Sports
Michigan reaffirms No. 1 ranking by dispatching No. 7 Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Michigan’s week started with the Wolverines moving to No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since the 2012-13 season. With games at Purdue and versus Duke in a five-day span this week, however, there was some concern their time on top could be short-lived.
But they looked every bit the best team in the country Tuesday at Mackey Arena, comprehensively dispatching No. 7 Purdue 91-80. Michigan led for the final 33 minutes, and its lead expanded to as many as 20 points late in the first half.
“We needed to deliver a lot of punches, whether it was the first or second,” coach Dusty May said. “We knew this was going to go all 10 [rounds]. If we took a shot, we knew we had to respond and our guys did that over the course of the game. That was impressive the way they answered those runs with really sound play.”
After Purdue scored the first two baskets of the game and led after seven minutes, Michigan took the lead on a pair of L.J. Cason free throws with 12:50 to go in the first half and never trailed the rest of the way. Cason’s foul shots jump-started a 16-0 run that put Purdue on the back foot and quieted what had been a raucous Purdue crowd.
“They set the tone,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “That, to me, is the game right there. The way they set the tone.”
Michigan’s differentiator this season has been its size, and 7-foot-3 Aday Mara was the game changer in the paint in the first half before foul trouble forced him to the bench for much of the second period. There was a sequence midway through the first half that epitomized his impact at both ends of the floor. He began by forcing Oscar Cluff into a missed shot at the rim, followed it up with an assist to Roddy Gayle Jr. for a layup, then altered Braden Smith‘s attempt at the rim, and capped the stretch by tipping out an offensive rebound that resulted in a Cason 3.
Mara finished the first half with 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks in just 13 minutes.
“We wanted to stay one-on-one with our 5s and Mara made a couple of really nice plays,” Painter said. “We had to try to win that battle one-on-one because his passing is so good. So if you want to sit there and help and try to squeeze him a little bit, people will cut right off of it. He’s great at making those passes, getting guys 3s, getting guys layups, getting people in the bonus, getting to the free throw line a lot. So for us, we had to be better in that scenario.”
In most of Michigan’s biggest wins this season, the Wolverines have combined that size advantage with high-level shooting from the perimeter. They made 38 shots from beyond the arc in three games back at the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas and made 10 in a road win at Ohio State earlier this month.
On Tuesday, Michigan had its second-best 3-point shooting performance of the season, going 13-for-23 from the perimeter. The Wolverines missed their first four 3s before hitting eight of their next 12 to end the first half.
“I thought our guys did a really nice job of getting the advantage and keeping it,” May said. “We know how we’re built so certain games are going to dictate us doing certain things. And I thought when they put two on the ball, Elliot [Cadeau] made really, really good plays to just get us in closeouts and I thought we drove the ball, we drove it to kick it.”
In a game featuring All-American Braden Smith, who entered the season as the favorite for Player of the Year, it was Cadeau who played like the best guard on the floor. He outdueled Smith, who was held scoreless in the first half. The former North Carolina transfer opened the second half with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting in eight minutes, consistently making big plays when it looked like Purdue might generate momentum. He finished with 17 points and seven assists.
“There was a lot of openings, I felt like, in the ball screen there was a lot of openings,” Cadeau said. “I feel like I just have really talented teammates that, if I get them the ball in the right place, they’ll make the shot.”
“I felt like I was being aggressive in the first half,” he added. “The shots weren’t just falling. They started to fall in the second half.”
It wasn’t just Cadeau making plays in the backcourt for Michigan. Cason came off the bench and scored 13 points, playing alongside Cadeau for long stretches. Freshman Trey McKenney, who has emerged as a consistent offensive threat over the past few weeks, also had 13 points, making three big 3s.
Michigan totaled 34 bench points to Purdue’s 15.
“When you sit there and your fourth or fifth option can carry the weight or someone like L.J. Cason can come in the game and control a game at the end of the game,” Painter said. “Even though he didn’t control the game today, so to speak, he made a lot of good plays. Just look at their bench and when you can go to them and get consistent, get 3s from all of them. They make their free throws, their bench doesn’t turn the ball over.
“They’re the No.1 team in the country for a reason. A lot of times people have a solid five and then they make a dip when they sub. These guys don’t make a dip.”
Test No. 1 for Michigan in one of the most difficult two-game stretches of the college basketball season is now finished, and now awaits a date with No. 3 Duke in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. It’s a chance for the Wolverines to get out of the grind and monotony of Big Ten play and an opportunity to play a high-level game against another potential Final Four team.
For May, winning that game just to be No. 1 in the AP poll for a second straight week isn’t the primary goal.
“This is great for our fans, it’s great for recruiting, it’s great for the attention that it puts on our program and our prestigious university,” he said. “But as far as, do we care? Absolutely not.
“April 7th, if we’re No. 1. That’s what we’re ultimately concerned with.”
SYDNEY: As Twenty20 cricket competitions explode around the world, Australia’s Big Bash League is struggling to chart a vision for the future, after plans to privatise its franchises stalled.
Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg is adamant that outside investment is necessary to shore up the game’s financial future and keep pace with a boom in other well-funded leagues played in a similar time slot.
They include the UAE’s ILT20, South Africa’s SA20, and New Zealand’s privately-backed NZ20 scheduled to start in December 2027, all bidding for the best local and overseas players.
“If those salary caps (of other leagues) are significantly higher than ours over the coming years, and players can earn more in those areas, then players will follow those. That’s a real risk to us,” Greenberg told local media.
“I want to make sure that for Australian cricket, our ambition is to have a league that runs at the key part of the year for us, which is the December-January window, and it’s the best T20 league in the world at that moment in time.
“To do that, we have to have a significant amount of money in our salary caps to attract not only the best players from overseas, but to retain and attract our own best players.”
He added: “The concept of bringing private capital to cricket is inevitable at some point.”
While not a direct competitor as it runs in a different window, the benchmark Indian Premier League has seen massive success thanks to wealthy benefactors, with England’s The Hundred also on a roll after an influx of private capital.
But it is a thorny issue in Australia with an initial proposal to sell stakes in each of BBL’s eight teams stalling last month amid concerns about a loss of control for the game’s local custodians.
While the Victorian, Western Australian and Tasmanian cricket associations voiced support and South Australia said it was open to the idea, New South Wales and Queensland rejected the move.
Queensland Cricket, which controls the Brisbane Heat, said it was worried about player payments skyrocketing to unsustainable levels, and that private owners may not be as invested in the grassroots game.
Cricket NSW, which operates the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder, was similarly concerned that it could be detrimental to how the sport is governed and how local players are produced.
‘Sugar hit’
There are also fears about an Indian takeover, with the most likely buyers seen as the rich IPL team owners who have invested in other short-form competitions around the globe.
Former Australian captain Greg Chappell is in the “No” camp, arguing that the BBL belongs to the states and communities that have built it into a successful and well-attended product.
While acknowledging the commercial realities, he said selling it off was not the answer.
“The moment you introduce private ownership at scale, you introduce a set of priorities that may not always align with the long-term health of the game,” he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Private investors, however well-intentioned, answer to shareholders, not to Australian cricket.”
Andrew Jones, a former head of strategy at Cricket Australia who was instrumental in the launch of the BBL, is similarly unconvinced.
“A one-off sale is a sugar hit, not a solution,” he said in The Australian newspaper, arguing that revenues can be better grown through sponsorships, wagering, ticketing, and more focus on commercialising the women’s game.
Despite scepticism, Greenberg remains confident and is now eyeing a hybrid ownership model.
This would allow the BBL franchises keen to sell stakes to do so while allowing those against to maintain complete ownership.
“If we end up not going together at the same time, can we still extract the same level of revenue, and can we extract the same level of value?” he said.
“I think we can, but I’ve got to do the work to satisfy a recommendation that would ultimately go to the members and our board.”
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The New York Knicks took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday as the franchise eyes its first NBA Finals berth since 1999.
Jalen Brunson scored 30 points to lead New York to a 121-108 win over Cleveland, while Mikal Bridges added 22 as the Knicks never trailed in Game 3.
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The New York Knicks bench reacts during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three of the Eastern Conference finals at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 23, 2026. (David Richard/Imagn Images)
New York is the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 10 straight during a postseason run. The last team to do it was the Boston Celtics, who also went on a 10-game run on their way to the 2024 title.
All but one of the Knicks’ wins have been by double digits, with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points.
Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell finished with 23 points in 38 minutes, while teammate James Harden added 21. Cleveland shot 12 of 41 from 3-point range and 12 of 19 from the foul line.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) drives to the basket against New York Knicks guard Landry Shamet (44) during the first quarter in Game Three of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Rocket Arena on May 23, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Cleveland rallied and tied it at 50-all on a jumper by Harden before the Knicks countered with a 10-1 run. They went into halftime with a 60-54 advantage.
Music superstar Taylor Swift was courtside for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night alongside fiancé and Ohio native Travis Kelce.
Swift and Kelce, who recently signed a three-year, $54 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, took their seats in Rocket Arena shortly before the opening tip.
Singer Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce attend Game Three of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 23, 2026. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
With the Cavs trailing 91-82 at the end of the third quarter, Kelce and Swift were shown on the arena’s giant scoreboard. Fans cheered wildly as Kelce showed off his team cap and wine-and-gold shirt.
Game 4 is set for Monday night at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. The series will return to Madison Square Garden for Game 5 on Wednesday, if necessary.
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Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs will host the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 on Sunday night. Oklahoma City enters the matchup with a 2-1 series lead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
NASCAR’s Truck Series and O’Reilly Autoparts Series honor Kyle Busch with moments of silence at Charlotte
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The NASCAR world is paying tribute to Kyle Busch this weekend, and that includes some classy ones from two series in which the late driver had a lot of success.
While Busch — who passed away Thursday after “severe pneumonia [that] progressed into sepsis” — had been a full-time driver in NASCAR’s top series, the Cup Series, for more than 20 years, he still competed occasionally in both the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the Craftsman Truck Series.
He was especially known for his dominance in the Truck Series, winning 69 of his 184 races, and at one point owned a team. In fact, the final win of Busch’s career came just under a week before his death in a Truck Series race at Dover.
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Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, is introduced before the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 1, 2026. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
On Friday, the Truck Series was in Charlotte as part of the Coca-Cola 600 weekend for a race that Busch was supposed to take part in.
NASCAR, RACING WORLD REACTS TO KYLE BUSCH’S SHOCKING DEATH AT 41: ‘CANNOT COMPREHEND THIS NEWS’
Corey Day was in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, the truck in which Busch took his final win, and it was set to start on pole after Friday’s qualifying was rained out.
Kyle Busch celebrates the final win of his NASCAR career at Dover Motor Speedway. (Photo by David Hahn/Icon Sportswire)
Before the race was set to begin on Friday evening, teams and fans held a moment of silence for Busch.
Unfortunately, the race never got underway and was postponed until Saturday morning and then again to Saturday night.
The O’Reilly Autoparts Series, which Busch raced in many times and won many times during his career, also took a moment to remember him before their race at Charlotte on Saturday.
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That race was also suspended due to rain.
There will be some heavy hearts on Sunday when the Coca-Cola 600, the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race of the year, gets started at 6 p.m. ET.
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