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Solo Ball scored 20 points as sixth-ranked UConn stayed atop the Big East by holding on for a 79-75 victory over Georgetown Saturday night in Storrs, Conn.

The Huskies (24-2, 14-1 Big East) won their second straight game following an 81-72 loss to then-No. 22 St. John's on Feb. 6 to remain a half-game ahead of the Red Storm, who earned a 10-point win in Providence earlier in the day.

Ball scored 16 in the first half after tallying 24 Wednesday at Butler. The junior guard made 7 of 17 shots and hit five of UConn's 11 3s on 15 attempts.

Alex Karaban added 13 of his 18 points in the second half, when the Huskies fended off multiple comeback attempts by the Hoyas. Karaban earned his 116th win at UConn, becoming the all-time winningest player in school history.

Silas DeMary Jr. totaled 15 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists to nearly finish with his second triple-double of the season. Braylon Mullins and Eric Reibe contributed 10 apiece as the Huskies survived Tarris Reed Jr. being in foul trouble in the second half.

The Huskies shot 47.2% and won despite shooting 4-of-17 from three in the second half.

KJ Lewis led all scorers with 24 points, including a 4-point play with 24 seconds left to get the Hoyas (13-12, 5-9) within 77-74. Vince Iwuchukwu added 16 and Kayvaun Mulready contributed 15, but Georgetown lost its 12th straight game to UConn.

The Hoyas shot 43.6% and made 12 of 28 3s, including 7 of 13 in the final 20 minutes.

Georgetown forged a 25-25 tie on two free throws by Iwuchukwu with 7:07 left in the first half, but Ball hit two 3-pointers, a layup and a dunk as the Huskies held a 41-33 advantage at halftime.

Karaban and Ball hit 3s for a 58-46 lead with 10:42 left before the Huskies struggled to finish the game from there.

The Hoyas led 72-68 following a contested three by Lewis with 2:34 to go. After a timeout and a pair of missed threes by teammates, DeMary hit two free throws with 1:56 left to extend the lead to six.

Following the 4-point play, Lewis stole Karaban's inbounds pass with 14 seconds left and Mulready split two free throws with 11 seconds left to make it 77-75.

Karaban clinched the win with two free throws with 10 seconds left followed by a missed 3-pointer by Mulready.

--Field Level Media

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Tessa Johnson scored 21 points as No. 3 South Carolina beat No. 6 LSU 79-72 on Saturday night and extended its winning streak over the Tigers to 18 games.

South Carolina LSU Basketball

Trailing 73-72, LSU had a chance to take a one-point lead with 45.5 seconds left, but Flau'jae Johnson missed two free throws.

South Carolina (25-2, 11-1 SEC) closed out the Tigers (22-4, 8-4) by scoring six straight points, including Madina Okot's layup with 25.5 seconds left and her two free throws with 16.1 seconds remaining.

Raven Johnson added 19 for the Gamecocks, Okot had a double-double with 12 points and 17 rebounds, and Joyce Edwards scored 10 points.

Johnson led LSU with 21 points, and Mikaylah Williams added 11.

The Tigers had their chances, but wasted too many opportunities. They missed 10 layups and nine free throws.

Despite leading for only 4:09 in the first half, South Carolina flipped LSU's 21-16 first-quarter lead into a 41-40 halftime advantage.

The Tigers led by as many as five points several times in the second quarter, but never could pull away. Despite Johnson scoring eight points, the Gamecocks countered with 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range in the period.

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Tessa Johnson and Raven Johnson combined for 19 of South Carolina's 25 points in the second period. Tessa Johnson, the SEC's leading 3-point shooter, scored 11 points and was 3 for 4 from long distance.

LSU opened the third quarter missing eight of its first 11 shots, including two layups. South Carolina capitalized with a 9-2 run for a 50-42 lead with 5:20 left in the period.

Tigers' reserve forward Bella Hines and Jada Richard sparked rallies that twice cut the Gamecocks' margin to three points. But South Carolina scored the final four points in the period for a 60-55 lead entering the final quarter.

LSU scored on layups on four straight possessions, two by Flau'Jae Johnson, forcing the Gamecocks to call a timeout with 3:44 left and clinging to a 69-68 lead. But South Carolina never lost the lead.

Up next

South Carolina: At No. 23 Alabama on Thursday.

LSU: At No. 16 Ole Miss on Thursday.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign uphere. AP women's college basketball:https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-pollandhttps://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball

The Mid-American Conference is going far west to add Sacramento State as a football-only member starting with the 2026 season, according to multiple reports on Saturday night.

The MAC presidents, per reports, approved the addition of the California-based Hornets, a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program from 1993-2025. Sacramento State will pay an $18 million entry fee to the MAC and a $5 million fee to the NCAA to move to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, according to reports.

With this addition, the conference will retain 13 football programs with the exit of Northern Illinois on July 1, which is leaving for the Mountain West Conference and paid a $2 million entry fee.

North Dakota State, an FCS power over the last 15 years with 10 national titles in that span, also is joining the Mountain West, per reports earlier this week.

According to ESPN, North Dakota State will pay roughly a $12 million entrance fee to its new league, as well as $5 million to the NCAA in order to move up to the FBS level. Per standard NCAA arrangement, the NDSU football team will not be eligible for a bowl or College Football Playoff berth until 2028.

Sacramento State is a geographic outlier for the MAC as its first program in the Pacific Time Zone. The other programs -- not including Northern Illinois -- are in the Eastern Time Zone.

The Hornets went 7-5 in 2025, 5-3 in the Big Sky Conference. They will be the first university on the West Coast to go from FCS to FBS in 57 years, following Fresno and San Diego State in 1969, Yahoo Sports reported.

During the 2026-27 academic season, all Sacramento State teams except football will move to the Big West Conference.

Last June, an NCAA Division I council denied a waiver for Sacramento State to move to FBS in 2026, a goal for the program since 2024. The original hope was to join a reconfigured Pac-12 Conference that was set to return to action in 2026 with five Mountain West Conference programs.

But the Hornets program did not receive an invitation for its football program to join an existing conference. Instead, the Hornets launched a plan to leave the Big Sky Conference for the Big West Conference in all sports but football and have its football team play as an FBS independent in 2026.

When the NCAA nixed that possibility last summer, the school planned on moving forward anyway.

"We still plan to be playing FBS football in 2026," Sacramento State president Luke Wood posted on X after the NCAA denied the school's waiver request.

"Sacramento State has met every meaningful benchmark for FBS membership, and we believe our university, our students, and the entire Sacramento region deserve major college football."

--Field Level Media

Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.S. President Donald Trump during a summit in Egypt on Oct. 13, 2025. Credit - Evan Vucci—Getty Images

German ChancellorFriedrich Merzhas warned of "a deep rift" between Europe and the United States, arguing that the latter "will not be powerful enough to go it alone."

In his address at the Munich Security Conference Friday, Merz urged Europe and the U.S. to "repair and revive trans-Atlantic trust together" in what he referred to as an "era of great power rivalry."

Switching to English as he addressed American "friends," Merz nodded to Trump'scontentious relationship with NATO,insisting that "being a part of [the alliance] is not only Europe's competitive advantage. It's also the United States' competitive advantage."

While he acknowledged that the existing global order has long been flawed, Merz—when discussing the "under destruction" theme of this year's conference—argued the "international order based on rights and rules is currently being destroyed."

He also referenced Vice President J.D. Vance'sspeechfrom last year's conference. Vance drew ire from European leaders when he argued that what concerned him most was Europe's "threat from within... the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values—values shared with the United States of America." He used "free speech" as an example of the values in retreat.

"The culture war of the MAGA movement is not ours," Merz continued. "Freedom of speech ends here with us when that speech goes against human dignity and the constitution. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade."

The German leader appeared to make further strides to distinguish Europe from the Trump Administration, adding: "We stick to climate agreements and the World Health Organization (WHO) because we are convinced that global challenges can only be solved together."

On Jan. 22, the U.S., under Trump's direction, officially pulled out of the WHO. The move has garnered muchcriticismfrom global health experts.

In response to Merz's remarks, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told TIME: "Friends tell friends hard truths, and the President has also been clear to our European friends that they must follow his lead by ending unfettered migration, reversing'Green New Scam' policies,and moving away from leftist ideology, or risk their own destruction."

Read More:Trump and Vance May Have Accidentally United Europe

As Europe takes part in ongoing negotiations regarding the hope for a cease-fire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Merz said he has also started private talks with French President Emmanuel Macron about "nuclear deterrence."

Merz's concerns echo those made by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Davos in January. Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Carney argued that the old world order was "not coming back" and encouraged people not to "mourn" the way things used to be. He accused "great powers" of using economic pressure to yield results while urging middle powers to push back.

Carney's remarks were delivered shortly afterTrump threatened to tariff countrieswho oppose his campaign toannex Greenland—a threat he has since walked back. Trump laterlashed out in responseto Carney's speech.

Read More:Carney Hits Back at Trump as Relations Sour: 'Canada Doesn't Live Because of the U.S.'

The U.S. President will not be appearing at the Munich Security Conference. Instead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will represent the U.S. on Saturday and deliver a highly-anticipated speech.

Rubio also warned of a "new era" in geopolitics as he boarded his flight to Germany.

When asked if his message to Europeans will take a softer approach than Vance's address last year, Rubio told reporters: "The world is changing very fast right in front of us. We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it's going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be."

On Friday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Stateconfirmedthat Rubio and Merz had met in Munich, after the German Chancellor's speech.

"They discussed pressing global challenges including securing supply chains, advancing efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and strengthening the partnership between the United States and Europe," said a spokesperson. "The Secretary expressed appreciation for Germany's strong support for Ukraine, including over $76 billion in assistance since 2022, and discussed continued coordination on reconstruction efforts."

Contact usatletters@time.com.

GENEVA (AP) — Iran and the United States will hold a second round of talks over Tehran's nuclear program next week, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

Oman, which welcomed the first round ofindirect talkson Feb. 6, will host the talks in Geneva, the Swiss ministry said, without specifying which days.

After the first discussions, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran that failure to reach an agreement with his administration would be "very traumatic."

Similar talks last year broke down in June as Israel launched what became a12-day war on Iranthat included theU.S. bombing Iranian nuclear sites.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program. Iran has said it would respond with an attack of its own. Trump also has threatened Iran over itsdeadly crackdown on recent nationwide proteststhere.

Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict.

Trump said Friday the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean to the Mideast to joinother military assetsthe U.S. has built up in the region. He also said a change in power in Iran "would be the best thing that could happen."

Theindirect talks on Feb. 6were between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. The top military commander in the Middle Eastwas also presentfor the first time.

The Trump administration has maintained that Iran can have no uranium enrichment under any deal. Tehran says it won't agree to that.

Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, its officialsincreasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his nation is "ready for any kind of verification." However, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been unable for months to inspect and verify Iran's nuclear stockpile.

Trump has suggested in recent weeks that his top priority is for Iran to scale back its nuclear program. Iran has said it wants talks to focus solely on the nuclear program.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Trump in Washington this week, has pressed for any deal to include steps to neutralizeIran's ballistic missile programand end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.