Grieving Virginia cancels rivalry football game
Virginia canceled its football game against rival Virginia Tech scheduled for Saturday following the slaying of three football players on campus just more than a week ago.
The university made the announcement Monday night, a day after a nearly two-hour memorial service to remember Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D'Sean Perry. The three were fatally shot after a field trip to see a play in Washington. Two others were wounded.
Former Virginia football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. faces three counts of second-degree murder and other charges.
Virginia also canceled its game last weekend against No. 23 Coastal Carolina.
Lawyers for Gee widow ask jury for $55 million
Attorneys asked a jury to award $55 million to the widow of a former USC football player, in a landmark case accusing the NCAA of failing to protect him from repetitive head trauma that led to his death.
Matthew Gee, a hard-hitting linebacker who was on the 1990 Rose Bowl-winning squad, endured countless blows that caused permanent brain damage and led to cocaine and alcohol abuse that eventually killed him at age 49, his lawyers said in closing arguments.
In the first case of its kind to go to a jury, the attorneys told Los Angeles Superior Court jurors that the NCAA, the governing body of college athletics in the U.S., had known about effects of head trauma in sports since the 1930s but failed for decades to notify players of the risks or put rules in place to protect players.
A lawyer for the NCAA said Gee experienced a sudden cardiac death brought on by long-standing hypertension and acute cocaine toxicity and he had a raft of other serious health problems.
The monthlong trial is one of hundreds of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits brought by college football players against the NCAA in the past decade.
But Gee's is only the second case to go to trial with allegations that hits to the head led to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease. A 2018 case in Texas settled a few days into the trial and long before it might have gone to the jury.
In his senior year, Gee was team captain and led USC in tackles, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries.
Gee married Alana, his college sweetheart, after graduating in 1992, and they lived a normal life for 20 years. They raised three children as he ran a successful insurance company in Southern California.
But things took a downturn around 2013 when he began to lose control of his emotions, the lawsuit said. He became angry, confused and depressed. He drank heavily. He told a doctor days would go by without him being able to recall what happened.
Attorneys for Gee said CTE, which is found in athletes and military veterans who suffered repetitive brain injuries, was an indirect cause of death because head trauma has been shown to promote substance abuse.
• Former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez pleaded not guilty to felony attempted murder, assault and weapons charges in a case involving a man who allegedly sexually abused one of Velasquez's children.
Velasquez was charged in March in San Jose after he allegedly shot at a pickup truck carrying a man accused of sexually abusing a 4-year-old family member.
Velasquez was released from jail on Nov. 9 on $1 million bail and ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device.
Virginia jumps 11 spots to No. 5 in AP poll
Virginia had the difficult task of playing two ranked teams while grieving a tragedy that shook the Cavaliers and the rest of their campus.
Playing a week after three football players were shot to death on a bus, Virginia won the Continental Tire Main Event in Las Vegas over No. 16 Illinois after taking down No. 7 Baylor. The wins vaulted the Cavaliers from No. 16 to fifth in The AP Top 25.
North Carolina remained atop the poll, receiving 47 first-place votes from a 63-person media panel. Houston moved up a spot to No. 2 and had nine first-place votes. No. 3 Kansas had one first-place vote, No. 4 Texas received five and Virginia one. UCLA (3-2) is No. 19.
NO. 10 CREIGHTON 76, NO.21 TEXAS TECH 65 » Arthur Kaluma scored 18 points to lead all five Creighton starters in double figures, and the Bluejays (5-0) beat the Red Raiders (3-1) in Lahaina, Hawaii.
NO. 4 TEXAS 73, NORTHERN ARIZONA 48 » Marcus Carr had 17 points as the Longhorns (4-0) beat the Lumberjacks (2-3) in Edinburg, Texas.
NO. 8 DUKE 74, BELLARMINE 57 » Kyle Filipowski scored 18 points to lead the Blue Devils (4-1) in scoring for the fourth time this season in Durham, N.C. Bellarmine is 2-3.
NO. 9 ARKANSAS 80, LOUISVILLE » Anthony Black dominated inside and outside to finish with 26 points for the Razorbacks (4-0) in Lahaina. The Cardinals are 0-4.
NO. 17 SAN DIEGO STATE 88, OHIO STATE 77 » Matt Bradley scored 18 points before fouling out in the final minutes and helped the Aztecs (4-0) win in Lahaina. The Buckeyes are 3-1.
NO. 25 IOWA 100, OMAHA 64 » Kris Murray scored a career-high 30 points as the Hawkeyes (4-0) won in Iowa City. The Mavericks fell to 11-4.
UTAH 68, GEORGIA TECH 64 » Gabe Madsen scored 16 points and the Utes (4-1) held off the Yellowjackets (3-1) in Fort Myers, Fla.
WASHINGTON STATE 82,
EASTERN WASHINGTON 56 » Jabe Mullins scored a career-high 24 points and Washington State avenged last year's loss by winning in Spokane.
TENNESSEE STATE 74, CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE 73 » Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. had 17 points as the Tigers (41) won in San Juan Capistrano. Dionte Bostick scored 24 for the Matadors (1-3).
IN A WOMEN'S GAME ... NO. 20 UCLA 66, MARQUETTE 58 (OT) » Freshman Kiki Rice scored 18 points and Gina Conti added 16 to help the Bruins (6-0) hold off Marquette (5-1) in overtime to win the Battle 4 Atlantis championship in Paradise Island, Bahamas.