Boyd scores 27 as No. 24 Wisconsin pulls away to beat Iowa 84-71

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Nick Boyd scored 27 points and Nolan Winter added 18 as No. 24 Wisconsin pulled away late for an 84-71 victory over Iowa on Sunday.

Bennett Stirtz's layup trimmed Iowa's deficit to 68-65, but Austin Rapp hit a pair of 3-pointers to fuel a 10-point Wisconsin run. Boyd's layup put the Badgers ahead 78-65 with just under four minutes remaining.

John Blackwell hit four free throws after a deadball technical foul to extend the lead to 82-69 with 1:02 left.

Rapp scored 14 points and Blackwell had 13 for Wisconsin (19-8, 11-5 Big Ten), which bounced back from an 86-69 loss at Ohio State.

Stirtz had 23 points for Iowa (19-8, 9-7), which was coming off a 57-52 win at home over No. 9 Nebraska. Alvaro Folgueiras and Tate Sage scored 11 apiece.

Wisconsin shot 53.8%, including 10 of 24 beyond the arc. The Badgers hit 18 of 20 free throws, including 14 of 15 in the second half. Boyd shot 9 of 16 and Winter 8 of 11.

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NO. 15 MICHIGAN STATE 66, OHIO STATE 60

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Carson Cooper scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to leadNo. 15 Michigan Stateto a win overOhio State.

Jeremy Fears added 11 points and eight assists for the Spartans (22-5, 12-4 Big Ten), who have won three of four, moving into a third-place tie in the Big Ten withNo. 9 NebraskaandNo. 7 Purdue.

The Buckeyes (17-10, 9-7) fell to 0-9 againstQuadrant 1teams, a statistic that may hurt their chances of earning an NCAA Tournament bid next month.

Ohio State had an opportunity to earn an impressive win, playing without the ill Devin Royal and injured John Mobley and missing the 29 points per game that they average.

Bruce Thornton tried to make up for it, scoring 32 points, but didn't get much help from a teammate other than Christoph Tilly, who scored 10 points and missed only one shot.

byLiam Oneel

in

February 22, 2026

Boyd scores 27 as No. 24 Wisconsin pulls away to beat Iowa 84-71

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Nick Boyd scored 27 points and Nolan Winter added 18 as No. 24 Wisconsin pulled away late for an 84...

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Sacramento Kings add depth, sign guard Killian Hayes to 10-day contract

TheSacramento Kingsare looking to fill their roster after losing players to injury in the last few weeks.

Sacramento reportedly agreed to sign guard Killian Hayes to a 10-day contract deal, according to ESPN's Shams Charania and Hoops Hype's Michael Scotto.

Hayes most recently appeared in nine games for the Cleveland Charge, the G-League affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He averaged 22.4 points and 8.5 assists in nine games.

His last NBA appearance was during the 2024-25 season with theBrooklyn Nets, where Hayes averaged nine points in 27 minutes. He appeared in six games.

Oct. 26: The Brooklyn Nets' Michael Porter Jr. dunks in front of the San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama at Frost Bank Center.

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Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents

Who is Killian Hayes?

Hayes, 25, was drafted with the seventh overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft to theDetroit Pistons.

Hayes spent four seasons with the Pistons. His best season arguably came during the 2022-23 campaign when he posted career-highs in games played (76), points per game (10.3), assists (6.2), and steals (1.4).

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Kings add more depth

Sacramento wasn't done after the Hayes 10-day signing.

The team adds more depth to their roster following their announcement that recently acquired forward Deandre Hunter is ruled out for the season with ongoing left eye iritis, an injury that required surgery.

"Hunter was diagnosed with a retinal detachment in his left eye. This afternoon, Hunter underwent successful surgery to repair the injury," the team said in a Feb. 20 news release. "Hunter is expected to make a full recovery and an update will be provided in approximately eight weeks."

With the news of Hunter, who joined Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine to be ruled out for the final months of the season, they decided to add more depth.

The Kings signed Patrick Baldwin Jr. to a two-way contract deal.

Baldwin, 23, most recently played for the San Diego Clippers, G-League affiliate of Los Angeles.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Sacramento Kings, Killian Hayes agree to 10-day deal

byLiam Oneel

in

February 22, 2026

Sacramento Kings add depth, sign guard Killian Hayes to 10-day contract

TheSacramento Kingsare looking to fill their roster after losing players to injury in the last few weeks. Sa...

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Henri Veesaar's return from missing 2 games marks a big gain for No. 16 Tar Heels

North Carolina's Henri Veesaar went frombarely practicing or working outdue to a nagging lower-body injury to playing nearly a full allotment of minutes in his return to action at Syracuse.

North Carolina Syracuse Basketball

"It feels great, it feels much better than it did before," the 7-footer said after posting 19 points and three blocksin Saturday's 77-64 road win.

The16th-rankedTar Heels desperately need things to stay that way, too.

The junior had missed two straight games alongside freshman star Caleb Wilson, who isout indefinitely with a hand fractureand due to be re-evaluated next week. The uncertainty surrounding both had threatened to throw a season coming off the high ofa last-second win against rival Duketwo weeks ago into disarray.

Veesaar's return was a stabilizing step with No. 21 Louisville set to visit Chapel Hill on Monday night.

"It's easier because he's a guy that can consistently score in the paint," UNC coach Hubert Davis said. "He can shoot from 3. He can pass. And there's a lot of (defensive) attention on him.

Veesaar saw 25:58 of game action, "a little bit more than I wanted to play him," Davis added. "But he kept saying he felt good. It was nice to have him back in the lineup."

Veesaar entered as the team's No. 2 scorer (16.4) and rebounder (9.0), forming a potent frontcourt tandem with Wilson as the leader in both categories and a high-end NBA prospect. But things had gone awry for the Tar Heels since the Duke thriller, first with Wilson suffering his injury in the first half of a Feb. 10 loss at Miami.

Then Veesaar suddenly popped up with an illness as well as what was described only as an injury to a "lower extremity." He missed last weekend's home win against a Pittsburgh team near the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.

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He recovered from the illness but was still outfor Tuesday's loss at N.C. State, with UNC falling by 24 for its most lopsided loss in the longtime rivalry since 1962.

"I feel like it was just kind of something that was kind of nagging, and then just building on that," Veesaar said. "After Miami, it kind of flared up in that game and I was able to get through that game. But then it felt like we needed to take a little bit of time off for me to get back to the form I need to play at, and just be able to go 100%."

His first running drills came Wednesday. He did more individual work Thursday. Then Davis said Friday that Veesaar would go through a limited team practice, though he called him questionable for the Orange.

Davis wanted to see how Veesaar responded overnight, then again during warmups. Veesaar ultimately started as he had for his previous 24 games, finishing 9 for 13 from the field with a 3-pointer and three rebounds while being within range of his typical 31-minute average.

"I felt good, it didn't hurt at all," he said. "So just being able to do that kind of gave me confidence to play today."

AP freelancer Mark Frank in Syracuse, New York, contributed to this report.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign uphere. AP college basketball:https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pollandhttps://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

byLiam Oneel

in

February 22, 2026

Henri Veesaar's return from missing 2 games marks a big gain for No. 16 Tar Heels

North Carolina's Henri Veesaar went frombarely practicing or working outdue to a nagging lower-body injury to playin...

Read More