INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Orlando Lovejoy had 21 points and Lance Stone came off the bench to score 16, leading Detroit Mercy to a 70-64 victory over Robert Morris on Monday night in a Horizon League Tournament semifinal.
No. 3 seed Detroit Mercy (17-14) will play top-seeded Wright State in the championship game on Tuesday with an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line.
Lovejoy made 5 of 14 shots and 11 of 12 free throws for the Titans, adding six assists. Stone sank 6 of 12 shots with two 3-pointers. Tyler Spratt had 10 points and Legend Geeter contributed nine points and 10 rebounds.
DeSean Goode finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds to pace the second-seeded Colonials (22-11). Nikolaos Chitikoudis had 13 points and seven assists. Ryan Prather Jr. and reserve Ta'Zir Smith both scored 11.
The Titans outscored Robert Morris 37-28 in the second half.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Alton Hamilton IV scored a career-high 25 points, Isaiah Moses added 22 and Eastern Washington held off Weber State 84-79 on Monday night in a Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinal.
No. 3 seed Eastern Washington (14-18) will play seventh-seeded Idaho in a Tuesday semifinal. The Vandals beat the Eagles twice, including in the regular-season finale to end EWU's eight-game winning streak. Top seed Portland State plays fourth-seeded Montana in the other semifinal.
Hamilton made 8 of 10 shots with two 3-pointers and both of his free throws for Eastern Washington. He added five rebounds. Moses had eight assists and his three-point play with 37 seconds left gave the Eagles an 82-76 lead. Johnny Radford totaled 12 points and four rebounds off the bench.
Tijan Saine Jr. led the sixth-seeded Wildcats (16-16) with 27 points. Nigel Burris added 14 points and Viljami Vartiainen scored 13.
Hamilton made all six of his first-half shots and scored 18 to guide Eastern Washington to a 46-32 lead at the break. Hamilton had the first four points in a 16-0 first-half run for the Eagles.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — James Reimer stopped 16 shots for his first shutout of the season and 32nd of his career, and the Ottawa Senators beat the Vancouver Canucks 2-0 on Monday night.
Ridly Greig scored in the second period for Ottawa, and Brady Tkachuk added an empty-netter with 1:20 remaining, extending his point streak to seven games — six of those after he helped the United States win Olympic gold in Milan.
Kevin Lankinen made 22 saves for Vancouver, which opened an eight-game homestand.
Ottawa has points in seven straight games (5-0-2) and 11 of 12 (9-1-2) as it chases an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Greig collected a pass from Shane Pinto at the bottom of the faceoff circle, moved the puck to his forehand and fired a shot past Lankinen midway through the second.
The Canucks challenged the play, arguing Pinto made a hand pass before the goal, but the call was upheld after a video review.
Making his first start since Feb. 5, Reimer improved to 4-3-1 on the season and earned his first shutout since April 8, 2025, when he was with Toronto. The 37-year-old signed with Ottawa as a free agent on Jan. 12.
Tim Stutzle assisted on Tkachuk’s goal, stretching his point streak to 13 games (eight goals, nine assists).
Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson was sidelined with an upper-body injury suffered in Saturday's win over Seattle. Coach Travis Green said the 23-year-old is “week to week.”
That it came on the night when he tied Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA record for consecutive games (126) with at least 20 points only bolsters his late-season argument. And that he won the game with a silky, step back 3 with just 2.7 seconds left added yet another MVP moment to his highlight reel — something voters tend to weigh with significance.
“Tremendous poise, confidence — he doesn’t change his mindset regardless of the circumstance,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after the 129-126 Thunder victory. “He doesn’t break a sweat.”
If there’s a paradigm of consistency in the NBA, it’s Gilgeous-Alexander. He appears to glide across the floor, unbothered, to get to his spots. He seems to know exactly what defenses will try to do against him.
And as the Thunder have confronted injuries all season long — they rank second in the NBA in games missed and were without three starters (Jalen William, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein) against the Nuggets — it’s Gilgeous-Alexander who is carrying this team to greatness.
Despite the time missed because of injury, the Thunder are 51-15, which is the best record in the NBA.
Just to show how quickly things change: a little more than two weeks ago, after carrying the Pistons to a massive win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Cade Cunningham had seized momentum on the national stage.
In fact, I wrote then that Cunningham should be the MVP favorite and would be deserving of the award, if the season ended that day. The season, of course, didn’t, and Detroit has sputtered since that game, losing five of its subsequent nine games.
The Pistons are currently on a four-game losing streak and Cunningham’s play has been slightly uneven in recent weeks.
Realistically, if Cunningham had any edge over Gilgeous-Alexander at the time of that Knicks game (Feb. 20), it was that SGA was at the time sidelined with an abdominal strain.
But in the five games Gilgeous-Alexander has played since returning from the injury that forced him to miss nine games, he’s averaging 30.8 points, 8.4 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
By late Monday night, just minutes after Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-winning 3, Fan Duel and Draft Kings each lowered their futures odds for Gilgeous-Alexander winning MVP to -800. That’s a fairly pedestrian figure, especially since he was -275 and -260 in those books, respectively, just one week ago.
Realistically, the only thing that can get in SGA’s way is his health. He has played 54 of a possible 66 games for the Thunder, which means he can miss no more than five through Oklahoma City’s final 16 contests to remain eligible for postseason awards.
“I think with what he has already done, he’s an all-time great,” Thunder center Jaylin Williams told reporters after the game. “He’s just adding onto it. I think every game, every situation, he just continues to impress. When you’re the best in the world, it’s hard to continue to impress. He’s doing it night in and night out.”
TAMPA, FL - MARCH 03: New York Yankees Pitcher Max Fried (54) delivers a pitch to the plate during the spring training game between Team Panama and the New York Yankees on March 03, 2026 at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: To no one’s surprise, Max Fried will be taking the baton first for the Yankee rotation in 2026. The team officially announced that Fried will be the Opening Day starter on March 25th against the Giants, setting up their ace from the 2025 season to start things off. Fried didn’t get the honor last year because of how close to the start of the year Gerrit Cole’s injury occurred (Carlos Rodón got the ball instead), but after stepping up in place of the clubhouse leader there was no question that he’d get the nod this time around.
The Athletic | Chris Kirschner ($): Around these parts we’ve been giving rave reviews of how well Ben Rice did last year while being sure to mention that he got ridiculously unlucky at the plate at the same time, and Rice himself feels compelled to check the stats every once in a while to look at how silly his Baseball Savant page looks. The difference was a lot more difficult to swallow two years ago though, when Rice debuted and looked like a solid enough player already whose results unfortunately were terrible. Rice lays out how he battled through that frustrating rookie season and transformed his results, as well as the strides he’s looking to take this season which could push him from the fringes of stardom to a household name in the league.
NJ.com | Randy Miller: Carlos Rodón has progressed to the next stage of his rehab, facing live hitters and notching the velocity on his fastball back into the 92-94 mph range. Rodón likely isn’t going to make it into any spring training games this year, but there’s a chance that he could build up to an exhibition game just before the Yankees break camp in Arizona ahead of Opening Day. Still, while the left-hander might not be back with the major league team before May this is altogether a solid recovery for a pitcher who’s had his fair share of surgeries at this point. Here’s hoping the rest of the process stays smooth.
NY Post | Joseph Staszewski: Spencer Jones got off to a hot start in this year’s spring, but logistics were always going to get in his way before he could book a ticket to San Francisco with the rest of the big leaguers. Jones was officially optioned down to Triple-A to start the year, alongside starter Elmer Rodríguez, where he was expected to begin thanks to the Yankees boasting an outfield consisting of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Trent Grisham. Jones will have plenty of eyes on him still as scouts look to see whether he can continue his prodigious power streak while toning down on the strikeouts, but whether he’ll get a shot to showcase that for the Yankees or another organization remains to be seen.
As an aside on Rodríguez, he may be ticketed for Triple-A, but in a big start for Puerto Rico against Cuba last night, he demonstrated a small sample of why the Yankees like him so much, throwing three innings of scoreless, one-hit ball (albeit while walking three).
SB Nation | Samantha Bradfield: There’s a lot of star power on the Team USA roster this year, but the locker room has been a boon for everyone involved it seems. Players have rave reviews for getting to experience these All-Star-esque rosters and pick people’s brains, and of course the Captain of the team is front and center in that experience. Judge called it a “once-in-a-lifetime experience,” with players like Clayton Kershaw, Kyle Schwarber, and Paul Goldschmidt chiming in to agree.
National Baseball Hall of Fame: Bill White was awarded the Buck O’Neil Award on Monday, honoring his “extraordinary efforts to enhance baseball’s positive impact on society.” A former World Series champion first baseman with the Cardinals, a trailblazer, and a six-time All-Star, White transferred over to the broadcasting booth following his retirement, and formed an iconic booth alongside Yankees legend Phil Rizzuto for 18 seasons. He was later named president of the National League, back when the two leagues had separate heads. White’s call of Bucky Dent’s famous home run against Boston in the 1978 AL one-game playoff is an iconic one, and one that rings through the history of the game to this day.
Mar 9, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden (1) reacts after a play during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
“The beauty of it is we got another one tomorrow,” is how James Harden ended his media scrum after Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Boston Celtics. The Cavs didn’t make up for that performance, but this was a good response.
Like Sunday, the Cavs started the game unable to buy a three-point shot. They made just one of their first 10 attempts, but this time, they didn’t bury themselves in the process. They found ways to still get to the basket and the free-throw line. Instead of a 10-point quarter, they mustered 26.
And when they actually started hitting their outside shots in the second quarter, they broke the game wide open.
The Cavs don’t have many tough opponents left on their schedule; they do, however, need to figure out who’s in their rotation for the playoffs. That’s what a game like this was for.
“I told the guys in there, this is going to be a fight to be in the playoff rotation,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said postgame. “We got so many good players. We’re deep. Who’s going to be a star in his role?”
Role players not coming through against Boston is one of the things that did them in. Keon Ellis was one of the players who struggled. He didn’t score in 24 minutes and finished the game with a plus/minus of -15.
Ellis responded well on Monday, scoring 19 points on 5-9 shoooting which included going 4-7 from three. He showed that he can make an impact offensively, which is what he’ll need to continue doing if he’s going to get substantial playoff minutes.
The three-point shot is going to be the swing skill for Ellis. If he’s making that, they can always find room for him on the court. But there are other ways he can influence the game on that end.
“We’re just discovering his offensive capabilities,” Atkinson said. “I saw a couple of things that I haven’t seen him do yet. Come off a DHO (dribble-hand-off), get in the lane, shoot the flooter. I didn’t even know he had that.”
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Harden scored his 29,000th career point. That’s a remarkable accomplishment, even though less than 0.1% of his points have come in a Cavalier uniform. It speaks to his incredible longevity and how he’s been able to continually reinvent his game in a league that has evolved drastically since he entered it 17 years ago.
“[It’s a ] testament to his resiliency,” Atkinson said. “It’s so hard in this league to do it for so long, so consistently. This version we’re seeing of James…[is a] complete player and playmaker. And what he’s given us so far is everything we need to win.”
A good portion of those 29,017 career points came out of the pick-and-roll. Harden has been able to develop instant pick-and-roll chemistry with nearly every big he’s played with.
Atkinson credits this to Harden being in the 99th percentile in decision-making. He simply always makes the right play.
“He knows where the defense is in (on the pick-and-roll), he knows how to kick it out,” Atkinson said on Sunday. “When they’re out, he throws the lob. He knows the timing. And that’s rare in my experience to be around a player who’s almost perfect in terms of his decision-making.”
Evan Mobley may be the exception to this general rule for Harden. The duo hasn’t been able to replicate the success Harden has had with Jarrett Allen. That comes down to how both Mobley and Harden operate in the pick-and-roll.
Mobley neither sets hard screens nor rolls hard. More often than not, he slips the screen before there’s real contact and then floats in the midrange and tries to find an angle to receive a dump off. That can work in some contexts — and has mostly paired well with an explosive downhill attacker like Donovan Mitchell — but it hasn’t with Harden.
Harden will always make the right play. But there isn’t a right play to come from this, given how deliberate Harden is in these actions. By the time he’s ready to take advantage of the opening, the defense has already recovered, nullifying the screen entirely.
This is why the starting offense has felt so static at times the last two games with Allen sidelined. Harden has still initiated the offense with the pick-and-roll with the big, but it hasn’t gone anywhere. Instead of getting things going to the basket and reacting from there, they end up wasting four or five seconds trying to set it up, and then have to resort to something different.
This issue isn’t that Mobley doesn’t know what he needs to do as the big with Harden, it’s just not his game.
This play is a good example of that. Mobley tries to set a solid screen on Harden’s defender, but doesn’t create much separation. He compounds this by not rolling to the basket as hard as he needs to, which led to Mobley getting cut off in the restricted area.
Mobley is never going to be a physically imposing screener like Ivica Zubac. That isn’t changing overnight. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to make this duo more effective.
“Evan is not used to rolling all the time,” Atkinson said. “I saw them talking tonight about screening angles. I think James can help him be better on the roll.”
This is an example of how Harden can do so.
Instead of being deliberate in waiting for the screen to materialize — like he did in the first example — Harden is more aggressive about getting around the screen quicker. This helps the contact that Mobley makes to be effective enough to get the defender on Harden’s back hip. And once that happens, there’s a mismatch he can use to generate open looks.
Even though Mobley isn’t the prototypical Harden pick-and-roll partner, there are still ways to make it work.
“I’ve talked to James about that,” Atkinson said. “Just getting those two together and talking to Evan about how he wants the screen angle, when he wants him to slip out, when he wants him to hold. And with Evan, he can mix in the pop (three-point shot) too.”
It can be easy to focus on what Mobley doesn’t do well, and understandably so. The flaws in his game, like this, can be quite clear. But that shouldn’t overshadow what he does well.
Mobley is a gifted scorer who’s continually added elements to his offensive game. He’s a more well-rounded offensive weapon than most bigs Harden has had success with. There’s something there that Harden can work with. They just need time to figure it out.
“I want them to get together and work on it more,” Atkinson said. “I think that could be a really lethal combination.”
CHICAGO (AP) — Frank Nazar scored a power-play goal with 2:24 left in overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 3-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth on Monday night.
Andrew Mangiapane scored his first goal as a Blackhawk since being acquired in a trade from Edmonton last week, and Andre Burakovsky lifted the puck on his stick lacrosse style and flicked it into the net to tie the game at 2-2 late in the second period. It was his first goal since Jan. 7, a span of 19 games.
Drew Commesso, making his third start of the season and first since Jan. 10 when he had his first career shutout in a 3-0 win over Nashville, made 22 saves. Connor Bedard had two assists for Chicago, including one on Nazar's winner.
Barrett Hayton and Dylan Guenther scored for Utah, which is battling for a wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference and had won the first three games of a five-game road trip. Vitek Vanecek had 23 saves.
Guenther has now scored a team-leading 30 goals this season, the first time in his career he has reached that mark. He has scored in three of four games on the road trip, with six points in those contests (3 goals, 3 assists).
Chicago, which had lost three in a row including a 4-3 setback to Dallas on Sunday night, has now won all three meetings with Utah this season, with the teams' fourth and final game of the season scheduled for Thursday night.
Chicago played without Spencer Knight (illness) and Oliver Moore, who left Sunday’s game in first period.
Up next
Mammoth: Visit the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.
Blackhawks: Visit the Utah Mammoth on Thursday night.
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 01: Zack Littell #52 of the Cincinnati Reds prepares to pitch during Game Two of the National League Wild Card Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, October 1, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Sunday morning brought news that one of the final key players left in free agency had signed. The Washington Nationals have reportedly signed starter Zack Littell to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2027.
At the beginning of the offseason, Littell was projected to earn a two-year contract worth roughly $24 million. So why the big change? And why didn’t the San Diego Padres bother to bid against the Nationals for his services?
A journeying swingman
Throughout his career, Littell was mostly a reliever. He performed to varying degrees of success, but it was mostly inconsistent from season to season.
His best years came in 2019 and 2021 with the Minnesota Twins where he posted a 2.68 ERA and 2.92 ERA, respectively. But each of those seasons were bookended by a 6.20 ERA in 2018, 9.95 in 2020, and 5.08 in 2022.
Because of his struggles, Littell wasn’t converted to a starter until after being picked up by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2023. He started 14 games for the club and put up a solid 3.93 ERA. The Rays held onto him in 2024 before trading him at the 2025 deadline to the Cincinnati Reds.
Across 32 starts in ‘25 between Tampa Bay and Cincinnati, Littell authored a 3.81 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP, shining as a middle-of-the-rotation starter before entering free agency.
Why the hesitancy to sign?
After such a high valuation from the majority of contract projections on Littell, it’s possible that his agents were waiting out the market for a better offer that never came.
It’s unclear yet what the Nationals are paying Littell but that number will likely become public once the team announces the signing. The report of his signing remains unconfirmed.
Given that, it’s surprising the Padres didn’t swoop in to sign him. Earlier this offseason, San Diego was rumored to be checking in on Littell (though those discussions obviously did not come to fruition). Seemingly, the price wasn’t right to outbid Washington.
It will hopefully make more sense once the dollar figure of Littell’s contract is announced. But for a team still in need of reliable pitching, it’s surprising general manager A.J. Preller wasn’t in on the 30-year-old’s services.
HOUSTON — The joint was completely packed, fans roamed outside trying to get a sneak peek inside, with music blaring and the crowd ready to party into the night.
Well, a 6-foot-7 dude bigger than any bouncer, not only got past the red-white-and-green velvet ropes, but sucked the life out of the party until it was almost last call.
Simply, Aaron Judge stole the show Monday evening at Daikin Park.
The sellout crowd of 41,678 watched him hit and throw to lead USA to a 5-3 victory over Mexico, and all but guarantee the Americans a berth in the quarterfinals..
Judge’s heroics began in the third when Mexico threatened USA starter Paul Skenes for the only time in his four-inning outing. Mexico had Joey Ortiz on first base after second baseman Brice Turang’s error, and Jarren Duran hit a hard liner to right field.
While Ortiz raced towards third base, Judge snagged the ball on one hop, and threw a 92-mph laser to third baseman Alex Bregman, who tagged Ortiz for the inning-ending out.
Judge barely had time to acknowledge the cheers from his teammates when he stepped to the plate with Bryce Harper on first base. He belted a 2-and-1 slider from reliever Jesus Cruz the opposite way into the right-field seats.
Judge started his home run trot, pointed and gestured towards the USA bench, circling the bases. The blast kick-started the USA offense, and by the time the inning ended, the Americans had a 5-0 lead after 21-year-old Roman Anthony’s three-run homer, the youngest player to homer for USA in the WBC.
It turned out that USA would need every bit of that offensive outburst with Mexico refusing to go away. Duran of the Boston Red Sox hit two home runs to provide late-game drama. They threatened again in the ninth on Joey Maneses’ leadoff single, but Garrett Whitlock closed out the game with three consecutive strikeouts.
The Air Force Academy duo of Skenes and Griffin Jax kept Mexico’s offense in check during their two stints, delighting the Air Force baseball team, who was invited to stay an extra day in Texas after playing Baylor over the weekend. Skenes and Griffin gave them a night to remember.
Skenes, who spent two years at the academy before transferring to LSU, gave up just one hit in four shutout innings, striking out seven batters. The former cadet was so fired up that he threw 21 pitches registering at least 97-mph on the radar gun the first two innings. And Jax, the first Air Force Academy graduate to reach the major leagues, shut down Mexico’s last rally in the eighth by coming in and inducing Alejandro Kirk into an inning-ending double play.
“I had special conversations with both of them," USA manager Mark DeRosa said. “Obviously, their process is a little bit different than the rest of the guys in the room, living that military background and going to school and attending Air Force.
“I know every guy in that room is proud to represent the United States of America. But the conversations with them were a little bit different, as far as wanting to represent every serviceman and woman who protects our freedom on a nightly basis. They're thinking is a little bit different."
And if it wasn’t the AFA duo shutting down Mexico, there was USA shortstop Bobby Witt to snuff it out, making two you-got-to-see-it-to-believe-it plays with throws from his knees.
Judge was so euphoric that when Witt came into the dugout after throwing out Nick Gonzales in the fifth inning, he got into his face, and yelled, “Are you kidding me?"
Team USA now sits atop Pool B with a 3-0 record, and can clinch the top seed with a victory Tuesday night over Italy. They will then have two full days off before they would play again at Daikin Field against Puerto Rico, Cuba or Canada.
And plenty of time for everyone to continue to extol the greatness of Judge, who has put this USA team on his back this tournament, with his teammates trying to hang around him as much as possible.
“Obviously, one of the best players to have played this game," USA third baseman Alex Bregman said. “And I feel like he's super knowledgeable about the swing, about the game of baseball in general. So definitely not taking this opportunity for granted, and trying to pick his brain as much as I possibly can about hitting or anything to do with the game of baseball.
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 24: Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers dribbles the ball during the game against Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 24, 2025 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Lakers (39-25) look to keep their winning ways going against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves (40-24) on Tuesday. This is the final match between the two teams this season, as L.A. looks to sweep the regular season series.
With less than five weeks until the regular season concludes, the standings race, especially in the competitive Western Conference, will heat up. The Lakers have won five of their last six games and are sitting in the fifth seed. Their next opponent? The current third seed in the same conference.
The Timberwolves will be a good test for this Lakers team as they’ve been playing well as of late. They’ve won eight out of their last 10 games led by Anthony Edwards, who is currently averaging 29.6 points per game. Edwards has also been getting consistent help from Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert. Overall, the Wolves average 118.6 points per game (fifth-best in the league) and rank in the top 10 offensively and defensively.
The Lakers can absolutely go toe-to-toe with the Wolves, especially on offense. Luka Dončić — who is in a very good groove right now, scoring-wise — will definitely be able to match Edwards’ production. The biggest X-factor in this one will be whose supporting cast will outplay the other. Austin Reaves, in particular, has played well in the two games between the Lakers and Wolves in this one.
Speaking of those two games — which both happened in October — the Lakers didn’t have LeBron James in any of those either, so by default, they already know what to expect. There’s also no doubt that the Wolves are much better this time around compared to October and have the same goal as the Lakers, which is to stay in a decent position in the standings. There’s a good chance that this is going to be a thriller.
That said, it’ll be interesting to see if Los Angeles attempts to win this one similarly to how they did in their last two games against Minnesota by attacking the paint and limiting Rudy Gobert’s presence. Hopefully that will be the case and the Lakers’ win the possession battle as well as control the pace as they have over their last two games.
Let’s see if the Lakers can make a statement and improve their chances of climbing up the Western Conference standings in a massive game against the Timberwolves on Tuesday.
Notes and Updates
Only LeBron James (right hip contusion and left foot arthritis) is written on the report.
As for the Wolves, Kyle Anderson (right knee soreness) is questionable.
According to Michelle Gardner of the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, the reports that surfaced Monday afternoon of the Sun Devils and Hurley expected to "part ways" at the end of the season are "premature."
There were multiple reports Monday that mentioned the Sun Devils and Hurley are expected to go their separate ways at the end of the season, which could be as soon as Tuesday afternoon in the Big 12 tournament, after 11 years in Tempe.
Hurley entered the 2025-26 season on the final year of his contract and already under heat after the Sun Devils finished with losing records in back-to-back seasons.
Hurley's contract, which was obtained by the USA TODAY Sports Network, is set to run through June 30 with the Sun Devils. This means, even if the Sun Devils don't elect to renew Hurley's contract, there will be some money going to him if he is let go by the athletic department. Hurley is owed approximately $900,000 if he is fired.
The Sun Devils have only made it to the NCAA Tournament three times under Hurley, and have finished with a winning record in four seasons. Hurley, the former Duke guard and brother to Connecticut coach Dan Hurley, has only won 20 or more games four times and has not led the Sun Devils to a conference title.
Since the Sun Devils moved to the Big 12, they are 29-35 overall and 11-27 in Big 12 play. The best win for Arizona State under Hurley in the Big 12 came just last week against No. 16 Kansas and Darryn Peterson in Tempe. It marked just the 15th win over a ranked team in his 11-seasons, and the ninth over a top-15 ranked team.
Arizona State opens up Big 12 tournament play on Tuesday, March 10 at 12:30 p.m. ET against Baylor at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri as the No. 12 seed in the bracket.
Bobby Hurley record at Arizona State
Here's a season-by-season breakdown of how Arizona State has fared under Hurley:
Every MVP winner has a signature moment during the season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may have just had his on Monday night against Denver.
First, with a third-quarter step-back 3-pointer, Gilgeous-Alexander reached 20 points — his 126th straight game with at least 20 points, tying Hall of Famer and legend Wilt Chamberlain for the most consecutive 20+ point games in league history.
That record likely falls on Thursday night when the Thunder host the Celtics.
SGA wasn't done. In what was a back-and-forth final minute, with MVP frontrunners Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic trading wild buckets, it was the Thunder star who had the final say with a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left on the clock.
CLEVELAND (AP) — James Harden scored 21 points to become the ninth player in NBA history with more than 29,000 career points, Keon Ellis added 19 off the bench, and the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 115-101 victory over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
Donovan Mitchell had 17 points and six assists, and Evan Mobley had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers. Harden reached the milestone with a free throw in the first quarter, finishing the game with 29,017 points in 17 pro seasons.
Cleveland is 8-1 at home since Jan. 23, with its lone loss Sunday to surging Boston, and has won 18 of its last 24 overall. The Cavaliers are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, one game behind New York.
Quentin Grimes scored 17 points and Cameron Payne had 12 points for Philadelphia, which has lost two in a row and four of its last five to slip into eighth in the East. Justin Edwards added 14 points.
NETS 126, GRIZZLIES 115
NEW YORK (AP) — Day’Ron Sharpe matched a season high with 19 points, Ochai Agbaji added 18 and Brooklyn beat the injury-plagued Memphis for their second straight victory.
Nolan Traore added 17 points for the Nets, who were coming off an improbable 107-105 win at Eastern Conference-leading Detroit on Saturday night that snapped a 10-game skid.
The Nets, who rested leading scorer Michael Porter Jr., had six players score in double figures. The Grizzlies had only eight players available.
Rayan Rupert scored a career-high 20 points and Javon Small added 19 for Memphis, which has lost four straight and 11 of 14.
THUNDER 129, NUGGETS 126
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drilled a step-back 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to cap a frantic final minute on a night he matched Wilt Chamberlain’s record for consecutive 20-point games, and Oklahoma City beat Denver.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points and a career-high 15 assists, becoming the second player in NBA history to have those totals and zero turnovers. He also had nine rebounds. In the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander reached the 20-point mark for the 126th straight game, equaling Chamberlain’s streak from 1961-63.
With Oklahoma City leading 126-122, Denver’s Nikola Jokic hit a 3-pointer and Oklahoma City’s Jaylin Williams was called for an off-ball foul fighting through a screen. Jamal Murray made the free throw with 8.5 seconds remaining to tie the game.
Gilgeous-Alexander responded, elevating over Spencer Jones for his second 3 in the final 14 seconds. Denver’s Aaron Gordon missed a 61-foot heave at the buzzer.
The Thunder are 6-0 since Gilgeous-Alexander returned from an abdominal strain that sidelined him for nine games.
Williams scored 29 points and Ajay Mitchell, in his return after missing 20 games with an abdominal strain and a sprained left ankle, added 24 points.
Jokic had 32 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists. It was his 24th triple-double of the season and the 188th of his career. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 28 points and Gordon added 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets.
JAZZ 119, WARRIORS 116
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Brice Sensabaugh scored 21 points, two-way player Blake Hinson made the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute, and Utah outlasted Golden State.
Hinson made four 3-pointers including a shot from beyond the arc on the right wing with 29.9 seconds remaining to shock the Warriors, who were without Stephen Curry and several other rotation regulars.
Kyle Filipowski contributed 19 points and 15 rebounds for Utah, which had lost eight of nine games.
De’Anthony Melton, who led the Warriors with 22 points, made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 117-116, but Elijah Harkless, another two-way player, clinched the game for the Jazz with two free throws to reach a career-high 16 points.
CLIPPERS 126, KNICKS 118
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, Bennedict Mathurin added 28 points, and Los Angeles beat New York to climb back to .500 for the first time since early November.
The Clippers are 32-32 and have won five of their first six games in March as they try to improve their potential position in the NBA Play-in Tournament. They began the season in a 6-21 tailspin.
It was Leonard’s 42nd straight game with 20-plus points, the second-longest active streak in the NBA and third-longest in team history.
Mathurin scored 22 in the second half off the bench as one of five Clippers in double figures. Darius Garland had 23 points and seven assists in his second start.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 35 points on 13-of-17 shooting, 12 rebounds and seven assists before fouling out in the final seconds. Jalen Brunson added 28 points and OG Anunoby had 22 points.
NEW YORK (AP) — Day'Ron Sharpe matched a season high with 19 points, Ochai Agbaji added 18 and the Brooklyn Nets beat the injury-plagued Memphis Grizzlies 126-115 on Monday night for their second straight victory.
Nolan Traore added 17 points for the Nets, who were coming off an improbable 107-105 win at Eastern Conference-leading Detroit on Saturday night that snapped a 10-game skid.
The Nets, who rested leading scorer Michael Porter Jr., had six players score in double figures. The Grizzlies had only eight players available.
Rayan Rupert scored a career-high 20 points and Javon Small added 19 for Memphis, which has lost four straight and 11 of 14.
The Grizzlies were missing Ja Morant (left elbow), Scotty Pippen Jr. (right toe soreness), Santi Aldama (knee), Ty Jerome (calf), Cedrix Coward (right knee), newcomer Taj Gibson (reconditioning), Taylor Hendricks (right thumb soreness) and Brandon Clarke (calf). Zach Edey and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are out for the season.
Brooklyn led by single digits throughout the third quarter before taking control early in the fourth. Traore made a 3-pointer that put the Nets ahead 101-90, and Agbaji followed with two buckets off feeds by Ziaire Williams for a 15-point lead.
Brooklyn had a 67-40 advantage in bench points.
Earlier Monday, the Nets announced that Egor Demin will miss the rest of the season with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. The 6-foot-8 rookie averaged 10.3 points in 52 games.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Adrian Kempe scored his second goal of the game with 1:26 left in overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 5-4 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
With the victory, Los Angeles moved within a point of Seattle in the race for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.
Columbus tied the score late for the second straight home game. Kirill Marchenko scored on the power play at 18:04 to force the extra period.
Brian Dumoulin had a goal and two assists. Scott Laughton scored for the second straight game since joining the Kings from Toronto and added an assist. Artemi Panarin also scored. Anton Forsberg made 28 saves for Los Angeles in the opener of a five-game trip.
Connor Garland scored twice — his first goals since coming to Columbus from Vancouver — and Denton Mateychuk added a goal and an assist. Jet Greaves made 26 saves for Columbus, which has lost two straight at home.
The Blue Jackets are two points behind Boston in the race for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot, and three points behind the Islanders for third in the Metropolitan Division.
RANGERS 6, FLYERS 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mika Zibanejad had two goals and an assist, and New York scored on three power plays in a win over the Philadelphia.
Noah Laba and Alexis Lafreniere each had a goal an assist. Gabe Perreault and Vladislav Gavrikov also scored for the Rangers, who won for the third time in five games. Igor Shesterkin finished with 32 saves.
Matvei Michkov and Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers. Dan Vladar allowed six goals on 24 shots and was replaced by Samuel Ersson at the start of the third period. Ersson made three saves in relief.
CAPITALS 7, FLAMES 3
WASHINGTON (AP) — Connor McMichael scored twice and the Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames 7-3 on Monday night.
Justin Sourdif had a goal and two assists and Hendrix Lapierre added a goal and an assist for Washington. Tom Wilson, Ethen Frank and Ryan Leonard also scored for the Capitals, who ended a three-game slide.
Matvei Gridin, Blake Coleman and Yegor Sharangovich scored for Calgary, which has lost five of its last six.
