UConn makes its case for No. 1 ranking
Rangers top Caps to snap four-game losing streak
HARTFORD — Alex Karaban tied a career high with 26 points and No. 4 UConn made its case to be considered the nation’s top team with an 80-67 victory over Georgetown on Sunday.
Cam Spencer added 20 points for the Huskies (15-2, 5-1 Big East) who won their fifth straight game, all without starting center Donovan Clingan, who remained sidelined with a right foot injury. Freshman Stephon Castle added 14 points.
Coach Dan Hurley said the Huskies have earned the right to be ranked No. 1 and embrace the “target” that would come with that.
“We’ve got the will and the confidence of a championship program, in the brutalist league in the country,” he said.
Supreme Cook notched 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Hoyas (8-9, 1-5). Jayden Epps added 16 points and Dontrez Styles added 11.
UConn opened the game on a 6-2 run, with 3-pointers from Spencer and Karaban, a harbinger of things to come.
But without Clingan, UConn had a tough time containing Cook. The Fairfield transfer hit his first four shots and scored Georgetown’s first 10 points, keeping the Hoyas in the game early.
Cook scored 16 points to go along with 10 rebounds by halftime, but fouled out with more than six minutes left in the game.
“I’m proud of him,” coach Ed Cooley said. “Because he’s in there battling. We need some other battering rams in there. The Hoyas have got to do a better job helping him.”
Karaban hit five of his six 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. His fourth of the game gave the Huskies their first double-digit lead at 32-22 and the Huskies led, 40-31, at halftime.
MICHIGAN ST. 73, RUTGERS 55
Malik Hall scored 15 points, Tyson Walker scored 13 and Michigan State ended its twogame losing streak by beating visiting Rutgers on Sunday.
Hall shot 6 for 9 and the Spartans finished 25for-55 shooting (45.5%) including 12 for 25 (48%) from 3-point range.
But no basket drew the roar of the home crowd more than Michigan State’s last basket of the game.
With the game in hand and 54.3 seconds remaining, fifth-year walk-on senior Steven Izzo, son of Spartans head coach Tom Izzo, checked in. The 5-foot-8, 150-pound guard had never scored in 43 previous games played.
With 36 seconds left, Izzo took a pass on the right wing from Tre Holloman, dribbled to his left, crossed over between his legs and drove 6-foot-4 Scarlet Knights guard Austin Williams right to the baseline. His high-arching floater bounced on the rim twice and fell through while drawing a foul. After he was mobbed by his teammates on the baseline, Izzo converted the free throw for the Spartans’ final points.
“I love the fact that my players were probably more excited than I was,” Tom Izzo said.
Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere scored first-period goals and Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 shots as the Rangers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over the Capitals on Sunday at the Garden.
The Rangers were coming off Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Capitals and a 1-4-1 overall start to 2024. They survived constant pressure by the Capitals in the third — and failure to score on five power-play chances — to emerge with the victory.
“Nobody wants to lose hockey games. The urgency grows,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. ”I thought our guys showed up and played well. We stayed focused and fought through to get us a win.”
T.J. Oshie scored for Washington, which completed its season series with the Rangers at 2-2.
Panarin scored his team-best 27th goal of the season 50 seconds into the game with assists to Vincent Trocheck and Jacob Trouba. Panarin leads the Rangers with 59 points and has points in 35 of their 42 games this season. The goal marked Panarin’s 400th point with the Rangers.
Trocheck has 13 points, including five goals, in his past eight games and 17 points in his past 14 games.
Lafreniere scored his 11th goal of the season with 50 seconds remaining in the opening period, snaring his own rebound after Washington netminder Charlie Lindgren made an acrobatic save. Defenseman Braden Schneider assisted.
“It was good to get the win, a big two points,’’ Lafreniere said. ”We had some big saves from Shesty.”
Lindgren, older brother of Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren, played for the second straight day. He made a fabulous glove save on Chris Kreider at 15:23 of the second with the Rangers on a 5-on-3 power-play, and stopped Jimmy Vesey point-blank at 6:27 of the third after Vesey stripped Max Pacioretty of the puck in the Capitals’ zone.
The first-place Rangers are 10 points ahead of the Capitals after splitting the weekend games.
”Everyone played a really hard-fought game. To come up short was very unfortunate,’’ said Charlie Lindgren, who is five years older than Ryan. “They are way up in the standings. We have to keep pushing.”
Washington narrowed the deficit to 2-1 at 11:03 of the second period when Oshie scored his fourth off a goalmouth scramble in front of Shesterkin. Linemates Dylan Strome and Pacioretty assisted.
“I liked our game tonight, Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “I loved our second period. I loved our third period. Our penalty kill was great. I just would have liked to have found a way to get that second one.”
Shesterkin denied Oshie at 13:22 of second and stopped a furious sequence in the closing moments of the middle period. The 28-year-old netminder, who won the Vezina
Trophy in 2021-22, made seven saves in the third period to improve to 17-10-0 in his fifth NHL season.
“These points are crucial right now, a lot of good teams in Metro,’’ Ryan Lindgren said. ”It’s fun playing games back to back. They get pretty heated.”
Washington was without Alex Ovechkin for the second straight game with a lower-body injury. The 38-year-old forward was hurt Jan. 5 when he became entangled with Carolina’s Jordan Staal, then missed several subsequent practices. He has eight goals and 19 assists this season. Ovechkin has 830 goals, second to Wayne Gretzky’s record 894.
Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko returned after missing 21 games with a lower-body injury, skating on right wing with Mika Zibanejad at center and Kreider on the left. The 22-year-old Kakko was injured on Nov. 27 against Buffalo at home in an awkward fall along the boards.
“I thought he had some really positive minutes. He had some chances to score,’’ Laviolette said. ”He was good. It’s nice to get him back.”