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Led by Joe Bamisile's 19 points, the VCU Rams defeated the UMass Minutemen 80-51 on Wednesday night. The Rams improved to 21-5 with the win and the Minutemen fell to 11-16.
Bamisile added six rebounds for the Rams (21-5, 11-2 Atlantic 10 Conference). Shulga finished 5 of 6 from 3-point range and 4 for 4 from the line and added five rebounds and seven assists. Jack Clark had 17 points and shot 6 for 9, including 5 for 6 from beyond the arc.
Johni Broome had 16 points and 13 rebounds and No. 1 Auburn overcame a rough offensive performance to beat Arkansas 67-60 on Wednesday night. After winning at Alabama on Saturday in a game between the top teams in the poll, Auburn (24-2, 12-1 Southeastern Conference) avoided its second straight home loss. Chad Baker-Mazara added 15 points for the Tigers, and Chaney Johnson had 14. Adou Thiero led Arkansas (15-11, 4-9) with 16. Johnell Davis had 14. The teams combined to hit seven of 43 3-point attempts.
After Missouri basketball fans stormed the court following a victory over then-No. 1 Kansas on Dec. 8, Tigers coach Dennis Gates made sure there wouldn’t be an encore after No. 15 Missouri beat No. 4 Alabama 110-98 on Wednesday night. Gates called a timeout with 1.5 seconds remaining, and grabbed the public address microphone to emphatically tell the capacity crowd of 15,061 to stay off the court. “Please, do not rush the court! Please, do not rush the court!” Gates said to the fans. Missouri was fined $250,000 after the Kansas game, and faces a $500,000 fine for a second offense. In Southeastern Conference play, the fine is paid to the opposing school.
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UMass 87 Loyola 62
UConn 91 Seton Hall 49
NBA
Charlotte 100 L.A. Lakers 97
Luka Doncic couldn’t find his shot in his third game with the Los Angeles Lakers, and LeBron James couldn’t make up for it. Yet the Lakers all say they aren’t worried after their embarrassing 100-97 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. Doncic scored 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting, including a 1-for-9 performance on 3-point attempts. The Slovenian superstar added 11 rebounds and eight assists, but also committed six turnovers and five personal fouls while playing 33 minutes in his longest performance since joining the Lakers in a blockbuster trade with Dallas.
NFL
The NFL salary cap will be between $277.5 million and $281.5 million for the 2025 season, rising as much as $26 million from last year. The bump is great news for Cincinnati, which is hoping to sign receiver Tee Higgins to a long-term contract. It also means more money for Minnesota to re-sign quarterback Sam Darnold or Kansas City to bring back guard Trey Smith or Super Bowl champion Philadelphia to keep linebacker Zack Baun. It’s also significant for teams projected to be over the cap when the new league year begins in March.
Seven men from Chile have been charged in Florida federal court with allegedly orchestrating burglaries at the homes of prominent professional athletes around the country. The FBI complaint in Tampa federal court doesn't name the athletes, but it lists burglaries already made public involving the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, as well as players for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies. Authorities say the Chilean group stole about $2 million in expensive watches, jewelry, cash and other valuables, including a safe the group later cracked.
BASEBALL
Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki threw 27 pitches over two innings of live batting practice at Camelback Ranch in front of hundreds of fans and several teammates. It also seemed like the entire Los Angeles Dodgers organization was watching behind home plate. Sasaki wasn’t particularly fazed by the attention Wednesday and looked much more comfortable than last week, when he was a little wild during a bullpen session in chilly weather. He recorded two strikeouts, including one on back-to-back splitters to Eddie Rosario.
SOCCER
Kylian Mbappé scored a hat trick, Erling Haaland stayed on the bench injured and Real Madrid has dumped Manchester City out of the Champions League. Mbappé's trio of goals in a 3-1 win gave Madrid a 6-3 victory on aggregate in their knockout playoff. Paris Saint-Germain beat French rival Brest 7-0 to run up a 10-0 aggregate score. PSV Eindhoven ousted Juventus in the only one of the eight playoffs this week that went to extra time. Defender Ryan Flamingo scored in the 98th minute for a 3-1 win on the night and 4-3 on aggregate. Borussia Dortmund eliminated Sporting Lisbon. The round of 16 draw is made Friday.
NASCAR
Daytona 500 pole-winner Chase Briscoe was dealt a major penalty Wednesday when NASCAR said Joe Gibbs Racing had a modified spoiler on the No. 19 Toyota in time trials. Joe Gibbs Racing was docked 100 driver/owner points and 10 playoff points. The spoiler base is a single-source part that cannot be modified and was discovered in NASCAR’s inspection process. JGR was also fined $100,000 and crew chief James Small was suspended for four races. Briscoe now goes to Atlanta Motor Speedway with negative 67 points in the standings. He dropped from 10th in the standings to 39th.
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Division I baseball coaches and administrators expect there will be fewer opportunities for high school recruits at the top level of the sport once rosters are reduced and if the NCAA extends athlete eligibility from four to five years. They also predict the removal of scholarship limits and increased earning potential through revenue sharing will create a greater imbalance in competition. All is contingent on a federal judge approving the settlement of antitrust allegations against the NCAA and the nation’s biggest conferences. A hearing is set for April 7 and changes would go into effect July 1.
NHL
Bobby Hull's widow says the Hall of Famer and two-time NHL MVP who helped the Chicago Blackhawks win the 1961 Stanley Cup had chronic traumatic encephalopathy when he died two years ago. Researchers at Boston University’s CTE Center found that Hull had stage 2 CTE when he died in 2023. He was 84. Hull struggled with short-term memory loss and impaired judgment over his final decade. He chose to donate his brain after seeing former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Stan Mikita decline late in his life. Deborah Hull says Bobby “felt strongly no other family should have to endure CTE." CTE is a degenerative disease that that can be diagnosed only posthumously.
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