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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

There is a lot of great college basketball on the docket for Saturday; lots of exciting games and I want to include as many as I can on our list of best bets for the day. So, let’s not waste any time and get right to it.

The following bets are not guaranteed winners, but they do qualify as my ‘Best Bets for Saturday, February 22. 

Best Bets for Feb. 22: NCAAM

Tennessee vs. Texas A&M

The SEC is packed with great basketball teams this season, and No. 6 Tennessee (21-5, 8-5) and No. 7 Texas A&M (20-6, 9-4) are two of the best. Tennessee has one of the best defenses in the nation (No. 4); Texas A&M is No. 32 in the country but the second-best in the SEC to Tennessee.

Both are 4-1 in their last five games. Texas A&M lost to Mississippi State, and Tennessee lost to Kentucky. I’m leaning towards Tennessee winning outright, but I’m betting on both defenses playing well. Tipoff is at 12 p.m. ET.

Our Pick: UNDER 130.5 at -105 (DraftKings)

Iowa State vs. Houston

Right about the time Tennessee and Texas A&M wrap up, No. 8 Iowa State (21-5, 11-4) and No. Houston (22-4, 14-1) will get underway at 2 p.m. ET.

The dynamic here is an interesting one. Houston has the No. 1 defense in the land (57.6 points per game allowed). But their last six opponents all scored more. Iowa State has the fourth-best defense in the Big 12 (No. 51), but they also have the second-best offense (No. 29).

Houston will keep Iowa State’s offense in check, but their offense is not good enough to cover a 12.5-point spread against a good Cyclones defense.

Our Pick: same-game-parlay—Iowa State +12.5 at -110. UNDER 132.5 at -110, SGP Odds: +262 (FanDuel)

Georgia vs. Auburn

Hmmm…How will this game go between Georgia (16-10, 4-9) and the No. 1 team in the country, Auburn (24-2, 12-1)? If you focus in on the Bulldogs' 2-8 run in their last 10 games, the answer seems clear—Auburn is going to destroy these guys. But will they cover?

Your gut is probably telling you ‘yes’ because the Bulldogs are struggling, and the Tigers are the No. 1 team in the nation. However, Auburn beat Georgia by just a basket earlier in the season (70-68 on Jan. 18). The Tigers have not been beating teams by big numbers lately.

Georgia beat just two of their last ten opponents by 17.5+ points. They’ll win this game easily but don’t count on them to cover (game time is 4 p.m. ET).

Our Pick: Georgia +17.5  at -110 (BetMGM)

Florida vs. LSU

LSU (14-12, 3-10) brought their seven-game losing streak to an end on Valentine’s Day and followed it up with another victory, this one vs. South Carolina. Starting today, they embark on a five-game gauntlet of terror. All five games are against ranked teams, three in the top ten—starting with No. 2 Florida (23-3, 10-3).

The Gators have been on a roll since their surprising loss to Tennessee on Feb. 1 (64-44). I just don’t see how LSU can keep up with them, even with support from a home crowd. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.ET.

Our Pick: Florida -10 at -110 (Caesars)

Duke vs. Illinois

No. 3 Duke bounced back from a recent loss to Clemson, 77-71, with a trio of dominant wins (by 21, 36,  and 18 points). Illinois comes into this game having lost two in a row and with a roster that is far from healthy. If the Fighting Illini were healthy and close to full strength, they might have a chance (the game starts at 8 p.m. ET).

Our Pick: Duke -9.5 at -110 (DraftKings)