🚨 Belligerent Buzzer-Beater(s)

It’s Wednesday! I’m not gonna lie — yesterday afternoon, I was struggling to think of an exciting hook for today’s letter. But then, mayhem ensued. A diaper dandy delivered a dagger at the buzzer for Big Blue. BYU braved the Phog to wipe the Jayhawks’ win streak at Allen Fieldhouse. And a Cavalier cashed an inconceivable game-winner from beyond half-court (NBA shot of the year, alert!). Plus, Erling Haaland went bloody bonkers on the pitch, and the NHL playoff push is heating up. No Headlines necessary today; let’s get straight to the goods!

WTF Stat: Entering Tuesday, Kansas men’s basketball was riding a 19-game home winning streak, a 67-game home winning streak against unranked opponents, and an 82-game home winning streak when leading at halftime. They all came to an end last night.

NBA - Top Games

• Cleveland Cavaliers 121, Dallas Mavericks 119: WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! Luka Doncic (45 PTS, 17-29 FG, 9 REB, 14 AST) had everything working and fed PJ Washington (11 PTS) for a go-ahead layup with 2.1 seconds left, but Cleveland’s Max Strus (21 PTS, 7-10 3PT, 4 AST) made an impossible 59-foot buzzer-beater from well beyond half court to give the Cavs a miracle win at the horn - Struss went five-for-five from three in the final four minutes including the game-winner, and Donovan Mitchell (31 PTS, 7 REB, 6 AST) and Kyrie Irving (30 PTS, 6 REB) each had 30-pieces

• Minnesota Timberwolves 114, San Antonio Spurs 105: The 7-foot-4, 20-year-old Victor Wemenyama (17 PTS, 13 REB, 5 AST, 2 STL, 5 BLK) reminded us why he’s a unicorn (Bonus: clickbait highlight part II), but the Spurs were no match for Anthony Edwards (34 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST, 4 STL) and the Wolves, as Minnesota (41-17) notched their sixth win in seven games to remain tied with Oklahoma City (41-17) for first place in the West - the Thunder beat the Rockets last night for their sixth straight win

• Boston Celtics 117, Philadelphia 76ers 99: It was just another day at the office for Jaylen Brown (31 PTS, 6 REB) and Jayson Tatum (29 PTS, 11 REB, 8 AST), and the NBA-leading Celtics pulled away from Tyrese Maxey (32 PTS, 5 AST) and the Sixers at TD Garden for their ninth straight win - Boston (46-12) is a league-best 27-3 at home this season

See the full NBA scoreboard here and the current standings here.

College Basketball - Top Games

• NCAAM | #16 Kentucky 91, Mississippi State 89: A scintillating Starkville shootout! After trailing nearly the entire way, freshmen Reed Sheppard (32 PTS, 11-14 FG, 7 AST) and Antonio Reeves (21 PTS, 8-15 FG) led Kentucky on a late run to grab a seven-point lead with less than a minute remaining, only for Mississippi State to tie the game with eight seconds left on a clutch Josh Hubbard (34 PTS, 7-14 3PT) three. However, Sheppard responded with a game-winning floater at the buzzer to give the Wildcats a dramatic dub - despite being unranked, Mississippi State (19-9) entered the game as 3.5-point favorites and led 52-39 early in the second half

• NCAAM | BYU 76, #7 Kansas 68: The Cougars were down six points at the break and as many as 12 in the second half, but Dallin Hall (18 PTS, 3-6 3PT, 3 AST) and Jaxson Robinson (18 PTS, 4-9 3PT, 3 REB) never blinked, as the duo rallied BYU past Hunter Dickinson (17 PTS, 11 REB) and company to snap the Jayhawks’ mighty 19-game win streak at Allen Fieldhouse in shocking fashion - Kansas (21-7) remains without star G Kevin McCullar Jr. (knee) and scored just two points in the final 2:30

• NCAAM | #1 Houston 67, Cincinnati 59: In their first game since claiming the No. 1 spot in the AP Poll, LJ Cryer (22 PTS, 3 STL) and the Cougars relied on their suffocating defense to overcome a tough shooting night for a wire-to-wire win at home against Cincinnati - Houston (25-3) has won six straight since their 78-65 loss at No. 8 Kansas on Feb. 3

• NCAAW | #14 Indiana 84, Northwestern 64: Following a 17-point win over No. 4 Iowa on Thursday, Mackenzie Holmes (28 PTS, 9 REB) and the Hoosiers rolled Northwestern in Evanston for another Big Ten, blowout victory - Holmes, a graduate student, surpassed Steve Alford (2,348) to become Indiana’s second all-time leading scorer amongst both men’s and women’s programs

See the full NCAAM scoreboard here and the current rankings here. See the full NCAAW scoreboard here and the current rankings here.

NHL - Top Games

• Philadelphia Flyers 6, Tampa Bay Lightning 2: In a game between two teams jockeying for playoff position, Noah Cates (1 G, 1 A), Morgan Frost (2 A), and the Flyers got a big win over Steven Stamkos (1 G) and the Bolts thanks to a five-goal 3rd period, halting Tampa Bay’s eight-game winning streak - Philadelphia (60-31-22) holds the third playoff spot in the Metropolitan, while Tampa Bay (61-32-24) holds the second wild spot in the East; both teams have 69 points

• Vegas Golden Knights 6, Toronto Maple Leafs 2: The shorthanded Knights ended their three-game slide as Jonathan Marchessault (2 G, 1 A), William Karlsson (1 G, 1 A) and the defending champs pumped Tyler Bertuzzi (1 G) and the Leafs above the border - Toronto (33-17-8) beat Vegas (33-18-7) on Thursday, 7-3

• Colorado Avalanche 5, Dallas Stars 1: The Stars suffered their second loss in two days as Jake Oettinger (22 SV) had a tough night and let up five unanswered goals to Nathan MacKinnon (1 G, 1 A) and the Aves, giving Colorado an impressive divisional win at home - Dallas (61-35-17) has lost six of their past seven games

See the full NHL scoreboard here and the current standings here.

English FA Cup - Fifth Round

• Manchester City 6, Luton Town 2: Erling Haaland (3’, 18’, 40’, 55’, 58’) went absolutely mad, bagging his eighth City hat trick before halftime and then scoring twice more after the break to end Luton’s surprising run - Haaland is the first player to score five or more goals in an FA Cup match for a top-division club since Manchester United’s George Best netted six against Northampton Town in 1970

• Newcastle United 1, Blackburn Rovers 1 (4-3 PEN): After Blackburn’s Sammie Szmodics (79’) and Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon (71’) exchanged goals in the second half, the Magpies advanced by winning 4-3 in a pressure-packed penalty shootout as Martin Dubravka made huge two stops to keep Newcastle’s hopes of winning a first FA Cup since 1955 alive - the quarterfinal draw will take place today at 2:00pm ET

See the full international scoreboard here and the current FA Cup ball numbers here.

On February 28, 1960, Team USA won its first Olympic gold medal in men's hockey by defeating Czechoslovakia, 9-4, in the final. Twenty years before the 1980 team completed the "Miracle on Ice" on its way to gold in Lake Placid, NY, another American squad made history in Squaw Valley, CA, at the eighth-ever Winter Olympic Games. Heading into the games, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and the USSR were considered the only real contenders for gold, but all four teams were defeated by the United States, as the Stars and Stripes went 7-0-0 to shockingly take the hardware. The last player cut from the team was University of Minnesota standout Herb Brooks, who would later earn himself a gold medal as Team USA’s head coach in 1980. On the 50th anniversary of the 1960 Games, Northland Films produced a documentary entitled Forgotten Miracle, which celebrates the American’s first gold medal run. The United States has now competed in 22 Winter Olympic Games (starting in 1920), and their 1960 and 1980 teams are the only two squads to win a gold medal in men’s hockey.

NBA

• New Orleans Pelicans @ Indiana Pacers 7:30pm ET, ESPN

• Sacramento Kings @ Denver Nuggets 9:00pm ET, Local

• Los Angeles Lakers @ Los Angeles Clippers 10:00pm ET, ESPN

• Full Schedule

NHL

• Columbus Blue Jackets @ New York Rangers 7:00pm ET, NHLPP / ESPN+

• St. Louis Blues @ Edmonton Oilers 8:30pm ET, TNT

College Basketball

• NCAAM: #11 Auburn @ #4 Tennessee 7:00pm ET, ESPN2

• NCAAM: Louisville @ #10 Duke 7:00pm ET, ACCN

• NCAAM: #14 Alabama @ Ole Miss 9:00pm ET, ESPN2

• NCAAM: Full Schedule

• NCAAW: Michigan @ #2 Ohio State 7:00pm ET, Peacock

• NCAAW: #3 Texas @ #20 Oklahoma 7:00pm ET, ESPN+

• NCAAW: #6 Iowa @ Minnesota 9:00pm ET, Peacock

• NCAAW: Full Schedule

English FA Cup - Fifth Round

• Manchester United @ Nottingham Forest 2:45pm ET, ESPN+

• Southampton @ Liverpool 3:00pm ET, ESPN+

Trivia Time Answer

B. Kentucky. The Wildcats have appeared in the men’s NCAA Tournament a record 60 times since its creation in 1939. They are followed by North Carolina (52), Kansas (51), UCLA (50), Duke (45), and Indiana (41). Kentucky’s also won the second-most national titles in the March Madness era (8), trailing only UCLA (11).

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Shohei Ohtani hit a home run yesterday in his first spring training game with the Dodgers.