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Team Tundra and PARAVISION opened Group Stage 2 on Friday with sweeps at the DreamLeague Season 25 event.

BetBoom Team and Chimera Esports also picked up Group Stage 2 victories.

Group Stage 2 of the $1 million Dota 2 event is a single round-robin group, with eight teams facing off in best-of-three matches.

The top two teams from Group Stage 2 will head to the upper bracket of the playoffs, the third- and fourth-place teams will land in the lower bracket, and the remaining teams will be eliminated.

The playoffs begin March 1 and feature a double-elimination bracket. All matches are best-of-three aside from the grand final on March 2, which is best-of-five. The winning team gets $250,000 and a club reward of $40,000. There will also be 20,440 ESL Pro Tour points distributed to the participants.

On Friday, Team Tundra posted consecutive victories on red, winning in 42 minutes and 27 minutes over Team Spirit. Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov of Russia paced Tundra with an average 10.5/2.0/12.0 kill-death-assist ratio.

With 41-minute and 40-minute wins on green, PARAVISION knocked off Team Falcons, led by Russian Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov's K-D-A ratio of 15.0/3.0/13.5.

Team Liquid jumped ahead of BetBoom Team with a 43-minute triumph on green, but BetBoom bounced back with a 56-minute win on green and closed out the match, prevailing in 42 minutes on red. Russia's Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko had a strong effort for BetBoom, with a K-D-A ratio of 10.3/2.0/14.0.

Against HEROIC, Chimera Esports grabbed the lead in 36 minutes on red, then after a 39-minute defeat on green, rebounded to seal the victory in 37 minutes on red. Chimera's top player was Kazakhstan's Aybek “Naive-” Tokayev, who posted a K-D-A ratio of 6.7/1.3/9.7.

Group Stage 2 continues Saturday with four matches:

–Team Spirit vs. BetBoom Team

–Team Liquid vs. Chimera Esports

–HEROIC vs. Team Falcons

–Tundra Esports vs. PARAVISION

DreamLeague Season 25 prize pool (cash winning, EPT points, club reward)

1. $250,000, TBD, $40,000

2. $100,000, TBD, $30,000

3. $80,000, TBD, $25,000

4. $60,000, TBD, $20,000

5. $40,000, TBD, $15,000

6. $35,000, TBD, $15,000

7. $30,000, TBD, $12,500

8. $25,000, TBD, $12,500

9-10. $20,000, 350 points, $10,000 — Shopify Rebellion, Yakult Brothers

11-12. $17,500, 175 points, $10,000 — Moodeng Warriors, Gaimin Gladiators

13-14. $15,000, 98 points, $10,000 — Xtreme Gaming, BOOM Esports

15-16. $10,000, 42 points, $10,000 — 9Pandas, AVULUS

–Field Level Media

NTMR and Timeless each earned a victory on Friday, and they share first place in North American Stage 1 of the Overwatch Champions Series.

Timeless (5-1) dropped the first map before closing out a 3-1 win over Avidity (3-3). NTMR (5-1) followed the same pattern in a 3-1 triumph over Rad Esports (1-5).

The $100,000 tournament, played online, features eight teams. The regular-season round robin will conclude on Sunday, with six qualifying teams heading to the double-elimination regional playoffs.

The first-place team will take home $30,000, and the second-place team will make $20,000 — and both will earn berths in the OCS' Champions Clash.

On Friday, Avidity opened with a 2-1 win on Samoa Control before Timeless captured Suravasa Flashpoint 3-1, Esperanca Push 142.41-19.75m and Havana Escort 3-2. Korean-American Joshua “Chopper” Song of Timeless was selected the match's most valuable player.

After Rad Esports took Nepal Control 2-0, NTMR prevailed 3-0 on Suravasa Flashpoint, 141.21-70.86m on Esperanca Push and 3-2 on Route 66 Escort. NTMR's Benjamin “UltraViolet” David of the United States was selected as the match MVP.

The Stage 1 regular season concludes with five matches this weekend:

Saturday

–Avidity vs. Team Liquid

–Rad Esports vs. Amplify

—-Shikigami vs. Spacestation Gaming

Sunday

–NTMR vs. Team Liquid

–Spacestation Gaming vs. Timeless

Overwatch Champions Series 2025 NA Stage 1 standings (match win-loss, map differential):

T1. Timeless, 5-1, plus-12

T1. NTMR, 4-1, plus-10

T3. Spacestation Gaming, 4-1, plus-8

T3. Team Liquid, 4-1, plus-7

5. Avidity, 3-3, level

T6. Rad Esports, 1-5, minus-10

T6. Shikigami, 1-5, minus-13

8. Amplify, 0-6, minus-14

Overwatch Champions Series 2025 NA Stage 1 prize pool

1. $30,000 (Champions Clash berth)

2. $20,000 (Champions Clash berth)

3. $14,500

4. $10,500

5-6. $7,500

7-8. $5,000

–Field Level Media

Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka hoped his team would rediscover its early-season form upon returning from the All-Star break this weekend.

“Just overall getting back to what we did early, which was being aggressive and putting teams back on their heels,” he said before the Rockets' Friday home game against Minnesota. “We've had chances to win a lot of those games we lost in this little stretch here. We need to get our swagger back, our confidence back and get in attack mode.”

A night after that happened in a 121-115 welcome-back win over the Timberwolves, the Rockets will get a quick opportunity to repeat the feat when they travel to Salt Lake City to oppose the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.

Not only did the Rockets get a bit of their swagger back on a night when Jalen Green scored 35, Alperen Sengun had 24 points and 13 rebounds and Amen Thompson compiled 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, but they also got some payback after two recent losses to the Timberwolves.

Winners of three of their past four, the Rockets also saw the return of Jabari Smith Jr., who totaled 15 points and nine rebounds in a reserve role after missing 22 games with a broken left hand.

“I think he's easy (to play) because he checks a lot of boxes and we can put him in a lot of places,” Udoka said when talking about Smith coming off the bench.

“I think overall just his skill set and what he brings to the table — the rim protection and rebounding and some of the things that have dropped off with him being out — will be a welcome sight to be back.”

The Saturday game will be the first of three between Utah and Houston in the next six weeks.

The Jazz are also set to complete a back-to-back set, having taken a 130-107 defeat against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder in their first game back from the All-Star break on Friday.

Utah has dropped five of its past six games.

“It was a good kind of welcome back after All-Star break,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said after the Friday loss. “I'm glad we have another game (Saturday).”

Veterans John Collins (26 points) and Jordan Clarkson (19 points) had strong offensive games against the West's best team.

The Jazz also got solid efforts from their young group, which Hardy expects to see more of as the end of the season approaches.

Keyonte George netted 20 points, Isaiah Collier dished out 12 assists with nine points, Kyle Filipowski added 12 points and Walker Kessler contributed 19 rebounds against the Thunder.

“It's time to graduate. I don't think the rookies are rookies anymore,” Hardy said, referring to Collier and Filipowski. “They've had a lot of experience.”

The Jazz also got their first look at Jaden Springer, who signed a 10-day contract this week. He registered seven points and two assists in his 11-minute Utah debut.

“I wouldn't say I was surprised. I was ready for whatever,” Springer said. “It's been pretty good. They've done a good job of getting me up to speed.”

Being on the court with so many young players is exciting for Springer, who's only 22 but has been around the NBA since 2021.

“I think it's fun. It's a young team,” he said. “We definitely had some good spurts out there tonight. I can definitely see this team growing and getting better.”

–Field Level Media

Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City will host league leaders Liverpool on Sunday searching for victory that could resurrect their season, but perhaps without their most important player.

Striker Erling Haaland has 19 league goals this season, but he may not be healthy in time to try to add to his total.

Haaland, who sustained a knee injury late in City's 4-0 win over Newcastle United last weekend, already missed the team's 3-1 loss at Real Madrid on Wednesday in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout round series. However, manager Pep Guardiola didn't completely rule out the Norwegian marksman.

“Don't know yet. (Saturday) we will know,” Guardiola said Friday. “It's better to have Erling on the pitch. … Everybody is responsible for the good things and bad things for the team, but obviously with Erling we are better.”

Regardless, Manchester City (13-7-5, 44 points) did add some key reinforcements during the winter window, most notably Omar Marmoush, who scored a hat trick in the first half of the Newcastle win.

And while a miracle surge to catch Liverpool (18-1-7, 61 points) is unlikely, it wouldn't be completely impossible with a win that would narrow the gap to 14 points and kept City with a match in hand.

Having received a bye to the UCL round of 16, Liverpool spent its midweek grappling to a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa in a fixture rescheduled from March 15 because of the Reds' run to the Carabao Cup final.

Mohamed Salah opened the scoring with his 24th goal to reach his highest league total since he registered 32 during his 2017-18 debut Premier League campaign. Trent Alexander-Arnold's 61st-minute tally leveled affairs for good.

However, a rearguard that began the season in such stalwart fashion under first-year boss Arne Slot has now conceded five goals in the last three matches while settling for only five points in that span.

Slot is also well aware that this version of City is a much improved one from that which the Reds defeated 2-0 in early December.

“I can see them coming back already if you look at the result against Newcastle,” Slot said. “So what you expect is what everybody expects if you go to the Etihad (Stadium) if you play against City. You have to suffer as well and work really hard to keep them away from your goal because they are so, so good in ball possession. But they face a strong team as well that hasn't lost for 22 games (in the Premier League).”

–Field Level Media

It was a day of blowouts at the Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major on Friday, as all three matches to open Week 2 saw 3-0 sweeps.

Two of the matches saw clubs pick up their first wins of the event — the Miami Heretics and Carolina Royal Ravens — while in the day's final match Cloud9 New York improved to 2-1.

The Stage 2 Major qualifying round consists of 12 teams, with each playing seven qualifying matches through March 16 to determine seeding for the Stage 2 Major playoffs, slated for March 20-23 in Dallas.

On Friday, the Royal Ravens opened play with a 3-0 win over Minnesota, handing the Rokkr their first loss in three matches. Carolina won 250-198 on Skyline Hardpoint then 6-5 on Red Card Search and Destroy before putting the match away with a 3-1 win on Protocol Control.

Miami then faced fellow winless club the Los Angeles Guerrillas M8 and won by nearly identical scores as the Carolina-Minnesota match: 250-193 on Vault Hardpoint, 6-5 on Protocol Search and Destroy and 3-1 on Protocol Control.

Finally, the Vegas Falcons became the first team to fall to 0-3 when they lost to Cloud9 New York, 250-105 on Protocol Hardpoint, 6-4 on Skyline Search and Destroy, and 3-1 on Protocol Control.

Week 2 continues Saturday with four matches with three more scheduled for Sunday.

Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major schedule

Saturday

–Atlanta FaZe vs. Miami Heretics

–Carolina Royal Ravens vs. OpTic Texas

–Los Angeles Guerrillas M8 vs. Vancouver Surge

–Toronto Ultra vs. Boston Breach

Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major qualifying standings (with match record and map differential):

1. Los Angeles Thieves, 2-0, plus-5

T2. Boston Breach, 2-0, plus-3

T2. Vancouver Surge, 2-0, plus-3

4. Cloud9 New York, 2-1, plus-5

5. Minnesota Rokkr, 2-1, plus-2

T6. Atlanta FaZe, 1-1, plus-1

T6. Miami Heretics, 1-1, plus-1

8. Toronto Ultra, 1-1, minus-1

9. Carolina Royal Ravens, 1-2, minus-2

10. Los Angeles Guerrillas M8, 0-2, minus-4

11. OpTic Texas, 0-2, minus-6

12. Vegas Falcons, 0-3, minus-7

–Field Level Media

Beating DePaul was expected for St. John's, even with leading scorer RJ Luis Jr. sidelined for the first time this season due to a groin injury.

On Sunday, the 10th-ranked Red Storm face one of their biggest tests of the season when they oppose UConn — and having Luis available likely will be much more critical for the game at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Luis had not been ruled out for the game, and St. John's coach Rick Pitino said Friday said the decision was up to Luis as the Red Storm attempt to complete a season sweep of the Huskies for the first time since 1999-2000.

Luis, a Big East Player of the Candidate, tops the Red Storm (23-4, 14-2 Big East) with 17.6 points per game, a figure that ranks fourth in the conference.

He scored 23 points in the Red Storm's win over Creighton on Feb. 16 but was replaced in the starting lineup by Sadiku Ibine Ayo three days later. Ibine Ayo scored a career-high 15 points as St. John's cruised to an 82-58 win over the Blue Demons. Ibine Ayo would draw the start again if Luis remains out.

“Everything takes time. We're starting to mesh well together, playing off each other,” St. John's senior guard Kadary Richmond said. “That's what it took, some time to get adjusted to each other.”

Devion Smith joined Ibine Ayo in moving from the bench to the starting lineup against DePaul, and he led the Red Storm with 18 points, his second-highest total of the season. Smith had been dealing with a neck injury that Pitino thought was going to sideline the guard indefinitely.

Richmond, who added 17 points and nine rebounds, is averaging 17.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in his past six games, though Pitino said the guard played through the same injury as Luis.

The Huskies (18-8, 10-5) were handed a 68-62 home loss by St. John's on Feb. 7 after they blew an early 14-point lead. Luis capped a 21-point outing by hitting the clinching jumper with 11 seconds remaining.

UConn is 6-5 since winning its first four Big East games, though it owns road wins over then-No. 9 Marquette and then-No. 24 Creighton in that span. The Huskies were held to 70 points or fewer in each of the past four games, most recently being forced to gut out a 66-59 win over Villanova in Hartford on Tuesday.

Liam McNeeley scored 16 of his 20 points after halftime against the Wildcats, including 11 points in the game-ending 27-6 run. McNeeley missed eight games with a high ankle sprain and is averaging 21.8 points in four games since returning, including an 18-point outing against St. John's and a 38-point showing at Creighton.

UConn's Tarris Reed Jr. added 13 off the bench against Villanova after scoring a combined three points the previous two games. The Huskies won despite a quiet showing from Alex Karaban (six points), who is 6 of 47 from 3-point range in his past nine games.

UConn got past Villanova after taking a disappointing 69-68 overtime loss at Seton Hall on Feb. 15 when it blew a seven-point lead in the final 36 seconds of regulation.

“The season was hanging in the balance for us (against Villanova),” Huskies coach Dan Hurley said. “If we lost this game, going to play St. John's in the Garden over the weekend, this is definitely going to galvanize us. With having some high-end wins, and then having some really bad low floor moments, this team's gotta find a way to finish strong, go into the Big East tournament with great momentum.”

–Field Level Media

Before his team traveled to face No. 14 Michigan State on Tuesday, Purdue coach Matt Painter talked openly about the No. 13 Boilermakers improving on the defensive end after allowing 94 points in a loss to then-No. 16 Wisconsin.

“We have to be better on the basketball,” Painter said. “We can't get beat as bad as we got beat the other night and expect to have positive results. When people are constantly getting angles … that's where we have to do a better job.”

Painter could probably use the same comments ahead of his team's game against rival Indiana on Sunday in Bloomington, Ind. Another poor defensive showing lowlighted a 75-66 loss to the Spartans and likely knocked the Boilermakers out of the race for the Big Ten regular-season title.

While taking a third straight loss for the first time in five seasons, Purdue allowed Michigan State to shoot 58.3 percent from the field and hit 68.6 percent of its 2-point attempts. That came on the heels of allowing Wisconsin to hit a staggering 20 of 22 (90.9 percent) on 2-point tries.

Add in a dozen turnovers against Michigan State, six from star point guard Braden Smith, and you have a recipe for failure that could cost the Boilermakers some seed lines for the NCAA Tournament if they can't correct it soon.

“We just have to do a better job, when they get aggressive, not over-dribbling,” Painter said of his team's reaction to heavy ball pressure. “We'll keep re-screening it, doing it multiple times to try and drag those bigs out.”

Purdue (19-8, 11-5 Big Ten) has fallen into a tie for fourth in the conference with Maryland heading into the weekend. A double bye for the Big Ten tournament, given to the top four teams, that seemed certain for most of the year is now in danger of being just a single bye if the Boilermakers can't fix their flaws.

While Purdue is trying to find its form, the Hoosiers (15-11, 6-9) are hoping they aren't rusty. They have been idle since Feb. 14, when they fell 72-68 at home to UCLA, their sixth loss in seven games. It was the start of a three-game homestand for a team making its last, desperate attempt help its chances for an at-large NCAA bid.

The Bruins game was the latest in a series of close losses that have not only painted the Hoosiers into a corner but contributed to coach Mike Woodson's decision to leave at season's end.

“If you win one or two of them, you're feeling good about yourself when you're in close games,” he said. “Nine out of 10 times, you make the plays that you need to make. The fact that we've lost them, it's been guys are searching. I'm searching as the coach in terms of trying to get them over the finish line.”

Making it more disappointing is that Indiana spent plenty of NIL money to attract top transfers, beefing up a flagging roster in the offseason. But the team simply hasn't played as well together as Woodson hoped, particularly at the defensive end.

A poor defense and ballhandling made the difference in the Hoosiers' 81-76 loss at Purdue on Jan. 31. The Boilermakers sank 52.7 percent from the field while committing 10 turnovers. Indiana hit 56.6 percent from the floor but gave the ball away 20 times.

–Field Level Media

Despite their impressive record and first-place standing in the American Athletic Conference, the Memphis Tigers find their NCAA Tournament resume weakening in the eyes of many prognosticators.

The 22nd-ranked Tigers will try to get back on track when they host Florida Atlantic on Sunday in Memphis.

The Tigers (21-5, 11-2 AAC) had an eight-game winning streak snapped in an 84-79 overtime loss at Wichita State on Feb. 16.

Coincidentally, Florida Atlantic (15-11, 8-5) also is coming off a loss to the Shockers in its most recent game, on Thursday.

Memphis, although still projected to make the NCAA Tournament, has seen its projected seeding slip a few spots in multiple brackets. The Tigers will need to avoid additional damaging losses to solidify their postseason status over the final two weeks of the regular season and the AAC tournament.

However, Memphis' tough nonconference slate, against which it went 10-3, and the fact that the Tigers have a 6-2 record in Quad 1 games lead coach Penny Hardaway to believe his side is undervalued.

“I feel like we could be 26-0 and still be a No. 6 seed,” Hardaway said on Friday. “It's almost deflating to the guys probably, because they're going, ‘Man, how does this work?'

“We did all that work in the nonconference, and we've only lost two games in conference. I love our conference. It's harder than people give it credit for, but the nation and the voters won't let you get past a certain point.”

The Tigers have five regular-season games left to play, starting with their second clash against Florida Atlantic. Memphis routed the Owls 90-62 on Jan. 2 in Boca Raton, Fla.

Tyrese Hunter had 20 points in that game and the Tigers went a staggering 10 of 18 from 3-point range. Memphis shot 55.9 percent from the field overall while holding the Owls to just 32.4 percent field-goal shooting and 5 of 31 (16.1 percent) from long distance.

PJ Haggerty, who had 19 points in that contest, leads Memphis with averages of 21.2 points and 3.8 assists per game. Haggerty and Hunter are each shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point range.

As with Memphis, the Owls were playing well until they ran into surging Wichita State.

Florida Atlantic had won five in a row, but its problems with perimeter defense resurfaced as the Shockers shot 6 of 10 from 3-point range.

The Owls cannot afford to experience another letdown against Memphis.

“I thought there was some frustrated shots taken by us, which is pretty disappointing,” Florida Atlantic coach John Jakus said after the defeat. “We had 12 assists on 25 (field goals). That's not even 50 percent of assist ratio, which is disappointing because we've been hovering between 60 and 70 while we've been winning.”

The Owls possess a balanced-scoring offense, led by Kelb Glenn at 12.9 points per game, Tre Carroll at 12.2 ppg and Baba Miller at 10.7 ppg. Florida Atlantic has three more players averaging nine-plus points per contest.

–Field Level Media

The Portland Timbers will open the Major League Soccer season the same way they finished 2024, by playing host to the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Timbers can only hope the Sunday match goes better.

The Whitecaps cruised to a 5-0 victory in a Western Conference wild-card game on Oct. 23 behind Ryan Gauld's hat trick.

“We are really looking forward to this game,” said Timbers midfielder Diego Chara, who is set to become the first player in league history to appear in 400 regular-season matches for one club. “Now is different, but at the same time, I think the team knows what happened in the past and this is a great opportunity.”

The playoff loss led Timbers star Evander, who finished third in MVP voting with 15 goals and 19 assists, to rip team ownership and management in postgame tweets. That precipitated his departure in a transfer to FC Cincinnati last week for $12 million.

The Timbers used about half of that money to finalize a transfer for midfielder David Pereira da Costa from RC Lens (France) as the team's new designated player.

“I'm building a team here and a culture to win,” said Timbers coach Phil Neville, whose club went 12-11-11 last season. “When you build something and you want to win, you need everybody on the bus heading in the same direction.”

Despite pushing Los Angeles FC to the limit in a best-of-three first-round playoff series, the Whitecaps (13-13-8 in 2024) fired coach Vanni Sartini and replaced him with Jesper Sorensen.

Gauld and forward Brian White, who scored a team-leading 15 goals in 2024, return to lead the Vancouver attack.

The Whitecaps could have another big move ahead, as the team is for sale.

“Obviously, that's a big thing going on at the club, but it doesn't really affect us in our day-to-day,” Gauld said. “We've still got a big season ahead of us, and, speaking to all the guys … it's not really come up in conversation between any of us. We're all here just to be focused on the football and make sure that we do our job.”

–Field Level Media

San Diego FC will have no time to ease into their inaugural MLS campaign.

The expansion team will open against the Los Angeles Galaxy, the defending MLS Cup champions, on Sunday afternoon in Carson, Calif.

The league newcomers will get to see the Galaxy unfurl their league-record sixth championship banner following a somewhat surprising run to the title last season.

Los Angeles won't be at full strength, as star midfielder Riqui Puig is sidelined long term following knee surgery and forward Joseph Paintsil is out with a quad injury. But little drop-off is expected from the Galaxy.

Veteran Marco Reus will be the focus of the Galaxy's offense, and winger Gabriel Pec is set to take a huge jump forward this season. The Galaxy also added forward Christian Ramirez in a trade with the Columbus Crew, forward Matheus Nascimento on loan from Brazilian side Botafogo and Mathias Jorgensen, a Danish center back who has played for numerous teams in Europe, most recently for Belgian powerhouse Anderlecht.

The midfield will be anchored by Edwin Cerrillo, one of the league's best defensive-minded players at the position.

“I thought it was a good two weeks for us,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said about the team's preseason camp and tournament. “A big part of it was getting guys' legs under them and fitness and getting to integrate some guys into our system. We mixed in guys, and guys were able to adapt inside of games. I know guys are ready to get started.”

San Diego FC feature the talents of Mexican national team legend Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Anders Dreyer, a Danish winger who was Jorgensen's teammate at Anderlecht last season.

The new club also includes winger Luca de la Torre, a San Diego native who has played on the U.S. men's national team, and Paddy McNair, a Northern Ireland international center back who has played for Manchester United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough in England.

Sure, there are questions — and plenty of them — about San Diego FC, as there are with any expansion team. But coach Mikey Varas likes his team and the progress it has made so far.

“We're focused on three buckets: making sure that we're healthy and fit as an expansion roster that's growing; make sure the game model style of plays is clear; and then make sure we develop a fighting team spirit amongst the team,” Varas said.

“I think we've had a very successful preseason in terms of maximizing every second that we've had together and doing those three things.”

–Field Level Media