LOS ANGELES (AP) — JuJu Watkins' season is over. One of the biggest stars in women's basketball sustained a knee injury in the first quarter of top-seeded USC’s game against Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament. A team spokesperson says she will undergo surgery. Watkins was driving to the basket when she went down with the non-contact injury. She grabbed her right knee with a pained expression on her face. The crowd in Galen Center went silent as coach Lindsay Gottlieb and two other USC staffers attended to before being carried off the court by multiple people. The Trojans won 96-59 to reach the Sweet 16 where they will play Kansas State.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Alyssa Ustby scored 16 of her 21 points after halftime to help North Carolina beat West Virginia 58-47 on Monday night in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament. The fifth-year senior’s big night included 10 third-quarter points for the third-seeded Tar Heels, who reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2022. North Carolina will face Duke in a regional semifinal in Birmingham, Alabama — the first meeting between the rivals in the women’s March Madness bracket. Jordan Harrison scored 10 points to lead the sixth-seeded Mountaineers, who haven't made the Sweet 16 since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994.
DENVER (AP) — They’re playing for more than trips to the Final Four and a chance to cut down nets at March Madness. It’s also a chance to see and be seen – by other teams. In yet another sign of the times in college sports, the transfer portal opens Monday, giving basketball players a 30-day window to switch schools. It means some of the 1,000 or so players on the 68 teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament are playing to win, but also for more money, more playing time, a chance to be seen and potentially set things up for next year.
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Skylar Vann scored 17 points, Payton Verhulst added 16 and No. 3 seed Oklahoma cruised into the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament, dispatching No. 6 seed Iowa 96-62. Raegan Beers had 11 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks in just 18 minutes for the Sooners. Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk beat her alma mater and advanced past the second round for the first time in her four years with the Sooners. Oklahoma will play UConn or South Dakota State on Saturday in Spokane, Washington. Iowa had reached the previous two national title games with Caitlin Clark, who's now in the WNBA.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Madison Booker scored 20 points and No. 1-seed Texas used a smothering defense to earn a 65-48 victory over No. 8 Illinois in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament. The win sends the Longhorns to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in the last five seasons. Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda added 19 points for Texas. Texas outscored Illinois 18-6 in the second quarter, then broke the game open at the start of the third when the Longhorns stretched the lead to 24 after steals by Booker and Rori Harmon led to quick baskets. Adalia McKenzie led Illinois with 13 points.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota has hired Colorado State’s Niko Medved as its next coach. The native of the Twin Cities area and former student manager for the Gophers had the Rams within one basket of the Sweet 16. Colorado State hit the 25-win mark and made the NCAA Tournament three times in Medved's seven seasons. He was 143-85 with the Rams for the second-best winning percentage in program history. Medved was the front-runner for the Minnesota job from the start. His predecessor Ben Johnson was fired after going 56-71 overall and 22-57 in the Big Ten Conference over four years on the job.
UNDATED (AP) — Ben McCollum, who led Drake’s dominating run through the Missouri Valley Conference and a win in the NCAA Tournament in his only season with the Bulldogs, is the new head coach at Iowa. Athletic director Beth Goetz announced McCollum’s hiring 10 days after she fired Fran McCaffery and two days after McCollum wrapped up a 31-4 season with a second-round loss to Texas Tech. McCollum takes over a program that had its worst season in seven years. The Hawkeyes were 17-16 and tied for 12th in the Big Ten. Terms of McCollum’s contract weren’t announced.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former Georgia Tech and Memphis coach Josh Pastner has agreed to take over UNLV’s program, two people with knowledge of the hiring process told The Associated Press on Monday night. The two people spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made. One of the people labeled it a “done deal.” Pastner takes over Kevin Kruger, who was fired March 15 after going 76-55 over four seasons and failing to reach the NCAA Tournament.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Bold decisions to change Major League Baseball’s longstanding rules quickened the pace of games and revived the popularity of stealing bases over the last few years. A similarly creative move may be needed to help starting pitching regain the relevance it enjoyed as recently as a decade ago. Thirty-four pitchers worked as many as 200 innings and all 30 major league teams got over 900 innings from their starters in 2014. Only four pitchers threw 200 innings last season and just four teams got as many as 900 innings from their starters.
MONDAY SCORES
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Indiana 119 Minnesota 103
Final Orlando 118 L.A. Lakers 106
Final Toronto 112 Washington 104
Final Dallas 120 Brooklyn 101
Final New Orleans 112 Philadelphia 99
Final Chicago 129 Denver 119
Final Boston 113 Sacramento 95
Final Phoenix 108 Milwaukee 106
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final SO Vancouver 4 New Jersey 3
Final SO Columbus 4 N-Y Islanders 3
Final Dallas 3 Minnesota 0