For the first time since 2018, the Gophers won an NCAA Tournament game Friday, rallying past Wisconsin-Green Bay in the final frame.

Now, Minnesota takes aim at its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005.

That will require a win over fifth-seeded Ole Miss, a significantly stiffer test than the Phoenix.

Fourth-seeded Minnesota hosts the Rebels at 1 p.m. Sunday at Williams Arena. The game can be seen on ESPN.

The Gophers are 4.5 point favorites in the matchup. Ole Miss beat 12th seeded Gonzaga by 15 on Friday.

The winner of Sunday’s tilt is likely to face UCLA in the Sweet 16.

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• NCAA Tournament: Jenna Guyer found a home, and her versatile game, in Green Bay
• NCAA Tournament: Gophers start ‘Big Dance’ full of confidence

Here are five of the top returning baseball players to watch in the Sauk Valley area this season as the 2026 season gets underway.

Garret Matznick, Newman, sr., SS

Matznick is the reigning SVM Player of the Year, an Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association All-State pick in Class 2A and All-Three Rivers Athletic Conference East unanimous first-team selection. He hit .381 with a .529 OBP, 1.037 OPS, 45 hits, 13 doubles, 33 walks, 51 runs scored, 25 RBIs and a school-record 49 stolen bases.

He was just one run and one walk short of Brendan Tunink’s single-season school records of 52 runs scored and 34 walks. He was 6 for 6 in save situations on the mound, helping the Comets reach state for the third straight year. Matznick is a Kaskaskia College commit.

Chase Dykstra, Fulton, sr., P

He was an IHSBCA All-State pick in Class 1A, a unanimous All-NUIC West first-team selection who was 6-1 on the mound with 126 strikeouts in 67⅓ innings and a 0.73 ERA. He hit .426 with a 1.059 OPS and 20 RBIs for a Steamers team that reached the Elite Eight. Dykstra is an Iowa Central Community College commit.

Kendall Erdmann, Forreston, sr., SS/P

He was an All-NUIC North first-team pick and hit .400 with an area-best 50 hits, including 26 RBIs, 50 runs scored and 15 stolen bases last season. Erdmann also went 3-1 as a pitcher with 51 strikeouts and two saves in 42 innings pitched.

Evan Bushman, Newman, sr., P/IF

Bushman was an All-TRAC East first-team selection who went 9-1 in 12 starts with a 3.13 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 71.2 innings pitched last season. He’s lost just twice on the mound the last two seasons, both setbacks coming at the state tournament. Newman has taken home two fourth-place trophies the past two seasons and took third in 2023.

Eli Penne, Sterling, sr., P/IF

Penne was the team’s opening day starter this season and got the win after five innings pitched with one unearned run allowed. He posted a 1.93 earned-run average last season in 61.1 innings pitched. Penne is a University of Wisconsin-Platteville recruit.

Mar. 20—ST. LOUIS — The impressive run for the Heise family continued Friday afternoon.

Just over a month after Taylor Heise won an Olympic gold medal as part of the U.S. women's hockey team, her younger brother, Nate Heise, had a day to remember in the Round of 64 at the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

The Iowa State University senior and Lake City Lincoln graduate scored 22 points, shooting 8 of 13 from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range, as the No. 2-seed Cyclones had little trouble with No. 15-seed Tennessee State in a 108-74 victory in St. Louis.

The 22 points were the most in Heise's two seasons at Iowa State. He finished three points shy of his career high of 25, which he set in 2024 while playing at the University of Northern Iowa. Heise had entered with a season average of 4.7 points per game and had scored 21 points in his last seven games combined.

The 6-foot-5 guard had eight of his 22 points during a 23-0 run for the Cyclones (28-7) that blew the game open early in the first half.

The Cyclones cruised from there and now advance to play No. 7 Kentucky in a second-round Midwest Region game on Sunday, with the time to be determined.

The No. 7-seed Wildcats (22-13) are coming off a thrilling 89-84 win over No. 10-seed Santa Clara, which featured a buzzer-beating logo 3-pointer by Kentucky to send the game into overtime.

Mar. 20—SIOUX CITY, Iowa. — For the third NAIA tournament game in a row, the Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball team had the lead the whole way.

That meant it was all Tigers on Friday afternoon in the tournament's Round of 16 in the Duer Quadrant, as No. 2-seed DWU cruised past No. 3-seed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) for a 78-53 victory at the Tyson Events Center.

With the victory, the Tigers improved to 28-6 and are in the final eight of a national tournament for the seventh time in school history. It is DWU's first quarterfinals berth since 2019.

Up next is a matchup between the quadrant's top-two seeds, with No. 1 Bethel (Tenn.) and No. 2 DWU at 6 p.m. Saturday night in the national quarterfinals. Bethel, which like Lindsey Wilson is part of the Mid-South Conference, improved to 28-5 on Friday with a 78-70 win over Lewis-Clark State (Idaho).

The Tigers led 20-4 at the end of the first quarter, powered by a 14-0 run as DWU took LWU apart inside the paint. The Tigers held the Blue Raiders to 1-for-15 shooting in the first 10 minutes of the game, and while it wasn't over, the contest was never on equal footing from that point forward.

"We knew they were a tough team but I'd say we're a pretty tough team," DWU's Rylee Rosenquist said. "We were more physical and worked it to our advantage.

DWU led 47-23 at halftime and the Blue Raiders never got closer than 17 points in the latter stages of the game.

The Tigers' top-three scorers — Emma Yost, Rosenquist and Avery Broughton — combined for 49 of the Tigers' 78 points. Playing down the road from her high school alma mater of Dakota Valley, Rosenquist finished with 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Broughton finished with 16 points and six rebounds, with 16 points from Yost on a 7-for-12 shooting effort from the field. Shalayne Nagel had eight points, 12 rebounds and four assists, while Jaida Young and Maleighya Estes each had seven points apiece.

In a matchup of two of the nation's best assist-to-turnover ratio teams, DWU feasted in that category, finishing with 23 assists on 30 made field goals. The Tigers had eight assists before their first turnover, which came nearly 14 minutes into the game.

The physicality of the game was apparent in the rebounding numbers, where DWU held a 49-43 edge. It included 46 total offensive rebounds, with Lindsey Wilson pulling down 24 and the Tigers snaring 22.

Lindsey Wilson was held by 16 points from its leading scorer Meadow Tisdale but she was kept to four points in the opening half. Saniyah Shelton and Taylor Guess each had 10 points for the Blue Raiders, who end the season at 23-8.

"We had five days to prepare for them and I thought we did a really good job," DWU coach Jason Christensen said. "Our kids listened to the scouting report. We executed the sets that we wanted to run offensively. We did what we wanted to do defensively on Tisdale and Shelton."

Mar. 20—SIOUX CITY, Iowa. — National tournament games aren't easy to win.

Through three games in the NAIA bracket, the Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball team is making it look that way anyway.

For the third game in a row on Friday, the Tigers made a big run to put away an opponent and didn't give them a chance to get back in it. DWU claimed a 78-53 win over third-seeded Lindsey Wilson at the familiar venue of the Tyson Events Center in downtown Sioux City, moving the Tigers into the final eight in the running for a national championship.

They've played 120 minutes of game time and have not trailed. On Friday, the Tigers took the lead for good less than 3 minutes into the game, and then turned off the Blue Raiders' offense for the rest of the first quarter, to the tune of shooting 7% from the field.

"We just knew we had to come out and play hard right from the get-go, show them who we are," DWU senior Rylee Rosenquist said. "That's what we did. We came out, played hard, had a lot of fun, and just got a good jump on them."

At this point of the season, you don't get to the third round of the national tournament by accident or with a fluke. There's no way these games are easy. But DWU is making them look at that way.

"That's a question for the kids because I didn't think that was going to be the outcome, in terms of the score," DWU coach Jason Christensen said when asked how the Tigers have been so dominant. "I knew we could play with them and everything but I didn't think we would get off to the start that we did. This Lindsey Wilson team, (their) conference is like the GPAC. We've been battle-tested night in and night out and that was the key. ... You've got to match their physicality, otherwise it's going to be a long day for you."

"Our coaches do a great job of getting us prepared for big games like this," DWU junior guard Avery Broughton added. "Our scoring report was great for this game and even on a short turnaround going into (Saturday), we'll be prepared."

Lindsey Wilson had the look of what many national contenders have, with a decent amount of size among its players, plus skilled guards and balanced scoring. But DWU won the physicality and toughness battle early and seemed to take LWU out of its game for good.

DWU relatively got the looks they wanted and had a 16-2 edge for points in the paint in the first 10 minutes for a 20-4 lead.

With wins by margins of 28, 23 and 25 points in the first three rounds, DWU hasn't shown many signs of being nervous or afraid of the moment in the national tournament. On the other side of the bracket, the Tigers' conference rival Dordt is the only team that has blown out its opponents in a similar vein to DWU through three national tournament games.

Tigers' starter Broughton said she felt some nerves at the start of the game but those went away once the game started. The Tigers also had the benefit of having more than 500 DWU fans on hand to back them in a neutral venue.

"I just thought the energy was phenomenal. It was so fun. You could just feel it," Broughton said. "You look at that whole side, and it's packed with Dakota Wesleyan fans. That's just a phenomenal environment to play in."

DWU expects to see a similar profile in its Saturday quarterfinal opponent, taking on No. 1-seeded Bethel (Tenn.) at 6 p.m. They're skilled and have some size and have won their national tournament games by an average of 13 points.

The Tigers would love to bring the same national tournament recipe back to the Tyson on Saturday and keep this tournament run on the tracks.

"I told the kids, we've been on the big stage all year," Christensen said. "The Dordt (conference title) game was a big stage. We went to Hawaii. That was a big stage game. We got to host at the Corn Palace and those were big games. We've been in that situation before, so this is nothing different. Just go out and play and have fun."

Mar. 20—FORT WORTH — The Washington Huskies weathered an early barrage from South Dakota State and turned the tables on the Jackrabbits, overwhelming the Summit League champions 72-54 in the first round of the women's NCAA tournament on Friday afternoon at Schollmaier Arena.

With the win, the 6th-seeded Huskies (22-10) advance to face 3rd-seeded host TCU on Sunday. The Jackrabbits finish their season 27-7.

SDSU jumped out to a 13-3 lead, looking confident and determined to pick up what would be their third NCAA tournament win in the last four seasons. Washington seemed somewhat caught off guard by the Jacks' opening punch, but after the first timeout they settled in offensively and turned up the intensity on defense, harassing the Jacks in the paint and on the perimeter. The Huskies forced 13 SDSU turnovers in the first half while also enjoying a 20-13 rebounding edge that included a 9-3 advantage on the offensive glass.

That led to a 13-2 lead in points off turnovers and a 8-3 edge in second chance points, and with that the Huskies turned a 10-point deficit into a 38-24 halftime lead.

SDSU got the lead down to nine in the first minutes of the third quarter, but they just couldn't string together stops or scores, and Washington pushed the lead as high as 21 before the end of three.

Brooklyn Meyer had 29 in the final game of her illustrious career, while Madison Mathiowetz had six to cap hers. Emilee Fox had 14 points for SDSU.

Avery Howell had 30 points to lead the Huskies, hitting seven 3-pointers and adding nine rebounds.

NEW PHILADELPHIA — Two Ashtabula County graduates have found a home for the Kent State Tuscarawas men's basketball team.

Jerry Arrington and Dasjuan Williams are working their basketball magic in New Philadelphia.

Both are 2024 graduates, Arrington at Grand Valley and Williams at Lakeside.

Arrington is completing his second year at KSU Tuscarawas, and Williams in his first, after starting his college career at Lakeland Community College.

"This year was a better experience than last year because I got to play more," Arrington said.

He said it has taken some time to get used to the college game.

Arrington and Williams said they played AAU basketball together in high school so it was nice to have a familiar face on the team.

They both earned more playing time and helped the team make the recent United States Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament.

The association serves 70-80 small colleges, including junior college programs.

"We played together in AAU ball," Arrington said of the connection to Ashtabula County.

They also played against each other during the high school season.

"We have a really good pick and roll," Arrington said of his work with Williams.

KSU Tuscarawas ended the season in Buffalo in the Division II National Championship tournament with losses to Penn State York 95-91 in the quarterfinals and University of Maine-Augusta 80-73 in a consolation game.

York ended up winning the tournament with a 56-48 win over Miami-Hamilton in the championship game.

Arrington said he is studying business management and made the dean's list.

Justin Turk, Arrington's coach at Grand Valley, had a lot of positive things to say about his former player.

"Jerry is a basketball junkie," Turk said. "He was a great leader and motivator for our program. He had a relentless desire to be great and competed."

Arrington said he plans to be back in the GV gymnasium this summer.

"You have to stick to the basics and get good at them," he said.

Arrington ended up averaging 4 points and 4.2 rebounds per contest in the 2025-26 season.

He recorded a season-high 12 points during the team's 96-86 win over Miami-Hamilton Jan. 31.

Williams said there was a difficult adjustment during the early stages of the season after moving from Lakeland Community College to Tuscarawas.

"The last 10 or 12 games I started and averaged 21 points a game," he said.

Williams scored 23 points, on 8 of 13 shooting, in KSU Tuscarawas' 82-71 tournament win over Vermont State University Randolph.

He averaged 11.6 points per game, and shot 41.2% from 3-point range.

Williams said it was good to have Arrington in his corner during the transition.

Williams said the biggest thing he learned this season was not to be complacent.

He said he felt he got too comfortable with his ability and where he was in high school and at Lakeland.

Williams said he plans to work hard this summer when he returns to Ashtabula.

The pair hope to the next step forward by improving in next year's tournament.

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Illinois needed a get-right game. The fans at Bon Secours Wellness Arena probably needed a rest from the nail-biters.

The third-seeded Illini delivered both late Thursday night with a good old-fashioned blowout of No. 14 seed Penn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Illinois turned a 10-point halftime lead into a 105-70 rout, wearing Penn down with its powerful, deep offense to advance to Saturday’s second round against No. 11 seed VCU.

The first three games Thursday in Greenville were riveting. No. 9 seed TCU knocked off No. 8 Ohio State 66-64, and No. 16 Siena gave top-seeded Duke a serious scare in the East Region games. VCU then topped No. 6 North Carolina in overtime in the first of the South Region games.

The Illinois-Penn matchup was not supposed to be one of those March Madness beauties, and it wasn’t, though Penn kept it close in the first half.

Illinois freshmen David Mirković and Keaton Wagler led the way in their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Mirković had 29 points and 17 rebounds, getting a standing ovation from the Illini fans who made the trip when coach Brad Underwood took him out with 5 minutes to play.

Wagler had 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Kylan Boswell added 13 points, and Tomislav Ivišić had 12 points and seven rebounds, scoring seven points early in the second half to help spark the surge.

It was a needed performance for the Illini, who six days earlier lost their first game in the Big Ten Tournament to Wisconsin. The No. 5 seed Badgers went home on their first day of the NCAA Tournament, losing a shocker to No. 12 seed High Point.

This looked more like the Illini team that won 24 games in the regular season, sporting a dominant offense in which any number of talented players can make massive contributions.

On defense, the Illini shut down Penn forward TJ Power, who scored 44 points in the Ivy League Tournament championship game Sunday. He missed Wednesday’s practice with an illness but started Thursday. Power, defended by Boswell and Andrej Stojaković early, had just six first-half points on two 3-pointers, one at the halftime buzzer. That was all he scored.

Illinois pulled to a 13-point first-half lead after back-to-back Mirković baskets inside. But Penn went on a 9-0 run, including three jumpers from senior guard Michael Zanoni.

The Illini survived a stretch of 7:19 when they made only one field goal and two free throws as Penn drew within five points. But a Mirković 3-pointer, followed by another 3 from Ben Humrichous, broke through the drought.

Zanoni finished with 20 points for Penn.

VCU stormed back from a 19-point deficit to beat North Carolina 82-78 in overtime. The Rams trailed by 14 with 7:11 to play but went on a 12-0 run to cut it to two points with 3:56 to play.

Sophomore guard Terrence Hill Jr. made the tying layup in regulation and then the go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime for VCU. He finished with 34 points, five rebounds and five assists.

North Carolina committed seven of its eight turnovers in the second half, including a five-second call on an inbounds play and a Henri Veesaar lost-ball turnover, both in the final 28 seconds.

NCAA Division I(M) – South Region – First Round – (11) VCU 82, (6) North Carolina 78 – OT
NCAA Division III(M) – Quarterfinals – Christopher Newport 63, St. Thomas(MN) 59
NCAA Division I(W) – Sacramento Region 4 – First Four – (10) Virginia 57, (10) Arizona State 55
NCAA Division III(W) – Semifinals – Denison 82, Wisconsin-Oshkosh 61
NCAA Division III(W) – Semifinals – Scranton 60, NYU 52
WBIT – First Round – Quinnipiac 71, George Mason 64

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv.

PHILADELPHIA —On the eve of UCF basketball’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years, discussions surrounding a possible contract extension for coach Johnny Dawkins have already begun.

Dawkins, who is wrapping up his 10th season with the Knights, signed a two-year contract extension in 2024 that runs through the 2026-27 season. However, the final year of the deal is non-guaranteed.

UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir said the university is considering several scenarios regarding any future deal with Dawkins.

“We’ll talk to his representatives,” Mohajir told the Sentinel. “There are several different scenarios that we’re looking at — short-term extension or long, we’re going to look at some different options.”

Mohajir indicated that a governance process is involved in extending a contract, with UCF President Alexander Cartwright and the school’s Board of Trustees working with the athletics department on a new deal.

“We’re talking to his representatives and I’ve got to work through the university,” he said.

Mohajir said he sat down with Dawkins last season to discuss expectations surrounding the program.

“We had high expectations,” said Mohajir, who was in Philadelphia for UCF’s first-round game against UCLA on Friday. “No one has higher expectations for the basketball program than Johnny. Obviously, he lives it every single day.”

The Knights won a program-best nine Big 12 games this season, finishing eighth in the conference standings. The team also secured five Quad 1 victories, including wins over Texas A&M, Kansas, Texas Tech, BYU and Cincinnati.

The win over the Bearcats came in overtime in the second-round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Mohajir said he tries to avoid entering the last year of a coach’s contract unless there are expectations for that year.

“That’s kind of been our thing, if you look at our history of all of our sports, it’s pretty common,” Mohajir explained.

He went on to add that, because college sports are transactional, athletes are less likely to ask about coaches’ long-term contracts.

“No one asks how long coaches’ contracts are like they did 10 years ago,” Mohajir said. “They’re not asking about that because kids may not be there for five years now.”

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.

PORTLAND, Ore. — There’s an age-old difference between the starting point guards of today’s NCAA West Region game.

When Hawaii’s Hunter Erickson was a senior at Timpview High School in Utah, Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. was a fifth-grader in Detroit.

“I am old,” said Erickson, 26, with a smile.

While All-American Acuff is a 19-year-old freshman sensation with a quasar-bright NBA future, Erickson is the dean of one of college basketball’s oldest rosters.

At the start of this season, the average age of a Rainbow Warrior was 23 years, three months. Erickson is one of five ’Bows who is married. After serving a two-year mission, Erickson was with BYU for two years, Salt Lake Community College for one season, and Utah for two before joining the ’Bows last June. He qualified for a sixth season because of the pandemic exemption and a one-time special waiver for playing at a junior college.

Although Acuff presents several challenges, Erickson has played against eventual NBA players, such as LJ Cryer, Andrew Nembhard, Jalen Suggs and Caleb Love.

“He’s a very talented player,” Erickson said of Acuff, and “you’re not always going to stop these guys. You’re not going to hold them to zero points. It’s not about that. It’s about getting them to take shots they don’t want to take. Long-range contested shots. Floaters. Deep floaters. Things like that. That’s our game plan. Hopefully we can execute.”

Erickson also has gained confidence through experience.

“Maybe that’s something I struggled with my first two years, going from starting, kind of being the guy on every team I’ve played on my whole life, until then it’s (a limited role) to adjust to,” Erickson said. “But it’s something that paid off in my career and allowed me to realize the value in accepting your role but also excelling at your role regardless of what it is. It’s doing what’s best for your team.”

Erickson has started all 32 games this season, including the past 15 at the point following Aaron Hunkin-Claytor’s season-ending injury.

“Big Fish” circles back to Oregon

For the second time this season, UH senior center Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson has circled back to Oregon.

Johnson, who was born in Oregon, lived in Roseburg, Ore., in his fifth- and sixth-grade years.

“I was a Ducks fan,” Johnson said of rooting for University of Oregon teams.

The father of a youth league teammate had a successful lumber business. He sponsored an event in which Johnson’s youth team played at halftime of a Portland Trail Blazers game at Moda Center.

In November 2021, Johnson, then a backup center for Oregon, faced his brother’s BYU team in a game at Moda. BYU won 81-49.

UH opened this season against Oregon in Eugene. And now Johnson will be back at Moda for today’s opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s a full-circle moment to be back here for March Madness in what could potentially be my last college game,” Johnson said.

Calipari has a “Classic” history

It was 30 seasons ago when Arkansas coach John Calipari brought his top-ranked UMass team to the 1995 Rainbow Classic in Stan Sheriff Center.

Star center Marcus Camby was injured in the Minutemen’s semifinal victory over USC. The next night, Camby came off the bench to score 20 points to help UMass defeat Syracuse and win the title.

That season, the Minutemen reached the 1996 Final Four, losing to Kentucky in the semifinals. The following year, the NCAA Executive Committee negated the Minutemen’s 1996 NCAA Tournament record because Camby accepted what was ruled to be “improper” gifts from agents.

Camby, who was the second overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, played 17 seasons. Calipari won a national title with Kentucky in 2012.