Illini Snap Streak, Throttle Oregon — and more

The Illini (21-9, 12-7 Big Ten) honored seniors Kylan Boswell, Ben Humrichous, and AJ Redd in their final home game, as Andrej Stojakovic led the way with 21 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Illinois built a significant lead with a 38-12 run in the first half, holding Oregon scoreless for more than six minutes during the stretch.

The win helps Illinois move closer to securing a top-four finish in the Big Ten standings and a triple-bye in next week's conference tournament. Freshmen Keaton Wagler and David Mirkovic contributed offensively with 11 and 19 points respectively, as the Illini dominated both ends of the floor in their most complete performance in weeks.

Kelly Stothar says she was flabbergasted when she received a letter from Brisbane City Council threatening her with fines over her children's cupcake stand.

For the first time all week, the hometown hero Brad Gushue had the fans worried until the last stone.

Gushue did eventually lower the heart rates of the crowd with a 9-8 win in an extra end over Nova Scotia’s Kendal Thompson at the Montana’s Brier in St. John’s, improving his record to 5-0.

But the six-time Brier champion was nervous that his team almost let the game slip away after Thompson had control for most of the match.

“Oh my god [laughs], yeah, it was always in doubt. That was a scary game. We weren’t very sharp today,” Gushue said in his post-game interview. “We’re fortunate to win that one. We got very lucky with that miss in the ninth end and scary 10th end, scary 11th end. Yeah, pretty stressful game.”

It’s been a rough couple of days for Thompson and his Bluenose rink. On Monday night, Thompson made a questionable decision with the game on the line that ultimately cost him the match against Quebec.

The ninth end versus Gushue on Tuesday felt the same way.

Up to that point, Nova Scotia had been the better team in the match. And even though Thompson was being forced by Gushue with his final shot in the ninth, he was shooting an outstanding 92 per cent, and outcurling Gushue by a wide margin.

But on Thompson’s final stone, disaster struck again as he flashed the stone he was trying to hit and gave up a steal of two, putting Gushue ahead 8-6.

“I certainly didn’t expect when my last draw finished that we would be two up coming home. We expected him to make the shot for one or he may have actually hit and rolled out on purpose to try and keep the hammer coming home,” Gushue said. “Being up two wasn’t in the cards.”

Gushue wasn’t able to keep the momentum going, however, and an early miss from his team allowed Nova Scotia to score two and force the extra end. The 11th end played out the same way but Thompson wasn’t able to secure shot stone with his final throw, allowing Gushue to escape with the win.

While they got the win, Gushue and his teammates were a step behind in reading the ice most of the game. Speaking afterwards, Gushue said that having the rocks textured on Monday — which happens once a tournament to make the stones sharper to produce more curl — threw his team off.

“Our team, historically, has never adapted really well to the sharper rocks. And they keep doing it, and we keep not adjusting as well,” Gushue said. “You know we got burdened in the trials. We played great, and as soon as they textured the rocks, we lost from there on out. So, it just doesn’t suit our game, and it just seems to be the direction that these events are going. They want six feet plus of curl, which I’m not sure why, but it’s frustrating.”

For Gushue, there are two positives from this game. First, the texturing of the rocks happened early in the event, so the team should be able to adapt as the tournament moves along. Second, going through the entire round-robin until facing Brad Jacobs in his finale on Thursday with no challenges at all would’ve set Gushue up to fail. 

Brad Jacobs was also put to the test (sort of)

Jacobs and Team Canada also had a tougher outing on Tuesday when facing Quebec’s team led by skip Jean-Michel Menard.

In the first five ends, Quebec gave Canada everything they could handle and trailed just 4-3 with the hammer heading into the second half. Quebec, unlike other teams Jacobs has faced so far, was making the shots not only to keep up with Jacobs but also to put Canada in trouble a couple of times.

The sixth end and beyond was completely different, however. Quebec’s front three played well, but Felix Asselin, their fourth-stone thrower, wasn’t making the same shots anymore. 

Jacobs, on the other hand, did connect on his shots as Canada pulled away to an 8-4 victory.

For the fifth day in a row, Jacobs has only played one game, and with each one, he and his gold-medal winning teammates Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert have only looked better.

E.J. Harnden doesn’t look ready to retire

The curling world, especially Manitoba’s team Matt Dunstone, will miss playing with E.J. Harnden, who is set to retire at the end of this season.

Harnden, an Olympic gold medalist with Jacobs in 2014 and three-time Brier champion, has been one of the best seconds in the game for a long time. The level of intensity and passion Harnden brings to each game is unmatched and Dunstone will have a hard time finding a replacement.

That skill and passion were on full display in an epic shot by Harnden on Tuesday.

Only a couple of rocks into the second end versus Alberta’s Kevin Koe, Dunstone’s rink was in big trouble. Koe had two in the rings with two guards lined up perfectly and was set up to steal. 

Harnden knew he needed to make some granite move, but he did even more than that. He made a double runback double to eliminate all of Koe’s stones while rolling Manitoba’s own guard perfectly buried under their corner guard. Manitoba went on to score two.

It’s rare to say someone throwing second stones earned your team a deuce, but in this case, Harnden certainly did. Maybe he shouldn’t retire just yet.

Mike McEwen continues to look off

“Magic Mike” continues to find ways to earn wins at this year’s Brier, even though his play hasn’t been the best.

The latest win came in a wild one against British Columbia’s Cody Tanaka, with McEwen sneaking away with an 11-10 victory in 11 ends.

Saskatchewan was able to produce points, scoring two or more in four ends with the hammer, but sloppy half shots by McEwen allowed Tanaka to stay in the match.

Now sitting at 5-1 on the week, McEwen is in good shape, but the toughest part of his schedule is yet to come. Both of his remaining games are against Manitoba rinks in Braden Calvert and Dunstone. A loss to Calvert would hurt his playoff chances a lot.

—With files from Kristina Rutherford

The former Heisman Trophy winner was fired up.

Alysa Liu's Olympic victory lap shows no signs of slowing down.

Since winning gold in women's singles at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, the 20-year-old Bay Area native has launched a whirlwind media tour, offering fans a deeper look at her music choices, mental health journey and plans for the future.

Appearing on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen" on Monday, March 2, Liu revisited her now-viral free skate to Donna Summer's "MacArthur Park."

"I was recommended by someone to listen to that song," Liu said. "Then I found a 16-minute suite version, and it took it to another level."

The performance vaulted her from third place to Olympic gold and sent the 1978 disco anthem back up Billboard's Dance Digital Song Sales chart, according to Billboard. Her exhibition skate to "Stateside" by PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson also delivered a streaming boost.

Looking ahead, Liu shared the five songs she hopes to skate to next: "Fire in My Heart" by Escape From New York; "CHIHIRO" by Billie Eilish; Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake"; "Star" by Mitski; and her top pick, "Capable of Love" by PinkPantheress.

The Oakland-raised skater has also opened up about the personal journey behind her comeback. In an interview with Today, Liu reflected on stepping away from the sport at 16 after feeling burned out.

"My mental health used to be horrible, like, absolutely horrible," she said. "And I just took a break, and I did something new."

Her advice to young athletes feeling pressure? 

"If it's really such a struggle, I would say definitely take that break. Don't be scared to do that. You'll be scared of failure, (but) honestly, trying new things will definitely give you a different outcome."

The tour has included lighter moments, too. 

In a video with Self magazine, Liu revealed her "Olympic crush."

"I think my Olympic crush is probably Suni Lee," Liu said. "She's so pretty and very stylized. You know what I'm saying? I like that, yeah. Oh my gosh, the one and only Hilary Knight. There's no thinking outside the box on that one."

She continued, "I have many Olympic crushes. Lauren Hernandez. I love that she's openly queer and that she is completely herself, a little bit of a nerd, just like me."

On "Today" Monday, Liu met "Harry Potter" actor Daniel Radcliffe backstage, in a moment captured by the show's social media team. The two embraced and posed for a selfie with her gold medal.

"You being you was the most joyful thing I've watched," Radcliffe told her. 

Over the weekend, she also received a pop culture nod on "Saturday Night Live," where a sketch referenced "that figure skating girl with the striped hair," prompting Liu to repost the clip on Instagram and respond simply, "Period."

Back in Oakland, a new mural at Telegraph Avenue and 43rd Street in Temescal honors Liu with an image inspired by her playful "thizz" face - a nod to the Bay Area's Hyphy movement - alongside the words "Shoutout Oakland," echoing her post-victory remarks. 

The Asian-led art collective Illuminairies funded the mural themselves. 

"The Warriors left, the A's left, but it's kind of like we have someone to look up to and somebody that our kids can aspire to be," Steve Ha of Illuminairies told NBC Bay Area. "And you know, follow your dreams, and I think it's just dope, man."

City officials are also planning a community-wide celebration, Mayor Barbara Lee announced, calling Liu "Oakland's hometown hero." Fentons Creamery has offered her "ice cream for life."

As she makes stops in New York and beyond, Liu has said she plans to compete at the upcoming ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Prague. 

When asked whether she sees herself competing at the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps, her answer was succinct.

"Oh yeah," Liu said.

This article originally published at After winning gold, Alysa Liu reveals dream skate playlist and ‘Olympic crush'.