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St. John’s Says: “This is OUR City”

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) –  St. John’s senior Zuby Ejiofor totaled 18 points, nine rebounds, seven blocks and three steals as top-seeded Johnnies started quickly, never let up and earned a 72-52 victory over second-seeded UConn on Saturday night to win the Big East tournament title.

Projected to be a fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament by many bracketologists, the Red Storm (28-6) won their fifth conference tournament title and achieved the feat in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history.

St. John’s, ranked No. 13 in the nation, also became the first school to go back-to-back as Big East tournament champions since Villanova won three straight from 2017-19.

The Red Storm won for the 19th time in 20 games since a six-point home loss to Providence on Jan. 3. Their lone loss in that span was a 72-40 thrashing by UConn in Hartford on Feb. 25.

Ejiofor, voted the tournament’s most outstanding player, made 7-of-11 shots and hit a pair of 3s on Saturday. He finished one shy of his career high for blocks set Dec. 6 against Ole Miss and matched in the next game on Dec. 13 against Iona.

Bryce Hopkins also scored 18 and Oziyah Sellers contributed 14 for the Red Storm, who scored the game’s first 10 points. St. John’s scored the first nine points in a quarterfinal win over Providence on Thursday and the first eight in the semifinal win over Seton Hall on Friday.

The Red Storm shot 48.2% from the field (27 of 56) and scored 24 points off turnovers.

No. 6 UConn (29-5) was unable to win its ninth conference title and ended the game by getting outscored 13-3 and missing its last 13 field-goal attempts over the final eight minutes.

Tarris Reed Jr. led the Huskies with 17 points on 8-of-17 shooting but was constantly bottled up by Ejiofor in the paint. Reed was UConn’s lone double-figure scorer as the Huskies shot a season-worst 33.9% (19 of 56), missed 16 of 19 3s and committed 17 turnovers.

Leading scorer Solo Ball was held to three points on 1-of-7 shooting while Alex Karaban finished with seven and Silas Demary Jr. had six.

After a basket by Erik Reibe made it a nine-point game with 9:58 left in the first half, the Red Storm ripped off an 11-3 run that featured dunks by Ejiofor and Dillon Mitchell for a 36-19 lead with 4:37 left before taking a 40-27 lead by halftime.

St. John’s held an 18-point lead on a basket by Sellers less than two minutes into the second half, and UConn scored the next nine points, getting within 47-38 on a layup by Reed with 15:08 left. The Huskies kept charging back and Reed’s short jumper cut the lead to 49-42 and prompted a timeout.

UConn sliced the lead to nine on a basket by Malachi Smith with 8:03 left. St John’s answered by getting six straight points from Darling, a jumper by Sellers and a layup by Hopkins for a 69-49 lead with 3:26 left to essentially clinch matters.

–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | March 15

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St. John’s Wins Second Consecutive Big East Title

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

NEW YORK – What – on Earth – did we do before we had the annual BIG EAST basketball tournament? Well, I’m old enough to remember being at the Nassau Coliseum, watching St. John’s compete against the likes of Iona (1978-79) or the Wagner College Seahawks, coached by P.J. Carlesimo for an ECAC tournament bid a year before the BIG EAST became reality in 1979-80.

This year marked the 46th annual BIG EAST. I think I’ve only missed one year (terrible food poisoning in 2003).

Let me try to do a short flashback of most memorable players or moments:

  1. 2009, Six Overtimes – Syracuse outlasted Georgetown (127-117) in a game that began on March 12, 2009 and ended on March 13 – a four hour battle royale.
  2. 2020, COVID-19 – St. John’s, having won the night before, was up 38-35 at the half, when the great Commissioner Val Ackerman called off the game and the tournament on the advice of New York City authorities. It was the eeriest atmosphere for any game in the history of Madison Square Garden. Put it this way, they even “closed the bars.”
  3. 1986, Pearl Washington – Although his Syracuse team fell short in the final (lost to St. John’s), there’s never been a more amazing and entertaining show at the BIG EAST than Pearl Washington in ‘86, although Pearl put up 27 points in a 1984 final round loss to Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas.
  4. 1984-85, Georgetown – For two+ years, Patrick Ewing and his Hoyas dominated the BIG EAST. Ewing is – by far – the greatest player in conference tournament history.
  5. 2017-18-2019, Villanova – Coach Jay Wright’s Villanova Wildcats took over Madison Square Garden for three solid seasons.
  6. All years, The Coaches – Highlighted by St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca and Georgetown’s Big John Thompson, the cast of characters (and tremendous coaches, all around) deserve mention. Villanova’s Rollie Massimino, Seton Hall’s P.J. Carlesimo, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino’s years at Providence (and Louisville, and now St. John’s), Boston College’s Al Skinner, UConn’s Jim Calhoun, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, Villanova’s Jay Wright, Providence (and now Georgetown’s) Ed Cooley, a face-off between St. John’s legend Chris Mullin and Georgetown’s incomparable Patrick Ewing who both returd to coach their alma maters, however unsuccessfully), and now Danny Hurley of UConn.
  7. Many years, UConn Greatness – At the risk of leaving someone off the list, let’s remember Ray Allen, Donyell Marshall, Richard Hamilton, Khalid El-Amin, Kemba Walker, Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Rudy Gay, Alex Karaban, and I’ll stop at Stephon Castle. Just incredible.
  8. 2025, and St. John’s Coach Pitino – It took St. John’s 25 years – from 2000 to 2025 – to win the BIG EAST Tournament title. You have to give credit to coach Rick Pitino for pulling off the feat.
  9. Syracuse, 1981 and 2006 – Aside from Pearl Washington’s incredible performances, the Syracuse Orange won in 1981 over Villanova (remember John Pinone?) on a Leo Rautins tip-in and some last second free throws after Nova Coach Rollie Massimino called time-out when he’d run down to zero left. Then, in 2006, Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara single-handedly willed his team to victory after vistory after the Orange had lost nine of their last 13 regular season games.
  10. The Garden, every year since 1983 – After fooling around in Providence (1980), the Carrier Dome in Syracuse (1981) and the Hartford Civic Center in 1982, the BIG EAST made – with no argument at all – the greatest move in conference history by establishing a longterm agreement for Madison Square Garden to host the annual tournament. With NYC being the center of the sports media world while also being squarely in the middle of the heavily northeast member schools (call it Boston to DC for the most part – all Amtrak connections), the BIG EAST jumped on the World’s Most Famous Arena and The Garden has paid it back 100-times over and over and over. There is no better college bsaketball tournament, no better venue and no better place for teams, players, coaches, media, alum, fans and TV than a packed house at Madison Square Garden – the Mecca of College basketball.

*Special mention must be made as a tribute to the late Dave Gavitt, the founder of the BIG EAST, and his successors, Michael Tranghese, the late John Marinatto, Mike Aresco and, now the best of ‘em all in Val Ackerman, the incredible Commissioner of the conference which is known for basketball (men’s and women’s), but checks every box in terms of top notch inter-collegiate athletics.

**There’s also a special very, very special honorable mention for 1985, when the BIG EAST sent three teams to the NCAA Final Four in Lexington, Kentucky and Ed Pinckney and the Villanova Wildcats upset Georgetown in the final, one of the greatest games in college basketball history. Chris Mullin and St. John’s were eliminated by Georgetown on Final Four Saturday when 30-minutes before the tip-off of that game, an earbud breaking chant of “Anybody but Georgetown, Anybody but Georgetown” rang out.

The 2025-26 BIG EAST standings when the week began (ESPN)

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: There’s no better way to recap the 2026 BIG EAST championship and five days at Madison Square Garden than with a popular WWYI timeline. We’ll have to see if the week merits a special song for Parting Words & Music.

Here We Go:

Tuesday, March 10, 2026: Travel Day

10:14am – Amtrak, Southbound to Penn Station/Moynahan Terminal: One of the easiest trips of all-time. It’s affordable and efficient, arriving right under The Garden where I’ll be spending an amazing number of hours. Plus, the top half of this column was written on the train ride (and, yes, off the top of my head- fact checkers be damned).

It always strikes me, tourists come from all over the world to experience New York City. They visit Lincoln Center, Broadway, see all the sites. Meanwhile, I stay within a four-block radius of Penn Station and Madison Square Garden for five days, and, as Maxwell Smart said so well, “And, loving it.”

1:01pm – Check-in with my wonderful sister-in-law, APM, and all is well. For one night, I’ll be crashing at the apartment of APM and WBG and a chance to see my niece and her dog, Cosmo. – Also checked with my brother-in-law, WBG, who was so kind in nailing two tickets to see the great Tedeschi-Trucks Band at The Beacon Theatre tonight – thus the early travel day.

6:00pm – Planned a meet-up at Dive 75, an old favorite where we once surprised the great Kevin Sullivan by walking from The Beek to the bar after an Allman Brothers Band show, only for him to discover and be astonished that Derek Trucks and the whole band (minus Gregg Allman) was there. Sully held court with the band and merch guys, telling stories about traveling on Air Force One with President George W. Bush, as Kevin was the President’s Director of Communications.

7:45pm – After a quick beer at Dive 75, it was short walk to Paradise and one of my favorite places in NYC in The Beek. The rest of the night belonged to Steve Earle, Robert Randolph and the headliners for their residence in one of the world’s great venues (Beacon Theatre – 74/755th/Broadway) The Tedeschi Trucks Band.

7:46pm – The Tedeschi Trucks Band took the stage at the sold out Beacon. They did not disappoint. Here is the set they played. Click HERE.

11:45pm – Smart move, starting the week off, and turned in “early.”

Wednesday, March 11: (New York City)

8:00am – A good night’s sleep and a short walk to a fave Dunkin’ and it was “New York, just like I pictured it.”

8:30am-12 Noon – Took opportunity to gather content, information, great photos and built out the entire evening’s BIG EAST competitions.

3:00pm – Check-in at MSG and, as usual, the buttoned-down Big East staff had everything in order. Easy security check and two seconds to get my credentials, lovely Courtside, Row 6 on the Seventh Avenue baseline. That’s the same EXACT seat occupied for about five straight years. (Yes, I did thank the staff and after all these years, it felt like this tournament was my first one, and I take nothing for granted). By the way, the first one was the 1970 NIT when Marquette beat St. John’s in the final, 65-53, and Dean Meminger was the MVP. Meminger was later draft and starred for the New York Knicks 1973 championship team. I was 10.

4:00pm – In the 2026 BIG EAST tournament opener, No. 8 seed Butler took on #9 Providence. The Friars handled Butler, 91-81, and played hard for coach Kim English who was facing the firing squad quad of Providence Athletics.

6:30pm – In closest game of day, Xavier edged Marquette, 89-87. Neither team impressed, and that is reason the Big East Conference might only send two or, possibly three teams to the NCAAs.

9:00pm – In the nightcap, fans were witness to the low No. 11 seed Georgetown Hoyas upsetting No. 6 DePaul, 63-56. This game was the first to tip the scales towards an “old skool” – “OG” BIG EAST tourney.

Georgetown vs. Villanova | The Battle of the Patagonia Vests.

Thursday, March 12: (NYC, Madison Square Garden – all day and night)

10:30am – After a decent night’s sleep and a good Marriott provided breakfast, it was an easy walk to The Garden from 28th Street & 7th Ave to the press entrance at Tower Bridge (31st and 8th Ave). Our spring-like weather Tuesday, in the 70s, turned to 36 degrees, cold and breezy.

12 Noon – St. John’s handled a determined and energetic Providence team, 85-72. The rumor mill since mid-season was the final 2026 Providence game would be coach Kim English’s last with the Friars. That came true on Friday, as Mid-term report cards reached home and every single student at the college dropped English.

2:30pm – No. 4 Seton Hall and No. 5 Creighton enjoyed byes and opened their tournament efforts with a highly contested, typical, physical BIG EAST game. The Jersey side Hall sent Creighton packing and flying back to Omaha, 72-61.

That set-up a Seton Hall vs St. John’s Friday semi-final.

One personal note was that I was able to spend some quality time with my brother (Wednesday evening and Thursday’s night session) and with my NBA colleague Matt Winick for the St. John’s vs Providence game. It’s now a nice, little tradition to join Matt for a couple of the Thursday games. Please note, as he was the person who interviewed me for an internship at the NBA on December 20, 1980. Sometimes, I think what might’ve been if Matt ditched my resume into the circular file. Sheesh.

7:00pm – The night session was packed with the UConn faithful, an incredible sight that was noticeably missing when Connecticut stuck with the football side of the BIG EAST and decided to play in the American Conference where they’d be hanging in Birmingham, Alabama instead of the World’s Most Famous Arena. UConn dominated Xavier, 93-68.

9:30pm – The Late Show featured the “old skool” match-up of Georgetown vs. Villanova, aka the “Battle of the Patagonia Vests.” Of course, many think of one of the greatest college basketball upsets ever when ‘Nova defeated Patrick Ewing and the Hoyas at the Final Four (championship game) in Lexington, Kentucky in 1985. (Yes, I witnessed it in person). On this night, No. 11 Georgetown sent Villanova to the Moynihan Amtrak Terminal and the late departing Crescent to New Orleans with stops at Metro Park, Newark, and to 30th Street Station. Georgetown advanced, 78-64, holding off several Villanova attempts to comeback. Georgetown’s Malik Mack played 37 minutes and orchestrated the Georgetown offense while scoring 12 points on a night he did not shoot the ball well (4-for-15). Teammate Julius Halaifonua (Go ahead, say that three times, fast) had 21 points and 10 rebounds, (on 9-for-12 shooting).

Upon very late night departure, WWYI caught the end of OKC’s 104-102 win over the Boston Celtics on TV.

Friday, March 13 (New York City):

Once again, it was some coffee and a Marriott provided breakfast in the hotel restaurant area where French, Spanish, German and Japanese were the languages of tourists visiting NYC. They sight-see, go to Lincoln Center, and Broadway. I prefer staying in a four block radius of Madison Square Garden.

Early AM Hours – Plenty of time to write, catch-up on emails and our NBA Basketball School Turkiye online site. Then, quality time watching The PLAYERS Championship on Golf Channel.

3:30pm – It’s Time.

3:45pm – Proceeded right to my press seat at The Garden and settled in nicely to a mostly empty building.

4:00pm – Early arrival at MSG provides a glimpse of the night ahead, as game ops rehearses national anthem, some introductions, and other event-related rituals. The Garden’s sound system is tremendous, and we went from the late Bob Weir and the Grateful Dead doing Playing in the Band to Nipsey Hussle doing Reckless to Emerson, Lake and Palmer doing Karn Evil 9, First Impression.

5:30pm – The ball is tipped and St. John’s vs. Seton Hall is on. The Johnnies hold Seton Hall scoreless for the first three minutes of the game and take an early 8-0 lead before Pirates’ coach Shaheen Holloway calls time-out to talk things over. St. John’s scored each of its first four FGs inside, while controlling the boards early (6-2 in rebounds). Seton Hall subbed out four players, sort of like taking four cards after the initial deal in poker, eh?

5:45pm – The Hall Strikes Back. It’s 10-7 by the 15:00 minute media time-out. Lotta basketball and – for this timeline, it’s only going to be the KEY moments going forward as opposed to a running story.

6:45pm – St. John’s led Seton Hall, 38-30, at the half. Stat sheet showed a very even game all-around with Red having slight rebounding edge, 17-13. St John’s guard Dylan Darling logged 13 of the first 20 minutes and got to every loose ball. The coaches call them the 50-50 balls, but Darling somehow comes up with the 25-75 balls when his opponent has the edge. Amazing player, but is struggling with his shot in tournament.

6:58pm – St, John’s came out for the second half with an impressive 9-0 run, (to make it 47-30), and Holloway was forced to call a time out to regroup (again). As the second half progressed, Seton Hall made a number of runs to cut the lead to six points with 4:41 remaining, but SJU scored six straight points, to eventually close it out at 78-68.

Afterward, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino met with the media: “We bent a little bit down the stretch after playing great basketball, but we never broke, and Seton Hall breaks everybody,” he said. “They come back against everybody because of their intensity, So, I’m really proud of our guys. They made good defensive plays down the stretch. Certainly, when you can break pressure and make your free throws, you’re always going to have a great chance of maintaining your lead. So, [we] did a lot of good things tonight offensively. I thought we were excellent the entire night.”

8:00pm – The second game of the night pitted upstart Georgetown against No. 2 UConn, who had their loyal, faithful fans occupying 75% of the seats in Madison Square Garden.

UConn took care of business, just the way they were expected to by a 67-51 score. UConn guard Braylon Mullins scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half to set the tone.

11:00pm – Not exactly a breaking news story, but a very noticeable change was quite evident upon exiting Madison Square Garden to “ZERO” ticket scalpers being outside on Seventh Avenue. Like Final Four Saturdays of yesteryear when scalpers sprinted across the arena to buy tickets from the team who lost the first game, the Garden would always be buzzing with “Who’s Selling” shout-outs after each game. In 2026, it’s all about Ticketmaster, StubHub, Seatgeek and the others. UConn fans seem to have the secondary market covered for the Big East final.

Saturday, March 14 (New York City):

Early AM Hours saw a check of The PLAYERS golf championship take top priority as PGA Tour Brunch waits for no man (or woman). If you’re a fan of pro golf, you should highly consider a subscription!

Tuesday’s 70-degrees have given way to 40-degrees and 30 mph wind gusts in Manhattan, ruining plans on CPW and a stroll to Strawberry Fields, an old fave from days of first apartment on West 74th Street.

3:30pm – The BIG EAST has advised us of a 3:30pm opening of the press gate, but your favorite columnist will tuck-in some PLAYERS golf on TV until 4:30pm (two full hours before the tip on FOX).

The BIG EAST Championship has been televised by Peacock Network, FS-1, FOX, back to FS-1 and finally back to FOX for the title game.

4:30pm – A wind-blown, five minute walk to MSG and right to my Courtside seat.

5:05pm – Sound check for the National Anthem. When I hit St. Pete and the Pearly Gates, I want every minute that I’ve stood for National Anthems back on my side of the ledger. It would buy me another five years of life, easy.

A quick check online: Ticket-buyers are forking over $6,600-to-$4,900 for Courtside, $800 for seats in the Lower Bowl 100-sections, $327 for baseline lower bowl, and about $250 for Upper Level 200s. Get-in price seems to have settled at about $180 for 400s.

6:30pm – “The Ball is Tipped” to a raucous, sold-out crowd at The Garden. As noted, the UConn fans have mastered the use of the secondary ticket department and have the bulk of the seats, unlike last season when St. John’s defeated Creighton in the final and Johnnies’ fans controlled 95% of the building. At tip-off time, it seems to be quite a 50-50 crowd and a lot of red. The neutral fans will jump on St. John’s bandwagon if they play well.

UConn fans are quite annoying, especially with the fact they all stand until their team scores the first basket. At this game, St. John’s fans are just choosing to stand and apply a very high level of pressure to UConn.

6:33pm – Nothing compared to Willis Reed, as Zuby is not injured nor did he come out of locker late, but his first easy jumper swished just like the Knicks’ captain’s first two shots in 1970. St. John’s out to 10-2 start at first media timeout.

6:50pm – MSG (Pro St. John’s crowd) playing a major factor in this game. A frustrated UConn coach Danny Hurley took a T to rattle-up his crew. (23-9). Unless UConn can stop St. John’s players from driving right to the rim, it’s going to be interesting. UConn counters, a lot of physical play, shoving, swatting. (no calls which are correct calls).

7:29pm – Halftime shows the scoreboard to be St. John’s 40, UConn 27.

8:13pm – Ole ‘mo changed dramatically and UConn made its run to cut the lead for St John’s to seven (49-42) with 12:34 remaining in the second half. UConn fans woke up and building rocking from both sides of the street. After time-out, St. John’s countered with a 5-0 run, including a Zuby 26-footer. A possession later, he hit a jump hook to put the lead back to 13 (56-43) with 10:07 remaining.

8:24pm – With 7:36 remaining, momentum swung back to UConn and they cut lead to 10 points. Pitino subbed in big man Ruben Prey to give Zuby a breather. Arena turned quiet for first time since National Anthem.

8:28pm – After an eternally long time out, UConn had possession and gathered four offensive rebounds of their missed shots. Dylan Darling of St. John’s scored down the other end and St. John’s regained the vibe, the crowd with a 61-49 lead. Darling drilled two subsequent free throws and St J lead went back to 62-49. UConn can’t get “over the hump” and they’ve gone to tossing up 3s.

8:32pm – After struggling all tournament long, St. John’s guard Dylan Darling drills a “j” to make it 65-49. Oziyah Sellers drills a 19-footer, Bryce Hopkins gets a feed and takes it to the rim to score and the St. John’s lead expands to 20 points, 69-49 with 3:26 remaining. The Garden rocks.

8:42pm – Zuby bucket – It’s 72-49, now an ass-kicking, as a St. John’s 24-8 run made the difference at a time when UConn was threatening.

8:45pm – St. John’s just walks it up, but turns the ball over. Next whistle, Pitino subs to get Zuby Ejiofor a massive Standing ovation, a memory of a lifetime.

8:47pm – UConn shows a ton of class by inbounding and walking the ball to neutral territory to allow the clock to run out. Game Over. St. John’s 72-52. Boxscore HERE.

8:55pm – The BIG East Trophy presentation takes place on a court filled with fans. MSG security let it go and gave peace a chance. St. John’s Dillon Mitchell says, “This is OUR city.” (He left out one of David “Big Papi” Ortiz’ words.

The Empire State Building is now lit with Red Lights.

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9:00pm – Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman and FOX talent Gus Johnson are with St. John’s Coach Rick Pitino at Center Court. Not a St. John’s fan has left The Garden.

Pitino got the Trophy, noting it was back-to-back Regular Season and Post Season titles, and Zuby got MVP. His teammates Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitch made the All-Tournament team. And, a great Big East tradition, every member of the team and staff have their name announced and they accept a Big East medal.

9:13pm – St. John’s cuts down the nets at Madison Square garden, a dream of every basketball player in New York.

9:20pm – It’s time to sign off. Please excuse any typos, as this was done LIVE on site.

10:00pm – Your edition of TL’s Sunday Sports Notes is delivered, hot off the presses.

Sunday, March 15 (New York City to Boston)

9:00am – Amtrak home to Boston to be on couch with the annual NCAA Selection Show and a nice fire in fireplace.

PARTING WORDS & MUSIC: This is a song played at The Garden to psych-up the crowd before the Friday night tip-off. It’s the classic “Karn Evil 9” from a circa ‘74 show clip by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, all 18:59 of it, complete with drum solo and their Moog synthesizer – a rare MUST WATCH is attached. Over the past two seasons at The Garden, St, John’s has “Put on a Show That Never Ends.”

While We’re Young (Ideas) is a weekly (every weekend) collection of Sports Notes and News written by Terry Lyons. The posting of each notebook harkens back to the days when you’d walk over to the city news stand on Saturday night around 10:00pm to pick-up a copy of the Sunday papers. Inside, just waiting, was a compilation of interesting sports notes, quotes and quips in a column that always sold a few newspapers. Wire Service reports are utilized within the column.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes – Brought to you by Digital Sports Desk.

-TL-

St. John’s Stakes Claim to Big East Finale

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NEW YORK  – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Zuby Ejiofor of St. John’s, scored 20 points as top-seeded Johnnies took control in the second half and fended off a late comeback attempt in its 78-68 victory over fourth-seeded Seton Hall on Friday in the Big East tournament semifinals. The 13th-ranked Red Storm (27-6) advanced to Saturday’s title game and will face second-seed UConn.  St John’s advanced to the title game in consecutive seasons for the third time in school history and first time since losing to UConn in 1999 and beating the Huskies in the following season.

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After being swept by the Red Storm in three matchups, the Pirates (21-12) will wait until Sunday’s selection show to find out if they will make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team for the first time since 2022. Seton Hall entered the game with a NET rating of 53 but fell to 1-6 in Quad One games.

Ejiofor finished 8-of-14 shooting after scoring 21 in Thursday’s 13-point win over Providence. He had a pair of dunks along with four layups for his fourth straight 20-point showing and 11th overall.

Reserve Joson Sanon added 15 and hit three 3-pointers as the Red Storm beat Seton Hall for the sixth straight time. Dillon Mitchell added 13 on 6-of-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds and five assists while Bryce Hopkins chipped in 13 and a team-leading seven rebounds.

The Red Storm shot 52.1% from the field and made 24 of 30 free-throw attempts (80%). St. John’s operated mostly inside the paint as it tied a season low by attempting 12 3-pointers.

Budd Clark led the Pirates with 17 points but shot 6 of 18 with 11 assists and also committed four of Seton Hall’s 12 turnovers. Jacob Dar added 13 points while Mike Williams III and Najai Hines contributed 10 apiece for the Pirates, who trailed by 19 twice in the second half and cut the lead to six before St. John’s secured the win.

The Pirates shot 41.5%, misfired on 15 of 20 3-point tries and were unable to reach the championship game for the first time since 2019.

The Red Storm scored the game’s first eight points, with Ejiofor’s baseline dunk prompting a Seton Hall timeout with 17:06 left. Seton Hall hung around and trailed 38-30 by halftime.

The Red Storm took its second 19-point lead when Ruben Prey hit a free throw with 9:56 left.

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Seton Hall attempted a comeback, ripping off seven straight points to get within 55-43 following a layup by Hines with 7:42 left. The Pirates kept rallying and A.J. Staton-McCray hit an open corner 3 with 4:41 left to slice the deficit to 62-56.

Ejiofor broke free for a layup on the next possession and St. John’s sank five free throws over the next two minutes to extend the lead to 69-56 before finishing it off.

– By Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Big East: English Dropped at Providence

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Providence College dismissed basketball coach Kim English on Friday after three seasons and a sub-.500 record.

English’s teams were 48-52 (23-37 Big East) during English’s tenure, which ended Thursday night with an 85-72 loss to top-seeded St. John’s in the Big East tournament quarterfinals.

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The Friars finished the 2025-26 season with a 15-18 record (7-13 Big East). They were 21-14 in English’s first season and 12-20 in his second.

“We appreciate Kim and his staff for their efforts over the past three seasons leading our men’s basketball team,” athletic director Steve Napolillo said. “We wish him and his family all the best in the future.”

Providence said it immediately will begin a national search for its next coach.

English, 37, was hired March 23, 2023, to replace Ed Cooley, who departed for Georgetown. English previously was the head coach at George Mason.

At the time, ESPN reported English signed a six-year contract.

–Field Level Media

Zuby Ejiofor Dominates Big East Awards

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NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Zuby Ejiofor further cemented his St. John’s legacy on Wednesday, becoming the league’s first unanimous BIG EAST Player of the Year in more than a decade. Additionally, he was named the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Already tabbed as the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year earning this week, he becomes just the second player in BIG EAST history win those three major awards simultaneously.

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Ejiofor becomes the first BIG EAST Player of the Year to be selected by a unanimous vote of the league’s head coaches since Creighton’s Doug McDermott in 2013-14. That season, McDermott was the consensus National Player of the Year and finished his career as the fifth leading scorer in NCAA Division I history.

A 6-foot-9 forward, Ejiofor, was also named the Associated Press BIG EAST Player of the Year on Tuesday.

Additionally, Ejiofor becomes the second player in conference history to be named BIG EAST Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the same season, joining Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor in 2003-04, who went on to lead the Huskies to their second National Championship that season. Ejiofor will be recognized and receive his awards at a press conference held in the Madison Square Garden Theatre at 1:30 p.m.

The Garland, Texas native becomes the second member of Head Coach Rick Pitino’s first transfer recruiting class prior to the 2023-24 campaign to emerge as the league’s top player after RJ Luis Jr. took home the honor last year. Ejiofor becomes the fourth BIG EAST Player of the Year in St. John’s men’s basketball history joining three-time winner Chris Mullin (1983, ’84, ’85), Walter Berry (1986) and Luis Jr. (2025). St. John’s becomes the first BIG EAST school to have two different players claim sole possession of the honor in back-to-back years since former Villanova and current New York Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart in 2017-18.

After winning the league’s most improved player award a year ago, the senior rose to the occasion leading the Johnnies to back-to-back BIG EAST Regular Season Championships for the first time since 1984-85 & 1985-86. The Red Storm went 18-2 in BIG EAST play, tying a league record for conference victories for the second consecutive season. The veteran becomes first BIG EAST player to win most improved player and then player of the year immediately the following year. He becomes the fourth student-athlete to ever win both in his collegiate career joining Seton Hall’s Myles Powell, Syracuse’s Hakeem Warrick and Brandin Knight of Pittsburgh.

The team captain leads St. John’s in all phases of the game, pacing the Johnnies in scoring (16.0 PPG), rebounding (7.1 RPG), assists (3.5 APG) and blocks (2.0 BPG). Ejiofor is the only high-major player to lead his team and rank top-10 in his conference in all four statistical categories.

A dynamic scorer, Ejiofor ranks sixth in the league averaging 16.0 points per game on 54.6% shooting from the field, which sits second in the BIG EAST. The big man has tallied 25 double-digit scoring performances reaching double-figures in 10 of his last 11 appearances, nine 20-plus point outings and matched a career-high 33 points against Providence on Jan. 3. One of the best there is at getting to the line ranking top-40 in NCAA Division I in free throw attempts (231) and made free throws (163). His 231 tries rank ninth on the program’s all-time record list trailing Chris Mullin’s 235 free throws during the 1984-85 season by four. In the aforementioned contest against the Friars, Ejiofor took 23 shots at the charity stripe, which ranks second most in a single-game in program history.

After leading the nation in offensive rebounding in 2024-25, Ejiofor has once again cleaned up the glass ranking seventh in the league and first on the team logging 7.1 boards per game. On the offensive end, the Kansas transfer grabs 3.32 boards per contest, good for second in the conference and 26th nationally. The prolific rebounder logged double-digit boards in seven outings, highlighted by a career-best 15-carom performance against Providence on Jan. 3.

In an effort to improve his all-around game, Ejiofor has become an elite passer at 6-foot-9. The team leader in assists dishes out 3.5 assists per contest, which checks in at ninth in the league. Ejiofor logged five or more assists in five contests, setting a new personal best on three separate occasions. The final occurrence came during a memorable performance at The World’s Most Famous Arena on Feb. 28 in an 89-57 victory over Villanova. Ejiofor became the fourth known St. John’s player to record triple-double, totaling 16 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists in the winning effort. He is one of 25 players in NCAA Division I to post a triple-double this season and ranks top-five in the BIG EAST with six double-doubles.

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On Monday, the Red Storm’s anchor became the fifth player in program history to be named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year due in large part to his proven rim protecting and stifling ball pressure abilities. One of the nation’s premier shot-blockers, Ejiofor became the first player in NCAA Division I to record eight or more blocks since Marshall’s Obinna Annochilli-Killen in November 2021 racking up a career-high eight swats in wins over Ole Miss (Dec. 6) and Iona (Dec. 13). The post presence ranks fourth in the league logging 2.0 blocks per game and third in total swats with a personal-best 61 on the season. Ejiofor has moved into eighth all-time on the St. John’s career blocks list, logging 147 in three seasons in Queens. Affecting the game in so many ways, Ejiofor ranks third on the team with 1.2 steals per game and added a career-best four swipes at Creighton on Jan. 10. The versatile defender leads a unit that ranks 14th in defensive efficiency according to KenPom.

No stranger to recognition from the league, Ejiofor was a three-time BIG EAST Player of the Week and five-time honor roll recipient this season. On the national level, he has been named to the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Late-Season Team, Naismith Trophy Defensive Player of the Year Late-Season Team, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Top-10 Watch List, the NCAA March Madness Player of the Week and the USBWA National Player of the Week.

The BIG EAST Scholar Athlete of the Year, Ejiofor boasts a 3.7 cumulative GPA in the sport management program at St. John’s. The Garland, Texas native will graduate in May with his bachelor’s degree.

The big man becomes the fourth player in program history to win the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete award. He is the first Red Storm player in 25 years to garner the accolade, joining Mike Moses (1985), Ron Rowan (1986) and Lavor Postell (2000).

Last year. Ejiofor was tabbed a College Sports Communicators (CSC) All-America Second Team honoree alongside CSC Academic All-America Team Member of the Year RJ Luis Jr. Additionally, he is a Chi Alpha Sigma inductee, qualified for the Dean’s List each of the last two years, is a two-time BIG EAST All-Academic Team member and has landed on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll list in all five of his completed semesters.

One moment in particular epitomizes Ejiofor’s commitment to his academics. Shortly after the Red Storm won its first outright BIG EAST Regular Season Championship in 40 years with a 71-61 victory over Seton Hall on March 1, 2025, the captain’s mind was quickly focused on his next task. Just a couple hours after the on-court celebration concluded Ejiofor called the team’s academic advisor to seek guidance on an upcoming theology assignment. In today’s ever-shifting college athletics landscape, Ejiofor remains a true student-athlete.

In addition to his academics and on-the-court responsibilities, Ejiofor participates in community service attending the department’s annual Community Mayors Event. He has also spoken on a panel on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and participated in the department’s Solidarity Week. Additionally, he is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

The BIG EAST Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is one of many scholarships presented by the conference in the academic year. Twenty-two student-athletes (one male and one female from each of the BIG EAST’s 11 member institutions) will receive postgraduate scholarships as the winners of their respective institutions’ Scholar-Athlete Award. The winners of the institutional and basketball awards are then eligible for the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, which provides an additional postgraduate scholarship to one male and one female student-athlete.

BIG EAST: Announces Four Awards

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NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The BIG EAST Conference announced the winners of four individual awards for the 2025-26 men’s basketball season. The league’s head coaches make their selections and they are not permitted to vote for their own players.

Zuby Ejiofor from St. John’s has been named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. A pair of Villanova players captured two awards – Tyler Perkins has been tabbed BIG EAST Most Improved Player, while Devin Askew has been chosen for the BIG EAST Sixth Man Award. Creighton’s Josh Dix has been named the winner of the BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award.

Ejiofor has been recognized nationally as a member of the Naismith Men’s College Defensive Player of the Year Late-Season team. An All-BIG EAST First Team selection, he has blocked 61 shots and his 1.97 blocks per game average ranks him 27th in the country. In BIG EAST play, Ejiofor ranks third in the conference, registering 1.75 blocks per outing. He has also tallied 36 steals and is one of only two players nationally to tally at least 30 steals and 60 blocked shots in the 2025-26 regular season. Earlier this season, Ejiofor blocked 20 shots over a three-game span from Dec. 6-16. He is the only player in the country to block at least 20 shots over a three-game stretch this season and is the first BIG EAST player to have 20 swats over three games since the 2013-14 campaign.

Perkins has been a key contributor in Villanova’s turnaround season, leading the Wildcats in scoring – and ranking eighth in the BIG EAST – at 15.2 points per game in conference play. The 6-4 guard is also averaging 6.2 rebounds per game. Year-over-year, the junior has seen his overall scoring average jump by 7.4 points, while seeing marked improvements in his field goal and 3-point percentages. In BIG EAST play, Perkins is scoring better than 10 points per game, ranking 10th in the league in 3-pointers per game (1.89). He was named to the All-BIG EAST Third Team.

Askew has been one of the top reserve players in the country this season for Villanova. The 6-5 guard is averaging 10.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals in 23 minutes per game in league play, coming off the bench in 19 BIG EAST contests before earning the start on Senior Day against Xavier on March 7. Askew is one of four power conference reserves to average double figures off the bench (min. one start or fewer). He has scored in double figures in 13 games and has made multiple 3-pointers on 16 occasions. Askew has made 63 3-pointers on the season, connecting at a 42.3% clip from beyond the arc.

Throughout his first season in Omaha, Creighton senior guard Josh Dix has demonstrated incredible strength and resilience. In early February, on the morning of a gameday at Georgetown, Dix found out that he lost his mother Kelly to breast cancer. Through 31 games, the 6-6 guard has averaged a team-best 12.7 points to go with 3.7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. Dix has leaned on many people, including teammates, during this trying time. “I couldn’t do it alone,” Dix said. “My family, my teammates, my coaches, they all stick by my side. I try not to be alone; I try to be around people who want to see you do well.”

The BIG EAST will announce the remaining individual awards: BIG EAST Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete on Wednesday, March 11, in a press conference at 1:30 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden. The BIG EAST Media Award will also be presented.

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BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s

BIG EAST Most Improved Player
Tyler Perkins, Villanova

BIG EAST Sixth Man Award
Devin Askew, Villanova

BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award
Josh Dix, Creighton

Ejiofor Heads All-Big East Teams

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NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor was a unanimous first team selection as the conference has announced the All-BIG EAST First, Second and Third Teams, All-Freshman Team, and the inaugural All-Defensive Team. The league’s head coaches select the all-conference squads and were not permitted to select their own players.

Ejiofor is a repeat selection on the All-BIG EAST First Team, which features an unprecedented three players from the same school – UConn’s Silas Demary Jr., Alex Karaban, and Tarris Reed Jr. The other first team selections are Michael Ajayi of Butler and Tre Carroll of Xavier.

The BIG EAST Player of the Year will come from the All-BIG EAST First Team. The conference will announce Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year on March 11, at Madison Square Garden at 1:30 p.m. ET. Other league individual awards, including BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man Award and Sportsmanship Award will be announced Monday, March 9, at Noon ET.

Ejiofor – the league’s preseason Player of the Year – represents regular season champion St. John’s. He leads the Red Storm – and ranks in the top 10 in BIG EAST play – in four statistical categories: scoring (17.0), rebounding (7.0), assists (4.0), and blocked shots (1.8). He made 56.0% (112-200) of his shot attempts and posted 2.00:1 assist/turnover ratio in league games.

The trio of Huskies marks the first time in league history that three players from the same team were named to the All-BIG EAST First Team. Demary leads the BIG EAST in assists (7.3) and is sixth in steals (1.6), while scoring at a 12.2 points per game clip in league play. Karaban was an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection a season ago. The senior forward is averaging 12.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and just under a block and a steal per game in conference play. On Feb. 14, he became the all-time winningest player in UConn history. Reed leads the league and ranks among the top 15 nationally – in field goal percentage, making 63.5% (115-181) of his shot attempts, averaging 13.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.1 blocks per game in league action.

Ajayi finished the regular season ranked sixth in the BIG EAST in scoring (16.3) and first in rebounding (10.5) in conference play. Overall on the season, Ajayi has recorded 17 double doubles – eighth-most nationally.

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Carroll averaged 18.6 points per outing in league play, connecting on better than 52% of his shot attempts. He posted 20 or more points in 10 BIG EAST games this season. The 6-8 forward also averaged 5.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.5 blocks in conference play.

The All-BIG EAST Second Team features some of the top guards in the league. UConn’s Solo Ball makes his second straight appearance on the second team, followed by BIG EAST scoring leader Jaylin Sellers of Providence. Additionally, St. John’s guard/forward Bryce Hopkins, Seton Hall’s Budd Clark made the list, followed by Villanova freshman Acaden Lewis.

The All-BIG EAST Third Team has six players due to a tie in the balloting, including a pair of Villanova standouts in Duke Brennan and Tyler Perkins. They are joined by Butler’s Finley Bizjack, Georgetown’s KJ Lewis, Marquette freshman Nigel James Jr., and Dillon Mitchell from St. John’s.

The BIG EAST Freshman of the Year will come from the All-Freshman Team. Four of the five honorees were unanimous selections – UConn’s Braylon Mullins, Marquette’s Nigel James Jr., Providence’s Stefan Vaaks, and Villanova’s Acaden Lewis. Along with Providence’s Jamier Jones, the five All-Freshman honorees accounted for all but two of the Freshman of the Week honors this season.

This season marks the inaugural BIG EAST All-Defensive Team, headlined by unanimous selection Zuby Ejiofor of St. John’s. Joining him is teammate Dillon Mitchell, Seton Hall’s Budd Clark, Silas Demary Jr. of UConn, and Chase Ross of Marquette.

2025-26 BIG EAST All-Conference Teams

All-BIG EAST First Team
Michael Ajayi, Butler
Silas Demary Jr., UConn
Alex Karaban, UConn
Tarris Reed Jr., UConn
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s *
Tre Carroll, Xavier

All-BIG EAST Second Team
Solo Ball, UConn
Jaylin Sellers, Providence
Bryce Hopkins, St. John’s
Budd Clark, Seton Hall
Acaden Lewis, Villanova

All-BIG EAST Third Team
Finley Bizjack, Butler
KJ Lewis, Georgetown
Nigel James Jr., Marquette
Dillon Mitchell, St. John’s
Duke Brennan, Villanova
Tyler Perkins, Villanova

All-Freshman Team
Braylon Mullins, UConn *
Nigel James Jr., Marquette *
Jamier Jones, Providence
Stefan Vaaks, Providence *
Acaden Lewis, Villanova *

All-Defensive Team
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s *
Budd Clark, Seton Hall
Dillon Mitchell, St. John’s
Silas Demary Jr., UConn
Chase Ross, Marquette

*Unanimous Selection

TL’s Sports Notebook | SSAC ’26 Edition

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Daryl Morey, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Sue Bird and Jessica Gelman (SSAC26)

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk and PGA Tour Brunch

BOSTON – On Friday, March 5th, WWYI dropped a “special edition” of this missive to preview the 2026 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (#SSAC26) staged this weekend at the Seapport Convention Center. It was a very successful affair, one where NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke in a “1-on-1” with UConn, WNBA and USA Basketball great Sue Bird and then Silver was presented with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” by conference co-founders Jessica Gelman (Kraft Group) and Daryl Morey (Philadelphia 76ers), both MIT alum.

There was no ‘show-stopper’ panel or special guest moment at this year’s symposium. There were a dozen or more very interesting panel discussions. There were also tons of interesting start-ups pitching their concepts at convention tables spread out a country mile on the main concourse – at a convention center sharing space with a New England Regional Volleyball Association event that drew some 750 volleyball teams to compete in the Boston/Nike JVC National Qualifying tournament. It was an incredible site, and it looked to be very high-calibre traditional volleyball.

It was also a college volleyball coach’s dream for recruiting, as noted by Cora Thompson, the head coach of the women’s volleyball program at Tufts University. Ms. Thompson entered the year with a .737 career winning percentage which ranks her as No. 18 on the NCAA’s winningest active coaches list for Division III. It’s the 27th-best winning mark among Division III coaches all-time. Last season Tufts went 24-6 but lost in the NCAA Regional Final (to East Texas Baptist University).

Tufts recruits volleyball players without the benefit of shelling-out scholarships but, instead, the opportunity to attend one of the best universities in the land. The eight-time New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Coach of the Year and three-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Northeast Region Coach of the Year was kind enough to educate this columnist on a shuttle bus ride from the Convention Center’s “South Parking Lot” to the building’s entrance.

By “South Lot” and the length of the ride and/or walk back, the lot was located someplace in Rhode Island. (I kid, I kid, and I digress).

Back to #SSAC26.

While the Silver & Bird discussion stands out, a panel held Saturday and moderated by Duke, USA Basketball and NBA great Shane Battier also stood out. Battier grilled Seattle Storm head coach Sonia Raman, active but injured NBA, 6’ 11”, 265 lbs. power forward Steven Adams (of the Houston Rockets by way of New Zealand), LA Clippers basketball advisor Monte McNair, and a very impressive Ariana Andonian, the GM of Philadelphia 76ers G-League team (Delaware Blue Coats) and the VP of Player Personnel for the Sixers (NBA level).

It was pointed out during the panel discussion that the two women were both children of immigrants and – add Steven Adams and you have a pretty amazing trifecta of basketball talent and knowledge.

Some of the discussion, which Adams contributed to while wearing a walking boot, revolved around the question of “just how much” can you throw at a player in terms of analytics. While Battier admitted to accepting binders full of information and studying it throughout his career, Adams was a little more reluctant but said he ‘“would always listen.”

What the NBA analytics did show was underlined by McNair, the general manager and president of basketball operations of the Sacramento Kings in 2020 and NBA Executive of the Year in 2023, who said “crashing the glass” was discovered as the key element to success. He also noted, there was always a give and take between hitting the offensive boards vs. transition defense.

Of course, McNair was sitting next to one of the great offensive rebounders in the NBA over the past dozen years.

(L to R): Monte McNair, Ariana Andonian, Steven Adams, Coach Sonia Raman, and moderator Shane Battier

The group framed where analytics falls in the basketball operations hierarchy today, which is the fact crunching data is amongst the most important functions for a team. The players want the information, but once a game starts, they need to see what is developing and either take a proactive approach to force the tempo or have a reactive counter to what the offense is doing. “Execution” was the key factor for Adams and he noted that no analytic print-out could determine how he would react to what a talented player was tossing his way.

That said, the game planning, the counters to the opponents’ tendencies and attempting to stop the opponents’ most effective offensive efforts was something the team needed to stay with, even if it wsn’t working over a short period of time at the start of a game.

Again, no ‘show-stopping’ legends on stage, but good, solid discussions with the wide-ranging panels, all coming at the discussion from different fields of employment at the highest level of the sport.

Special Note: A sincere thank you to Daryl Morey, Jessica Gelman and all of the Conference leaders, organizers, volunteers and a terrific staff at the Seaport Convention Center. It’s an incredibly well-run conference, probably the best sports conference in the world.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The PGA of America was stationed at the vaunted Hall of Game at the MIT Sloan Conference. The sport of golf has been crunching all kinds of numbers to help pro players and weekend hackers improve their scores. Also, the concepts of improvement using AI and wearables is vastly improving the game, joining ever-improving technology for clubs, shoes and golf balls.

One of the PGA of America’s short-term goals is to attach teaching pros to the emerging onslaught of indoor simulation shops, from the high end of Top Golf to the more social, event and fun-based Five Iron Golf.

HURLING with HURLEY: UConn men’s basketball coach Danny Hurley is $25,000 poorer today than he was yesterday. In Saturday’s season finale, a 68-62 loss to Marquette which cost his team a share of the Big East regular season title, Hurley approached game official John Gaffney and got his chest next to the official’s right shoulder while voicing his displeasure. Hurley said he never bumped into Gaffney, though every replay angle suggested otherwise. … Hurley denied it, saying, “You could screenshot whatever you want to screenshot. I don’t feel like I made any contact with John. I don’t believe I did.” … Well, every TV camera in the building showed a definite bump into the official (who threw a double technical at Hurley in reaction to the bump). The BIG EAST spoke quickly, snuffing-out any speculation of suspending Hurley for UConn’s first BIG EAST tournament game scheduled for this Thursday evening.

The BIG EAST statement reads, “UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley has been fined $25,000 by the BIG EAST for unsportsmanlike conduct in the closing seconds of the March 7 game at Marquette. With one second left in the game, Hurley received two technical fouls for aggressively confronting a game official, was subsequently ejected from the game, and then failed to leave the court in a timely manner. Initial speculation on the game broadcast indicated possible contact between Hurley and the official; however, a review by the conference office of the officials’ game report and available game footage could not confirm physical contact. “We hold our coaches to high standards of sportsmanlike conduct during game competition, and inappropriate interactions with our officials will not be tolerated,” said BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: This is now the third (and probably last) week to mention the Mika Zibanejad effect and the fact that in two minutes (3:26pm to 3:28pm on Saturday, during a New York Rangers’ power play against the New Jersey Devils, the name Zabanejad was mentioned 10 times over the short span of time. Ten times! … The guy is amazing.

USA, USA, USA: Adam Amin, the Fox Sports play-by-play man for the World Baseball Classic, made the unforgivable mistake of comparing the current roster for the 2026 USA Baseball team to that of the 1992 USA Basketball “Dream Team.” … Puh-leeze!

The ONLY team that can ever be compared to the Magic, Bird and Jordan Dream Team – the one and only Dream Team – is the 1976 Canada Cup ice hockey team which had 17 Hall of Famers on the roster.

Take a look:

Team Canada Goaltenders:

Rogie Vachon (Los Angeles Kings)

Gerry Cheevers (Boston Bruins)

Glenn Resch (New York Islanders)

Defensemen:

Bobby Orr (Boston Bruins/Chicago Black Hawks)

Denis Potvin (New York Islanders)

Larry Robinson (Montreal Canadiens)

Serge Savard (Montreal Canadiens)

Guy Lapointe (Montreal Canadiens)

Carol Vadnais (New York Rangers)

Jim Watson (Philadelphia Flyers)

Paul Shmyr (Cleveland Crusaders – WHA)

Forwards:

Phil Esposito (New York Rangers)

Bobby Clarke (Philadelphia Flyers)

Darryl Sittler (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Guy Lafleur (Montreal Canadiens)

Marcel Dionne (Los Angeles Kings)

Bobby Hull (Winnipeg Jets – WHA)

Gilbert Perreault (Buffalo Sabres)

Reggie Leach (Philadelphia Flyers)

Bill Barber (Philadelphia Flyers)

Steve Shutt (Montreal Canadiens)

Richard Martin (Buffalo Sabres)

Lanny McDonald (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Danny Gare (Buffalo Sabres)

Dan Maloney (Detroit Red Wings)

Peter Mahovlich (Montreal Canadiens)

Coaching Staff:

Head Coach: Scotty Bowman

Assistant Coaches: Don Cherry, Bobby Kromm, Al MacNeil

For the record, the 2026 World Baseball Classic USA Baseball team roster is:

Pitchers (RHP/LHP): Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Logan Webb, Mason Miller, Clayton Kershaw, Clay Holmes, David Bednar, Michael Wacha, Griffin Jax, Garrett Whitlock, Matthew Boyd, Nolan McLean.

Catchers: Cal Raleigh, Will Smith.

Infielders: Bryce Harper (1B), Bobby Witt Jr. (SS), Alex Bregman (3B), Brice Turang (2B), Gunnar Henderson, Paul Goldschmidt, Ernie Clement.

Outfielders: Aaron Judge, Corbin Carroll, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Byron Buxton, Roman Anthony.

Designated Hitter: Kyle Schwarber.

That’s a great baseball team, but to equal the ‘92 Dream Team, USA Baseball would need to suit up Jackie Robinson, DiMaggio, Mays, Mantle, Aaron and Snyder for starters.

MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conf ’26

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – For a forward-looking group of MIT mathematicians, scientists, data-divers, sports analysts and masters of business candidates, there’s quite a bit of reminiscing done each year when the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (SSAC) tips-off each March, here at The Seaport in Boston. Looking backwards to find opportunities going forward is not a bad thing, so let’s look at the typical pontifications of veteran SSAC attendees:

  1. There’s the “I was there when it started group.” That’s a reference to a very small handful (136 people) of MBA candidates who were on hand for the inaugural 2006 SSAC, launched by Jessica Gelman and Daryl Morey, and staged in classrooms and common space on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
  2. There’s a group, called “the visionaries” by Gelman. Together with ESPN’s buy-in and the inevitable desire for growth, a group of sports industry icons, media, luminaries and even the President of the United States of America got the place jumping over the massive growth periods for the conference – call it 2009-present.
  3. ESPN’s commitment coincided with massive participation by the sports network’s talent, including executives like John Walsh, John Kosner, and Marie Donoghue, along with columnists and writers such as Bill Simmons, Jackie MacMullan, Marc Stein, John Hollinger, and Henry Abbott. The influx of ESPNers improved the conference make up, including everything from moderating panels to in-depth interviews conducted on stage.
  4. It was Simmons who tagged the conference Dork-a-Palooza and the moniker was seconded by Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and former owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks who relished in the vibes of analytics. The Dork has out-paced the lifers, so maybe Dork-a-Palooza is an expression to forever be retired from this column.
  5. Add Bill James (Society for American Baseball Research, aka SABR), Michael Lewis (Moneyball), Nate Silver(writer/analyst at Baseball Prospectus and later the founder of political online site FiveThirtyEight), and Jonathan Kraft (President of the New England Patriots, an early investor in Boston-based Draft Kings fantasy sports/gambling site), and you were looking at the “the growth stage.”
  6. By the time 2014 rolled around, we were treated to an amazing “meeting of the minds” when author Malcolm Gladwell sat down to interview NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. The SSAC had hit the big time, unless you think a panel with President Barack Obama might top the Gladwell-Silver “above the title” flick.
  7. Yes, while Obama was visiting his oldest daughter, Malia, at Harvard University, he stopped by for an “off the record” chat with conference co-founders Gelman and Morey. (How could you expect them to delegate that interview to Bill Simmons)? – That might been the zenith for the once quiet, quaint sports analytics conference.

Along the way, the frequent complaint was whether the team owners, general managers and coaches would ever respect the analytics side of the equation enough to incorporate the number crunching into the strategy. That question was answered emphatically, especially in baseball and basketball as along came the relief pitchers and along came Golden State’s Steph Curry and the three-point field goal barrage that literally changed Dr. Naismith’s game.

If you were paying attention, the likes of Shane Battier, Sue Bird, Elton Brand, JJ Reddick, Steve Kerr, or Steve Nash, were there to tell you about the changing games, as were coaches like Mike D’Antoni, Mike Brown, Dave Joerger, David Fizdale and a host of team GMs and basketball operations gurus to map out the strategies. Reddick even focused on the jobs of former players who were plumbers or firemen.

Panel discussions delved into everything from improvements in the NBA refereeing systems to a total overhaul of the NBA’s schedule-making – an undertaking when all the great ideas were plugged into the state-of-the-art computers to find out it would only take 20+ years for the program to run and spit-out the perfect schedule for the games to be played, starting some seven months later.

Whether you look at it as good news or bad news, 2,500 participants from 31 countries, 630 different organizations, and representatives from over 80 teams and leagues will come together for the 20th edition of the MIT SSAC ‘26 which starts tomorrow morning at 8:30am with Opening Remarks by Gelman and Morey in a packed “Bill James Room” at the Seaport.

Among the highlights this year at the 2026 SSAC:

  • ESPN and Draft Kings Reshape Sports Betting for the Fan – Discussion with Stephen A. Smith, Kevin Neghandi and Burke Magnus of ESPN along with Draft Kings CEO Jason Robins.
  • What Six Years of AI Taught Us – SeatGeek’s Derek Zhou
  • The Next Play – AI’s Impact on Emerging Sports
  • A Conversation with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, led by Sue Bird
  • Where the Game Grows: Venues, Markets and Global Strategy
  • The Re-Invention of Golf
  • The Next Generation of Content |Unlocking Immersive and Interactive Sports Content
  • Unconventional Thinkers – a think tank panel of Morey, Sue Bird, Jay Sugarman (Philadelphia Union) and Nate Silver, moderated by Boston’s own Jackie MacMullan.
  • Innovation in Sports Leagues with Jessica Berman (Commissioner of NWSL) and Valerie Camillo (Chair of WTA), with Contessa Brewer, CNBC
  • A 1-on-1 with MLS Commissioner Don Garber, speaking with Jessica Gelman
  • Men in Blazers and the EPL
  • The Future of Hockey – Engineering the Next Era of Growth, with Bill Daly (NHL Deputy Commissioner), Warren Zola, Exec Director, BC’s Chief Executive Club, Marty Walsh, Executive Director of the NHL Players Association and Meghan Chayka, Co-Founder and CEO of Stathletes
  • Hot Takes: Celebrating 20 Years of SSAC
  • And, a Pablo Torre Finds Out Podcast, Live from the SSAC

Among many, many other interesting panels, break-outs, competitive research paper reviews and presentations.

It’s all packed into two fun-filled days at the Seaport Convention Center, a small gathering of your 2,500 best friends.

Personal Note: I’ve enjoyed the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference from its second year on. Coincidentally, the first year, I was asked to speak at Boston University’s sports management symposium which was held at the same time with the nightcap being my first “Hot Stove, Cool Music” concert at The Paradise.

(Where’s Eli “Paperboy” Reed when you need him)?

Two quick take-aways:

  1. Over the years, I’ve met so many smart and interesting people both within and out of the sports industry. The wide-ranging knowledge brought to sports is simply amazing, often ground-breaking and sometimes, just not enough to crack the big time.
  2. The Conference has grown so much that it’s become difficult to meet-up with colleagues, all being pulled in different directions for different panel discussions and topics. At first, I stayed in the “basketball lane,” but in recent years, it’s been more of a deep dive into everything else. … Think of it: Sports Gambling in the USA was just the “concept of a plan” when we first sat down at MIT Sloan. Now?

There will be more to come – depending on what merits coverage – with columns on Digital Sports Desk or maybe this week’s edition of TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook (available on Substack).

The Battle for The Big East ’26

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NEW YORK – (staff and Wire Service Report) – Throughout the season, it seemed inevitable that Big East heavyweights St. John’s and UConn would meet to decide the conference tournament championship.

On Saturday night, the highly anticipated encounter will occur at what will be a packed Madison Square Garden when top-seeded St. John’s (27-6) and second-seeded UConn (29-4) square off for the third time this season.

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St. John’s forced 15 turnovers and saw Zuby Ejiofor total 21 points and 10 rebounds in an 81-72 home win over the Huskies on Feb. 6.

The Huskies rolled to a 72-40 win in Hartford on Feb. 25, when the Red Storm missed their final 24 shots and did not get a basket for the final 17 1/2 minutes.

“I just think both programs have really pushed each other the whole year,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said Friday. “We’re a 29-win team, they’re a 27-win team. Two of the best teams in the country.

UConn is ranked sixth in the nation and St. John’s is 13th.

“Obviously it’s going to be a death match for the Big East championship, but also, you know, both of us have really delivered for this league in a year where this league needs a game like this tomorrow night that everyone that’s a basketball fan’s going to be dialed into,” Hurley said. “So, yeah, it’s exciting. You knew there was going to be a third round, and here we are.”

St. John’s, which has won five games in a row, is attempting to win consecutive titles for the first time in school history. The Red Storm reached the championship game in back-to-back seasons in 1985 and 1986 and split title games with UConn in 1999 and 2000.

St. John’s is attempting to win its fifth title in seven tries and second since 2000 after earning an 82-66 victory over Creighton last year.

The only starter from the 2025 title game is Ejiofor, the Big East Player of the Year. He has 41 total points in the Red Storm’s tournament victories over Providence and Seton Hall. On Friday, in a 78-68 semifinal win over pesky Seton Hall, Ejiofor scored 20 points in a game in which St. John’s never trailed and led by as many as 19.

“We’re playing for a championship,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said. “We played for the regular season as if our life was on the line. We’re going to play tomorrow as if our life is on the line. Then we’ll worry about the (NCAA) tournament.”

The Red Storm advanced by getting key contributions from Joson Sanon, Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins. Sanon scored 15 off the bench, while Mitchell and Hopkins finished with 13 apiece and combined for 13 rebounds.

“For us new guys who weren’t part of the team last year, we want it just as bad, and we have the same type of chip on our shoulder, like we’re defending it like if we won it last year with them,” Mitchell said. “So it’s just about coming together, staying as one, going out there to compete for 40 minutes.”

UConn is in the title game for the second time in three seasons. The Huskies are 8-3 in their previous trips to the championship game and tied with Georgetown for the most conference titles in Big East history.

The Huskies ended the regular season with a dismal 68-62 loss at Marquette last Saturday but responded nicely with double-digit wins over Xavier and Georgetown while never trailing in either game.

UConn followed its 93-68 victory over the Musketeers by keeping Georgetown at bay in a 67-51 victory Friday night.

The Huskies scored their most points this season in a regulation conference win on Thursday and saw big games from Solo Ball and Tarris Reed Jr. On Friday, UConn got a huge performance from Braylon Mullins to offset quiet showings from Ball and Reed.

Mullins scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half. For the game, he was 8-of-17 shooting and took all four of UConn’s free throws. Mullins finished four shy of his career high and made 12 of 26 shots from the floor in his first two tournament games after a 4-of-15 outing at Marquette.

“I’m so grateful to be in the position, and I think we’re all grateful to be going into the Big East championship game,” Mullins said. “Being a freshman, there’s nowhere else I would want to be.”

–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Moving Day at The PLAYERS ’26

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CUT: The PLAYERS 36-hole cut advanced 73 professionals at 2-over (146) from a field of 123 professionals.

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – Ludvig Åberg (1st/-12) Friday round of (63) marked the second-lowest 18-hole score in PLAYERS history, with the lowest being a (62) by Justin Thomas/2025/R2, Tom Hoge/2023/R3).

Åberg holds his sixth career 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR and is 1-for-5 converting to victory (2023 RSM Classic). The last player to hold the

36- hole lead/co-lead at THE PLAYERS and go on to win was Rory McIlroy in 2019.

Åberg is now the third player to post 29 on the front nine at TPC Sawgrass, joining Dustin Johnson/2022/R4, Martin Kaymer/2014/R1), and Åberg joined Derek Fathauer (2015/R1) as the only two players to post 5-under on Nos. 1-4 at TPC Sawgrass.

Xander Schauffele (2nd/-10) shot (65) and it matches his low 18-hole score in 24 career rounds at THE PLAYERS Championship (R1, R3/2024). He carded eight birdies in a round to mark the most in his career at TPC Sawgrass (previous: 7; R1, R3/2024).

Two-time PLAYERS Champion (2023, 2024) and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (T51/+1) extended his longest active cuts made streak on TOUR to 70.

The PLAYERS | Leaderboard After 36 Holes

1 Ludvig Åberg 69 63 132 (-12)

2 Xander Schauffele 69 65 134 (-10)

3 Cameron Young 68 67 135 (-9)

T4 Corey Conners 69 67 136 (-8)

T4 Justin Thomas 68 68 136 (-8)

Tournament Leaderboard: (link

UConn Knocks Off Georgetown

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Connecticut’s Braylon Mullins scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half as second-seeded UConn never trailed and kept 11th-seeded Georgetown at bay throughout a 67-51 victory in the Big East semifinals on Friday night.

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The sixth-ranked Huskies (29-4) advanced to the title game and will face top-seeded St. John’s after the Red Storm earned a 78-68 win over No. 4 seed Seton Hall in the first semifinal. UConn is attempting to win its ninth Big East tournament title and second in three seasons.

The Hoyas (16-18) saw their magic run out after reaching the semifinals. Georgetown missed a chance at playing for its first title since making a surprise run as the eighth seed in 2021.

Mullins notched his third 20-point game of his freshman season and finished three points shy of his career high set Feb. 18 against Creighton. The guard made 8 of 17 and hit three foul shots on a night when the Huskies only attempted four free throws.

Silas DeMary Jr. added 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists. DeMary was UConn’s leading rebounder and helped the Huskies to a 34-25 edge on the glass

The big performance by Mullins offset quiet nights from Solo Ball, Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. Ball and Karaban finished with seven points apiece while Reed was held to six points and seven rebounds after getting a double-double in Thursday’s 25-point rout of Xavier.

The Huskies shot 47.5% and made 8 of 25 3s after eking a pair of close wins over the Hoyas during the regular season.

Vince Iwuchukwu led Georgetown with 11 points, but Julius Halaifonua was unable to follow up his first career double-double in Thursday’s 14-point win over Villanova. Halaifonua was held to 10 points and did not get a rebound while sitting for over 11 minutes after getting his third foul early in the second half.

The Hoyas shot 38% and were 2 of 16 from 3-point range. Georgetown also was 9-for-18 on layups

After scoring the game’s first seven points, the Huskies took a 24-14 lead with 6:48 remaining in the first half when Karaban’s backdoor layup followed a powerful dunk by Reed. Mullins scored UConn’s last eight points by hitting three jumpers and a reverse layup in the final 4:16 and the Huskies held a 32-21 lead at halftime.

Mullins and DeMary hit 3s on consecutive possessions for a 41-27 lead less than four minutes into the second. A 3 by Caleb Williams moved Georgetown within 48-40 with 8:54 left and UConn never let the lead slip any closer.

The Huskies clinched it when Mullins found Erik Reibe for a dunk that made it 57-44 with 5:28 left and took a 15-point lead on a basket by Karaban with 3:02 left.

–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Big East Preview: UConn v. Georgetown

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The University of Connecticut recovered from a stunning loss in its regular-season finale (vs. Marquete) with a dominant performance against Xavier in the Big East tournament quarterfinals on Thursday. The BIG EAST’s second-seeded Huskies (28-4) will seek another strong showing Friday night when they face 11th-seeded Georgetown (16-17) in the semifinals.

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The winner will advance to Saturday’s championship game and will meet either top-seeded St. John’s or Seton Hall, the fourth seed.

The No. 6-ranked Huskies shot 35.6% from the field and were 3 of 24 from 3-point range in a dismal 68-62 loss at Marquette last Saturday to close the regular season. After a film session led by downcast head coach Dan Hurley, UConn advanced to the Big East semifinals with a 93-68 rout of 10th-seeded Xavier on Thursday night. It is the Huskies’ sixth straight appearance in the tournament semifinals since they rejoined the conference in the 2020-21 season.

“For us, it was just great to get back on the court after the choke job over the weekend,” Hurley said. “I was just really impressed with the way that these guys came out, the energy level. There was no residual from that performance.”

The Huskies posted their sixth win by at least 25 points this season and saw big performances from Solo Ball, Tarris Reed Jr. and Alex Karaban.

Ball scored 19 after shooting 34.1% (15 of 44) in his final five regular-season games. He was 5-of-12 shooting and sank four of UConn’s dozen 3-pointers on Thursday.

“It is a new season, and you’ve got to erase what you did before, whether it was good or bad, and just capitalize and just trust your work,” Ball said.

Reed heads into the semifinal with four straight double-doubles after totaling 17 points and a season-high 14 rebounds to lead the Huskies to a 40-28 rebounding edge Thursday.

Karaban was limited to two points at Marquette on Saturday and opened his final Big East tournament with a 15-point showing.

Georgetown is in the semifinals for the first time since winning a surprising tournament title in 2021 as the eighth seed and has won three straight games following a seven-game skid.

After opening the tournament with a 63-56 win over sixth-seeded DePaul on Wednesday, the Hoyas were even better in their 78-64 win against third-seeded Villanova on Thursday. Georgetown joined Villanova (2004) as the second double-digit seed to reach the semifinals, thanks to Julius Halaifonua getting his first career double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds. The sophomore center finished one shy of his career high in points and helped the Hoyas control the glass, 46-25.

“We’re going to play one of the best teams in America,” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said of UConn. “They have earned that right. … Danny has done an incredible job building that program back to where it’s supposed to be.

“We’re just excited that we are here. I want our men to feel how special it is to play on a Friday night in Madison Square Garden. We’re going to give them that experience, and if we continue to do what we’ve been doing the last couple of days, we’re going to give ourselves an opportunity to advance.”

The Huskies won the two regular-season games against the Hoyas by a combined six points and did not see much of Halaifonua.

In a 64-62 road win on Jan. 17, Reed had 15 points and 11 rebounds while Halaifonua played eight minutes.

On Feb. 14, Ball scored 20 points in a 79-75 home win, and Halaifonua played 15 minutes. He contributed four points and one rebound.

– By Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Big East: The Hall vs. St. John’s

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – St. John’s began defense of its first Big East tournament title since 2000 by securing five offensive rebounds. The hustle set the tone for a comfortable win over Providence on Thursday and possibly foreshadowed another physical encounter with Seton Hall. After easily advancing, the top-seeded and 13th-ranked Red Storm will face fourth-seeded Seton Hall in the first semifinal on Friday.

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The Red Storm (26-6) never trailed in an 85-72 victory over the Friars, and they are in the semifinals for the third straight season. St. John’s dominated the glass by a 51-30 margin with an effort that featured in 18 offensive rebounds and 21 more shot attempts than Providence managed.

“We played awesome defense tonight, especially the first half was as good as we played all year,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said after a game in which his team scored the first nine points and led by 21 at halftime.

Zuby Ejiofor, the Big East player of the Year and defensive player of the year, finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. He became the first player in the history of the tournament to achieve those numbers in the same game.

St. John’s endured two tough regular-season challenges from the Pirates. The Red Storm rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half for a 65-60 home win over Seton Hall on Jan. 20, then earned a 72-65 win in the rematch at Newark, N.J., on March 6.

Ejiofor scored 21 points in the most recent meeting after getting held to nine in the first encounter, when the Red Storm shot 35.6%.

“It’s not easy winning on the road against one of the best defensive teams in the country,” Pitino said after last week’s game. “My message to the guys, ‘When you play a team like Seton Hall, your defense has to be every bit as good as their defense in order to win.’”

Seton Hall (21-11) was swept in two games each by St. John’s and second-seeded UConn by a combined 21 points in the regular season. The Pirates are in the semifinals for the first time since 2021 after earning a 72-61 victory over fifth-seeded Creighton on Thursday.

“Obviously, we just played them not too long ago,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said of the Red Storm. “You got to get back, watch a little bit of film and come up with a game plan. They’re a very good team, obviously very well-coached, great players, but our guys played well throughout both games. We’re going to do what Seton Hall do. We’re going to defend, play hard, and what happens from there, happens from there.”

Holloway used 10 players vs. the Bluejays and got a big lift from Jacob Dar. The senior reserve scored all of his season-high 16 points in the second half after entering the game averaging 2.4 points.

Dar scored three points in 19 minutes during the two meetings with St. John’s. His timely contribution on Thursday helped support a steady showing from Adam “Budd” Clark, who collected 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Clark experienced mixed results in the two meetings with the Red Storm. He scored three points and shot 0-for-7 in the first game, then led the Pirates with 15 points in the March 6 game.

“We’re in the semifinals,” Clark said. “That’s what we came here to the Big East for.”

The Pirates relied on Dar to support Clark vs. Creighton because AJ Staton-McCray (12.0 ppg) shot 2-for-9 for eight points after shooting 4-for-17 for 11 points last week against the Red Storm.

– By Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

 

PGA Tour: Round 1 at The PLAYERS

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges, Sahith Theegala and Sepp Straka formed a tie for the lead in Thursday’s weather-hit opening round of The Players Championship when play was suspended in fading light.

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Surprise package Austin Smotherman, one of four players yet to complete the opening round, has a chance to seize the outright lead when play resumes on Friday as he faces a 15-foot birdie putt on his final hole — the par-5 ninth.

Smotherman was at 5 under after mixing four birdies with a lone bogey on his back nine, but he regretted playing a chip shot from 40 yards out before deciding to mark his ball on the green and return the following morning to complete his round.

“It was just getting so dark,” said Smotherman, a three-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour who was a runner-up at last month’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. “Greens are getting — I mean, the rain softened them enough to where spike marks, footprints, all that stuff’s kind of adding up.

“So a 15-, 16-footer, whatever I have. I mean, it’s not worth it right now (and he will) get fresh greens in the morning, which is the benefit of that. Do I wish I hit the chip in the morning as well? Went back and forth. The fact I was even questioning it, I probably should have maybe backed off.”

McNealy, Hodges, Theegala and Straka fired matching 5-under-par 67s on a day of mixed weather conditions at TPC Sawgrass, where the course was relatively firm in the morning before being softened by early afternoon thunderstorms.

Former world No. 1 amateur McNealy, who teed off in the morning wave, reeled off five birdies in his first 12 holes on his way to an early one-shot lead. He was then caught late in the day by fellow American Hodges, who birdied two of his last three holes, and Austrian Straka, who eagled the par-5 16th with a chip-in from 50 feet.

“It was a very straightforward chip,” said Straka, who has won four times on the PGA Tour with his most recent victory coming at last year’s Truist Championship. “It was just off the green, upslope in the first cut. It was about as easy as they come, and I was able to take advantage of it.”

American Theegala made it a four-way tie at the top after covering his back nine in 3 under, highlighted by a hole-out eagle at the par-4 12th where he hit a stunning 99-yard approach from the right fairway, his ball bouncing sharply to the left off the fringe before disappearing into the cup.

“I hit it a little skinny and just came out a little right,” said Theegala, whose only PGA Tour victory came at the 2023 Fortinet Championship. “Got a nice bounce … it was probably going to spin left off that slope, was probably going to go like 20, 25 feet down that slope, just straight left of the hole. So for it to crash into the pin and go in is pretty cool. It’s a nice bonus.”

World No. 6 Russell Henley and fellow American Justin Thomas, who won this event in 2021 and is making his second PGA Tour start of the year after undergoing back surgery in November, were among a group of four players who opened with 68s on a tightly bunched leaderboard.

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, bidding for a rare third victory at The Players Championship, produced a mixed bag as he opened with an even-par 72. He birdied his final hole, the par-5 ninth, following consecutive bogeys.

“I did some good things, changing weather out there, but overall I felt like I gave away some shots,” said Scheffler, who clinched his 20th career victory on the PGA Tour at The American Express in January. “Hoping to clean it up a little bit the next few days.

“It can get very challenging when you get some high winds like we had this morning. It can get even more challenging when you’re playing from the rough, which I felt like I was doing a bit too much of today … I struck it better on the back nine. Just made a few mental errors and just need to be a little bit sharper the next few days.”

World No. 2 and defending champion Rory McIlroy, looking to shrug off a back injury that led to his withdrawal from last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, experienced a frustrating day as he battled to a 74. Often wayward off the tee, he mixed three bogeys with a lone birdie to finish seven strokes off the pace.

“I would say the most discomfort was like when the ball was below my feet or with chipping,” McIlroy replied when asked if his back had posed any problems. “Just like getting down a little bit to it. Honestly, overall it was fine. Got a little bit tired at the end of the day, but yeah, it was actually all pretty good.”

The elite Players Championship field is one of the strongest in the game with the top 10 golfers in the world rankings — and 47 of the top 50 — assembled at TPC Sawgrass for the tournament’s 52nd edition.

However, World No. 4 Collin Morikawa withdrew from the tournament due to a back injury after playing just one hole on Thursday. After teeing off on the 10th hole and making a par, he experienced some discomfort while taking a practice swing on the 11th tee box.

– Field Level Media

Note: Ryan Fox (illness) withdrew prior to the start of the first round and was replaced by David Ford (T82/+3)