Browsing: Sports
Olympic gold medalists Olivia Smoliga, left, a Glenbrook South graduate, and Ryan Held, a Sacred Heart-Griffin graduate, competed in the TYR Pro Swim Series event at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont on Thursday, March 3, 2022. (Matt Le Cren / Pioneer Press)
“In visiting with Shauna, I was struck by her inner drive, her innate competitiveness, and her commitment to the student-athletes under her charge,” athletic director Josh Whitman said in a statement. “She and I connected quickly around an ambitious vision for the future of Illinois women’s basketball, which she and her staff plan to spread around the state and across the country.”
“He’s just a special person,” King said. “Coming into this, taking over and having him, you’re always like, he’s a Stanley Cup winner, he’s probably going to be in the Hall of Fame, make sure I get the right minutes in for him, right games, make sure that calendar’s perfect for him.
“I did not expect that to blow up the way it did,” Burger told the Tribune on Sunday. “I figured it would get some traction, and I have to give photo credit to (teammate) Andrew Vaughn, which I didn’t on the tweet. I feel bad for that. It was funny and all the replies, people are so funny.”
Patrick, who said he flips a switch from his low-key demeanor when he gets on the field, thinks he excels at center because he can “apply some of my mental strengths and how I approach the game and how I see things, along with the physical approach that I can bring, kind of right at the apex of the offensive line. When you combine those two, you can play a certain way, and that allows me to play football how I think it should be intended, which is physical, tough but smart.”
Last year it was Oral Roberts, which came within a missed 3-pointer at the buzzer from beating Arkansas and going to the Elite Eight. This time it’s those lovable Saint Peter’s Peacocks, who knocked off Kentucky and Murray State and don’t have a single player that made the All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference first team.
Dane Goodwin scored 14 points for 11th-seeded Notre Dame (24-11), which led 52-49 with just over two minutes left. But the Irish didn’t make a field goal in the last three minutes and Texas Tech made eight straight free throws in the last 1:56, including two by Obanor that put the Red Raiders ahead 53-52 with 1:10 left.
“It’s a business,” King said. “You hate losing a guy like Hagel because he was our identity — the way he competed, the way he worked hard day in, day out. He brought it to the rink every day, and that’s the kind of identity we need to have as a team.”
“It wasn’t hard to buy in because the way the scheme is set up. If you’re not playing at a fast pace, you’re not running to the ball, punching at the ball, stripping at the ball, just 11 guys to the ball, you’re not going to play. I bought in to that immediately and I train that way during the offseason. Getting to the ball is always on my mind.
Kofi Cockburn scored 19 points in what might have been his final game for Illinois, but he was the only Illini player in double figures. Andre Curbelo, who went scoreless, was benched with six minutes left in the first half and never returned. Alfonso Plummer and Trent Frazier were a combined 4-for-17.