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No. 6 UConn had no issue getting past Rick Pitino and No. 15 St. John’s whatsoever on Wednesday night.

But St. John’s just absolutely shut down offensively in the second half in a way that one of Pitino's teams never have before.

The Red Storm made just two field goals and managed only 14 total points in the second half in the 72-40 loss at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford. It marked the team’s fewest points scored in a game since 2013, and was easily the most lopsided loss of the Pitino era. It was the fewest points that a Pitino-led team has ever scored, either. The longtime coach, who has been in the sport for five decades now, had a previous low of 43 points when he was with Boston University back in 1981, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander.

But to make the second half worse, both of St. John’s made field goals came quickly after the break. Zuby Ejiofor hit a 3-pointer about 90 seconds into the second period, and then he made a layup about a minute later. That was it.

The Red Storm missed 24 straight shots to end the game over the next 17:28. UConn ended up outscoring St. John’s 31-14 in the second half to cruise to the 32-point win. 

"That's probably only happened to me two times in my career ... It's all on me," Pitino said. "I'm very disappointed."

Joson Sanon led St. John’s with 10 points, and was the only player to hit double figures. The Red Storm went 11-of-56 from the game and 5-of-20 from behind the arc. The loss, which snapped a 13-game win streak, moved the Red Storm to 22-6 on the year.

"I don't know what it is, all I know is we didn't play good offense. we did things that we've never done. Again, it's something I have to question about myself and I will question it, because the team did not do the things we've done in the last 13 games."

Tarris Reed Jr. led UConn with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Alex Karaban added 14 points. Solo Ball finished with 11 points. The Huskies shot 47% from the field. UConn now sits at 26-3 on the season, and retook the lead in the Big East race back from St. John’s after a bad loss to Creighton last week opened the door in the conference standings. 

But St. John's completely failed to take advantage of the opportunity to put some space between itself and the Huskies with three games left in the regular season. Now, with UConn back in the lead, the Red Storm will have to be perfect and get some help in order to claim a second straight regular season title. 

That starts on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

"We'll get ready for Villanova. We're still playing for a league championship," Pitino said. "It doesn't matter whether you lose by one or 40, the league championship is still at stake. Obviously we have to make our corrections and move on."

Jontay Porter is set to play professional basketball once again.

Porter, who was banned for life by the NBA after a gambling scandal in 2024, signed a deal to play for the Seattle Superhawks in the rebuilt United States Basketball League, the team announced on Wednesday.

Porter spent two seasons in the NBA and appeared in 37 total games, most recently with the Toronto Raptors. The league banned him for life in 2024, however, after it said it determined that Porter purposefully limited his participation in two games in order to influence the outcome of bets made on his performance.

Before one game, the NBA said, Porter disclosed information about his health to someone he knew to be a bettor. The league said he also placed 13 bets on NBA games using someone else’s account, ranging from $15 to $22,000. None of those bets involved a game in which he played, but he did bet on the Raptors.

Porter’s attorney said that he had been “in over his head due to a gambling addiction.” He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in 2024, which is a felony that carries up to 20 years in prison. According to ESPN, he is expected to get between 3-4 years when he is sentenced.

A federal judge denied Porter’s request to keep playing professionally in Greece. If he takes the court when the league starts next month, it will mark Porter’s first professional game since his time with the Raptors.

Porter’s gambling scandal is one of several that has rocked the league in recent years. Last fall, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was indicted in a similar scandal. He has pleaded not guilty and denied the charges. Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was also arrested on unrelated charges.

The USBL’s first season was back in 1985, and it ran through 2008 before it shut down. It will start back up again on March 6 with eight new teams — the Yakima Heat, Vancouver Bears, Bakersfield Majestics, Seattle SuperHawks, Salem Capitals, Lilac City Legends, San Diego Surf and Los Angeles Blue Waves — all based on the west coast.

The Superhawks will open their season against the Legends on March 7.

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No. 5 Houston's hopes for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, or even a favorable spot in the Big 12 tournament, are over.

The Cougars blew an early lead on Monday night and simply couldn't keep up with No. 14 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks rolled to a dominant 69-56 win, marking the program's 41st straight home win on ESPN's "Big Monday" under coach Bill Self. It also came the heels of what was a bad double-digit loss to Cincinnati last week, and gave them their third win over a top-five opponent.

Houston has now lost three straight games, all to the top tier of the Big 12. The fell at Iowa State by three points early last week, and then couldn't keep up with Arizona on Saturday. This is the program's first three-game losing skid since January 2017.

Houston took off from the jump. The Cougars opened the game on an 11-3 run, and shut Kansas down almost completely defensively. The Jayhawks went just 2-13 from the field over the first 10 minutes of the game, and only stayed in it with seven quick free throws.

Finally, it was Tre White who got the Jayhawks back to even with about 90 seconds left in the game. He drilled a 3-pointer from the wing, just the third made bucket from behind the arc all night, to cap what was a 7-0 run from the Jayhawks. Kansas ended up closing the half on an 11-0 run to take a four-point lead at the break. Peterson hit a floater right at the buzzer, giving him eight points in the first half.

That continued well into the second period, too. Kansas took off, and used a long 13-0 run over a nearly 6 minute span to break the game wide open. That gave Kansas a 14-point lead, which was the Cougars’ largest deficit of the season.

Pretty quickly, the lead hit 18 after White drilled a wide-open 3-pointer in the corner. That sent Allen Fieldhouse into a frenzy, and was more than enough to lift the Jayhawks to the win.

White led the way with 23 points and five rebounds in the win for Kansas on his three 3-pointers. Darryn Peterson added 14 points, and Bryson Tiller finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Peterson appeared to play normally throughout the contest, too, and played 30 minutes. The projected lottery pick has drawn significant criticism after being repeatedly unavailable due to various injuries, and he asked to come out early in a win over Oklahoma State due to cramping. 

Kansas now sits at 21-7 on the season. The Jayhawks have won just two of their last four, after a 16-point home loss to Cincinnati on Saturday and a near-20-point blowout at Iowa State. But Monday’s win, especially with Peterson seemingly back to normal, set them up for what will be a statement opportunity at Arizona on Saturday that can shake up the Big 12 race completely.

Kingston Flemings led Houston with 16 points, though he went just 6-of-18 from the field and was the only Cougars player to hit double figures. The Cougars went 5-of-24 from the 3-point line as a team, and reached the free throw line only nine times compared to the 20 that Kansas did.

Thankfully for Houston, the tough part of its schedule is over. The Cougars will take on Colorado, Baylor and Oklahoma State to end the regular season, all of which they should be able to handle and use to bounce back to form before the conference tournament in Kansas City.

Though this losing skid is bad, Houston is still undoubtedly a legitimate team capable of making a run in the NCAA tournament. It’ll just have to figure this out, and fast. And, a top seed in the tournament is almost certainly no longer in the cards.

This post will be updated with more information shortly.

After months recovering from a back surgery, Justin Thomas is ready to return to the PGA Tour.

Thomas will be in the field next week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he announced on Monday night. It will mark Thomas’ first start of the 2026 season and his first since he underwent surgery to fix a disc in his back last fall.

“I’ve obviously missed it,” Thomas said on ESPN while playing in a TGL match in Florida. “It’s been a long time, but it’s good to be back here and playing, to feel the juices, the competitiveness, the adrenaline, and just competing. I've watched these guys on TV the last, what feels like, a very, very long time. So it’s good to be playing with them.”

Thomas announced in November that he had undergone surgery to fix a disc issue in his back. He had been dealing with “nagging hip pain” for a few months, and has been recovering ever since.

Thomas last competed at the Ryder Cup in September, though Team Europe rolled over the United States at that event at Bethpage Black in New York. Thomas was set to play in The Skins Game on Black Friday, too, but he had to pull out as a result of the surgery.

Thomas has won 16 times in his career on Tour, most recently at the RBC Heritage last season. He had eight top-10 finishes in 2025 and three runner-up finishes. Thomas has struggled in the majors since his PGA Championship win in 2022, however, and has only finished inside the top 30 once and has missed the cut seven times in his last 14 major starts. Despite not playing in recent months, Thomas is currently at No. 14 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational, set for Bay Hill Club and Lodge, marks the third signature event of the season and the last tune-up before The Players Championship next month. The first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational will kick off on March 5.

LeBron James hasn’t forgotten that one clip of Jaylen Brown.

The Los Angeles Lakers star was asked about his relationship with Brown on Sunday night, shortly after the team’s 111-89 loss to the Boston Celtics. While he didn’t have anything bad to say, he did reference a moment from a Summer League game a few years ago in which Brown was caught criticizing James’ eldest son, and current Lakers player, Bronny James.

“Our relationship has been pretty respectful,” James said. “Besides that s**t he said about Bronny at Summer League, but other than that, we’ve been alright.

“I think he went on social media and said something about it. It’s all good.”

Though James was clearly joking a bit, he was referencing an old clip from an NBA Summer League game in 2024 in which Brown could be spotted telling Angel Reese and Kysre Gondrezick that he didn’t “think Bronny is a pro.”

Brown actually went on social media soon after and tried to clean up those comments.

That all took place before Bronny’s first real NBA game. The Lakers selected him with the No. 55 overall pick in the draft that summer, and he ended up playing in 27 games with the team last season while spending time with their G League affiliate.

He’s been doing the same thing this season, too. Bronny has averaged 2.2 points and 1.2 assists in 29 appearances with the Lakers this season while playing just 7.3 minutes per game. In six games with the South Bay Lakers, he’s averaged 15.5 points and 5.2 assists.

Bronny did not play in the Lakers’ loss on Sunday night. Luka Dončić led the way with 25 points and five rebounds, and James added 20 points and five assists while shooting 1-of-5 from the 3-point line.

Brown led the Celtics with 32 points and eight rebounds in the win, which pushed them to 37-19 on the season. Brown has averaged 29.2 points and seven rebounds per game this season and is shooting nearly 49% from the field. 

"This whole MVP thing, I don't understand why his name is not getting talked about some as well," James said. "Like, nobody gave them a shot to start the season."

Though James admitted that Bronny has a ways to go in his development in the league, and he wasn’t that serious on Sunday about it on night, he’s clearly not going to forget those who have criticized his son in the past — even if it was years ago.