NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT:
After two weeks of upsets and outright stunners, the NCAA Final Four will look a lot like previous semifinals. Kansas and North Carolina advanced today to join Villanova and Duke in New Orleans next weekend.
The Jayhawks trailed by six before outscoring Miami 47-15 in the second half of a 76-50 rout of the Hurricanes. Kansas took over by outscoring Miami 25-7 over the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Ochai Agbaji scored 18 points, David McCormack had 15 and Christian Braun finished with 12 for the Jayhawks, who wound up shooting 50% after a lackluster start.
The Hurricanes couldn’t shoot themselves back into the game. They missed 18 of their 21 3-point attempts and shot 35% overall for the game.
Eighth-seeded North Carolina snatched the glass slippers off the feet of Saint Peter’s by storming out to a 38-19 halftime lead in a 69-49 rout of the 15th-seeded Peacocks. Armando Bacot had a huge game, delivering game highs of 20 points and 22 rebounds. Brady Manek added 19 points and eight boards, while Caleb Love chipped in 14 points.
Saint Peter’s trailed 21-7 after missing its first six shots, and 16 of its first 19. Saint Peter’s had never trailed by more than six in its first three games of the tournament.
The outcome creates a Tobacco Road semifinal between the Tar Heels and Duke, who will be playing their final weekend with head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Kansas will battle Villanova in the other semifinal.
The Wildcats will be without junior guard Justin Moore, who suffered a tear in his right Achilles tendon in the final minutes of Saturday’s 50-44 victory over Houston. Moore averaged 14.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in 36 games this season.
The University of Memphis and men’s basketball coach Penny Hardaway reportedly have been accused of serious violations of NCAA rules, including failing to cooperate with an investigation.
The Daily Memphian and The Commercial Appeal reported that they obtained copies of a notice of allegations from an investigation by the NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Process.
The newspapers also obtained a response from the university denying the allegations. The university said the notice “contains no specific facts, and it is the specific facts that are imperative for the resolution of this matter.”
Also in men’s basketball:
Rob Lanier is the new head coach at SMU after taking Georgia State to the NCAA Tournament this season. Lanier was 53-30 in his three seasons at Georgia State. Tim Jankovich announced his retirement Tuesday after six seasons as the Mustangs’ coach.
NBA:
The Phoenix Suns have continued their winning streak after wrapping up homecourt advantage throughout the NBA playoffs last week.
Devin Booker scored 35 points and Chris Paul added 19 with 14 assists in the Suns’ eighth win in a row, 114-104 over the 76ers. The 76ers took a 39-37 lead into the second quarter despite Booker’s 22 points in the first on 8 of 11 shooting.
Joel Embiid had 37 points and 15 rebounds for the 76ers, but James Harden shot just 2-for-11 in scoring 14 points. Harden also provided nine assists and seven rebounds.
Checking out Sunday’s other NBA action:
The Warriors lost for the fifth time in six games as Corey Kispert dropped in 16 os his 25 points in the first half of the Wizards’ 123-115 downing of Golden State. Kispert made a career-best six 3-pointers and has 96 on the season, surpassing the franchise’s rookie record of 91 set by Beal in 2012-13. Kristaps Porzingis scored 23 points for Washington and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 22.
Jayson Tatum delivered 34 points and Jaylen Brown scored 31 with 10 rebounds to help the Celtics coast to their sixth straight win, 134-112 over the Timberwolves. The East-leading Celtics won for the 24th time in their last 28 games and dropped the Wolves to 1-3 on their four-game road trip. Anthony Edwards scored 24 and Karl-Anthony Towns added 19 for Minnesota.
The Hornets spoiled Kyrie Irving’s first home game of the season by beating the Nets, 119-110. LaMelo Ball had 33 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, helping Charlotte tie Brooklyn for eighth place in the East. Irving finished with 16 points and tied his season high with 11 assists but shot 6 for 22 from the field.
Luka Doncic pumped in 32 points and the Mavericks took a one-game lead over Utah for the No. 4 seed in the West by defeating the Jazz, 114-100. Reggie Bullock connected on a season-high seven 3-pointers, finishing with 23 points as Dallas won for the 18th time in 22 home games. Rudy Gay scored 18 points for the Jazz, who lost their fourth in a row on a season-long, six-game trip.
The Pelicans rallied from 23 points down late in the second quarter to defeat the Lakers , 116-108. Brandon Ingram scored 26 in his return from a 10-game absence, and rookie Trey Murphy III scored all of his 21 points in the second half. Herb Jones had 16 points and a career-high six steals in the win.
Alec Burks hit a 3-pointer in the final minute and finished off Detroit with a last-second steal in the Knicks’ 104-102 victory over the Pistons. R.J. Barrett led New York with 21 points, Julian Randle had 20 and Burks and Immanuel Quickly provided 18 apiece.
The NBA has fined Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince $15,000 for making an obscene gesture on the court.
The penalty stemmed from an incident that occurred at the end of the third quarter during the Timberwolves’ 116-95 victory over the Mavericks on Friday. Prince and Dallas’ Luka Doncic both got technical fouls for barking at each other.
NHL:
The Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins continued their playoff scramble in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.
The Lightning made it two straight wins since a three-game skid by downing the Islanders, 4-1.
Andrei Vasilevsky stopped 23 shots for the Lightning, who moved back into second place in the Atlantic Division.
The Bolts trailed 1-0 until Victor Hedman and Alex Killorn scored second-period goals.
The Penguins crushed the Red Wings, 11-2 as Evgeni Malkin returned in style after missing a game with a non-COVID illness. Malkin led the scoresheet with a hat trick and four points, while Teddy Blueger added a goal and three assists.
Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rackell and Bryan Rust each had a goal and two assists, while Kris Letang set up three scores.
The blowout puts the Pens within three points of Carolina for the Metropolitan Division lead and keeps them one ahead of the Rangers. The Hurricanes have two games in hand on Pittsburgh.
The Rangers pulled out a 5-4 win against the Sabres on K’Andre Miller’s goal at 2:02 of overtime. Blueshirts newcomer Frank Vatrano scored twice as he continues to receive significant ice time since his acquisition from Florida. Alexei Lafreniere added a goal and an assist in New York’s fourth win in five games.
Elsewhere on NHL ice:
Mitch Marner set up three goals, including a pair of second-period power-play goals from John Tavares in the Maple Leafs’ 5-2 verdict over the Panthers. Marner also fired a pass into the slot to a streaking Iyla Mikheyev for Toronto’s fourth goal midway through the third period. Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 48th goal on a long drifter into the empty net.
Kevin Fiala scored 15 seconds into overtime to send the Wild to their sixth consecutive win, 3-2 versus the Avalanche. Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman also scored for Minnesota, which is the only NHL team this season with at least three six-game winning streaks. Cam Talbot made 40 saves for Minnesota, extending his own personal win streak to six games.
Tanner Jeannot scored with 1:19 remaining to lead the Predators to a 5-4 victory over the Flyers. Yakov Trenin had two goals, and Luke Kunin and Filip Forsberg also tallied in Nashville’s first win in three games. Jeannot, Roman Josi, Alexandre Carrier and Mikael Granlund each had two assists.
Mark Scheifele’s second goal of the night gave the Jets a 2-1 victory over the Coyotes. Scheifele tallied in the first period and ended things with 9.7 seconds showing on the overtime clock. Nick Ritchie tied the game 1-1 in the third period for Arizona.
Jack Hughes scored two goals and was one of four Devils to score in a seven-round shootout that ended a 3-2 win over the Canadiens. Nico Daws finished with 31 saves as the Devils improved to 9-0-2 against the Canadiens since 2017-18.
NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT:
The NCAA women’s basketball Final Four will include the defending champion and the No. 1 seed.
Lexie Hull scored 20 points and Haley Jones added 18, including four key free throws in the closing moments so secure Stanford’s 59-50 victory over Texas. Hull made a key 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter and had a three-point play that gave Stanford a 53-48 lead with 2:29 remaining. Texas never got closer than two in the final moments as the 2021 champs advanced.
Aliyah Boston scored 19 points and led top-seeded South Carolina to its second straight Final Four with an 80-50 victory over Creighton.
The Gamecocks made six of their first seven shots to take a 13-5 lead four minutes in. When Creighton closed to 13-10, South Carolina took off on a game-changing 31-10 surge to take control for good.
PGA-MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP:
The PGA’s hottest golfer has vaulted to No. 1.
Scottie Scheffler won the Dell Technologies Match Play for his third title in his last five starts. His climb to No. 1 comes just weeks after his first tour victory.
Scheffler never trailed in the final against Kevin Kisner, building a 3-up lead through six holes and giving him no chance to catch up. Scheffler closed him out with a par on the 15th for a 4-and-3 victory.
Scheffler also never trailed in the semifinal win over Dustin Johnson on Sunday. In fact, he went the final 57 holes at Austin Country Club without trailing.
NASCAR:
It was a day of firsts for Ross Chastain and upstart race team Trackhouse Racing.
Chastain bumped and banged his way around the final overtime lap at Circuit of the Americas to earn his first career Cup win. It’s also the first victory for Trackhouse Racing, which took over Chastain’s contract after buying out Chip Ganassi Racing.
Tyler Reddick had somehow moved to the front in the previous single lap run between the eighth and ninth cautions. Chastain and Allmendinger restarted second and third, just ahead of Alex Bowman.
The overtime featured four lead changes, with Chastain and Allmendinger swapping it twice. Chastain decided the race by divebombing inside of Allmendinger, which spun Allmendinger from second to 33rd.
Bowman finished second, followed by Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott and Reddick.
MLB:
The New York Yankees have signed right-hander Shelby Miller to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training.
The 31-year-old Miller is 38-57 with a 4.19 ERA in 163 games, including 132 starts over parts of nine seasons.
The 2015 NL All-Star split last season between the Cubs and Pirates, going 0-1 with a 9.24 ERA in 13 relief outings.
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