Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu will not play in Thursday night’s game against Nebraska because of a “facial injury,” a team spokesman confirmed to the Chicago Tribune.

Dosunmu was injured after taking a hard hit to the face during Tuesday’s loss at Michigan State. Mady Sissoko was ejected for the rough play that sent Dosunmu tumbling to the...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — You convince yourself … no Final Four, no chance, no way.

Then Villanova faces a team that had earlier made Jay Wright’s look not just bad, but ordinary, and the Wildcats completely dismiss St. John’s in a rematch.

Maybe this can still be a long run for the Wildcats in March?

Slow down.

Five years ago, it would have ...Read more

The NBA provides a higher standard for success and offers more extreme examples of terrible than will be found in North America's other three primary men's professional team sports.

The reason for this is mathematical. An NHL team getting to four goals is going to win 90% of the time. A major league baseball team getting to five runs is going ...Read more

This has been the most unusual college basketball season of all time.

Start with the pandemic. The pauses. Limited attendance or no fans at all. Jaw-dropping scores. Various blue bloods struggling to win games. And it will be topped off with an NCAA Tournament played entirely in one state — Indiana.

With that in mind, here are 20 crazy ...Read more

The Lakers didn’t just lose a basketball game Wednesday against the league-leading Utah Jazz.

They lost a math problem.

It wasn’t some complicated algorithm or advanced statistic that people assign to the NBA’s analytical revolution. Nope, it was simple.

Three is better than two and 22 is way better than eight.

The Utah Jazz, a team ...Read more

After a gutsy bounce-back performance against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night, expecting the Pistons to still have some juice left on the second night of a back-to-back was a little wishful thinking.

Actually, they did.

But only for three quarters.

The Pistons hung in for most of the game, but they fell short in the final period, and the ...Read more

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The even-more-depleted-than-usual Miami Hurricanes never stood a chance against rival Florida State.

With five players out and down to six scholarship players, Miami fell, 88-71, to the 11th-ranked Seminoles, who sit atop the ACC standings and are flush with South Florida talent, on Wednesday night at Watsco Center.

The ...Read more

Even as the winning continued, this was something closer to whole for the Miami Heat, something closer to what the Heat looked like during last season’s run to the Eastern Conference finals.

With Goran Dragic back in the mix for Erik Spoelstra’s team, with Andre Iguodala doing the 3-point things that Jae Crowder did during last season’s ...Read more

As the shot clock ran down and a seven-footer running his way, Cam Hayes banked in a long three pointer.

It was desperation shots like that, shots that fell, a sure sign that little could go wrong for N.C. State. The Wolfpack may have a chance to salvage their season and next month they might look back at their 68-61 win over No. 15 Virginia as...Read more

One game after its biggest win of the season, North Carolina suffered arguably its most disappointing. The Tar Heels led for all of 57 seconds as Marquette ran away with an 83-70 victory Wednesday. It was the Heels' first loss in the Dean E. Smith Center this season.

It wasn’t just that Carolina lost the game, it was how it lost. The Heels ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Not long after the Clippers signed prize free agent Kawhi Leonard in July 2019, Johnny Wilkes, the self-described best friend of Leonard’s uncle, drafted a list of requests for the team.

Wilkes wanted a job as the team’s vice president of special events. He wanted a five-year contract. He wanted a staff of four to five ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The NBA released the second half of its schedule for the 2020-21 NBA season — a schedule that is still flexible in the sense that the ongoing pandemic has forced postponements and rescheduling of games throughout the first 30 games.

Here's what it means for the Lakers:

— The Lakers come back from the break on March 12 to ...Read more

NEW YORK — Austin Rivers understands his time in New York could be over.

With the Feb. 8 trade for Derrick Rose completely cutting Rivers out of the rotation, the backup guard said he’s heard rumors about his relocation.

“There’s been stuff about me being moved to other places,” Rivers said. “With all this kind of up in the air ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — On the same day Paul George joined Kawhi Leonard on the NBA's All-Star Game roster, he also joined his Clippers teammate in expressing reservations over the league's decision to stage its midseason showcase March 7 amid a continuing pandemic.

The All-Star selection is the seventh of George's 11-year career and it might be one of...Read more