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Illinois clamps down on Houston for a 65-55 March Madness win to reach Elite Eight

HOUSTON — David Mirkovic had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and third-seeded Illinois flexed its defensive muscles to eliminate last year's national runner-up from the NCAA Tournament, beating Houston 65-55 in the South Region semifinals on Thursday night. Next up is a meeting Saturday with ninth-seeded Iowa to see which Big Ten team will advance to the Final Four. It will be the 11th Elite Eight appearance for Illinois (27-8) and its second in three seasons under Brad Underwood. In the Sweet 16 for a seventh consecutive time, the second-seeded Cougars (30-7) were thrilled to be ...

Kaufman-Renn tips in game-winner to send No. 2 seed Purdue past 11th-seeded Texas 79-77 in Sweet 16

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Trey Kaufman-Renn has heard coach Matt Painter remind the Boilermakers so many times during his four years at Purdue that it's not always the first shot of a possession that matters most. "It's those tip-ins at the end of the games," Kaufman-Renn recalled of the message. "He said that my four years here, so it's kind of cool to experience that." Yes, Kaufman-Renn's quick hands at the rim extended a special NCAA Tournament run for Purdue. Kaufman-Renn tipped in a miss by Braden Smith with 0.7 seconds left, and the No. 2-seed Boilermakers edged hobbling Texas ...

Malinin rebounds from Olympics at the worlds with a personal-best short program

PRAGUE — Ilia Malinin bounced back from misfiring at the Milan-Cortina Olympics by leading after the short program at the figure skating world championships on Thursday. With a new haircut Malinin presented all that the spectators expected from the defending two-time world champion at O2 Arena. He will go to Saturday's free skate with a massive lead of more than nine points after a personal-best 111.29 score in the short program. The performance showed the Olympic failure was behind him. Known as the "Quad God," Malinin opened with a quad flip and a combination of quad lutz and ...

Alabama QB Ty Simpson says he’s ‘absolutely’ a first-round pick after his pro day workout

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Ty Simpson felt like he made a final impression at Alabama's pro day in front of NFL scouts. The quarterback went through a 40-plus-minute throwing session Wednesday for dozens of the league's key decision makers. He previously threw at the NFL combine in February but elected to go through another workout in Tuscaloosa. "Why not?" Simpson said. "Go have fun. Go sling it. You watch the tape of the pro day, there wasn't any easy throws. I didn't want to make it easy." Simpson is widely considered the No. 2 quarterback available in the draft behind Indiana's ...