PHILADELPHIA — Villanova on Saturday did what was expected when it fired men’s basketball coach Kyle Neptune after three seasons.

The Wildcats will miss the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. New athletic director Eric Roedl and school president Rev. Peter Donohue decided to move in a new direction.

The immediate question is...Read more

INDIANAPOLIS — The Michigan Wolverines moved a step closer toward checking one of their season goals off the list.

After squandering a 15-point lead in the second half, No. 3 seed Michigan used a last-second layup by Tre Donaldson to dispatch No. 2 seed Maryland, 81-80, in Saturday’s Big Ten tournament semifinal at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

...Read more

NEW YORK — Cam Thomas re-injured his left hamstring in Thursday’s 116-110 road loss to the Chicago Bulls and will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 regular season, the Nets announced on Saturday.

Thomas suffered two prior strains to the same hamstring this season, which forced him to miss 13 straight games from Nov. 27-Dec. 27 and 24 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Inside a locker room, geography matters and Friday night in Denver, Austin Reaves was in the big seat.

Using the space typically assigned to LeBron James inside the Nuggets' visiting locker room, Reaves sat closest to the showers, players passing him on their way in and out after they'd fumbled a chance to stun Denver.

Cam ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — UNLV men’s basketball coach Kevin Kruger has been fired with two years remaining on his contract, the university announced.

The program will now need to come up with the funds for the $2.35 million buyout included in the contract extension Kruger inked in June 2022.

Kruger was scheduled to make $800,000 in each of the next two ...Read more

NEW YORK — At the moment that erased any doubt that his season and his career as Villanova’s head coach would soon be over, Kyle Neptune was hunched over with his hands on his knees near midcourt at Madison Square Garden, assuming a stance similar to someone exhausted from a race he couldn’t even finish.

Connecticut’s Samson Johnson was...Read more

INDIANAPOLIS — Michigan State's Big Ten Tournament run is over.

In Saturday's first Big Ten semifinal at Indianapolis' Gainbridge Fieldhouse, John Tonje powered fourth-seed Wisconsin to a 77-74 upset over top seed Michigan State. Jase Richardson and Jeremy Fears Jr. provided firepower for Michigan State's comeback bid, but it fell short and ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Villanova has fired head men’s basketball coach Kyle Neptune.

Neptune, in three seasons, went 54-47 overall and 31-29 in the Big East after taking over the program in 2022 following the retirement of Jay Wright, under whom Neptune coached at Villanova for eight seasons before leaving to become the head coach at Fordham for ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Arizona guard KJ Lewis paraded down the T-Mobile Center floor, moments after one last steal and one final layup, motioning his right hand to and fro.

A goodbye wave might’ve meant something, except that, well, there wasn’t much of anybody left to receive the message. A game had long been decided, its crowd long gone. ...Read more

DENVER — Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick often makes reference to a lyric from an old Jay-Z song: “It was all good just a week ago.”

Entering Friday’s game against the Denver Nuggets, things were not good for the Lakers. They entered on a three-game losing streak. They were down three starters in LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and ...Read more

The Kentucky Wildcats are headed home after two nights at the SEC Tournament.

Alabama defeated the Cats 99-70 on Friday night in Bridgestone Arena, completing a rare three-game season sweep of the UK men’s basketball team and ending the chances of Mark Pope’s team to bring a league trophy back to Lexington.

The loss was UK’s most ...Read more

INDIANAPOLIS — Round 1 was a first-half knockout. Round 2 went down to the final bell.

Round 3 between Michigan and Purdue was a decisive decision in the Wolverines’ favor.

No. 3 seed Michigan took control early against No. 6 seed Purdue, never let up and snapped a three-year streak of early exits in the Big Ten Tournament with an 86-68 ...Read more

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Down its leading scorer and battling one of the nation's hottest teams, Missouri men's basketball bowed out of the Southeastern Conference Tournament with a quarterfinal loss to Florida.

The No. 7 seed Tigers fell behind the No. 2 seed Gators immediately, making the second half competitive until they were buried by a late ...Read more

The Celtics officially secured their place in the 2025 NBA playoffs Friday night with a win over the Miami Heat.

Jrue Holiday scored 25 points — his highest regular-season total in a Celtics uniform — on efficient 10-of-15 shooting as Boston won, 103-91, at the Kaseya Center.

Jayson Tatum finished with a game-high 28 points, offsetting his...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Timberwolves began a stretch of five straight home games Friday night, with four of those matchups coming against teams with worse records than theirs.

The problem for the Wolves is they’re not always the most consistent team at home (18-14 entering Friday). A short-handed Orlando team, without Jalen Suggs, was the first ...Read more

NEW YORK — For the first time in a quarter-century, St. John’s is headed to the Big East Tournament final.

It took an all-time performance from Zuby Ejiofor to get there.

Top-seeded St. John’s rallied from an early 15-point deficit to beat the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles, 79-63, in Friday night’s semifinal round at Madison Square Garden...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Friday night’s ACC Tournament semifinal always had the possibility for an exciting sequel to the game in 2019 — the one where a Duke freshman phenom named Zion Williamson led the Blue Devils to a 1-point win in front of a raucous crowd in Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

The sequel was different, surely.

But maybe equally...Read more