SAN DIEGO — For a few brief moments, the ninth-seeded Aggies caught a glimpse of advancing to the Sweet Sixteen next weekend up the road in San Jose.

Despite finding themselves down by 18 points early in the second half of Sunday night’s second-round game against No. 1 seed Arizona, Utah State clawed its way back into the game with its defense and managed to close the gap to just four points on three occasions.

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But each time the Aggies got to within a couple of scores, the feisty Wildcats scored on their subsequent possessions to keep their opponents at bay and eventually ended Utah State’s season with a 78-66 victory at Viejas Arena.

“It hurts. I don’t want to take the uniform off,” USU graduate guard Drake Allen said quietly. “Knowing it’s going to be my last time wearing it means so much. And it really feels like a family. Everybody in Logan feels like one big family.”

Utah State (29-7) might have been able to get over the hump were not for a brutal performance from the 3-point line. But after going 1 for 12 from long distance in the first half, the Aggies finished just 8 for 32 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“When you can’t find it — the ball won’t go in from 3 — you’ve got to get to the rim,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “And I was really proud of our effort around the rim. I thought we were pretty efficient.

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“But to beat a No. 1 seed when you’re a No. 9 seed, you’ve got to make those 3s. And our guys knew that.”

The Aggies knew that going up against the significantly larger Wildcats (34-2) was going to be a challenge, but Calhoun’s crew still ended up with three more field goals than Arizona and Utah State (39.1%) notched an overall field goal percentage that was nearly identical to that of the Cats (39.3%).

But in addition to a rough night from 3-point range, the Aggies were outrebounded by a stunning 54-26 margin, and the Wildcats also shot 28 more free throws.

“So far, they’re 2-0 in this tournament, and they live in the paint,” Calhoun said of Arizona. “They chew the paint up. They play ’80s, ’90s basketball. The number of physical plays in the game — we haven’t seen that all year.

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“… But our guys did a tremendous job, I thought, the last nine minutes of really locking in on some of those details. You’ve got to be at least eight or 10 difference in the rebounding. It can’t be 28. And if you’re not going to rebound, you’ve got to make shots. So, it was just a couple of margins that we couldn’t overcome.”

Senior forward Garry Clark came off the bench to give the Aggies a huge lift, going 6 of 8 from the field, scoring 13 points and snagging six rebounds in just 18 minutes. Senior guard MJ Collins Jr. (12 points) and Allen (11 points) were the only other USU players to score in double figures.

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The Aggies’ one-two scoring punch of Collins and junior guard Mason Falslev (8 points) went a combined 7 of 26 from the field and 4 of 15 from 3-point range in the loss.

Thanks to Clark, Utah State’s bench outscored Arizona’s 27-10. But then, the Wildcats’ starters totaled 68 points by themselves, with guards Jaden Bradley (18 points) and Brayden Burries (16 points) leading the way.

Burries also delivered one of the biggest blows to the Aggies’ chances of an upset with 2:18 left and Utah State still within six points. The freshman guard buried a 3-pointer with 6-foot-9 USU wing Adlan Elamin closing in on him, extending Arizona’s advantage to 73-64.

“Obviously, Burries’ 3 was a dagger,” Calhoun declared. “I thought we played that possession really well. It was just a six-point game. … There’s a lot of plays through a 40-minute game that could impact it. And I thought that 3 by him was just a big-time shot in a big moment, and that kind of carried Arizona to the win.”

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Burries ended up going 3 of 3 from 3-point range while the rest of the Wildcats went 4 of 13 from long range.

“I think Brayden’s a winner, and he has ultimate confidence,” Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said. “It’s been a joy to coach him. … He’s a laid-back, kind-of-unassuming guy, but he has a killer in him. And that’s a beautiful attribute.”

The Wildcats, who have won 11 straight games, also got 14 points from freshman forward Koa Peat, and 11 points and 14 rebounds from junior Motiejust Krivas. The 7–foot-2 center blocked three shots, caused the Aggies’ offense and all sorts of problems and went 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to help Arizona advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the fourth time in Lloyd’s five seasons in Tucson.

Conversely, Utah State still hasn’t won two games in the same NCAA Tournament since 1970. But despite never holding the lead — Burries buried a 3-pointer just 24 seconds into the game — trailing 33-24 at halftime and falling behind by 18 points early in the second half, the Aggies still gave their fans hope.

After a 10-foot jumpier by Burries forced Calhoun into calling a timeout with his team trailing 51-33 with 14:43 left, Utah State turned up the intensity defensively, holding Arizona without a field goal for over seven minutes while creating turnovers with its full-court defense.

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Two free throws by Elamin pulled the Aggies to within 56-51 at the 7:22 mark, and a 3-pointer by Allen closed the gap to just four points a minute later. But a putback by Krivas — one of Arizona’s 21 offensive rebounds — stretched the Cats’ lead back to 60-54.

Two more free throws from Elamin got USU back to four points once again, but those two points were offset when Arizona finally broke the Aggies’ press, leading to a 3-point play by Bradley. Following a missed 3-pointer by USU forward Karson Templin, Falslev came up with one of his three steals, which led to the Aggies getting back to within four points for a third and final time.

Allen enjoyed the moment, turning towards the Aggies’ fan section to celebrate Utah State getting back to 63-59 with just over five minutes to go. But his joy was short-lived, and USU’s momentum soon disappeared when Bradley scored the next three points of the game.

Although Allen did managed to slice through Arizona’s big men for a layup that left Utah State down 66-61, four free throws by Krivas and Burries’ clutch 3-pointer carried Arizona to the victory and brought Utah State’s spectacular season to an end.

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“I think it’s very hard for a season to end anytime; it just comes abruptly,” Calhoun noted. “Its one of those things that you don’t ever want to end. You just want to coach these guys another day, another game.

“We wanted to get to San Jose, but we weren’t able to do it.”

World number two Luke Humphries joked his win at the Belgian Darts Open would help in his bid to become “the second-best player in the world”.

Double defending champion Luke Littler’s shock 6-5 exit to Dutchman Niels Zonneveld in the last 16 paved the way for Humphries to clinch his ninth European Tour title with an 8-6 win over Jonny Clayton.

The 31-year-old scraped past Chris Dobey 6-5 in the quarter-finals but destroyed Michael van Gerwen 7-2 in the semis.

“It’s one of them things where I feel my game’s been there, then it’s not, then it is,” Humphries said on stage after his win.

“Usually in those circumstances I close the game out a lot better, but when you’re not winning as much they become harder and you feel the nerves.

“I’m just dedicated and working so hard to push every dart player and be the best version of myself.

“I’m going to keep trying to be the second-best player in the world – apparently.”

Matthew Fitzpatrick has never been a fan of slow play — nor the way the PGA Tour has handled the problem.

So it was only fitting that his latest Tour win came with an extra hurdle: His playing partner’s pace.

“That was really frustrating. It was slow today. I felt like there was a lot of stop-start,” Fitzpatrick said after his win at the Valspar Championship.

He chose his words carefully and never called out his playing partner Adrien Dumont de Chassart by name, but his words echoed sentiments he’s shared throughout his years on Tour. Fitzpatrick has consistently called out the issue, using phrases like “truly appalling,” “a disgrace,” “pathetic” and more.

Three years ago, following a big-time win at Harbour Town, Fitzpatrick took aim in a Sky Sports interview. But he also acknowledged he was taking a futile stand.

“The problem is, though, this conversation has gone on for years and years and years, and no one has ever done anything,” he said at the time. “So I feel it’s almost a waste of time talking about it every time. I have my opinions — they’re probably strong opinions, but PGA Tour, DP World Tour, no one’s going to do anything about it.”

Back to Sunday, then. While Fitzpatrick’s day was smooth — he fired three-under 68 en route to victory — Dumont de Chassart’s was less so. The 26-year-old Belgian’s opening tee shot flew out of bounds en route to triple-bogey 8 and he made a second 8 at the par-5 11th; his handling of the latter took such a long time that Fitzpatrick, who’d played out of turn in an attempt to keep their group on pace, took the unusual step of asking an official for help.

NBC’s on-course reporter John Wood said that Fitzpatrick was “perturbed” by Chassart’s pace, which he described as “glacial, to be kind.”

Rules official Orlando Pope confirmed on the broadcast that Fitzpatrick had spoken with an official and that the Tour had begun unofficially timing him; that eventually led to an official warning.

“Yeah, just, you know, just not ready,” Fitzpatrick said, referencing his playing partner, if not by name. He was drawing a distinction between making a high score — which happens and can inevitably slow up play — and playing slowly while doing so.

“When you’re not ready to play a golf shot it gets frustrating after awhile. Particularly when you playing well yourself or you’re in contention or whatever it is. It definitely knocks you out of your rhythm. Because you hit, you walk to it, you kind of think about it, you hit again, and you go. 

“There in particular that hole, then you’re around a stretch there that can get a little bit quirky with different shots and stuff, so you have to be on it,” Fitzpatrick continued. “It definitely knocked me out of rhythm I felt like for the next two, three holes. I was kind of chasing my tail, because I’m trying to speed up and trying to keep us or get back in position, and at the same time you’re obviously trying to win a golf tournament.”

The Big Ten has the target well within reach as the conference seeks its first national championship since Michigan State won it all in 2000. With six teams advancing to the Sweet 16, the conference will have multiple teams with solid chances at reaching the Final Four after it missed out last season.

At least one Big Ten team is guaranteed to reach the Elite Eight. That’s because No. 4 seed Nebraska and No. 9 seed Iowa will play each other in the Sweet 16 as part of a South Region that also features No. 3 seed Illinois. It is the first time since 2018 and just the third time ever that three teams from the same conference have advanced to the Sweet 16 within the same region.

The Hawkeyes are unequivocally the Big Ten’s most surprising Sweet 16 representative after stunning No. 1 seed Florida 73-72 on Sunday. No. 1 seed Michigan from the Midwest looks like the Big Ten’s top title contender, but the Wolverines are surrounded by plenty of company as the league seeks a basketball breakthrough to accompany its three straight football titles.

Things are far less rosy for the ACC, which saw just one of its eight NCAA Tournament teams survive the weekend. That team was No. 1 overall seed Duke, which will now enjoy the distinct displeasure of playing No. 5 seed St. John’s in the Sweet 16 after the Red Storm squeaked out a thrilling win over Kansas.

Here are the winners and losers from Sunday’s second-round action.

Winner: Big Ten’s epic day

Six of the Sweet 16 teams hail from the Big Ten. Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska and Iowa are still alive entering the second weekend. It’s tied for the second-most for any conference behind the 2025 SEC, which sent seven teams to the Sweet 16. The guard play in the Big Ten has been especially excellent this season, which may explain the surge of Sweet 16 entries.

• Purdue’s Braden Smith is the all-time assist leader.
• Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr. just had a 16-assist game, the most in MSU history, passing up the ole Magic Johnson.
• Iowa point guard Bennett Stirtz is a potential first-round pick.
• Illinois point guard Keaton Wagler is a potential lottery pick.
• Michigan’s Elliot Cadeau has had a much better year than many projected.

You get the point.

No league posted a higher effective field goal percentage than the Big Ten this year, which could also be directly attributed to the floor generals in this league. It showed up in March. – Isaac Trotter

Loser: ACC is down to one team

If you’re using NCAA Tournament success as a primary measuring stick, the ACC can’t claim improvement this year. Miami‘s 79-69 loss to Purdue and Virginia‘s 79-72 loss to Tennessee on Sunday left No. 1 overall seed Duke as the league’s only team advancing to the Sweet 16.

If you zoom out, the ACC took strides in the 2025-26 season toward restoring its national relevance after placing just four of its 18 teams into the field of 68 last year. With eight teams in this year’s tournament and an improving roster of coaches, the conference is on a good trajectory. But that progress was not evident in its 2026 NCAA Tournament results. – David Cobb

Winner: Dylan Darling the unlikely hero

Kansas didn’t seem overly concerned about getting beat off the dribble by St. John’s point guard Dylan Darling on the final possession of regulation. Perhaps the Jayhawks should have devoted a little more attention to stopping the ball. Darling drove straight to the basket and hit a game-winner at the buzzer, lifting the No 5 seed Red Storm to a 67-65 victory over No. 4 seed Kansas. Darling sized up the 1-on-1 defense from KU’s Elmarko Jackson and decided to take the game into his own hands, even though he had been held scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting until that point. No one will remember what Darling did for the game’s first 39 minutes and 56 seconds. But they’ll sure remember what he did to send St. John’s to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999. – Cobb

Winner: The Ben McCollum masterpiece

Iowa is off to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 after upsetting top-seeded Florida, 73-72. Iowa used a barrage of sharp matchup-hunting to twist Florida’s defense into a pretzel, and Alvaro Folgueiras delivered the game-winning 3-pointer with less than five seconds remaining. Ben McCollum has now won over 80% of his games (449-107) in his career. Indiana, Maryland and Minnesota were the other Big Ten teams involved in the 2025 coaching carousel, but it’s clear that Iowa was the major winner with the McCollum coup.

Florida’s roster was much more talented than Iowa’s, but the Hawkeyes were the better team Sunday. – Trotter

Loser: Florida’s title repeat hopes crash and burn

Todd Golden’s bid for a national championship repeat has fallen flat. The Gators fell 73-72 to No. 9 seed Iowa, and the hot spots aren’t hard to find. Florida’s usually reliable interior defense got gashed. Iowa shot over 70% on 2s against Florida today. No team had ever done that against Golden in his 144-game tenure in Gainesville. Iowa sliced and diced one of the elite rim defenses in the sport.

Florida just didn’t get enough from Rueben Chinyelu, who was in foul trouble for long stretches. Alex Condon delivered 21 points but struggled on defense. Xaivian Lee had 17 points and three big 3-pointers, but made a gaffe in the final seconds by not taking the potential game-winning layup at the horn.

Florida won the SEC. It earned a No. 1 seed. This season was far from a failure, but the ending was gut-wrenching. — Trotter

Winner: Iowa State’s DNA shines clear 

Iowa State played like it was backed into a corner without Joshua Jefferson. Even when offense was hard to come by in the first half and jumpers were going awry, Iowa State dug deep using defense, defense and more defense. The Cyclones blew up every Kentucky action in the second half of its runaway, 82-63, win. Iowa State forced 20 Kentucky turnovers and held the Wildcats to just 0.91 points per possession. – Trotter

Loser: Kentucky’s final loss sums up its entire season

Less than 48 hours after Kentucky thrillingly defeated Santa Clara to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, it fell flat against No. 2 seed Iowa State. The irony of that stretch is it’s a perfect microcosm of Kentucky’s season as a whole: a dramatic win followed by a letdown loss. Kentucky wasn’t favored in this game against Iowa State; however, Iowa State was without star player Joshua Jefferson after he suffered an ankle injury in the first round against Tennessee State. Kentucky couldn’t overcome its turnovers, and now major question marks surround the program heading into the offseason.

The Wildcats were one of the most disappointing teams

 in the sport after lofty preseason expectations centered around a roster worth over $20 million. A second-round loss isn’t the Kentucky standard. – Salerno

Winner: Purdue’s dual-pronged attack

Defending Purdue was a game of pick your poison for Miami on Sunday as the Boilermakers escaped with a 79-69 victory. The Boilermakers shot 53.2% from the floor as the duo of Fletcher Loyer and C.J. Cox combined to drill 7 of 8 shots from 3-point range. Cox exploded for three 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the first half as the Boilermakers erased a 7-point deficit.

With Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff wreaking havoc on the interior with 27 combined points for the Boilermakers and quality shooters surrounding them on the perimeter, Purdue earned what felt like a never-ending series of good looks. Star point guard Braden Smith finished just 3 of 12 from the floor, but it didn’t matter as he dished out eight assists to a balanced group of teammates who handled the scoring load. – Cobb

Winner: Tennessee marches to fourth straight Sweet 16

Tennessee had been to one Elite Eight before Rick Barnes’ arrival for the 2015-16 season. Now, the No. 6 seed Volunteers are one win away from going for a third straight season. Sunday’s 79-72 win over No. 3 seed Virginia sent the Volunteers into the Sweet 16 for a fourth straight season, marking an unprecedented run of success for both Barnes and the Tennessee program. Even during the height of Barnes’ 17-year run at Texas, the Longhorns never made it to the second weekend of the Big Dance in four straight seasons. Similarly, Tennessee never enjoyed a run of tournament success quite like this under Bruce Pearl. The Barnes-Tennessee pairing, now in its 11th season, has gone better than anyone could have envisioned when both were in need of revitalization in 2015. – Cobb

Sanju Samson is felicitated by MS Dhoni during ‘Roar’ event in Chennai. (Pic credit: CSK’s X post)

CHENNAI: The MA Chidambaram Stadium turned back time on Sunday as the legendary heroes from Chennai Super Kings’ past walked into the stadium in a first-of-its-kind ‘Roar’ event for the fans.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The OGs, the men who built CSK’s legacy — Suresh Raina, Muttiah Muralitharan, Michael Hussey, Matthew Hayden, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo — among others — slipped back into their vintage yellow jerseys and played an exhibition match against the current squad. The OGs got the better of the newbies with ease as the 28,000-odd crowd erupted into roars.

The star of the show, though, was Sanju Samson, for whom this will be his debut CSK season. Huge cheers were in store for him and the T20 World Cup winner assured that he will try and help the team lift the trophy.“Really happy and grateful to be a part of such a great franchise and team. It was a goosebumps moment. Winning the World Cup for the country is something I had dreamed of for many years. I’m glad I was able to contribute. Now, I’m excited and looking forward to the next couple of months in the IPL with my new team, CSK. My approach would be simple — see the ball and hit the ball. I will look to hit a lot of sixes,” said the wicket-keeper batter.Samson’s ‘duel’ with Sri Lankan great spinner Muralitharan also saw the loudest cheers of the evening. First, Samson politely played four dot balls to show respect. At one point, he stepped out looking to go big, missed, and MS Dhoni chose not to whip off the bails, a moment that drew smiles all around. However, Samson finished in style, striking two eyepleasing boundaries.As the crowd sang, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, Sanju is a superstar”, CSK’s ‘Chinna Thala’ Raina said that Samson’s inclusion will be a major boost for CSK. “I want them to win the title this time. The team looks very strong. Sanju is back here (after the World Cup), and there are a lot of youngsters who will learn from MS Dhoni and go on to get the trophy. I hope the fans continue supporting CSK like they always have,” Raina said.CSK also inducted Raina and Hayden into their first-ever Hall of Fame.