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Lerone Murphy’s title hopes take huge hit after controversial defeat to Movsar Evloev at UFC London
Manchester fighter Lerone Murphy saw his hopes of a title shot go up in smoke as he was edged out by Movsar Evloev in a controversial decision at UFC London.
Murphy succumbed to a majority decision defeat despite his Russian opponent having a point deducted in the fourth round for a second low blow, with the judges scoring the bout 48-46, 48-46, 47-47 in Evloev’s favour.
Coming up short in what was seen as an eliminator to decide featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski’s next challenger, “The Miracle” also lost his undefeated record in the process and leaves the O2 Arena now 17-1-1 as a professional.
Murphy, 34, took a moment to get going in a close first round but began to really find his rhythm in the next two, with his movement and sharp striking starving 32-year-old Evloev from obvious takedown opportunities.
It meant Evloev, who was firing striking offence of his own, barely shot for a takedown in the first 10 minutes and even when the Russian eventually took Murphy to the mat in the third, the Briton showed off impressive defence to quickly get back to his feet.
As the fight entered the championship rounds with Murphy in control, Evloev was deducted a point after falling foul of his second low blow of the night, which left Murphy crawling in agony.
This appeared to vastly diminish Evloev’s chances of victory without a finish but he nevertheless ended the bout in style, dominantly taking the final two rounds to force the fight to a decision.
All three judges contentiously scored the third round in Evloev’s favour while two gave the Russian the first round, delivering him a crucial victory and taking his own unbeaten record to 20-0.
Murphy was gracious in defeat and called on matchmakers to ensure Evloev gets what is due to him, saying: “Make sure Movsar gets the title shot, he deserves it.”
In the co-main event, Paddy Pimblett’s teammate Luke Riley went 2-0 in the UFC as he swept the scorecards against Michael Aswell Jr, finally getting a victory on the board for the Liverpudlians after Kurtis Campbell was knocked out by Danny Silva in the main card’s opener.
Riley had spoken honestly about whether he deserved the headliner spot ahead of Michael “Venom” Page but the 38-year-old veteran’s bout with Sam Patterson failed to deliver, with fans raining down boos as Page was declared the winner after both fighters failed to show much activity.
Christian Leroy Duncan, meanwhile, will hope to enter the middleweight rankings after overcoming Roman Dolidze after an impressive performance, while Polish light heavyweight Iwo Baraniewski pulled off a stunning 28-second knockout over Austen Lane to maintain momentum.
Similarly to the main card, the prelims were also a mixed bag for the Brits but were rounded off by an absolute barnburner between Welshman Mason Jones and Axel Sola, who engaged in a firefight of eccentric striking.
“The Dragon”, who spent two years out of the UFC before making his return to the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion in 2025, saw a deserved unanimous decision victory go in his favour before making an impassioned post-fight speech to the London crowd.
The card also kicked off in style as London-bred debutant Shanelle Dyer sent the early-arriving fans into raptures, knocking out Ravena Oliveira with a stunning headkick in the second round.
Her triumph was followed up by Great Britain Top Team teammate Nathaniel Wood, who eked out a split-decision victory over debuting Belgian featherweight Losene Keita, extending his win streak to four against very tricky opposition.
Rising heavyweight Mario Pinto, of Portuguese descent but raised in the English capital, also maintained his undefeated record with a scorecards win against Felipe Franco.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the home fighters, however, with both Louie Sutherland and Shem Rock failing to bounce back from debut losses to go 0-2 in the UFC.
Sutherland was finished early on against Brando Pericic while Rock – another member of Pimblett’s gym Next Generation MMA – was convincingly beaten by Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady, with all three judges scoring the bout 30-27 for the Palestinian.
With his UFC future uncertain, Rock may have found himself in even more hot water after instigating a post-fight scuffle after the buzzer, hitting Al-Selwady in the face after he had refused to shake the Liverpudlian’s hand.
“I don’t really think there’s too much to say about it; I only talk in the cage with my performance,” Al-Sewady said after the fight, who was pushed by a trash-talking Rock at the ceremonial weigh-ins.
“It was a desperate attempt to try to get under my skin. My opponent has been in my DMs for the last month – him and his crew of guys.”
This was a risky move. In just his second fight in the UFC, Liverpool’s Luke Riley was deployed in a co-main-event slot in London – a spot he admitted he had likely not earned.
The UFC’s intent was clear: with a certain friend, teammate and fellow Scouser in his corner, Riley would have extra eyes on him on Saturday. Of course, the man in question was Paddy Pimblett.
See, “Paddy The Baddy” was used in a very similar slot at the same stage of his UFC career. After a successful debut in 2021, Pimblett was third-from-top of the bill at UFC London in 2022, as the O2 Arena’s dome threatened to fall in on itself – such was the explosion of noise from fans. Now here was Riley, having scored a KO on his UFC debut in 2025, co-headlining UFC London in 2026.
It could, and probably should, have been Michael “Venom” Page instead, as 26-year-old Riley admitted on Wednesday. But it was Riley in the end, handed the ball and asked to sprint like his life depended on it.
First came the walk, though. Did Riley’s walkout have shades of Pimblett’s from four years ago? Soft shades, yes, and Riley did need to actively stir up some excitement in the O2’s onlookers while stepping in the cage. But they met Bruce Buffer’s in-ring announcement with support, if not the hysteria they showed Pimblett in 2022, and it only grew as the fight progressed.
They chanted Riley’s name in the early going, seemingly led by a contingent from Liverpool, and as he began to find the timing on his right cross, one distinctly Scouse voice urged: “SMASH HIS HEAD IN.”
Admittedly, Riley’s very success with that punch was a sign of Aswell’s own limitations, given he was caught out by the same strike on repeat. But Aswell, to his credit, eventually began to create angles in a bid to evade, which worked for a while until Riley increased his own inventiveness in response. And as Riley grew more inventive, the crowd grew more invested.
Still, it’s worth noting that Riley ate one clean shot for every two he landed as he sought a stoppage. Earlier in the night, after handily finishing Liverpool’s Kurtis Campbell, American Danny Silva referenced Pimblett’s most-famous quote by jibing: “They always say, ‘Scousers get knocked out.’ That’s all I have to say!” Pimblett’s words have not yet haunted him, and fortunately for Riley, they did not haunt him tonight either.
Ultimately, though, as the fans longed for a finish from Riley, they were left frustrated. Yet perhaps not as much as the UFC. They had contrived this card to enable a golden moment for Riley, but he could not produce the kind of polished performance they craved; he could not shine as they hoped.
Admittedly, Riley’s mission was made more difficult given – for the second fight in a row – he had to follow a defeat by his teammate Shem Rock.
In just the second fight of the night, Rock fell to a decision loss, one day after taunting opponent Abdul-Kareem Al-Sewady by faking a handshake only to shove him at the weigh-in.
After the final buzzer on Saturday, Rock was finally ready to shake hands but it was naive; Al-Sewady understandably refused, and Rock tried to slap him. Security held them apart, and in fairness, the fighters seemed to put their differences aside before Al-Sewady was declared the winner.
“It was a desperate attempt to try to get under my skin,” Al-Sewady later told media of Rock’s general behaviour. “[He’s] been in my DMs for the last month, him and his crew of guys. He came to me at the end and said: ‘It’s all business.’ I said: ‘It’s not all business. What you just did is very disrespectful to the sport.’ You don’t extend your hand for a handshake and then push someone.”
Speaking of pushing someone, the UFC is intent on doing just that to Riley. He is young and unbeaten, but he will grow as a fighter, just as Pimblett has since his watershed moment at the O2.
Even so, maybe it’s unfair to expect of Riley what Pimblett has gone on to achieve, just as the hopeful comparisons to Conor McGregor were unfair on Paddy four years ago.
Still, Pimblett exploded out of the UFC’s blocks in scintillating fashion. Riley? He was left to lament Aswell’s “cinder-block” skull.
Nikita Kucherov had two goals and two assists to move two points ahead of Connor McDavid for the league scoring lead as the Tampa Bay Lightning won their third game in a row, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Saturday.
Anthony Cirelli had a pair of goals and Jake Guentzel also scored for the Lightning (43-21-4) who have won four of their last five.
Connor McDavid and Josh Samanski replied for the Oilers (34-28-9) who have lost two straight and missed out on a glorious opportunity to entrench themselves in the playoff race with most of their key rivals also losing earlier in the day.
The Oilers remained without star forward Leon Draisaitl, out for the rest of the regular season with a lower-body injury.
Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded 25 saves to earn the win in the Tampa net, while Connor Ingram made 22 stops for Edmonton.
Lightning: Kucherov has been nothing short of stellar of late with 12 points in his last three games and 22 points in his last eight contests. In 29 games in the 2026 calendar year, he has logged 67 points, 20 more than McDavid. Kucherov now has 37 points in 20 games against Edmonton.
Oilers: McDavid remains just shy of three milestones. He is now one goal from 400 in his career, one assist from 800 and two points short of 1,200.
The Lightning went up 3-1 with three minutes remaining in the second period as Kucherov emerged from the penalty box at the end of the first half of an Edmonton five-on-three advantage and J.J. Moser sprung him on a short-handed breakaway which he converted for his 39th of the season and his first career short-handed marker.
Edmonton got a bizarre goal on a play where they didn’t even shoot the puck with 12:44 to play in the third period. The teams were fighting for the puck along the sideboards when it was dug out by Tampa’s Oliver Bjorkstrand toward his own net and then hit the stick of Emil Lilleberg and trickled past Vasilevskiy. The goal was credited to rookie Samanski for his first career NHL goal.
Between them, the Lightning (three times) and the Oilers (twice) have appeared in five of the last six Stanley Cup finals.
Lightning: Visit the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
Oilers: Visit the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday.
Teddy Atlas has weighed up the attributes and limitations of Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois, predicting who will emerge triumphant on May 9.
The pair will square off for Wardley’s WBO world title at Manchester’s Co-op Live, headlining a Queensberry Promotions card that promises to deliver fireworks.
This is because both heavyweights possess fan-friendly styles and carry enormous power, with each of them boasting a 95% knockout-to-win ratio.
Several of these stoppages have arrived against top-class opposition, too, with Wardley coming off an 11th-round finish over Joseph Parker last October.
The 31-year-old was then elevated from ‘interim’ to full WBO champion after Oleksandr Usyk, who still holds the WBC, IBF and WBA titles, vacated his belt in November.
Dubois, meanwhile, has not fought since his fifth-round stoppage defeat to Usyk last July, when he was relieved of his IBF title in emphatic fashion.
Before that, though, ‘Dynamite’ had scored consecutive stoppage victories over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua, with the latter performance seeing him defend his world title.
But while Dubois, according to Atlas, represents a more complete package, the Hall of Fame trainer has nonetheless told BetVictor that he favours the mental resolve of Wardley.
“Wardley’s on a magic carpet ride; there’s something special going on with him.
“He’s physically strong; he’s a good puncher; he’s got a great chin; he’s got a great heart; he’s got a great engine. But if you really know what you’re looking at in the sport… there’s still progress to be made, learning to be done, and he’s doing it.
“Dubois is more complete. Dubois has an amateur background. He is a good puncher; he is athletic; he is skilled; he is very thick-boned; he’s very strong. But there’s something about the magic of Wardley I’m not going against.
“The area that I’ll finish this with is the most important area to me: the area of mental strength. I think he surpasses Dubois in that area. And because of that, I’ll take Wardley.”
Many have accused Dubois of lacking such fortitude in past performances, especially in his 10th-round stoppage defeat to Joe Joyce and first encounter with Usyk, which came in 2020 and 2023 respectively.
Wardley, on the other hand, remains unbeaten and has shown tremendous character to overcome hard-fought battles with the likes of Parker and Justis Huni.
Moses Itauma has admitted there is one fellow heavyweight star he would prefer not to cross paths with.
Unbeaten prospect Itauma returns to action later this month when he takes on Jermaine Franklin at Co-Op Live in Manchester.
Itauma has won all 13 of his fights to date, 11 of them coming by knockout, and the 21-year-old has been tipped by many to reach the top of the sport.
It seems Itauma hopes to achieve that goal without having to face one man in particular though, after he was asked on The Ariel Helwani Show about taking on the winner of the upcoming fight between his stablemate Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois.
“If I win will I fight the winner? If Frank Warren allows it as we’re all Queensberry boys. He has to open the gate for us to be able to. If Fabio wins, we’re at the same gym so it might be a bit awkward. If Dubois wins it will probably be more likely to happen.”
Itauma then explained why doesn’t see Wardley as a potential opponent.
“One of us would have to leave the gym. It’s never been a conversation [about fighting each other]. I’ve got Jermaine Franklin, he’s got Daniel Dubois, I’ve never really thought of Wardley as my opponent.
“When he knocked out Justis Huni everybody saw how excited and how happy I was for him. I’ve never really seen him as an opponent. We’ve never sparred. Ben [Davison] likes to keep the gym as a team environment.”
For now, Itauma remains fully focused on his clash against Franklin on March 28, while Wardley prepares to defend his WBO heavyweight title against Dubois on May 9.
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No. 5 Vanderbilt was a mere inch away from maybe the most historic shot in program history until the ball did everything but drop.
Tyler Tanner’s beyond-half-court heave to send the Commodores to the Sweet 16 went in-and-out to give No. 4 Nebraska a 74-72 win and advance to the Sweet 16.
Nebraska entered the half with a 39-32 lead and led by as many as 10 at one point, but Vanderbilt rallied back to lead by five with 5:34 to go.
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Tyler Tanner of the Vanderbilt Commodores shoots the ball against Sam Hoiberg of the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the final seconds of the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Paycom Center on March 21, 2026, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
The Cornhuskers then answered back with a 6-0 run to retake the lead, but Vanderbilt led 72-70 with less than a minute to go after a Tanner layup, which gave him 27 points on the night.
Those, however, were Tanner’s and Vanderbilt’s final points of the game. Rienk Mast tied the game with a putback with 37 seconds left, and Vanderbilt’s Chandler Bing missed a shot to take a late lead.
Nebraska then ran down the court, and Pryce Sandfort found Braden Frager, who made a contested layup to take the lead with 2.2 seconds left.
Nebraska Cornhuskers guard Sam Hoiberg (1) celebrates with fans after defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores in a second round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Paycom Center. (Alonzo Adams/Imagn Images)
VILLANOVA COACH TURNS HEADS AFTER ‘JOKE’ THAT HE WOULD ‘FIRE MY STAFF’ DURING MARCH MADNESS LOSS
Vanderbilt called a timeout, and the inbound went to the red-hot Tanner, who clearly had the groove of his shot. He pulled up from half-court, but the shot was a striking image of Gordon Hayward’s from the 2010 national title game against Duke – off the backboard, then the rim, then out.
Quite literally everybody, even the heavy-Nebraska crowd in Oklahoma City, was in disbelief, but the party was on for the red after shock and relief quickly turned into celebration.
It’s Nebraska’s first time ever making the Sweet 16 after eight prior appearances without getting there. In fact, this year is the first time they even won a game in the tournament.
Braden Frager of the Nebraska Cornhuskers celebrates after the victory against the Vanderbilt Commodores in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Paycom Center on March 21, 2026, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
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Four Cornhuskers finished in double-digits, with Sandfort and Frager each putting up 15. Nebraska will face the winner of No. 1 Florida and No. 9 Iowa.
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Arne Slot is experiencing a disappointing season following his league title win last year
Liverpool’s troubles in the Premier League intensified with a 2-1 loss at Brighton on Saturday, leaving the stuttering defending champions on a three-match winless run and under threat of dropping out of the Champions League qualification spots.
Danny Welbeck scored twice for Brighton at Amex Stadium, either side of Milos Kerkez’s equalizer for Liverpool in its latest disjointed display under manager Arne Slot.
Liverpool has taken just one point from its last three league games and is in fifth place, one point ahead of sixth-place Chelsea ahead of its match at Everton later. Like last season, the top five finishers in the Premier League are expected to qualify for the Champions League.
To add to Liverpool’s woes, striker Hugo Ekitike hobbled off in the eighth minute with a left leg problem and joined an injury list that also includes Mohamed Salah and Alisson Becker, who got hurt this week.
Few could have expected Liverpool’s title defense to be so underwhelming when the club spent a record $570 million in last summer’s transfer window to bolster a championship-winning squad.
Welbeck – the evergreen, 35-year-old striker – rose above Ibrahima Konate to nod home the opening goal for Brighton in the 14th minute.
Liverpool responded in the 30th when Kerkez intercepted a headed backpass by Lewis Dunk and flicked a lob over goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
Welbeck tapped in the winner in the 56th for a goal that survived a VAR check.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Published: Mar 22 2026 | 9:55 AM IST
Prince Naseem Hamed was adored for his unique fight style, obscene punch power and polarising character. Now, fan-favourite Roy Jones Jr has admitted that one current world champion reminds him of the Wincobank-schooled superstar.
Hamed captured the WBO featherweight world title with a stoppage of Steve Robinson on away soil in Cardiff and hung onto the title for almost six years, unifying with the IBF and WBC belts during that time.
During his career, the Sheffield-born slickster knocked out the likes of Kevin Kelley, Wilfredo Vazquez and Tom Johnson whilst becoming one of the first Briton’s to truly succeed as a star across the pond, often headlining cards stateside.
In 2002, Hamed hung up the gloves with a record of 36-1, calling time on a career that saw him shine a light on the 126lb division and become one of the most memorable featherweights of all time.
Although, it is the welterweight division where Jones believes there is a comparable fighter. In an interview with Fight Hub TV, he explained why he believes WBA champion Rolando Romero is a ‘watered down’ version of Hamed, when discussing Romero’s chances in a potential unification clash with WBO ruler Devin Haney.
“If he [Rolly] can catch Devin early or hurt Devin, it can become a 50/50 fight. I told people the same thing when he fought Ryan, I told guys that you got to look at it like this, Rolly is a lot lesser version, a knock-off version, of Prince Naseem Hamed.
“If he hits you, you’ll know that you have been hit because he has got unusual punching power. It’s a watered down version [of Hamed] but it isn’t as watered down as y’all think it is.”
It is understood that Haney and Romero will collide on Saturday, May 30, with the victor likely to pursue a three-belt unification bout against fellow 147lb champion Ryan Garcia.
No. 1 seeds Duke and Michigan each faced legitimate challenges from No. 9 seeds on Saturday before pulling away and advancing to the Sweet 16. The final score of the Blue Devils’ 81-58 win over TCU hides the truth that it was a dogfight for 30 minutes.
When Duke needed it most, it got a heroic effort from star freshman Cam Boozer. The All-American forward exploded in the second half after going MIA during the first. His 19 points and 11 rebounds, along with the return of center Patrick Ngongba from injury, helped the Blue Devils wear down a gritty Horned Frogs team that briefly took a lead early in the second half.
Saint Louis tested Michigan in a different way before the Wolverines cruised to a 95-72 victory. The Billikens’ well-oiled attack knocked the No. 1 seed Wolverines on their heels early. But the Atlantic 10 champions ultimately had no answer for Michigan stars Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara.
A total of eight Sweet 16 bids flew off the shelf on Saturday as the first weekend of the 2026 NCAA Tournament rolled on. Here are the winners and losers from the action.
Winner: Michigan activates “machine” mode
Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz and Michigan coach Dusty May are close friends who share basketball insights and swap ideas. But Michigan at its best is an inevitable force that cannot be contained — even by an opponent who knows exactly what’s coming.
The No. 1 seed Wolverines’ 95-72 win over No. 9 seed Billikens brought the latest demonstration of Michigan’s unmatchable top gear, as SLU offered a valiant but ultimately hopeless effort. The two-way attack led by bigs Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara simply overwhelmed a skilled but undersized group of Billikens. When your 7-foot-3 center is rifling cross-court passes like this to a 6-foot-9 potential lottery pick for open 3s, things are definitely going well. – David Cobb
Winner: Saint Louis runs into a buzzsaw but appears primed for consistent relevance
The best season in Saint Louis history is over after catching Michigan on a day when everything was rolling.
No one is beating Michigan when it plays as well as it did on Saturday, and SLU certainly found that out the hard way. But with sharp coach Josh Schertz signed to come back, there’s tons of hope that this is far from just a blip on the radar.
The Robbie Avila Era is over, so SLU will need to remake its frontcourt, but five rotation players can return and a legitimate proof of concept has been established. This may be just the beginning. – Isaac Trotter
Winner: Duke emerges from the slumber with knockout second-half punch
What a response. Duke was wobbly early in the second half as TCU clawed back to take a two-point advantage, but the Blue Devils were not going to be denied.
Cameron Boozer scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half to lead Duke to the Sweet 16 with an 81-58 victory over the ninth-seeded Horned Frogs. Freshman wing Dame Sarr deposited four key 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Isaiah Evans (17 points) did his thing as well.
Maybe most importantly, Duke is starting to get healthy. Big man Patrick Ngongba played 12 minutes and scored four points in his return from a foot injury. Kansas or St. John’s awaits in what should be a doozy. — Trotter
Loser: Iron unkind to Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt and Nebraska played the game of the tournament so far, and it all came down to a half-court heave from Commodores star Tyler Tanner. The high-arcing attempt hit the backboard, rattled around the rim and then bounced out, preserving a 74-72 victory for the No. 4 seed Cornhuskers. It was a brutal ending to a memorable performance from Tanner. The undersized sophomore led all scorers with 27 points as the No. 5 seed Commodores hung tough inside a road-type environment.
Oklahoma’s City Paycom Center was filled with Nebraska fans thrilled to see the Cornhuskers advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history just two days after the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win. Braden Fraser scored the go-ahead bucket with 2.2 seconds remaining, which left just enough time for Tanner to catch, dribble once then let it fly. It came oh so close to a moment for the history books. Instead, it produced a brutal agony for the Commodores that only March Madness can bring. – Cobb
Winner: Arkansas avoids the trap
No. 12 seed High Point faltered in its quest to pull off another major upset, as the Panthers fell 94-88 to No. 4 seed Arkansas in the second round. But the Panthers played with gusto and pushed the Razorbacks until the very end behind a 30-point showing from Rob Martin. Cam’Ron Fletcher, who once played for Arkansas coach John Calipari at Kentucky, added 25 for the Panthers, who upset Wisconsin in Thursday’s first round.
The Razorbacks never led by double digits and needed a combined 55 points from freshman guards Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas in order to survive. — Cobb
Loser: Texas A&M gets a painful wake-up call
No. 10 seed Texas A&M enjoyed a successful first season under coach Bucky McMillian, but it ended with a rude awakening. No. 2 seed Houston, which has now been to seven straight Sweet 16s, made quick work of the upstart Aggies in an 88-57 win.
The outcome demonstrated the gulf between programs that share a state, but are in vastly different stages of their life cycles. A sure-handed group of Houston guards never caved under A&M’s pressure, and the Cougars dominated on the glass with a 19-9 edge in offensive rebounds. After beginning the second half on an 8-0 run, Houston led by at least 20 the rest of the way. The Aggies are on the way up under McMillan, but they saw on Saturday just how high the mountain is to climb if they want to be among the best. – Cobb
Winner: Texas joins exclusive company
There will be at least one double-digit seed in the Sweet 16. Texas made sure of that by knocking off No. 3 seed Gonzaga 74-68, reaching the tournament’s second weekend for the first time since 2023.
The Longhorns become the sixth team to advance from the First Four to the Sweet 16, joining VCU, UCLA, Syracuse, La Salle and Tennessee. Both VCU and UCLA went on to reach the Final Four before falling in the national semifinals.
Texas is far more dangerous than its seed suggests, with high-end talent and an experienced coach. Sean Miller will be making his ninth Sweet 16 appearance and is the 10th coach to take three different programs to the tournament’s second weekend.
— Cameron Salerno
Loser: VCU’s bid for another comeback flails
Even as Illinois turned a seven-point halftime edge into an increasingly significant lead, hope still persisted that perhaps No. 11 seed VCU could pull another stunner.
But just two days after executing the largest comeback in Round of 64 history against North Carolina, the Rams ran out of magic in a 76-55 loss to the No. 3 seed Illini.
Illinois is at its best when balance is king. Saturday’s Round of 32 showed more maturity in that department. Andrej Stojakovic dominated the first half with 16 of his 21 points, and Keaton Wagler took over in the second half with 13 points to send the Illini to the Sweet 16 with a 76-55 win over No. 11 seed VCU. Four different players cracked double figures. That’s exactly what Underwood was envisioning. — Trotter and Cobb
Winner: Jeremy Fears Jr. makes history
Jeremy Fears Jr. set a school record for most assists in an NCAA Tournament game as he dished out 16 dimes while directing No. 3 seed Michigan State to a 77-69 win over No. 6 seed Louisville.
Fears is up to 27 assists through two games in this Big Dance, which is the most for any player through two games since UCLA’s Earl Watson amassed 28 in 2000.
One of Fears’ favorite targets was high-flying forward Coen Carr, who finished with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Carr added 10 rebounds and two blocks as the Spartans flew into a Sweet 16 matchup with the winner of Sunday’s game between No. 2 seed UConn and No. 7 seed UCLA. — Cobb
Loser: Louisville falls short of preseason expectations
Winning a first-round game against No. 11 seed South Florida is a fine achievement, but this is a Louisville program with high expectations. The Cardinals won 27 games last season with a less talented roster. Simply put, another early exit from the Big Dance is disappointing.
Louisville star Mikel Brown Jr. didn’t play in the NCAA Tournament, which certainly didn’t help. The projected top-10 pick showed flashes this season of why he was a five-star prospect coming out of high school, but he only managed to play in 21 games.
This will be a critical offseason for Louisville. The Cardinals currently have zero players signed from the 2026 recruiting cycle. Louisville will likely use the transfer portal again to build out its roster. The teams at the top of the sport — namely Duke, Michigan, Arizona and Florida — have gone all-in on building massive frontlines and using two-way rim dominance to separate from the rest of the pack.
Louisville zigged while they zagged, choosing to invest heavily into building maybe the most dangerous backcourt in all of college basketball … on paper. All four of Louisville’s biggest free agent additions were guards: Mikel Brown Jr., Ryan Conwell, Isaac McKneely and Adrian Wooley.
Even when Brown was healthy, Louisville didn’t the smashmouth basketball ability that might be necessary in the supersized era of college basketball.
Change feels vital to reach that top level. – Salerno and Trotter
On this week’s episode of the Fully Equipped Podcast Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow explored the AI fitting rabbit hole.
The post Can AI fit our 2 biggest gear heads? | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.
KANATA, ONT. — The most disappointing season in Toronto Maple Leafs memory won’t stop supplying rubberneckers of this car wreck with another ugly scene to digest.
The series of unfortunate events just keeps getting renewed.
On Saturday, in a barn beside an Ottawa highway, the Maple Leafs didn’t even make it to puck drop before things veered off the road.
William Nylander — aloof whipping boy and barrel-chested leading scorer bundled into one — accidentally zipped a puck off Anthony Stolarz’s throat during warmups, sending the visitors’ intended starting goaltender to a nearby hospital for imaging.
(Stolarz was released from hospital and did fly home with his teammates, but it’s worth noting that he already dealt with a nerve injury in his neck this season that sidelined him for three months.)
“Really tough to see that happen. I mean, I always come in and shoot a puck in the glove, and this one just came off a little bit to the left. I hit him in the neck, so I was obviously worried for him. But I’ve been texting with him, so he seems to be OK,” an apologetic Nylander explained, following a 5-2 thumping by the Ottawa Senators.
“I have certain spots where I shoot it, so they know where I’m shooting it all the time.”
In came a scrambling Joseph Woll, who had lost an overtime game and been called out by his coach for coming up one save short less than 24 hours prior.
A surprised Woll, who hadn’t played both halves of a back-to-back since March 2021 with the Marlies, swapped out his practice equipment for his game gear and “hit play” on starter mode.
“Just tried to, soon as I could, get to my routine and give our team the best chance I could,” Woll said. “Just an accident. Stuff happens.”
We won’t blame Woll for missing a big save in this one, as the bad-luck, highly fragile Maple Leafs turned in another sloppy, slumpy performance, this time to a provincial rival they eliminated from the playoffs the last time these teams played a game of any consequence at Canadian Tire Centre.
But those Maple Leafs are not these Maple Leafs, who don’t particularly need wins and are acting like it.
Outshot by a resounding 43-14 and out-chanced 44-18, the Maple Leafs inadvertently injured one goalie, then hung their next out to dry.
An ugly pattern that has permeated this stain of a season.
In total, Craig Berube’s club has allowed 382 more pucks on net than it has taken. Only the rebuilding Blackhawks have a worse shot differential.
“It’s tough on Joseph, for sure. Played last night. Now he’s got to prepare and everything,” Berube said. “He did a great job, but the team’s got to respond better than that.
“We get ourselves back in the game again in the third, and we just don’t have enough guys that go out and push.”
Trouble is, mentally they’re getting pushed over too easily.
When Tim Stützle took advantage of a bad Matias Maccelli tripping penalty and sniped a power-play marker in an otherwise tightly contested first period, rookie Easton Cowan said the 1-0 score “deflated us.”
The game wasn’t 15 minutes old at that point.
“I don’t really understand this deflated stuff, to be honest with you. I think it’s a copout,” Berube said.
“Second period, they took the game over. You know, they just wanted it more. Came out harder. We couldn’t get the puck out of our zone.”
Couldn’t tie up sticks. Couldn’t complete a smart first pass. Couldn’t block enough shots.
Couldn’t protect the net-front of a tired and overworked goalie thrust into emergency action.
“They just kept rolling over on us,” Nylander said.
The night began with an unfortunate bout of friendly fire and concluded with gleeful Sens fans twisting the knife, rejoicing in “You need Mar-ner!” chants.
Only Team Tank could glean a silver lining from this one, as Toronto secured its 29th regulation loss.
“I feel like some nights we have been giving up a lot of shots and not being able to generate that much offence, spending a lot of time in D-zone,” Nylander said. “If we spend some more time in the O-zone, we can relieve some of that pressure on Joe tonight on the back-to-back.
“But, I mean, I think the battle, it’s hard now.”
• Morgan Rielly suffered a lower-body injury in Friday’s overtime loss to the Hurricanes and did not play. He’s listed as day-to-day.
• Why is Matthew Knies still participating in meaningless games with a bad knee?
“It’s kind of an injury I don’t think can get much worse, so I don’t think there’s any risk for me playing,” Knies told reporters. “Everyone is playing through something.”
Berube notes that Knies did get weeks of rest during the Olympics: “I haven’t heard one thing, so he’s healthy.”
• The Maple Leafs recalled the scrappy Michael Pezzetta for this weekend’s back-to-back but didn’t dress him in either game.
Berube: “I thought about it a lot.”
Would have liked to see diehard Leafs fan Pezzetta’s energy in the Battle of Ontario over, say, impending UFA Calle Järnkrok, who is unlikely to be with the team next season.
• We sense a new Fan Day competition coming…
• Cowan, who set up John Tavares’s goal and scored his ninth, has mentioned that he is trying to model his game after that of feisty winger Brandon Hagel.
Berube likes the aspiration.
“That’s going to be a big part of Easton’s game, just the skating and being a hounder and having the ability, which Hagel does, to score some goals and make some plays,” Berube says. “I do see some similarities there. In time, he can get there if he keeps working on his game.”
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