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Archives for March 27, 2026

NCAA Regional: Pitino vs Duke Madness

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WASHINGTON DC – (Staff and Wire Service Preview) – James Naismith Award favorite Cameron Boozer and Duke will continue their pursuit of the program’s sixth national title and first since coach Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement when they face coach Rick Pitino’s resurgent St. John’s in Friday night’s East Regional semifinal.

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Boozer posted his 20th and 21st double-doubles in the first two rounds of the tournament as No. 1 seed Duke (34-2) survived a scare in a 71-65 win over No. 16 Siena, then comfortably handled No. 9, TCU by a 81-58 score.

The freshman forward could have a healthier squad behind him Friday. Center Patrick Ngongba II (right foot soreness) is cleared to play a second game after returning from a 19-day layoff against TCU. Caleb Foster (right foot fracture) will be a game-time decision as he tries to play for the first time since a win against North Carolina in the regular-season finale March 7.

“Pat responded well. You never know how that’s going to go. He’s on track to play again (Friday), which is a really big deal for us,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “Then Caleb, I just go back to when he got hurt, he told me, ‘Look, if I do this and work every day, you got to promise me you’ll let me put this uniform on again with our guys.’

Pitino is in his 14th Sweet 16 appearance and first with St. John’s (30-6) during a season that has represented a renaissance for coach and program alike.

Pitino was let go by Louisville after the 2016-17 season amid multiple scandals, eventually returned to coaching college ball at Iona after a three-year layoff, and moved to St. John’s for the 2023-2024 season.

Under Pitino, No. 5 St. John’s reached its first NCAA Tournament in six years last season, and is now making its first Sweet 16 showing since 1999. At age 73, he has no intention of this being a last hurrah.

“I just missed it every single day I was out of it,” Pitino said Thursday. “So I realized there’s no reason to try and get out because I knew how much I missed it.”

Dylan Darling sank a running layup at the buzzer to decide the Red Storm’s 67-65 win over No. 4 seed Kansas in the second round last weekend.

Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a 79-53 first-round victory against No. 12 Northern Iowa. He is the Red Storm’s top producer, averaging 16.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

He’ll be tasked with trying to limit Boozer and Duke on the glass, where the Blue Devils have outrebounded opponents by a plus-11 margin this year.

“Obviously just a special talent coming in as a freshman, really smart player, understanding the game pretty well,” Ejiofor said. “It’s never a one-man job, especially with Boozer. Really talented, really physical. We just got to make sure he sees bodies and really just get at them, apply the pressure, press for 40 minutes.”

– Field Level Media

NCAA Basketball: Izzo in March

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WASHINGTON DC – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Repeat after me … “January (January), February (February), Izzo, April (April).

Coach Tom Izzo will attempt to coach Michigan State one step closer to his ninth Final Four when they meet a familiar UConn squad in Friday night’s NCAA Tournament East Regional semifinal.

Izzo’s third-seeded Spartans (27-7) have had a relatively comfortable trip through the tournament, easing past No. 14 North Dakota State 92-67 and outlasting No. 6 Louisville 77-69.

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And they’ve done it in an increasingly uncommon manner, relying on a core group of upperclassmen that have spent their entire collegiate career with the same program.

The starting quartet of senior forward Jaxon Kohler, senior center Carson Cooper, junior guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and junior forward Coen Carr have played 14 combined seasons under Izzo.

The 71-year-old Izzo says that adds a level of satisfaction to the journey, both for himself and his players, during an era of near-constant mobility.

“Hell yeah, it makes it exciting,” Izzo said. “I still think all these kids moving around, someday they’re going to have to come back to someplace, and they ain’t going to come back to it.

“Everybody talks about how good (the ability to switch schools easily) is for the kids. I think in the end the kids are the ones that lose. I’m not going to lose. Big deal. Have a good year, bad year, I can leave tomorrow. It’s the kids that are going to lose.”

Each member of that quartet has scored in double figures this season. Against North Dakota State, Cooper had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Against Louisville, it was Carr with 21 points and 10 boards.

In No. 2 seed UConn (31-5), the Spartans will face a similarly experienced group that starts four upperclassmen, and arguably a similarly minded coach in Dan Hurley.

It’s also a team they met back in an October preseason exhibition, although Huskies leading scorer Tarris Reed Jr. was absent with a hamstring injury.

For Hurley’s team, the lesson was the kind of physicality it would take to be competitive against elite opposition.

“Yeah, we were very intentional about trying to schedule them for that game right before the opener so we could really identify our vulnerabilities in that game,” Hurley recalled. “I think we gave up six or seven free-throw rebounds in that game, our transition defense was a joke, we got assaulted on the glass. There was a lot there in that game that we were able to show the guys this week when we got manhandled.”

Silas Demary Jr. (ankle) should be available Friday. The point guard missed UConn’s 82-71 win against Furman to open the tournament, but played 22 minutes off the bench in a 73-57 win over No. 7 UCLA in the second round.

Reed posted career bests with 31 points and 27 rebounds in the first-round win, exceeding the senior’s previous rebounding high by nine. Alex Karaban had 27 points against UCLA while Reed had 10 points and 13 rebounds for his 12th double-double.

–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media

Crochet, Red Sox Take Opener

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CINCINNATI – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston ace Garrett Crochet pitched six scoreless innings and Ceddanne Rafaela broke a scoreless tie in the seventh with an RBI single to lead the visiting Red Sox past the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 on Thursday in the season opener for both clubs.

Roman Anthony had three hits, while Trevor Story and Jarren Duran added insurance RBI singles in the ninth.

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Crochet (1-0), the 2025 American League Cy Young runner-up, allowed three hits, walked two and struck out eight to earn the win.

Marcelo Mayer opened the seventh as a pinch-hitter against new Reds reliever Pierce Johnson (0-1) with a double to left-center, just beyond the diving reach of center fielder TJ Friedl. After moving to third on a sacrifice bunt, he scored on Rafaela’s single.

Sal Stewart overcame being drilled in the left wrist by an Anthony liner in the fifth to rack up three hits, becoming the first Cincinnati rookie since 1958 (when rookie rules were established) to record three hits on Opening Day.

His two-out ground-rule double — his second two-bagger of the game — to right set up a rematch of the World Baseball Classic title game when Eugenio Suarez beat Garrett Whitlock and Team USA with a go-ahead double in the 3-2 Venezuela win. This time, Whitlock fanned Suarez to end the eighth-inning threat.

Former Cincinnati closer Aroldis Chapman came on and pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

With a summer-like temperature of 81 degrees and a stiff 15-mph breeze blowing out to left, dueling lefties Crochet and Andrew Abbott managed to match zeros for the first six innings.

Abbott finished with six scoreless innings, scattering seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts on 83 pitches.

Crochet matched Abbott and pitched out of his biggest jam in the sixth when he fanned Eugenio Suarez and Spencer Steer with the bases loaded.

Abbott was able to work his way out of jams in the first two innings, thanks to a pair of groundball double plays, one started by Ke’Bryan Hayes at third and the other fielded by Elly De La Cruz at short.

The Red Sox totaled five hits over the first three innings against Abbott, including two by Anthony, but could not score.

–Field Level Media

March Madness Round-Up

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SAN JOSE – (Staff and Wire Service Recap) – Trey Kaufman-Renn tipped in a shot with 0.7 seconds left to give the second-seeded Boilermakers a 79-77 win over 11th-seeded Texas in the NCAA Tournament’s West Region semifinals on Thursday night.

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Purdue’s Braden Smith drove to the lane on the final possession, and his jumper bounced off, right to the hands of Kaufman-Renn, one of three starters for the Boilermakers (30-8) who were part of the team that played in the 2024 NCAA final.

Kaufman-Renn finished with 20 points and eight rebounds, making 8 of 10 shots from the floor. Fletcher Loyer scored 18 points and Smith added 16 for Purdue, which will face No. 1 Arizona in the regional final on Saturday for a trip to the Final Four.

Texas (21-15) got 29 points from Tramon Mark, the most by a Longhorn in the NCAA tourney since Kevin Durant had 30 in 2007. He hit 11 of 15 from the field and 5 of 7 from 3-point range. The Longhorns shot 51.8% overall, 55.6% in the second half.

No. 1 Arizona 109, Arkansas 88

Brayden Burries scored 23 points and fellow freshman Koa Peat added 21 as the Wildcats rolled past the Razorbacks in the West Region semifinals at San Jose.

Arizona (35-2) matched its school record for wins by shooting 63.8% from the field, advancing to its first Elite Eight since 2015.

Burries finished 7 of 11 from the field, while Peat made 8 of 11 shots.

Arkansas (28-9) got 28 points from freshman Darius Acuff Jr., who scored 88 in three tourney games. The Razorbacks were called for two flagrant fouls and two technicals, one on coach John Calipari. Billy Richmond III was ejected for a flagrant-2 foul with 7:14 left.

SOUTH

No. 3 Illinois 65, No. 2 Houston 55

David Mirkovic and Keaton Wagler produced double-doubles as the Fighting Illini parlayed a 17-0 second-half run into a victory over the Cougars in the South Regional semifinals at Houston.

Illinois (27-8) advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in three seasons. The Fighting Illini will face a Big Ten rival, ninth-seeded Iowa, on Saturday with the winner advancing to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

Mirkovic paired 14 points with 10 rebounds. Wagler posted 13 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Emanuel Sharp led Houston (30-7) with 17 points. Kingston Flemings added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Cougars, who shot just 34.4%.

No. 9 Iowa 77, No. 4 Nebraska 71

Bennett Stirtz scored a team-high 20 points, Tate Sage added 19 and the Hawkeyes rallied from a first-half, double-digit deficit to defeat the Cornhuskers in the South Regional semifinals at Houston.

Stirtz provided Iowa (24-12) with its first lead at 68-65 via a 3-pointer with 2:10 left. That ignited a decisive closing stretch from Iowa, which advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1987 while dashing Nebraska’s bid for its first Elite Eight appearance.

Pryce Sandfort paced the Cornhuskers (28-7) with 25 points, while Braden Frager added 16. That duo combined to shoot 11 of 18 from behind the arc for the Cornhuskers, who missed 18 of 24 3-point shots in the second half after going 7 of 14 from deep before intermission.

–Field Level Media