Search Results for: news

Iowa got 24 points from Luka Garza to move into the second round of the NCAA Tournament with an 86-74 victory over Grand Canyon. The second-seeded Hawkeyes avoided the early upset that sent high seeds Ohio State, Purdue and Tennessee home on a wild opening first day of the tournament. Iowa shot 54% from the field and went 10 of 22 from behind the arc. Joe Wieskamp added 16 points to help lead the Hawkeyes into the next round They will play Oregon, which advanced after Virginia Commonwealth bowed out of the bracket due to a positive COVID-19 test.

Ohio State officials have reached out to police about threatening and insulting social media messages sophomore E.J. Liddell received following the Buckeyes’ NCAA Tournament loss. Ohio State associate athletic director for communications Dan Wallenberg told The Associated Press he contacted police on Saturday morning about the threats Liddell received after the second-seeded Buckeyes were upset by No. 15 seed Oral Roberts in overtime. Liddell, who had 23 points and 14 rebounds in the game, revealed on his Twitter feed he received threatening messages. He posted images of the messages, including one that said “I hope you die I really do.” Other messages included racist insults.

LeBron James left in the second quarter with a high right ankle sprain that the Lakers said will sideline him indefinitely, and Los Angeles went on to fall 99-94 to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. Two hours after the game, the Lakers announced that James is out indefinitely. The defending NBA champions already are without All-NBA big man Anthony Davis, who has missed 14 consecutive games with a right calf injury and won’t play again until April. James was hurt when he rolled his ankle under Solomon Hill, who was called for a foul as he reached awkwardly for a steal. The 36-year-old superstar screamed and fell to the court clutching at his ankle, yet he got up and briefly stayed in the game.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's son is the team's top scorer as it heads into a Midwest Regional matchup against Bob Huggins and West Virginia with a Sweet 16 berth on the line. Buddy Boeheim scored 30 points in the No. 11 seed Orange's first-round victory. The No. 3 seed Mountaineers have their own guy who already poured in 30 in this year's NCAA Tournament, Miles McBride. Boeheim vs. Huggins pits two of only six coaches with at least 900 wins in Division I men's basketball history. Other Midwest matchups Sunday are Illinois against Loyola Chicago, Houston against Rutgers, and Oklahoma State against Oregon State.  

Juwan Howard got the win in his first NCAA Tournament game since taking over at Michigan, guiding Mike Smith and the top-seeded Wolverines to an 82-66 victory over Texas Southern. Smith scored 18 points and Hunter Dickinson added 16 as Michigan rolled into the second round without Isaiah Livers, who is out with a foot injury. Eli Brooks and Brandon Johns Jr. had 11 points apiece. Howard is back in the tournament for the first time since his stellar playing career with Michigan, including back-to-back Final Four appearances in 1992 and 1993. It’s his second season in charge, but the NCAA Tournament was canceled last year because of the pandemic.

Aaron Wise was leading by six shots at one point during the third round of The Honda Classic, looking well on his way to a runaway victory. By day’s end, he wasn’t even in the lead. That distinction goes to Matt Jones, the first-round leader who is now the leader going into the final round as well. Jones grinded out a 1-under 69 on Saturday to get to 10 under for the week. He leads Wise and J.B. Holmes by three shots.

David McCormack had 22 points and nine rebounds in his return from COVID-19 quarantine and helped No. 3 seed Kansas rally from a 10-point second-half hole and beat No. 14 seed Eastern Washington 93-84 in the NCAA Tournament. Ochai Agbaji scored 21 points, Marcus Garrett fought foul trouble to add 20 and Dajuan Harris Jr. had 13 as Kansas advanced to play sixth-seeded Southern California or No. 11 seed Drake for a spot in the Sweet 16. Tanner Groves scored a career-high 35 points and younger brother Jacob Groves had 23 for the Eagles.

Manchester City’s bid for an unprecedented quadruple of major trophies is still alive. Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne scored late goals in a 2-0 win over Everton in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup on Saturday. Pep Guardiola’s players are sweeping all before them this season. City leads the Premier League by 14 points. It has reached the final of the English League Cup and the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Southampton was already through to the last four as Nathan Redmond scored twice and set up another goal in a 3-0 win over fellow south-coast club Bournemouth.

LeBron James has left the court in visible frustration after injuring his right ankle during the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Atlanta Hawks. James left early in the second quarter Saturday. The 17-time All-Star got hurt when he rolled his right ankle and then made awkward contact on the perimeter with defender Solomon Hill. He fell to the court and screamed, briefly rolling around in obvious pain. James got up shortly afterward and initially walked it off during a timeout, but he called a timeout and took himself out of the game moments later. The team announced he would not return.

RaiQuan Gray scored 17 points and No. 4 seed Florida State began what it hopes is another deep NCAA Tournament run under coach Leonard Hamilton, holding off 13th-seeded UNC Greensboro 64-54 in the East Region. The Seminoles reached the Elite Eight and the Sweet 16 in the previous two tournaments. They allowed the Spartans to hang around deep into the second half thanks to an uneven offensive performance. Florida State went 0 for 9 from 3-point range, winning a game without a made 3 for the first time since February 2018. Isaiah Miller scored 17 points and Keyshaun Langley added 16 for Greensboro. 

Hundreds of people have gathered in a park across from the Georgia state Capitol in Atlanta to demand justice for the victims of shootings at massage businesses days earlier. The diverse crowd gathered Saturday called for end to racism, xenophobia and misogyny. The hundreds of people gathered in Liberty Plaza waved signs and cheered for speakers, including U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff and Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American to serve in the Georgia House. Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, is accused of killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage businesses Tuesday.

This year's women’s basketball NCAA Tournament may be one of the most wide-open in recent years with nearly a dozen teams having a good chance to win the championship. The uncertainty seems apropos after a pandemic-stressed season of stops, pauses and cancellations. The top seeds Stanford, South Carolina, N.C. State and UConn are definitely the favorites to win the title on April 4 at the Alamodome. The four No. 2s also are among the favorites to win it all with Louisville, Maryland, Baylor and Texas A&M all title contenders.

NASCAR is returning to its roots. Even as the good ol’ boys attempt to break with the uglier parts of their history, the sport has embraced a more traditional footprint with its 2021 schedule. That includes Atlanta Motor Speedway, which on Sunday is hosting the first of two Cup races. NASCAR will return to the track in July, the first time since 2010 that the tri-oval has staged a pair of events. The drivers are certainly pleased to be making a couple of visits to one of their favorite tracks, a treacherous, high-speed layout that produces plenty of thrills.

Britain said Saturday that half the country’s adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as the government races to reach everyone over age 18 by the end of July. The National Health Service has put shots in the arms of 26.9 million people, or 51% of the adult population. The NHS passed the halfway point by delivering 589,689 first doses on Friday, the highest daily total since a mass vaccination program began in early December. The director of a London-based health policy think tank says while Britain should be proud of the success of its vaccination drive, it's time to start thinking about sharing surplus supplies with the rest of the world.

Police in central Germany have used water cannons, pepper spray and batons against people trying to break through barriers during a protest against coronavirus restrictions. Protests against government measures to rein in the pandemic also were reported in Britain, Austria, Finland, Romania and Switzerland on Saturday. German news agency dpa says more than 20,000 people participated in the protest in the central German city of Kassel and most didn’t comply with infection-control protocols such as wearing face masks. The news agency reported that some protesters attacked several journalists. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that the government has to reimpose some restrictions as COVID-19 cases are accelerating.

Sister Jean Delores Schmidt, fully vaccinated and eight months past her 101st birthday, is back at the NCAA Tournament. The chaplain for Loyola Chicago's basketball team was on hand to watch her beloved Ramblers put away Georgia Tech in the tourney's first full day of action after the pandemic forced cancellation of the event last year. The time away hardly blunted its reputation for producing upsets. Lower-seeded teams won six of the 16 games played in the South and Midwest Regions, highlighted by No. 15 Oral Roberts stunning Big Ten powerhouse and No. 2 seed Ohio State.    

U.S. relations with its two biggest geo-political rivals are facing severe tests as President Joe Biden tries to assert America's place in the world and distinguish himself from his predecessor. Airing myriad complaints, the Biden administration took an extraordinarily tough line with China and Russia tis past week. Public spats between the countries erupted as Biden characterized Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "killer” and his top national security aides excoriated China for a litany of issues. Moscow and Beijing both fired back, setting the stage for months, if not more, of escalating tensions. 

Prosecutors say a man who is accused in a New Jersey murder and is considered a person of interest in four New Mexico slayings told investigators he is responsible for a total of 16 slayings. NJ.com reports that assistant prosecutor Alec Gutierrez alleged Friday in court that 47-year-old Sean Lannon said he was responsible for the killings in New Jersey and New Mexico along with “11 other individuals.” Lannon was arrested Wednesday in St. Louis. Public defender Frank Unger challenged probable cause for the New Jersey murder charge and unsuccessfully argued for pretrial release of his client.