Southern Cal hires coach Riley away from Oklahoma
Southern California desperately wanted a marquee head coach after more than a decade of underachievement and embarrassment.
The Trojans landed one of the biggest, brightest names in the game.
USC hired Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley in a stunning and rare move of one traditional college football powerhouse swiping another’s highly accomplished coach.
Riley went 55-10 in five seasons leading the Sooners, winning four Big 12 titles and making three College Football Playoff appearances in his first head coaching job. USC sold the 38-year-old Texan on the chance to return the Trojans to their glory days as an annual national championship contender and the West Coast’s premier program.
Riley “will immediately transition to USC,” according to the school’s statement. Interim coach Donte Williams will lead the Trojans (4-7, 3-5 Pac-12) in their season finale at California on Saturday night.
• Florida hired Louisiana-Lafayette’s Billy Napier to be the Gators next football coach.
The move ends a quick process that landed Florida its top target one week after it fired Dan Mullen. MICHIGAN RISES TO NO. 2 IN AP POLL >> Michigan jumped to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll and Oklahoma State joined the top five for the first time since 2015.
Georgia was a unanimous No. 1 in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank for the eighth consecutive week. For the fourth straight week, there is a different No. 2 team behind the Bulldogs.
Michigan has its highest ranking since it peaked at No 2. in 2016. The Wolverines moved up four spots after emphatically beating Ohio State on Saturday to break an eight-game losing streak in the rivalry.
Cincinnati moved up to No. 3, flip-flopping with Alabama at No. 4. The Crimson Tide slipped after beating Auburn in overtime.
Men’s basketball
COLORADO HOLDS OFF STANFORD
IN PAC-12 OPENER
>> Keeshawn Barthelemy converted six straight free throws in the final 63 seconds as Colorado held off Stanford, 80-76 to win its Pac-12 Conference opener..
Evan Battey hit all four of his 3-point attempts and led five players into double-digit scoring with 22 points for Colorado (61, 1-0).
Spencer Jones hit 5 of 6 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and knocked down both of his free throws to lead Stanford (4-3, 0-1) with 15 points. Brandon Angel added 13 points and Kisunas scored all 11 of his points in the final minutes and pulled down nine rebounds.
CAL HANDLES FRESNO STATE >> Jordan Shepherd scored 15 of his 17 points after halftime, Andre Kelly finished with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and California pulled away late to beat Fresno State.
Grant Anticevich added 13 points for Cal (3-4). The Golden Bears had lost back-to-back games against ranked opponents at the Fort Myers Tip-off, a 20-point loss to No. 23 Florida last Monday and a 6259 loss to No. 21 Seton Hall.
Kelly and Anticevich each made a jumper before Joel Brown hit a 3-pointer to make it 7-0 and Cal never trailed.
Orlando Robinson led Fresno State (5-1) with 25 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
MLB
SEMIEN SIGNS WITH RANGERS >> The Texas Rangers have reached an agreement on a seven-year contract with Gold Glove second baseman and potential shortstop Marcus Semien, according to a person familiar with the deal.
That person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal was pending a physical and not finalized. ESPN, which first reported the agreement, said it was worth $175 million.
Semien was a shortstop in his six seasons with Oakland from 2015-20 before starting 147 games at second base and playing all 162 games for Toronto this year. He signed an $18 million, one-year deal with the Blue Jays in free agency last offseason.
BUXTON STAYS WITH TWINS >> The Minnesota Twins and center fielder Byron Buxton agreed to a sevenyear, $100 million contract, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
Buxton posted an aerial picture of Target Field on his Instagram account with a heart emoji for a caption. The fleet-footed, big-swinging Buxton was only under team control for one more season, raising the possibility of a trade to stem the blow of losing him as a free agent.
MARLINS, AVISAIL GARCIA AGREE TO 4-YEAR CONTRACT >> Free agent outfielder Avisail Garcia has agreed to
sign with the Miami Marlins, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
Garcia’s deal will pay $53 million over four seasons, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been announced.
Soccer
MLS PLAYOFFS>> Bobby Wood directed Justin Meram’s crossing pass low into the right corner in the 90th minute to give Real Salt Lake a 2-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference semifinals . ... Andre Blake made two spectacular saves, Nashville missed on two penalty kicks and the Philadelphia Union won a shootout to advance to the Eastern Conference final for the first time in franchise history.
Skiing
SHIFFRIN TIES STENMARK RECORD >> Mikaela Shiffrin marked the return of the women’s World Cup to North America by setting yet another record — and the two-time Olympic champion did it on home snow.
Shiffrin beat Petra Vlhova — her main rival — for her 46th career win in slalom. That matched a 32-year-old record for most World Cup wins in a single discipline, set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in giant slalom.