GREENVILLE, S.C. — On the night Illinois lost to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament, coach Brad Underwood lamented that his team didn’t show the requisite toughness to advance beyond the quarterfinal.

The Illini weren’t nasty enough, didn’t give a s−−− enough, he said.

He no longer had those complaints Saturday night after ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — John Middleton flew home Sunday afternoon from spring training just as the March Madness doubleheader neared tipoff in South Philly. He has a season to get back for as the Phillies’ campaign starts on Thursday. But two days of college hoops also means that the team’s managing partner is nearly in the batter’s box for a ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — With less than a month remaining in the NBA regular season, it’s not uncommon for team’s fighting for playoff positioning to face off against teams battling instead for a better draft spot.

Such was the case Monday night at Kia Center when the Orlando Magic hosted the Indiana Pacers, a team that had lost more games in the ...Read more

MIAMI — Jai Lucas kept his emotions in check all season as he rebuilt a University of Miami men’s basketball program that had fallen to the ACC basement a few years after its historic Final Four run.

But Sunday afternoon, in the bowels of the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, his players in tears after a hard-fought loss to Purdue in the ...Read more

MIAMI – Whole, and still not wholly good enough.

With a fully healthy roster for only the sixth time this season, the Miami Heat still were made soberingly aware Monday night of the deficit against the league’s elite.

So make it five consecutive losses for Erik Spoelstra’s team with the 136-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Kaseya ...Read more

DETROIT — The Detroit Pistons were leading the Los Angeles Lakers 105-100 with 3:40 remaining in the fourth quarter. For the Lakers, being only five points behind was reassuring, especially considering they came into Detroit with the league's best record in clutch moments with a 22-6 record.

The Lakers mounted a rally in the final three ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — It ended Sunday night, not with a net being cut down, but with a locker room that was way too somber, a season that was over way too soon, and a group of Florida Gators who walked off the floor in tears.

The run is over.

And what a run it was.

The No. 1-seeded Florida Gators won’t repeat as national champions. Iowa made sure...Read more

There have been so many great moments for Jai Lucas this season, so many surprise comebacks to create a surprise season that his Miami team figured Sunday would become just another one in the final minutes against Purdue.

Shelton Henderson, who doesn’t look or play like a freshman, drove the ball hard to the basket looking to cut Purdue’s ...Read more

SEATTLE — October 25, 2006. April 18, 2008. May 15, 2013.

March 25, 2026?

Those dates on the calendar — three in the past, one still yet to come — represent four seminal moments in the history of NBA franchise stability as it relates to Seattle.

The first three are dates fans of the green and gold would rather forget.

The first was the...Read more

PHILADELPHIA – Alex Karaban played like a man trying to keep his career alive on Sunday night.

UConn’s all-time winningest player scored a career-high 27 points to lead the Huskies back to the Sweet 16 for the third time in his career with a 73-57 win over fellow blue-blood UCLA at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.

Karaban made nine of...Read more

SAN DIEGO — All high drama requires a setting.

Sunday, that setting was San Diego.

Forever searing our city into the pleasure synapses of many thousands of New Yorkers, a driving layup at San Diego State’s Viejas Arena sent St. John’s University to its first Sweet 16 since 1999.

The basketball banked off the glass as the clock hit 0.00....Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Florida’s hopes for a rare repeat came to a stunning conclusion as ninth-seeded Iowa bounced the Gators from the NCAA Tournament.

A 3-pointer with 4.5 second by 6-foot-10 Spaniard Alvaro Folgueriras ended Florida’s national championship bid during a 73-72 loss to Iowa Sunday night at Benchmark International Arena.

Point ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — If the lack of an upset on Friday in Philadelphia’s NCAA Tournament games left fans disappointed, the consolation prize was a high-level contest to start Sunday’s doubleheader.

No. 6 seed Tennessee and No. 3 Virginia treated a full and loud arena to a terrific game that came right down to the end, with the Volunteers ...Read more

BOSTON — A season-worst fourth quarter doomed the Boston Celtics on Sunday in a home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Boston went 5 for 27 in the final period — with two of its makes coming by deep reserves in garbage time — as it fell 102-92 at TD Garden to a Minnesota team that was playing without injured All-Star Anthony Edwards.

...Read more

NEW YORK — No longstanding NBA scoring records were hurt in the making of the New York Knicks’ 145-113 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday. As for the egos of the players suiting up for the nation’s capital? That’s a completely different story.

Clobbering Time was in full effect at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks — ...Read more

Both teams were tanking, but Sunday at Golden 1 Center still turned into a night where young and fringe rotation players on each side were asked to step up.

The Sacramento Kings entered the day in fourth place in the draft lottery standings, a half-game behind the Nets for third. Brooklyn arrived on a six-game losing streak, playing without ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Bryan Hodgson is leaving USF after one season to become the men’s basketball coach at Providence College.

Hodgson, 38, led USF to a 25-9 record, American Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and an NCAA Tournament berth this season. The Bulls lost 83-79 to Louisville in a first-round game Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y. ...Read more

The drought is over. For the first time in 27 years, St. John’s is headed to the Sweet 16.

Dylan Darling delivered a dramatic, buzzer-beating lay-up to give fifth-seeded St. John’s a 67-65 win over fourth-seeded Kansas in San Diego on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Kansas had rallied back from a 14-point second-half ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — As it turned out, a 2025-26 Kentucky men’s basketball season that featured more dramatic ups and downs than “The Beast” ended in the only manner it could have:

With one more wild roller coaster ride.

Coach Mark Pope’s Cats began their NCAA Tournament Midwest Region round of 32 game against Iowa State scalding hot.

The ...Read more

DENVER — Winning has often been a burdensome enterprise for the Denver Nuggets the last few weeks. They’ll take every blowout they can get, regardless of the opponent.

They earned their second consecutive victory Sunday afternoon with a 128-112 rout of the Portland Trail Blazers at Ball Arena. Nikola Jokic went for 22 points, 14 rebounds ...Read more