USC disciplines leading scorer Metu
USC has suspended star junior forward Chimezie Metu for the first half of Thursday’s game at California after he was ejected for striking Washington State’s Carter Skaggs in the groin in Sunday night’s 89-71 win. Metu was also stripped of his captaincy and required to write an apology letter to Skaggs.
“I understand there is no place in the game of basketball for such an unsportsmanlike action,” Metu wrote in the letter.
The Pac-12 approved USC’s disciplinary actions and will take no further action. Metu is the Trojans’ leading scorer, averaging 17.8 points.
UC Riverside fired men’s basketball coach Dennis Cutts on Monday and appointed Justin Bell as interim head coach.
Riverside was 50-87 and 23-41 in the Big West Conference under Cutts, who took over the program in 2013.
The Highlanders are 5-9 this season.
“There is a need to elevate our men’s basketball program to a more consistent level, to more effectively compete with mid-major Division I programs,” Tamica Smith Jones, Riverside director of intercollegiate athletics, said in a statement. “We need a coaching philosophy that will accelerate our program’s overall success in the Big West Conference, that emphasizes a culture for champions.”
A nationwide search for a replacement will begin immediately, Smith Jones said, with a focus on candidates with Division I coaching experience.
Texas Tech has fired women’s basketball coach Candi Whitaker.
The Lady Raiders are 6-7. They started out Big 12 play with a 41-point loss to Oklahoma and a 97-49 defeat to No. 6 Baylor on Sunday.
Michigan State (14-1) moved up to No. 1 in the college basketball poll, receiving 43 of 65 first-place votes following previously top-ranked Villanova’s loss to Butler on Saturday.
No. 2 Duke, up two spots, received 21 first-place votes and No. 3 Villanova had one. Arizona State, Xavier, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Virginia, Wichita State and Kansas round out the top 10.
Mikaela Shiffrin won a parallel slalom city event in Oslo, Norway, to match Marlies Schild with her 37th World Cup victory.
Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard scored in the second half to lead Manchester United to a 2-0 win at Everton in Liverpool, England, in the Premier League.