NBA NewsSunday, Jan 18, 2026

The Sacramento Kings earned their first victory of the season Sunday night, holding off the Houston Rockets 111-98 at Golden 1 Center behind a balanced effort and a historic milestone from DeMar DeRozan. Sacramento improved to 9-30 by closing the game with timely perimeter shooting and defensive stops after three tightly contested quarters. DeRozan scored […] The post DeRozan reaches 26,000 points as Kings earn first win of season over Rockets appeared first on TalkBasket.net .

The Milwaukee Bucks fell to the Denver Nuggets 108-104 Sunday at Ball Arena, dropping to 17-22 despite Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 31 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds. Bucks head coach Doc Rivers cited lineup disruptions as a key factor, saying, “It really killed our rotations in the second half… we drew up a play the first […] The post Doc Rivers breaks down Bucks’ loss to Nuggets: “Our rotations were hurt” appeared first on TalkBasket.net .

The Phoenix Suns have had a tough start to the New Year.

Braden Smith stole the ball at midcourt and hit a layup with 23 seconds remaining, helping No. 5 Purdue edge Southern California 69-64 on Saturday to pull into a first-place tie with Nebraska in the Big Ten standings with its ninth consecutive victory. Smith scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half, when Purdue trailed by 14 points in the school's first visit to Los Angeles to play USC in 53 years. The Boilermakers (17-1, 7-0) had just two field goals in the game's final three minutes, bu...

Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 19 points and No. 12 Michigan State beat Washington 80-63 on Saturday for its fourth straight victory. The Spartans (16-2, 6-1 Big Ten) won in their first game at Washington since 1957. Fears was 6 of 9 from the field and made 7 of 8 free throws in his fourth straight game with at least 15 points.

Cal defeated No. 15 North Carolina at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, California, on Jan. 17.

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Filip Jovic scored a career-high 23 points and Auburn held off a last-minute rally by South Carolina, defeating the Gamecocks 71-67 on Saturday night. Auburn led by six at halftime and held the lead throughout the second half. Back-to-back dunks by Sebastian Williams-Adams and Jovic gave the Tigers their first double-digit lead of the game, 60-49 with about 5 minutes remaining. Two free throws by Mike Sharavjamts and a driving layup by Kobe Knox had the Gamecocks within 62...

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Cameron Boozer had 30 points and 14 rebounds and No. 6 Duke beat Stanford 80-50 on Saturday in the Blue Devils’ first visit to Maples Pavilion. Boozer shot 12 for 17 to follow up his 21-point, 13-rebound performance in Duke’s 71-56 win at California on Wednesday night. Late in the first half Saturday, he cut through the paint to make a two-handed slam putback of a miss by Maliq Brown. Isaiah Evans scored 15 points and Patrick Ngongba II added 13 for the Blue Devils (17...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Nate Calmese scored 18 points, which included the winning jumper with 6.8 seconds left , and Wake Forest rallied for a 69-68 victory over Florida State on Saturday night for the Demon Deacons' first Atlantic Coast Conference road win this season. The Demon Deacons used an 11-4 run to pull to 68-67 with 24 seconds left. Florida State called timeout after Calmese's floater ended the scoring, and the Seminoles' Robert McCray V missed a potential winning shot that hit the...

Nikolaj Ehlers had three goals for his sixth career hat trick and first with Carolina, and the Hurricanes scored six times in the third period to cruise past the Florida Panthers 9-1 on Friday night. Ehlers, who signed with Carolina in the offseason after playing 10 years with Winnipeg, also had an assist. Taylor Hall had two goals and Mark Jankowski had a goal and two assists.

Sam Bennett had a goal and two assists, and the Florida Panthers rebounded from a lopsided loss at Carolina with a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. A.J. Greer, Uvis Balinskis, Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for two-time defending champion Florida, which lost 9-1 to the Hurricanes before traveling to Washington for the second game of a back-to-back.

Charlie Coyle scored the deciding goal in the shootout and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Saturday night. Kent Johnson also scored in the shootout for the Blue Jackets, who won their fourth straight game. It was the third consecutive win under new coach Rick Bowness.