Fight breaks out, 1 player ejected as No. 11 Virginia rolls to blowou… — and more

Ryan M. Kelly via Getty Images

A pretty big fight broke out early in the second half at John Paul Jones Arena on Tuesday night, leading to an ejection in the win for the Cavaliers.

No. 11 Virginia rolled to a dominant 90-61 win over NC State on Tuesday. But things got heated, and fast, in the second half of that contest.

Not even three minutes into the second period, Virginia’s Sam Lewis and NC State’s Darrion Williams got into a brief confrontation at midcourt. It’s unclear what started it, but Lewis appeared to shove Williams, and both he and Paul McNiel Jr. retaliated and shoved Lewis back. That sparked a big scrum in the middle of the floor, which took several coaches and officials to get separated.

NC State’s Scottie Ebube was ejected from the contest for leaving the bench. He had not played in the game at that point. Both Lewis and Williams were hit with technical fouls, and the game continued on normally.

Despite that incident, Virginia had no issue rolling to the 29-point win. The Cavaliers led the entire way on Tuesday, held the Wolfpack to just 19 points in the first half and had five players hit double figures. Thijs De Ridder led the way with 19 points after he went 7-of-10 from the field, and Lewis added 16 points and three rebounds.

McNeil led NC State with 22 points and six rebounds, and Williams added 14 points. The Wolfpack fell to 19-9 on the season with the loss, which marked their third in a four-game span. The lone win there, though, came in the form of a 24-point win over North Carolina last week.

Virginia, meanwhile, is very quietly rolling to a very impressive run in the ACC. The Cavaliers have now won nine straight and sit at 25-3 on the season. They are in second in the conference standings, too, and will take on No. 1 Duke next on Saturday in Durham, North Carolina. A win there would give them the lead in the conference race entering the final week of play.

“Virginia’s a great team. They can go to the Final Four,” NC State coach Will Wade said, via 247 Sports’ Jacquie Franciulli. “They steamrolled us. They’re better than we are.

“If we played them 10 times, I’m not sure we would beat them. Maybe once.”

Welcome to the thread for Wednesday’s St. John’s men’s basketball matchup against UConn. Please be respectful in the comment section and do not share any illegal streams of the game.

You can follow updates of this game on Rumble in the Garden’s official X account (formerly Twitter) at @rumbleSBN or on Rumble in the Garden’s new Bluesky account at rumbleinthegarden.bsky.social. Make sure to check out our game recap and analysis after the game.

If you want to participate in the comment section but are not familiar with the new SB Nation log-in system, you can check out the link here.

Game information

Who: No. 15 St. John’s Red Storm (22-5, 15-1 Big East) at No. 6 UConn Huskies (25-3, 14-2 Big East)

When: Wednesday, February 25, 2026, 7:00 p.m.

Where: PeoplesBank Arena, Hartford, Connecticut

TV: Peacock/NBC Sports Network (Ugh.)

Radio:ESPN New York 880 / 1050

Series History: St. John’s leads all-time series, 40-34. After four consecutive losses, including three to begin the Rick Pitino era, the Red Storm have won each of the last three meetings with the Huskies dating back to last season. The Johnnies were also the last team to defeat the Huskies in Hartford back on January 15, 2023. Coincidentally, UConn was ranked No. 6 in the nation at the time of that game.

KenPom Predicted Score: UConn to win, 76-70 (30% chance of St. John’s win)

Injury news

According to Roger Rubin from Newsday, Ian Jackson (ankle) has returned to practice and will play in Wednesday’s game against UConn. Jackson missed Saturday’s game against Creighton after suffering an ankle injury in the first half of the Red Storm’s contest with Marquette a week ago.

Kelvin Odih (undisclosed) is out for Wednesday’s game.

What to watch for

Battle of the Bigs: There is no surprise that the player matchup to focus on is the center duel of Zuby Ejiofor versus Tarris Reed, which could garner more importance if both coaches decide to play smaller lineups and push more paint responsibilities onto those two. Ejiofor got the better of UConn’s big man in their first meeting, recording 21 points, ten rebounds, and seven assists to Reed’s 12 points, six rebounds, and two assists. Can Ejiofor do it again, this time in a hostile environment?

Locked Up: The Red Storm are among the country’s best at defending this month. According to BartTorvik, the Red Storm has the second-best adjusted defensive rating in the country in the month of February at 87.8. Only Arizona is better, with a rating of 86.8.

St. John’s is holding opponents to shooting 46% from two-point range and 29.5% from three-point range, both ranking within the top-45 in the country in this span.

Scatter-Shot: The Red Storm rank 319th in the country in effective field goal percentage (46.7%) over the past four games, and their offensive inconsistency nearly sank them against Xavier and Marquette. St. John’s also ranks 337th in three-point percentage in that span, hitting only 27.4% of their shots from deep.

Something will have to give in Hartford, though. Although UConn ranks top-20 nationally in three-point defense this season, they’ve struggled to stop opponents from lighting it up recently, allowing teams to shoot 38.3% from three to rank 306th in the country since they last met St. John’s.

Drawing a Line: Despite their clunky shooting performances, the Johnnies manufactured offense by driving to the basket and getting to the line. In six games played this month, the Johnnies rank 16th in the country with a 48.2% free throw rate. Meanwhile, their opponents have a 29.6% free throw rate in this span. Overall, St. John’s ranks fifth in the country in free throw attempts per game this season with 27.1.

Of course, forcing opponents into foul trouble has also helped them. According to CBB Analytics, St. John’s ranks first in opposing personal fouls per game with 22.3. Six UConn players, including their entire starting lineup, were charged with three or more fouls in their first meeting against the Red Storm.

Stopping Silas: You could make the argument that Silas Demary, Jr. was UConn’s best or worst player in their loss against St. John’s earlier this month, and you would have a convincing case either way. Yes, he did have a team-high 18 points on an efficient 11 shots, gave out five assists, and made a handful of electric plays like a posterizing dunk over Zuby Ejiofor, but he also gave up nine of the Huskies’ 15 turnovers that night. He’s been the same kind of player since, supplying chunks of offense and turning the ball over more than Dan Hurley could probably stomach.

UConn breezed past Villanova with a dominant second half, but Demary gave up the ball seven times to the Wildcats. The Huskies will likely beat Red Storm in the shot-making department, so Wednesday’s game will come down to whether St. John’s can force Demary into giving up a batch of turnovers again and limit Connecticut’s spurtability with their ball pressure.

Pregame links

• Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley’s chilly relationship adds even more juice to St. John’s-UConn rivalry — Mike Vaccaro, New York Post
• Bryce Hopkins, Zuby Ejiofor, and Dillon Mitchell appeared on the digital cover for SLAM Magazine this week. Max Resetar also wrote a feature on the Red Storm’s frontcourt trio.

• And they also appeared in a video on SLAM’s YouTube channel as they answered some questions about themselves like who is most likely to become TikTok famous and who is most likely to chirp at opposing fans. Pretty entertaining ten minutes if you’re interested in watching.

• If you thought the St. John’s/Providence fight discourse was laid to rest, you were wrong. Bryce Hopkins was asked about why he walked away from the brawl in Tuesday’s media availability, stating to Adam Zagoria that he “wanted to be the bigger person” and was only focused out getting out of Amica Mutual Pavilion “with a win”.
• St. John’s canceled their final “One Piece” promotion for this Saturday’s game against Villanova amid security concerns. Scalpers flooded Madison Square Garden’s Seventh Avenue entrance in hopes of buying the collectible cards fans were given after the St. John’s-UConn game earlier this month for hundreds of dollars, creating a logjam at the doors.
• Seventeen NBA personnel will be in attendance for Wednesday’s game

The Cowboys have presented Aubrey with a multi‑year deal worth roughly $7.5 million per season, the highest offer for a kicker in the league. Aubrey, who has been All‑Pro for three seasons and holds the record for most 60‑plus‑yard kicks, says he is seeking close to $10 million per year, a figure that would dramatically reset the market.

Negotiations have been ongoing since before the start of last season, and the Cowboys may tender a second‑round offer of about $5.8 million if an extension is not reached. Aubrey’s long‑range accuracy, including a 65‑yard field goal, gives him significant leverage.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Zion Williamson scored 26 points, Dejounte Murray added 13 in his first game in nearly 13 months, and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the injury-depleted Golden State Warriors 113-109 on Tuesday night.

Saddiq Bey scored 18 points, including a reverse layup he spun off the glass while being fouled to give New Orleans a 107-101 lead with 1:47 left. Former Warriors guard Jordan Poole added 12 points for New Orleans, which won its second straight and posted its fourth victory in six games.

De’Anthony Melton scored a season-high 28 points for Golden State, but missed a free throw with 1:23 left and his team trailing by just four points.

Moses Moody scored 24 for the Warriors, who've lost three of four while taking the court missing several key players.

The Warriors played without Stephen Curry (right knee), Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Al Horford (left toe). Curry, who has missed eight straight games, did not make the trip to New Orleans, coach Steve Kerr said. Only nine Warriors saw action in the game.

Brandin Podzienski scored 16 points and Gui Santos had 15 for Golden State, which made just 24.4% of its 3s (11 of 45) but outrebounded New Orleans 59-53, scored 58 points in the paint and also had 24 second-chance points.

Murry was making his return from a ruptured right Achilles tendon, an injury that occurred against Boston on Jan. 31, 2025.

Murray played about 25 minutes, hitting a clutch driving layup with 1:04 left to make it 109-104. He also had three assists, two rebounds and steal, but committed five turnovers.

Williamson's highlights included his first 3 of the season. He had attempted just three previously this season and made his only attempt from deep against the Warriors.

He scored 10 of his points during the fourth quarter.

Up next

Warriors: Visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.

Pelicans: Visit the Utah Jazz on Thursday night.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

The Winter Olympics champions were given a rousing introduction into the US Capitol by Donald Trump , prompting wild 'USA' chants among Republicans and others in attendance.