LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Chiefs go as far as Patrick Mahomes takes them. The 49ers have Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and a star-studded group surrounding Brock Purdy. This Super Bowl will come down to the other side of the ball. Defense wins the Vince Lombardi Trophy on Sunday. Kansas City is seeking to become the NFL’s first repeat champion in 19 years. San Francisco is aiming for a record-tying sixth Super Bowl title. Mahomes, Travis Kelce and coach Andy Reid get most of the attention on the Chiefs, but defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s unit deserves plenty of credit for carrying the team during various points of the season when the offense was inconsistent and out of sync.
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Nick Bosa has been making a high-profile impact for the San Francisco 49ers on Sundays ever since entering the league as the No. 2 overall pick in 2019. Bosa also has been making more hidden contributions every Saturday the past two seasons by breaking down the team with a speech at the end of the final walkthrough before each game. The soft-spoken Bosa was given the assignment for the first time during the 2022 season as coach Kyle Shanahan liked to randomly call on players to keep them all on their toes. General manager John Lynch called the speeches “special.”
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Super Bowl is the end point to a season for which every franchise strives. Yet for the Kansas City Chiefs, their game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers could be the stopping point for an entire era, or at least the beginning of the end. The team could look much different next season with players such as Chris Jones and L'Jarius Sneed due to hit free agency. Many more critical pieces to their championship last season will do the same the following year. And that's to say nothing of Chiefs coach Andy Reid and tight end Travis Kelce, who insist they want to continue and have spent the past week clapping back against talk of retirement.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Will Taylor Swift make it to the Super Bowl in time? Intrepid flight trackers online seem to think so. Fans of the music superstar and aviation journalists believe they have identified Swift’s private jet, which arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport just after 3:30 p.m. local time from Tokyo's Haneda Airport. Yet to be revealed are her transportation plans onward to Las Vegas. That's where Swift's boyfriend, NFL star tight end Travis Kelce, will play in Sunday’s Super Bowl. She has followed Kelce for much of the Kansas City Chiefs’ season. Representatives for Swift and a private aviation company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Hunter Dickinson scored 15 points to lead a balanced attack as No. 4 Kansas extended its home winning streak to 18 games with a 64-61 win over No. 13 Baylor. Baylor got the ball with 14.2 seconds left and a chance to tie it, but Jayden Nunn’s 3-point try from the corner was short. After Nicolas Timberlake missed the front end of a one-and-one, Ja’Kobe Walter’s 3-point attempt caromed off the rim. Kansas played without guard Kevin McCullar, who is out with a knee injury. Timberlake made his first start with the Jayhawks. Baylor was led by Yves Missi with 21 points.
CINCINNATI (AP) — J’Wan Roberts scores a game-high 20 points, including a game-sealing dunk with six seconds left, as No. 5 Houston outlasts Cincinnati 67-62 on Saturday. Jamal Shead added 16 on 6-of-25 shooting. The Cougars won their 10th straight against the Bearcats. Dan Skillings Jr. led the way with 13 points for the Bearcats.
PROVO, Utah (AP) — Fousseyni Traore scored 14 points and had eight rebounds to lead No. 21 BYU to a 72-66 victory over Kansas State. Spencer Johnson and Jaxson Robinson added 12 points apiece to help the Cougars move back to 5-5 in Big 12 play. Noah Waterman chipped in 11 points and Trevin Knell added 10. Arthur Kaluma led the Wildcats with 18 points and eight rebounds and Cam Carter added 14 points. BYU led by 17 points in the second half but Kansas State pulled within 66-64 with a little over a minute to play.
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Darrion Williams had 13 points and 13 rebounds, Kerwin Walton scored 12 points on four 3-pointers before halftime and No. 23 Texas Tech never trailed on its way to a 66-59 win over UCF. The Red Raiders snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory Saturday. Darius Johnson and Jaylin Sellers has 14 points each for the Knights. C.J. Walker had 13 points and eight rebounds. The Red Raiders bounced back a week after losing at home for the first time this season.
AMES, Iowa (AP) — Tre King scored 15 points and Keshon Gilbert had 13 points and seven assists, helping No. 14 Iowa State beat TCU 71-59. Curtis Jones also scored 13 points for 18-5 Iowa State, which improved to 14-0 at home this season. The Cyclones shot 50% from the field and went 15 for 18 at the free-throw line. Emanuel Miller led 16-7 TCU with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Jakobe Coles went 3 for 3 from 3-point range and finished with 14 points.
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Jalon Moore scored 15 points with eight rebounds and four blocks and Javian McCollum made 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the closing seconds to help Oklahoma slip past in-state rival Oklahoma State 66-62. Le’Tre Darthard scored nine points and Milos Uzan added eight points and six assists for Oklahoma (18-6, 6-5 Big 12). Brandon Garrison made a tip-in putback of a missed layup by Javon Small and Quion Williams added two free throws to pull the Cowboys within a point with 1:20 left. McCollum hit two free throws to make it 63-60 with 28 seconds to go, Williams answered with a layup 13 seconds later and McCollum hit two more foul shots with 11 seconds left. Small led Oklahoma State (10-14, 2-9) with 17 points.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Brylee Glenn scored 23 points, Serena Sundell drove for the go-ahead layup with 26 seconds to go, and eighth-ranked Kansas State held on as Oklahoma State airballed the final shot for a 69-68 victory on Saturday. Sundell finished with 17 points and seven assists, while Gabby Gregory had 11 points and Zyanna Walker 10 for the Wildcats. They were coming off back-to-back losses but picked up their 15th straight home win. Quincy Noble had 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Oklahoma State, while Stailee Heard added 19 points and 12 rebounds.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Nick Taylor had a one-shot lead at 13 under with 12 holes left in the third round of the waterlogged Phoenix Open when play was suspended Saturday because of darkness. The Canadian continued to ride his fast start after matching the TPC Scottsdale record with an 11-under 60 to finish his first round Friday. Taylor completed just six holes Saturday, with one birdie and five pars. Sahith Theegala used five birdies on the back nine of the second round early Saturday to shoot a 64 and take a one-shot lead into the third. He bogeyed his first two holes of the third, but made a birdie on No. 4 to pull within a stroke. The 35-year-old Taylor is going for his fourth PGA Tour victory.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Dustin Johnson won LIV Golf Las Vegas on Saturday in windy and chilly conditions for his third victory on the Saudi-funded tour, pulling ahead with a birdie on No. 17 and closing with a par to edge Peter Uihlein and Talor Gooch by a stroke. Johnson shot a 1-under 69 to finish at 12-under 198 at Las Vegas Country Club, breaking out of a late six-way tie on another day with the temperature barely climbing into the 50s in the shadow of the Super Bowl. Johnson holed a 12-footer on the par-4 17th — and made the par save on the par-4 18th for the victory, hitting to 12 feet from the rough and two-putting. Gooch shot a 67, and Uihlein finished with a 68.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The two Dartmouth players working to unionize their basketball team say other athletes have been reaching out to see if they can join the effort. Romeo Myrthil and Cade Haskins say they were bombarded with messages on social media since a National Labor Relations Board official ruled this week that the Big Green players are employees of the school with the right to form a union. The players say they have heard from other Dartmouth teams and others around the Ivy League. Dartmouth lost to Harvard on Saturday in its first game since the ruling.
SATURDAY SCORES
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (1)UConn 89 Georgetown 64
Final (2)Purdue 79 Indiana 59
Final (3)North Carolina 75 Miami 72
Final (4)Kansas 64 (13)Baylor 61
Final (5)Houston 67 Cincinnati 62
Final Texas A&M 85 (6)Tennessee 69
Final (7)Marquette 86 St. John's 75
Final (8)Arizona 99 Colorado 79
Final (9)Duke 80 Boston College 65
Final Michigan St. 88 (10)Illinois 80
Final Rutgers 78 (11)Wisconsin 56
Final Florida 81 (12)Auburn 65
Final (14)Iowa St. 71 TCU 59
Final (15)South Carolina 75 Vanderbilt 60
Final (16)Alabama 109 LSU 92
Final Gonzaga 89 (17)Kentucky 85
Final (19)Creighton 78 Xavier 71
Final (21)BYU 72 Kansas St. 66
Final (22)Utah St. 80 Boise St. 61
Final (23)Texas Tech 66 UCF 59
Final UNLV 80 (25)New Mexico 77
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Dallas 146 Oklahoma City 111
Final L.A. Clippers 112 Detroit 106
Final Brooklyn 123 San Antonio 103
Final Charlotte 115 Memphis 106
Final Philadelphia 119 Washington 113
Final OT Orlando 114 Chicago 108
Final Cleveland 119 Toronto 95
Final Indiana 125 New York 111
Final Atlanta 122 Houston 113
Final Golden State 113 Phoenix 112
Final New Orleans 93 Portland 84
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final St. Louis 3 Buffalo 1
Final Dallas 3 Montreal 2
Final Calgary 5 N-Y Islanders 2
Final OT Detroit 4 Vancouver 3
Final Washington 3 Boston 0
Final Florida 4 Colorado 0
Final Winnipeg 2 Pittsburgh 1
Final OT Carolina 1 New Jersey 0
Final Tampa Bay 4 Columbus 2
Final Ottawa 5 Toronto 3
Final Philadelphia 3 Seattle 2
Final OT Nashville 5 Arizona 4
Final Los Angeles 4 Edmonton 0