The Wildcats used one of the best offensive performances in the NCAA tournament to get over the Sweet 16 hurdle for the first time in more than a decade.
Brayden Burries scored 21 points and fellow freshman Koa Peat added 21 as part of a record-setting balanced attack that sent top-seeded Arizona to a 109-88 win over Arkansas on Thursday night to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015.
Ivan Kharchenkov also had 15 points, while Jaden Bradley, Motiejus Krivas and Tobe Awaka all scored 14 points as Arizona became the first team in NCAA tournament history with six players scoring at least 14 points in a game. The Wildcats shot 64% (37-of-58), the highest field goal percentage by any team in the Sweet 16 or later since Villanova in the 2016 Final Four (71% vs. Oklahoma).
Yoshinobu Yamamoto held the D-backs to only a Geraldo Perdomo two-run homer in six innings, using a six-pitch mix to continually keep them off balance. And a Dodgers offense that was held to just two baserunners against Zac Gallen in the first four innings exploded for four runs each in the fifth and seventh, during which it received home runs from Andy Pages and Will Smith and combined for 12 baserunners. All told, the Dodgers cranked out 10 hits, seven of which occurred with two strikes. Ten of their batted balls traveled more than 100 mph, including three from Ohtani.
“It certainly has to be taxing when you’re facing our guys, and when you feel like you have to be perfect,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Just to continue to keep executing and executing, it’s tough mentally, physically. As long as we can be disciplined like we were tonight, we should have opportunities to put up big numbers.”
Roberts began his day by placing a bottle of 90-proof Traveller Whiskey in each of his players’ lockers, an offering to commemorate the start of another long journey. He was upstaged by Ohtani, who gifted each of his teammates and coaches Seiko watches worth thousands of dollars.
“Happy Opening Day!!!” a note on Ohtani’s gift bag read. “Three-Peat!!!”
Throughout Major League Baseball’s prolonged history, only two franchises — the New York Yankees and the then-Oakland Athletics — have three-peated. The Dodgers are looking to become the first to do so out of the National League, on the heels of becoming the first back-to-back champions in a quarter-century. In hopes of doing so, they splurged once again this offseason, signing Edwin iaz to shore up their questionable ninth inning and adding Tucker to secure their place as the deepest, most talented team in the sport. The hope is that guys like Diaz and Tucker don’t just make their roster better, but that continually adding impact players injects energy into their clubhouse and prevents complacency. Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes saw that show up in spring training, during which he noticed “almost another level of focus from what we saw last year.”
“The biggest thing that we talked about is that last year has nothing to do with this year,” Gomes said, “just like it had nothing to do with the year before.”
To commemorate the start of their season Thursday, the Dodgers aired a skit that ended with comedian Will Ferrell driving a blue lowrider with Miguel Rojas and Freddie Freeman each holding a championship trophy in the back seat. On Friday, the Dodgers will hold their ring ceremony, with Clayton Kershaw, an analyst for the Opening Day broadcast on NBC, also expected to be in attendance.
The players are happy to indulge in the pomp and circumstance, but in their minds, they’ve moved on.
“We obviously enjoyed going back-to-back,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said, “but it’s almost like it’s old news. We’re not really focused on that anymore. Now we’re focused on Game 2. We do a really good job here of just taking it day by day. We know we have a big goal, but the only way to get there is just one step at a time.”
PHILADELPHIA — Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm has sued his parents for millions of dollars, accusing them of siphoning large amounts of his money into financial accounts they managed for him and then using some of the cash to pay their own expenses.
Bohm’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Philadelphia court, comes after he began to review his personal and financial affairs in recent months, and says that his parents refused to give him access to the accounts or provide him with the information he sought about them.
They sought to “freeze” him out of four accounts — established as limited liability companies — and he now believes they “converted a sizeable amount” of his money from those accounts “to their own use,” the lawsuit says.
By the time he sought the information, his parents had already transferred millions of dollars from his personal accounts to the accounts they controlled, the lawsuit says.
Bohm’s parents, Daniel and Lisa Bohm, denied doing anything wrong and, through their lawyer, said they are “deeply saddened by the allegations” and will aggressively defend themselves. Alec Bohm has had full access to the accounts, and his parents are paying his expenses on their personal credit cards, their lawyer, Robert Eckard, said in a statement.
“Mr. and Mrs. Bohm love their son very much and have always acted in his best interests, both personally and professionally, and still do so to this day,” Eckard said.
After Thursday’s 2026 season-opening game, Bohm declined comment to reporters, saying, “I’m not going to address any personal matters right now.”
Both parties say the first of the accounts was opened in 2019. His parents told him that they assigned themselves a 10% stake, strictly for administration purposes, and that Bohm was the “true” owner of all of the LLC’s assets, Bohm’s lawsuit says.
The accounts had various purposes, such as investing in securities or buying real estate. Bohm’s lawsuit also says his parents used money from The Alec Bohm Foundation to pay their expenses.
Bohm’s lawsuit asks his parents to pay at least $3 million in damages, hand over control of the accounts and hire an accountant to track every dollar they transferred from Bohm’s personal accounts to the accounts they controlled.
Bohm, 29, has a $10.2 million contract with the Phillies for the 2026 baseball season. The lawsuit says his parents live in a recreational vehicle and travel the country.
