UConn advanced to the Sweet 16 after outdueling UCF on Monday. With the 52-47 win, the Huskies reach their NCAA record 28th consecutive Sweet 16.

In the next round, the Huskies will face Indiana, which edged Princeton in its own Round of 32 contest, at 2 p.m. ET Saturday with a spot in the Elite Eight on the line.

UConn eked out the win despite scoring the fewest points in an NCAA Tournament victory in program history. The Huskies shot a season-low 29.2 percent from the field, while UCF shot 34.8 percent.

The Knights jumped out to an eight-point lead early. UConn responded and held a 12-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Knights pulled within three with less than a minute to go.

“Given the kind of season we’ve had, I thought I’d pretty much seen it all,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “But this was a rather new experience for me. It was what we thought it would be. It was going to be really difficult. It was going to be really ugly looking, and it was.

“And we could have just as easily let that game get away from us and we didn’t. There’s something to be said for that, that you can win a game that you probably would look back and say, ‘I’m not sure how we won that game, but we did.’”

The Huskies were just 2-of-12 on layup attempts, which left the door open for UCF. The Knights, though, struggled with free-throw shooting, going 10-for-20.

Foul trouble was also a factor, as three players — Olivia Nelson-Ododoa and Aaliyah Edwards from UConn and Alisha Lewis from UCF — fouled out before the end of the night. Two other UCF players committed four fouls, including UCF’s Brittney Smith, who had 11 points and five rebounds. Diamond Battles led the Knights with 12 points.

UConn’s Azzi Fudd led all scorers with 16 points, three steals and two blocks, while her teammate Christyn Williams added 12 points.

“We just tried to throw the first punch and keep punching them,” Williams said. “We didn’t have our best game today, but I’m really proud of our team. We grinded it out. It was very ugly, but we got the dub and that’s all that matters.”

Fudd said after the game that the “adversity we faced off the court” in addition to the Huskies’ tough schedule during the season helped them triumph on Monday. She also praised the sold-out crowd of 10,167 fans at Gampel Pavilion.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” said Fudd. “That’s definitely something I’ve never experienced to this kind of level. That made the game a lot of fun. I think that also helped with our momentum.”

No. 1 NC State 89, No. 9 Kansas State 57

Kayla Jones led all scorers with 18 points and five rebounds as Raina Perez and Diamond Johnson contributed 15 points apiece to lead the Wolfpack over the Wildcats.

No. 3 Michigan 64, No. 11 Villanova 49

Senior Naz Hillmon recorded her 50th career double-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and five steals, while Leigha Brown added 20 points to help the Wolverines advance past Villanova and to the Sweet 16.

No. 5 Notre Dame 108, No. 4 Oklahoma 64

Four Irish players scored in double digits, including three with at least 20 points, to topple Oklahoma. Notre Dame senior Dara Mabrey led all scorers with 29 points, six rebounds and three assists.

No. 4 Tennessee 70, No. 12 Belmont 67

Tennessee narrowly escaped Belmont after Bruins guard Destinee Wells broke out for 22 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Volunteers were led by Alexus Dye, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 6 Ohio State 79, No. 3 LSU 64

Ohio State took care of business behind a 23-point, eight-assist performance from Jacy Sheldon to upset the Tigers. LSU guard Khayla Pointer wasn’t going to go down without a fight, contributing 32 points and four assists in the loss.

No. 5 UNC 63, No. 4 Arizona 45

Arizona’s attempt to reach back-to-back title games is over. The Tar Heels were led by Kennedy Todd-Williams, who had 19 points and seven rebounds; Alyssa Utsby added 12 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

The Sweet 16 field features four teams each from the ACC and the Big Ten. The SEC, Big 12 and Big East each have two teams remaining. Stanford is the lone Pac-12 team left, while the Summit League has South Dakota in the tournament’s third round.

Led by undefeated overall No. 1-seed Nebraska, the college volleyball elite will begin their quest for the 2025 national championship on Thursday, when the first round of the 64-team NCAA Division I tournament hits courts nationwide.

The Huskers are still chasing a perfect season, entering the 2025 title hunt on a 30-0 run having dropped just six sets all season — including losing just one set since September 16th.

"I was expecting us to be great, but certainly not undefeated," said Nebraska alumna and first-year Cornhusker head coach Dani Busboom Kelly on a recent episode of the Welcome to the Party podcast. "They continue to exceed our expectations."

Busboom Kelly's roster is loaded with the kind of experienced connection that only comes when the core of players have competed together for three straight seasons — an increasing rarity in the transfer portal and NIL era.

That said, this core has unfinished business on the national stage, with the superstar junior trio of middle blocker Andi Jackson, outside hitter Harper Murray, and setter Bergen Reilly — all AVCA Player of the Year semifinalists — looking to bring the first NCAA trophy in eight years back to Lincoln.

"It's such a special row, because we just know that all of us have been through thick and thin together and our bond is so strong," Jackson told USA Today Sports earlier this week. "[And Busboom Kelly] gives us so much confidence and we know that with her as our coach, we just can play fearless."

Stacked tournament field looks to spoil Nebraska's season

Even with their "fearless" play, a host of stellar opponents await Nebraska in the NCAA tournament gauntlet, hoping to play spoiler — including Busboom Kelly's previous program, the Louisville Cardinals, who await the Cornhuskers as the No. 2-seed in their own regional quadrant.

Fellow No. 1 seeds Texas, Kentucky, and Pitt will also chase their eventual chance at the Huskers via their own regionals, where the Longhorns could see arguably the stiffest competition from both No. 2-seed Stanford — the winningest program in NCAA volleyball history — and defending champion and No. 8-seed Penn State.

With tickets to the 2025 Final Four in Kansas City on the line, the NCAA volleyball bracket's 64 squads will start serving at 16 campus sites on Thursday.

How to watch the first round of the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament

This year's NCAA volleyball finale begins when No. 5-seed Colorado takes on unseeded American University at 3 PM ET on Thursday, kicking off a two-day first round of 32 matches — with No. 1 Nebraska looking to handle Long Island University in their initial tournament tilt at 8 PM ET on Friday.

All games in the early rounds of the 2025 Division I tournament will air live on ESPN+.

US tennis star Coco Gauff continues to win off the court, with the 2025 French Open champion topping Sportico's list of the 15 Highest-Paid Female Athletes for the third consecutive year.

Fueled by $23 million in off-court endorsements, the $31 million earned by the 21-year-old world No. 3 WTA player edged out the $30 million total income that fellow tennis star and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka garnered in 2025.

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Unsurprisingly, a full 10 athletes on the Sportico Top 15 list are tennis stars, a direct result of the fact that all four Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 tournaments boast equal prize money between the men's and women's competitions — a shift that began with the 1973 US Open.

That established expectation of gender equity in prize money has tennis far outpacing salaries in most other women's sports.

Also making the Top 15 are two LPGA golfers — world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul (No. 15 on the Highest-Paid Female Athletes list) and US star No. 2 Nelly Korda (No. 7) — as well as popular Olympic skiier Eileen Gu (No. 4), WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark (No. 6), and USA gymnastics legend Simone Biles (No. 11).

Notably, Gu, Clark, and Biles as well as Venus Williams (No. 14) all proved the power of endorsements on this year's list, with nearly all of the quartet's earnings coming from sponsorship deals.

As WNBA CBA negotiations rage on, revenue sharing continues to be a wedge issue for both sides of the table, with the league office and the WNBPA eyeing the terms of the most recent proposal from differing viewpoints.

The Athletic reported on Wednesday that the WNBA believes it has offered the revenue-sharing salary model that the players have pushed for throughout the CBA talks, leaving athletes to claim 50% of the "sharable" portion of league revenue.

How the WNBA will determine the "sharable" cut is uncertain, though sources claim the compensation structure on offer will result in players taking home less than 15% of the league's total earnings.

That percentage is likely to take a further hit over the lifetime of a new CBA, according to the league's multi-year earning projections.

"I don't feel like there's any cultivation of a culture of trust [in the CBA talks]," WNBPA president and Seattle Storm star Nneka Ogwumike told The Athletic. "I feel like we've been heard, but not listened to, and I'm hoping that that changes in this 40-day extension, because what we want to do is get a good deal done."

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Parental leave, draft combine, and more enters the WNBA CBA talks

Along with the issue of revenue sharing, the latest WNBA offer also reportedly outlined other proposals, such as the institution of a required offseason draft combine, the elimination of team housing, and the possible extension of the competition calendar by starting earlier and/or finishing the season later.

As for the WNBPA's Tuesday counteroffer, the players union is seeking to eliminate the core designation and shorten the current four-year rookie contract to three years.

The WNBPA is also asking to add non-birthing parental leave, retirement benefits, and reimbursements for mental healthcare.

The WNBA and WNBPA will meet again to negotiate sometime this week, with talks racing toward the second-extension deadline of January 9th, 2026.

After setting a new NCAA basketball record by scoring 100+ points in eight consecutive games, the No. 5 LSU Tigers will face their season's first true test when they visit the preseason-No. 7 Duke Blue Devils as part of the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge on Thursday night.

"We don't play nobody in our nonconference schedule," senior guard Flau'jae Johnson told JWS in November. "From December on out, that's when it gets really [exciting]."

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With their history-making string of lopsided wins under their belt, the Tigers will try to keep the streak alive against a now-unranked Duke side on a three-game losing skid.

The Blue Devils will rely on leading scorer and rebounder Toby Fournier for a spark, with the sophomore forward averaging 15.8 points per game despite Duke's 3-5 start.

As for LSU, the title-hunting Tigers will look to stat undefeated behind Johnson's team-leading 17.0 scoring average, as well as the 16.1 points per game put up by junior star transfer MiLaysia Fulwiley.

"Ballers just want to ball, like hoopers just want to hoop," Johnson said of LSU's quick cohesion this season. "You find different ways to bond and gel with teammates."

How to watch LSU vs. Duke on Thursday

Duke will host No. 5 LSU in the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge at 9 PM ET, with live coverage airing on ESPN.