits in Friday’s game, tied for the team’s second-highest total of the season. The Beacons also had 13 hits in the series opener at Ohio State and eclipsed that with 14 in the second game of a doubleheader against Niagara.
Reliever Joe Seiber was charged with no runs on two hits and no walks in two innings of work on Friday.
Ryan Maka reached base safely in all three games of the series, extending his season-long on-base streak to 14 games.
In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader and second game of the series, Aidan Thaxton hit his first collegiate home run.
Connor Giusti also homered in Saturday’s first game, his second of the season and the ninth of his Valpo career.
The three home runs in the first game of Saturday’s twinbill represented the team’s season high.
Starter Harry Deliyannis picked up the win, allowing four runs on six hits while striking out seven. Adam Guazzo allowed one run on one hit over two frames of relief.
The 13 runs in Saturday’s first game marked the second-highest total of the season behind 16 on Feb. 28 vs. Niagara. Valpo has scored double-figure run totals in three of the team’s four wins.
The 11 hits marked Valpo’s second straight game with a double-figure hit total after recording 13 in the series opener. Valpo has notched double-figure hits five times this season.
Maka racked up four hits in Saturday’s first game, equaling a season high. Giusti became the second Valpo player with a four-RBI game this season, joining Patton. The four RBIs represented a career high for Giusti.
Maka’s home run in the second game on Saturday’s doubleheader marked his third of the season and the 19th of his collegiate career, within two of cracking the program’s all-time top 10.
Beating B1G Foes
Valpo picked up its second Big Ten win of the season on March 15 with a 13-10 win at Illinois.
Valpo knocked off the defending Big Ten regular-season champions and an NCAA Regional team from last season. The Illini won 35 games last season and went 18-6 in Big Ten play.
The Beacons beat the Illini for the second time in the last three head-to-head matchups after also winning in 2018.
Valpo enjoyed a 10-7 series-opening win on March 7 at Ohio State, the program’s second power-conference win in the last three seasons after beating Kansas 11-3 on Feb. 18, 2023.
The win over the Buckeyes snapped a 10-game skid against power-conference competition.
The Beacons earned their first Big Ten win since 2018, when they prevailed 11-7 at No. 25 Illinois.
The win came against an Ohio State club that won 29 games last season.
Since Brian Schmack took over as head coach, Valpo has wins over four different Big Ten opponents – Ohio State, Michigan State, Illinois and Purdue.
In the Other Dugout: Ball State
Ball State is coming off a MAC series win this past weekend, beating Toledo 12-2 and 8-7 before dropping the finale 6-3.
The Cardinals were on an eight-game winning streak before falling in the final game to the Rockets.
Ball State has played one game against a Missouri Valley Conference team this season, falling 11-1 in eight innings vs. Illinois State.
The Cardinals, who won 35 games last season, are under the direction of longtime head coach Rich Maloney.
MARIAN SOFTBALL
Indianapolis, Ind. – In Saturday’s rescheduled double header held on Monday at the MU Softball Diamond the Knights came out with two wins over Mount Vernon with Macy Coan pitching a complete shutout game in game two. The Knights now move to 15-3 overall on the season and 4-1 in the Crossroads League.
Game 1 | Marian 4-1 Mount Vernon
Marian got off to an early start with Hayley Greene singling up the middle to allow Grace Meyer to score the first run of the game in the second inning. In the next inning Abby Madere singled to right field which allowed Abbey Hoffman to advance to third and Jenna Minnix to score. In the next at bat Madere got caught stealing but Hofmann took advantage and stole home to increase the lead 3-0.
Mount Vernon was able to strike with an advancement on a fielders choice of the runner on second while Zimmerman scored a run for the Cougars on the play. Hofmann was the last to strike with a deep home run into left field to take the 4-1 win.
Abby Madere led the team going 3-3 from the plate with on RBI while Abbey Hofmann went 3-2 from the plate with two runs and an RBI. Grace Meyer went 2-1 from the plate with a run and Jenna Minnix also recorded a run. In the circle Olivia Stunkel recorded the win with seven innings pitced giving up five hits and eight strikeouts in her 30 batters faced.
Game 2 | Marian 4-0 Mount Vernon
In Coan’s shutout game the Knights struck in two innings starting out with Hofmann singling into right field to allow Caroline Roop to score on the play. After dry innings for both teams Hofmann struck again in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly out to left field to allow Mystic Means to score another run increasing the lead 2-0. Soon after Wendt doubled down the left field line which allowed Madere and Anna Pritchett to score on the play. The Knights got out of the inning with a pop up to second, a line out to short, and a swinging strikeout to claim the 4-0 win.
Abbey Hofmann and Lily Wendt led the Knights both going 3-2 from the plate with two RBI’s a piece. Anna Pritchett, Madere, Caroline Roop, and Mystic Means each recorded a run for the Knights. In the circle Macy Coan recorded the complete shutout win with five hits and five strikeouts of the 28 batters faced.
The Knights will be back in action tomorrow, Tuesday the 18th at home as they take on Grace with first pitch set for 3 PM for game one.
MARIAN BASEBALL
Huntington, Ind. – For the first time since 2018, the Marian baseball team has taken a series victory from Huntington, as the Knights swept Monday’s doubleheader against the Foresters with 13-3 and 2-1 victories. Marian moves over .500 on the season with the wins, moving to 12-11 overall and 8-4 in Crossroads League play.
GAME 1 | Marian 13-3 Huntington | 8 INNINGS
Huntington struck first Monday, driving in a run off Seth Hogg in the bottom of the first inning to capture the first lead of the day. Marian responded to the run with a big second inning, driving in seven runs in the ensuing half inning. Johnny Roeder drove in the first two runs in the frame with his two RBI single, and Kameron Salazar roped in another with his single to right. Zach Bale finished the dominant inning following Cole McManus’ walk to load the bases, as the first baseman hammered a grand slam to right field. Bale’s home run gave the team a 7-1 lead, and after Huntington scratched another run off Seth Hogg in the bottom half, the score stood at 7-2.
Hogg dialed in after allow his unearned run in the second inning, shutting out the Foresters in each of the next four frames. The sophomore pitcher allowed just two hits between innings three and six, keeping Huntington off the base paths while the offense would strike again in the fourth and sixth innings. The fourth inning attack was led by Elijah Kelly’s lead-off walk, as the shortstop would score on an RBI double from McManus. Bale returned to the plate and repeated his second inning success with his second home run of the game, belting his second of the day for a three-run blast. Marian led 11-2 after Bale’s fourth inning home run, and in the sixth inning the lead grew to 10 runs as Max Steffen slammed an RBI single to right-center.
A double play spoiled Marian’s chances to add to their lead in the top of the seventh inning, and in the home half Huntington broke Hogg’s scoreless streak, as the sophomore hit the lead-off batter. A double and sacrifice fly would allow Huntington to extend the game to the eighth inning, with Marian still on top by nine runs. In the top of the eighth inning, McManus and Josh Lamb were able to get the run back, as the two traded places with doubles in the inning, pushing the lead to 10 runs once more. Seth Risley would come out of the bullpen to finish the game, striking out his final two batters to slam the doors on the run-rule 13-3 victory.
Bale’s two home runs headlined the Knights’ efforts at the plate, as he went 2-5 with seven RBI in the win. Salazar and McManus each had a pair of hits and one RBI each, with McManus scoring four times in his 2-3 day. Josh Lamb also went 2-5 in the win, and Roeder had Marian’s only other multi-RBI performance with two in the win. Hogg (1-3) recorded his first pitching win of the season, as his longest outing of the year featured eight strikeouts and three runs allowed. The sophomore gave up just five hits, and allowed seven men on by either walk, hit, or hit by pitch.
GAME 2 | Marian 2-1 Huntington
After the high-octane pace in game one, game two belonged to the pitchers, as Damien Wallace and Tyler Papenbrock went toe-to-toe on the hill. The Knights recorded their only two hits of the game in the first inning off Papenbrock, but the base hits by Zach Bale and Josh Lamb went without producing a run, as Cole McManus was gunned down at the plate on the Lamb single. Wallace recorded two strikeouts in the first inning to shake off a hit batter, matching the zero on the board.
Papenbrock took over after allowing his two first inning hits, striking out five Knights over the next two innings. Wallace brushed off a walk with an inning-ending punch out in the second, but in the third a lead-off single would bite the Marian starter. Kade Flores stole second and reached third on a throwing error following his single, putting Wallace behind on the bases as a sacrifice fly would push Flores across the plate. The Marian senior got out of the inning with a strikeout, keeping the game a 1-0 score.
Both teams would put a runner on the in the fourth inning, but the two starters would see to it that no runs scored. After the Knights were retired in order in the top of the fifth inning, Huntington threatened again in the bottom of the fifth, as Flores recorded a one-out double off of Wallace. The hit would end the starter’s day, and bring on Jace Stoops out of the bullpen. Stoops immediately ended Flores’ time on base by picking him, ending the inning a handful of pitches later on a foul out to the catcher. Stoops and Papenbrock each pitched a scoreless sixth inning, entering the seventh in a one-run game.
In the final inning, Marian took a patient approach on Papenbrock, getting three men on base as the Huntington senior walked both Kameron Salazar and Hector Corona, while Seth Hogg was hit by a pitch. Elijah Kelly followed his teammates lead, drawing a one-out walk with the bases loaded to tie the game, and end the outing for the Huntington starter. Johnny Roeder followed with a walk as Tate Mullens entered, pushing in Nate Pinarski for the go-ahead score. Marian’s free bases would end there, as two infield outs ended the threat with the Knights leading 2-1.
With a lead for the first time, Stoops finished the game with a fury, getting three consecutive fly outs to end the game and complete the Monday sweep, ending the 2-1 victory.
Stoops (3-0) claimed his third win of the season in relief on Monday, throwing 2.2 scoreless and hitless innings of relief. Wallace earned a no-decision, allowing three hits and an unearned run on the day. Bale and Lamb had Marian’s base hits in the win, while Roeder and Kelly recorded the only RBI in the one-score win.
Marian returns home in fourth place in the Crossroads League standings while owning the second-most league wins, and hosts Spring Arbor this coming weekend. Friday’s game one is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start.
INDIANA SMALL COLLEGE WEB SITES
UINDY ATHLETICS: https://athletics.uindy.edu/
MARIAN ATHLETICS: https://muknights.com/
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”
TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1937 Ending his holdout, Lou Gehrig, who had initially asked for $50,000, agrees to sign with the Yankees for $36,000 and a $750 signing bonus. The new deal for the Bronx Bombers’ first baseman, last season’s American League MVP, makes him baseball’s highest-paid player.
1942 During spring training, Jackie Robinson and Nate Moreland work out with the White Sox in Pasadena, California. Manager Jimmie Dykes, who reluctantly granted their request for a walk-on tryout, dismisses the black players without making an offer for their services.
1943 Spring training camps began opening in northern locations due to wartime travel restrictions. Some of the locales include Bear Mountain, NY (Dodgers); French Lick Springs, IN (Cubs and White Sox); Asbury Park, NJ (Yankees); Medford, MA (Red Sox); and Wallingford, CT (Braves).
1953 “Braves Win Last Game for Boston, Milwaukee Loses It.” – BOSTON GLOBE, headline lamenting the city’s National League franchise move to Milwaukee. When the National League owners officially approve the Braves’ move from Boston, the team is on the field, beating the Yankees in the fifth inning, 3–0. The club now representing Milwaukee, as of 2:33 PM, blows the lead, dropping a 5-3 decision to the Yankees in the Bradenton (FL) exhibition game.
1953 The Braves end their 77-year-old association with Boston, becoming the first major league club to move since Baltimore shifted to New York in 1903. After listening to Lou Perini’s hour-long impassioned plea, the National League owners unanimously approved the franchise’s change of venue to Milwaukee, where the club will stay for a dozen seasons, setting attendance records before moving again in 1966 to Atlanta.
1957 Indian general manager Hank Greenberg turns down the Red Sox’s million-dollar offer for pitcher Herb Score. The former slugger says the Tribe is building for the future and not into selling its premier players.
1958 The Dodgers, playing their first season in LA, do not renew the contract of Emmett Kelly, the team’s resident ‘tramp’ in Brooklyn. The veteran circus performer believes the size of the Coliseum, the club’s new venue on the West Coast, is just “too big for one clown.”
1974 Country singer Charley Pride, best known for the songs I’m Just Me and Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’, plays for the Texas Rangers in an exhibition game at the team’s Pompano Beach training camp. The former Negro League right-hander grounds out and singles in two at-bats in the team’s 14-2 loss to Jim Palmer and the Orioles.
1981 After being declared a free agent because the Red Sox mailed his contract one day past the contractual deadline, Carlton Fisk signs a $3.5 million deal with the White Sox. On Opening Day, the 33-year-old catcher will hit an eighth-inning three-run home run to tie the score, 3-3, which proves to be the difference in Chicago’s eventual 5-3 victory over his old team at Fenway Park.
1985 Commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. Major League Baseball banned the two Hall of Famers from associating due to their employment with Atlantic City casinos.
1990 The players and owners agree on a four-year contract after a 32-day lockout, the sport’s seventh work stoppage and its second-longest since 1972. Although the season will start a week later, teams plan to play a complete schedule, including the 78 games canceled by the work stoppage.
(Ed. Note: The settlement includes raising the minimum major league salary from $68,000 to $100,000 and establishing a committee to study revenue sharing. -LP)
2000 Construction workers install a 15-foot-high and 56-foot-long replica of an 1862 steam locomotive ninety feet above the field onto the rails that run alongside the moveable roof at Enron Field, Houston’s new downtown ballpark, partially located on the former home of the city’s Union Station. The 60,000-pound train, with its cargo of oranges, makes a 40-second trip back and forth on its track every time an Astro player hits a home run.
2000 After reacquiring Jesse Orosco from the Orioles in December, the Mets send the veteran left-hander to the Cardinals for utility player Joe McEwing. In 1978, the eventual four-decade hurler (1979-2003) was the player to be named later in the trade when New York dealt veteran southpaw Jerry Koosman to Minnesota.
2005 After Mark McGwire, who had previously denied using steroids, refuses to answer the questions concerning his involvement during the congressional hearings, U.S. Representative William Lacy Clay (D-MO) wants to remove the slugger’s name given to a stretch of highway in his state. The legislators officially renamed a five-mile segment, a distance approximately as long traveled by the 70 home runs, of Interstate-70 the Mark McGwire Highway as a tribute to ‘Big Mac’ hitting a record 70 home runs in 1998.
(Ed. Note: In May 2010, the Missouri Legislature passed a bill to change the name of Mark McGwire Highway to the Mark Twain Highway. -LP)
2008 The Players Association will examine the possibility of collusion by the major league owners against Barry Bonds, who has pleaded innocent to four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. The San Francisco slugger, who hit .276 last year with 28 home runs, has not been offered a contract by any major league team.
2008 In an attempt to be part of a healing process on the campus where 32 students and staff became victims of a deadly shooting spree last April, the Yankees play the Hokies at Virginia Tech’s English Field. George Steinbrenner, moved by coverage of the massacre, donated $1 million to a memorial fund and arranged for his team to participate in an exhibition game at the school.
2009 The Cubs announce that the team will retire its fifth number when 31 will be set aside on May 3, honoring both Fergie Jenkins (1966-73, 1982-83) and Greg Maddux (1986-92, 2004-06). The hurlers will join Ron Santo (#10), Ernie Banks (#14), Ryne Sandberg (#23), and Billy Williams (#26) as honorees chosen by the Chicago club.
2010 Free-swinging slugger Mark Reynolds (.260, 44, 102) and the Diamondbacks agree to a new three-year, $14.5 million contract. The deal covers the 26-year-old third baseman’s first two arbitration years.
2011 The Mets make a symbolic but expensive roster move when they release their second baseman, Luis Castillo. The oft-injured, embattled 35-year-old, best remembered by New York fans for the dropped popup in a 2009 Subway Series game at Yankee Stadium, is still owed the remaining $6 million on the four-year, $25 million contract he signed before the 2008 season.
2014 In a Cactus League game, all nine batters Jose Quintana faces reach base and eventually score in the White Sox’s 16-6 loss to the A’s at Camelback Ranch. The southpaw starter gives up seven hits, including a homer by Jed Lowrie and a triple by Sam Fuld, and issues two walks before exiting the game without retiring a batter.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
March 18
1945 — Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens becomes the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season during a 4-2 triumph over the Boston Bruins in the final game of the season.
1950 — CCNY beats Bradley 69-61 for the NIT championship.
1953 — Don Schlundt scores 30 points to lead Indiana to a 69-68 victory over Kansas for the NCAA basketball championship.
1990 — Jeff Fryer’s 41 points leads Loyola Marymount to a 149-115 victory over defending national champion Michigan in the highest-scoring game in NCAA tournament history.
1993 — Santa Clara beats Arizona 64-61 to become the second 15th-seeded team to win a first-round game in the NCAA tournament.
2001 — Indiana’s Reggie Miller becomes the first player in NBA history to accumulate 2,000 3-pointers after hitting four in a 101-95 win over Sacramento.
2008 — The Houston Rockets’ 22-game winning streak comes to an end. Kevin Garnett scores 22 points and Paul Pierce adds 20 as the Celtics beat the Rockets 94-74, stopping Houston’s remarkable run.
2009 — New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur breaks Patrick Roy’s NHL record for career wins by a goaltender. Brodeur records his 552nd win in a 3-2 decision over the Chicago Blackhawks.
2013 — LeBron James and the Miami Heat escape Boston with their 23rd win in a row, the second longest win streak in NBA history. James scores 37 points and makes the go-ahead basket with 10.5 seconds left in Miami’s 105-103 victory.
2015 — Lindsey Vonn wins the World Cup downhill title for the seventh time, winning the last race in the discipline at the World Cup finals in Meribel, France.
2016 — Middle Tennessee State sends a big shock through the men’s NCAA Tournament, topping second-seeded Michigan State 90-81 in the first round. Middle Tennessee never trails the Spartans (29-6) in one of the biggest upsets since the tournament began seeding teams in 1985.
2016 — Thomas Walkup scores 33 points and 14th-seeded Stephen F. Austin takes down West Virginia’s full-court pressure with some of its own in-your-face defense, pulling off a 70-56 first-round upset of the third-seeded Mountaineers in the NCAA Tournament.
2017 — Kalani Brown scores 21 points and top-seeded Baylor overwhelms much smaller Texas Southern 119-30, the most lopsided women’s NCAA Tournament game. The 89-point margin breaks the previous record 74-point win by Tennessee over North Carolina A&T (111-37) in 1994. Baylor’s 119 points are the most scored in regulation of a women’s NCAA Tournament game, surpassing the previous record 116.
2017 — Texas A&M pulls off the biggest comeback in women’s NCAA Tournament history, rallying from a 21-point deficit for a 63-61 victory over Penn to close out the first round of the NCAAs. The fifth-seeded Aggies finish the game on a 25-1 run to beat the 12th-seeded Quakers.
2018 — Tennessee loses for the first time at home in women’s NCAA Tournament history. Marie Gulich has 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead sixth-seed Oregon State to a 66-59 win. The third-seeded Lady Vols had been 57-0 at home, with most of those victories coming under late Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt.
March 19
1942 — The Thoroughbred Racing Associations of the United States is formed, with John C. Clark president.
1950 — Babe Didrikson Zaharias shoots a record 298 and beats Clair Doran by eight strokes to capture the U.S. Women’s Open.
1950 — The Rochester Royals win their 15th consecutive game, 97-66 over the Baltimore Bullets to set an NBA record for consecutive victories to close a season.
1955 — San Francisco wins the NCAA basketball championship with a 77-63 victory over La Salle.
1955 — Dick Ricketts and Si Green combine for 56 points to lead Duquesne to a 70-58 triumph over Dayton in the NIT championship.
1956 — The Minneapolis Lakers defeat the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 for the biggest rout in NBA playoff history.
1960 — Ohio State wins the NCAA basketball title with a 75-55 victory against California.
1960 — Mach Herndon’s 26 points leads Bradley to a 88-72 triumph over Providence for the NIT title. Lenny Wilkens scores 25 points for the Friars.
1966 — Texas Western, starting five black players, wins the NCAA basketball championship with a 72-65 upset of all-white Kentucky.
1966 — BYU beats New York University 97-84 for the NIT championship.
1972 — The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women holds its first basketball championship and Immaculata beats West Chester State 52-48.
1972 — The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 162-99 for the most lopsided victory in NBA history.
1987 — Bonnie Blair skates ladies’ world record 500 m (39.43 sec)
1994 — Hartford’s Brian Propp reaches the 1,000-point mark with a goal in a 5-3 win over Philadelphia.
1995 — Chicago’s Michael Jordan returns from his 17-month retirement. Wearing No. 45, he shoots 7-of-28 from the field and scores 19 points in the Bulls’ 103-96 overtime loss at Indiana.
1998 — The U.S. women’s soccer team sustains the worst loss in its 13-year history, falling 4-1 to reigning World Cup champion Norway in the Algarve Cup.
2006 — Tennessee’s Candace Parker is the first woman to dunk in an NCAA tournament game, jamming one-handed on a breakaway 6:12 into the second-seeded Lady Vols’ 102-54 victory against an Army team that was making its NCAA tournament debut.
2011 — Duke gives coach Mike Krzyzewski his 900th career victory, a 73-71 win over Michigan, and the Blue Devils advance to the round of 16 for the 12th time in 14 years.
2014 — Chris Eversley scores 19 points to help Cal Poly become the first team in 59 years with 19 losses to win an NCAA Tournament game, beating Texas Southern 81-69 on in the First Four.
2015 — Lindsey Vonn wins the final super-G of the season and with it her 19th crystal globe trophy — equaling the record of Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark.
2015 — R.J. Hunter’s 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining caps a comeback from a 12-point deficit and lifts 14th-seeded Georgia State over third-seeded Baylor 57-56 in the NCAA Tournament.
2015 — William Lee scores the last four points for 14th-seeded UAB in its 60-59 upset of Iowa State.
2019 — Houston Rockets guard James Harden becomes first player in NBA history to score at least 30 points against all 29 opponents in a single season with 31 in a 121-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
2022 — LeBron James moves past Karl Malone (36,909) into second on NBA’s all-time scoring list with 38 points in LA Lakers’ 127-119 loss to Washington Wizards.
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March 20
1897 — Yale beats Penn 32-10 in New Haven, Conn., in the first men’s intercollegiate basketball game.
1918 — The Toronto Arenas (who would become the Maple Leafs) are the first NHL team to play in the Stanley Cup Final. Toronto’s Reg Noble scores two goals with an assist in the first period of a 5-3 win over Vancouver of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.
1939 — In a game of unbeaten teams, Long Island U. defeats Loyola of Chicago 44-32 to win the National Invitation Tournament title.
1954 — In the first televised NCAA championship game, La Salle defeats Bradley 92-76 and sets a record for most points in the title game.
1965 — Gail Goodrich’s 42 points lead UCLA to a 91-80 victory over Michigan in the NCAA basketball championship.
1965 — St. John’s sends Joe Lapchick out a winner, as the Redmen beat Villanova 55-51 to win their fifth National Invitation Tournament championship.
1965 — Bill Bradley scores 58 points to lead Princeton to a 118-82 rout of Wichita State in the NCAA third-place game. UCLA beats Michigan 91-80 to win its second National championship.
1968 — Dave Bing of the Detroit Pistons finishes the season with a league-leading 27.1 average, becoming the first guard in 20 years to lead the NBA in scoring.
1969 — Less than two months after she becomes the first woman to ride in a pari-mutuel race in America, Diane Crump rides her first winner at Gulfstream Park.
1976 — Boston’s John Havlicek becomes the first NBA player to score more than 1,000 points per season for 14 consecutive years.
1988 — Mike Tyson knocks out Tony Tubbs in the second round to retain his world heavyweight title in Tokyo.
2005 — Liz Johnson becomes the first woman to advance to the championship match of a Professional Bowlers Association tour event, but loses by 27 pins to Tommy Jones in the final of the PBA Banquet Open.
2005 — LeBron James, 20, becomes the youngest player to score 50 points in an NBA game, when he scores 56 in the Cavaliers’ 105-98 loss to the Raptors.
2006 — Japan beats Cuba 10-6 in the title game of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.
2010 — Northern Iowa pulls off one of the biggest NCAA upsets in years by knocking No. 1 overall seed Kansas with a 69-67 win. Ali Farokhmanesh buries an open 3-pointer with the shot clock still in the 30s to give the Panthers a four-point lead with 35 seconds left.
2014 — Bernard Tomic loses the shortest completed ATP match on record, lasting only 28 minutes at the Sony Open in his first tournament since having surgery on both hips. Ending a two-month layoff, Tomic wins just 13 points and loses to Jarkko Nieminen 6-0, 6-1. It’s the quickest match since the ATP started keeping such records in 1991.
2020 — After 20 years with the New England Patriots, six-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady officially agrees to move to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
TV SPORTS TUESDAY
| MLB | TIME ET | TV |
| Regular Season: LA Dodgers vs Chi. Cubs (Tokyo) | 6:10am | FOX MARQ |
| Spring Training: Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh | 1:05pm | MLBN |
| Spring Training: LA Angels vs Cincinnati | 4:05pm | MLBN |
| Spring Training: Cleveland vs Texas | 9:05pm | MLBN |
| NBA REGULAR SEASON | TIME ET | TV |
| Brooklyn Nets vs Boston Celtics | 7:30pm | NBATV NBCS-BOS YES |
| Atlanta Hawks vs Charlotte Hornets | 7:30pm | Fanduel Sports ATL Fanduel Sports CHA |
| Milwaukee Bucks vs Golden State Warriors | 10:00pm | NBATV NBCS-BAY FanDuel Sports WI |
| Cleveland Cavaliers vs Los Angeles Clippers | 10:30pm | FanDuel Sports SoCal FanDuel Sports Ohio |
| NHL REGULAR SEASON | TIME ET | TV |
| Calgary Flames vs New York Rangers | 7:00pm | ESPN+ Sportsnet MSG |
| Detroit Red Wings vs Washington Capitals | 7:00pm | ESPN+ FanDuel Sports DET MNMT |
| New York Islanders vs Pittsburgh Penguins | 7:00pm | ESPN+ MSGSN ATTSN-PIT |
| Ottawa Senators vs Montreal Canadiens | 7:00pm | ESPN+ Sportsnet |
| Anaheim Ducks vs Dallas Stars | 8:00pm | ESPN+ Victory+ |
| Seattle Kraken vs Chicago Blackhawks | 8:30pm | ESPN+ KONG CHSN |
| St. Louis Blues vs Nashville Predators | 9:00pm | ESPN |
| Utah Hockey Club vs Edmonton Oilers | 9:00pm | ESPN+ Utah16 Sportsnet |
| Winnipeg Jets vs Vancouver Canucks | 10:00pm | ESPN+ Sportsnet |
| MEN’S NCAA BASKETBALL | TIME ET | TV |
| NCAA First Four: (16) Alabama State vs (16) St. Francis-PA | 6:40pm | truTV |
| NIT First Round: St. Bonaventure vs. Kent St. | 7:00pm | ESPNU |
| NIT First Round: Georgia Tech vs. Jacksonville St. | 7:00pm | ESPN2 |
| NIT First Round: Middle Tenn. vs. Chattanooga | 8:00pm | ESPN+ |
| NIT First Round: Arkansas St. vs. Saint Louis | 9:00pm | ESPNU |
| NIT First Round: Oklahoma St. vs. Wichita St. | 9:00pm | ESPN2 |
| NCAA First Four: (11) San Diego State vs. (11) North Carolina | 9:10pm | truTV |
| NIT First Round: Santa Clara vs. UC Riverside | 11:00pm | ESPN2 |
| NIT First Round: Stanford vs. CSUN | 11:00pm | ESPNU |