COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina showed once more who's in charge of the SEC.

The No. 2 Gamecocks (19-1, 7-0 SEC) got 14 points from Joyce Edwards and used their trademark lockdown defense to end No. 5 LSU's perfect start to the season with a 66-56 victory on Friday night.

"I don't know that I've ever coached against a team that has 10 McDonald's All-Americans on the roster." Tigers coach Kim Mulkey said. "How do you even keep 10 on the roster?"

Having a run like this certainly helps. South Carolina continued its domination of the league -- it has won four of the past five SEC tournament titles -- with its 54th straight regular-season win in conference play.

Against LSU (20-1, 5-1), eight Gamecocks players logged at least 15 minutes. Sania Feagin, a two-time national champion, had 12 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

South Carolina has won 13 straight since its lone loss back in November, 77-62 to No. 1 UCLA. Seven of those victories have come against ranked opponents. It has also won 69 straight games at home, tied with Tennessee (1991-96) for the longest streak in SEC history and tied for the fourth longest in Division I history.

Bree Hall, a senior recruited in Feagin's class before the 2021-22 season, said she and her teammates heard plenty on social media doubting the Gamecocks and whether they could hold up against the undefeated Tigers.

"Stuff like that fuels us," Hall said.

The victory was the 17th straight over LSU and fifth in a row since Mulkey became Tigers coach four seasons ago.

All those matchups have been filled with drama, the last time especially in South Carolina's 79-72 victory over LSU to win the SEC tournament in March 2024.

An altercation marred the final quarter of that game when Flau'jae Johnson got knocked to the floor by South Carolina's 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso. Johnson's brother, Trayron Milton, was arrested after jumping to the court and charged with assault and battery and disorderly conduct.

His trial, according to a spokeswoman at the Greenville Police Department, is still pending.

There was no such bad blood in this one, only some loud boos when Mulkey took the court.

Staley said beating LSU was essential for South Carolina in its try for a second straight national title and third in four seasons. Beating the Tigers gives the Gamecocks any tiebreaker edge in the SEC and improves their chances of another high seed in the NCAA tournament in two months.

"It was necessary for us to win this game," she said.

South Carolina took control in the third quarter when it held LSU to 5-for-20 shooting and turned a close contest into a double-digit lead. LSU was held to 23-of-77 shooting (29.9%) overall. It was the first time in 126 games under Mulkey that LSU shot below 30% from the field.

Raven Johnson, a fourth-year junior, said the team kicked things into gear when one of the expected stars in Ashlyn Watkins was lost for the year after a January knee injury. That UCLA defeat, Johnson continued, was a wake-up call, too.

"We knew we couldn't come back the same as last year, we've got to bring something else to the table because teams are coming at us," she said. "I think that loss helped up."

Aneesah Morrow had 15 points and 16 rebounds for the Tigers (20-1, 5-1). It was her 93rd career double-double, breaking a tie with Oregon's Jillian Alleyne for the second most in Division I history.

Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.

HENDERSON, Nev. -- The Las Vegas Raiders have reached an agreement with Pete Carroll to became the franchise's head coach on a three-year deal with a fourth-year team option, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Carroll, who turns 74 on Sept. 15, is one of four head coaches to have led teams to both a college football national championship and the Super Bowl. The others are Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson and Jim Harbaugh.

Carroll will also be the Raiders' fifth coach, including interim coaches, since the franchise moved to Las Vegas from Oakland in 2020. The others were Jon Gruden, Rich Bisaccia, Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce.

Carroll will be the team's ninth coach, including interims, since Raiders owner Mark Davis took over upon the death of his father, Al Davis, in 2011. The others were Hue Jackson, Dennis Allen, Tony Sparano, Jack Del Rio, Gruden, Bisaccia, McDaniels and Pierce.

As such, Carroll represents stability and experience for a team needing both, especially since Gruden was forced to resign amid his email controversy in October 2021.

Carroll's veteran presence is expected to mesh well with first-time general manager John Spytek, whose hire was officially announced Friday, as well as compete in an AFC West division that already boasts coaching heavyweights in Kansas City (Andy Reid), Denver (Sean Payton) and Los Angeles Chargers (Harbaugh).

With the Seattle Seahawks, Carroll won Super Bowl XLVIII and a pair of NFC titles, and made 10 playoff appearances in 14 years while going 137-89-1 in the regular season, 10-9 in the postseason to become the winningest coach in Seahawks history. Including his head coaching stints with the New York Jets, with whom he went 6-10 in 1994, and the New England Patriots, where he went 27-21 in three seasons with a playoff appearance from 1997 to '99, his career record is 181-131-1.

After spending the 2000 season out of football and reshaping his coaching philosophy, Carroll was hired by USC, beginning a dominant nine-year run that included seven consecutive Pac-10 titles, a pair of national championships and a 97-19 record in nine years, from 2001 to '09, though NCAA sanctions followed.

The Seahawks lured him away from USC in 2010 with the promise of final say in personnel moves, something he didn't have in either of his two previous head coaching stops.

Carroll is a defensive-minded coach who, along with Spytek, will have to address the large number of pending free agents on that side of the ball for Las Vegas. Among them: defensive ends Malcolm Koonce and K'Lavon Chaisson, linebackers Robert Spillane and Divine Deablo, cornerback Nate Hobbs and safeties Tre'von Moehrig and Marcus Epps.

Plus, the Raiders, who hold the No. 6 overall draft pick as well as more than $108 million in salary cap space, need an upgrade at quarterback, but return first-team All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers.

The Raiders fired Pierce as coach and Tom Telesco as GM after one season together.

Pierce had been initially promoted from linebackers coach to interim coach upon the firing on Halloween night 2023 of McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler after less than two full seasons.

Las Vegas finished last in the AFC West with a 4-13 record that included a 10-game losing streak, the franchise's longest such skid in 10 years.

The Carolina Hurricanes stunned the NHL on Friday night by acquiring Colorado Avalanche star right winger Mikko Rantanen in a blockbuster three-way trade, the teams announced.

The Hurricanes acquired Rantanen and Chicago Blackhawks left winger Taylor Hall in the deal. Colorado got back winger Martin Necas, Carolina's leading scorer this season, and Hurricanes center Jack Drury, as well as a 2025 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-rounder from Carolina.

Chicago acquired its own 2025 third-round pick that it had traded to Carolina previously. The Blackhawks also are retaining half of Rantanen's $9.25 million salary cap hit to facilitate the trade.

Rantanen is sixth in the NHL this season with 64 points in 49 games, including 25 goals. Since the 2021-22 season, he is fifth among NHL players with 365 points in 286 games. He's also fifth in goals scored (160) in that span. He's been an integral part of a Colorado team that's been an annual Stanley Cup contender, winning the championship in 2021-22.

But the 28-year-old is an unrestricted free agent this summer and his contract demands created a significant impasse with the Avalanche, with whom he's played for 10 seasons.

Rantanen was seeking a contract in the neighborhood of the 8-year extension Leon Draisaitl signed with the Edmonton Oilers in September. That deal carries an average annual value of $14 million.

Both Rantanen and Draisaitl are represented by agent Andy Scott.

Contract talks between Rantanen and the Avalanche had stalled, with a significant gap between the two sides. Colorado hoped to get Rantanen in under star center Nathan MacKinnon's $12.6 million AAV, which was an 8-year contract he signed in September 2022.

Hall, 33, will play for the seventh NHL franchise in a 15-year career that included a Hart Trophy win as NHL MVP in 2017-18 with the New Jersey Devils. He was traded to the Blackhawks in 2023 by the Boston Bruins but missed all but 10 games of the 2023-24 season after right knee surgery. He had 28 points in 56 games with Chicago over two seasons. Hall was a healthy scratch earlier this season under former coach Luke Richardson.

Both wingers address an offensive need for the Hurricanes, who have been trying to break through and win the Stanley Cup for several seasons under coach Rod Brind'Amour only to have their goal-scoring stall in the playoffs. Since 2020-21, the Hurricanes average 3.28 goals per game in the regular season but 2.98 in the postseason. Carolina has made the conference finals twice since 2018 under Brind'amour.

This trade is also a signature moment for Eric Tulsky, who took over as general manager of the Hurricanes in 2024.

The trade saw the Hurricanes go from a +375 co-favorite to win the Eastern Conference to a +325 favorite to win it, per ESPN BET.

Carolina signed Necas to a two-year, $13 million contract last July, avoiding salary arbitration with the 25-year-old forward. He responded with a scoring surge to start the season, with 44 points in his first 30 games. But his pace dropped considerably after that, with 11 points in his next 19 games, including just two goals.

Drury, 24, is in his fourth NHL season. He has 46 points in 153 games. Drury has played 39 games this season with three goals and six assists, skating 12:53 per game. He makes $1.725 million against the salary cap before becoming a restricted free agent in 2027.

The trade gives the Avalanche more draft pick capital and cap space to work with, as the NHL anticipates the Western Conference contender isn't done making deals ahead of the March 7 trade deadline.

ESPN's Emily Kaplan contributed to this report.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - In search of some much-needed stability at defensive coordinator, the San Francisco 49ers are turning to a familiar face.

After a 16-day search, the Niners are re-hiring Robert Saleh as defensive coordinator, a league source told ESPN on Friday evening. Saleh, who coordinated San Francisco's defense from 2017 to 2020, is heading back to San Francisco after a three-plus year stint as the New York Jets head coach.

Saleh's hiring comes after the Niners immediately sought a reunion with him soon after moving on from previous coordinator Nick Sorensen. Niners coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed that Sorensen was out as defensive coordinator (though the team hopes to retain him in a different role) on Jan. 8.

At that season-ending news conference Shanahan said he was hoping to find an experienced candidate for the job and though he was open to scheme change, he was more focused on finding someone who could problem solve on the fly when things weren't going as well.

"I want someone that kind of meshes with what I believe in, but I also believe in that you've got to fit to come up with the best thing possible that fits our situation right now," Shanahan said on Jan. 8. "So, that'll be talking about our personnel, the roster, a lot of things like that and what their plan would be with it."

One day after that press conference, the 49ers announced that they had completed an interview with Saleh, who finished last season in a consulting role for the Green Bay Packers. From there, Saleh still had interviews with the Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars for their head coach positions, which left the Niners waiting for an answer.

While Saleh didn't get much traction for the Raiders or Cowboys jobs, he was in the mix for the Jaguars job, making for some tense moments around the 49ers facility as they awaited the outcome. When Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen re-emerged as a top candidate there on Thursday, everything again pointed toward a Saleh-Niners reunion.

While Saleh has been away from the 49ers for the past four years, there's plenty of evidence that he and Shanahan can not only work together but achieve success. During his previous run as the Niners coordinator, Saleh's defense turned into one of the best and most productive units in the league after some early hiccups.

When Shanahan took over in 2017, he hired Saleh as his first defensive coordinator, a job Saleh had never held before that. In 2019 and 2020 combined, the Niners ranked 10th in points allowed per game (21.9), third in defensive efficiency (63.15) and defensive expected points added (73.52), second in yards allowed per play (4.9) and tied for ninth with 47 takeaways.

Upon Saleh's departure to the Jets, the Niners quickly pivoted to linebackers coach DeMeco Ryans, whom they'd been grooming for the job as Saleh's head coaching candidacy gained steam.

Like Saleh, Ryans enjoyed plenty of success running the Niners defense from 2021-2022 but San Francisco's defense hasn't been able to recapture that prosperity in the past two seasons under Steve Wilks and Sorensen.

Shanahan moved on from both coaches after just one season but noted in early January that part of the reason it's been difficult to replace Ryans has been the fact that the Niners reached the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl to end the 2022 and 2023 seasons, respectively.

Those late finishes limited the candidate pool, an issue Shanahan didn't face this year after the Niners dropped to 6-11 with a defense that ranked 29th in the NFL in points allowed per game (25.6) and 31st in red zone efficiency allowed (68.4%).

But even with plenty of time to evaluate options and interview multiple candidates (Lions defensive passing game coordinator Deshea Townsend and Niners assistant head coach Brandon Staley also received interviews), Shanahan quickly zeroed in on the coach he knows as well as any in the league with Saleh returning to the place that put him on the NFL coaching map.

"He's a teacher and he's going to give you his thoughts but the beauty with him is he's not afraid to have those heated conversations to try to get across what he's trying to get across," Saleh said of Shanahan in March. "But also, the respect to give you the leeway to make the best decisions for what you think needs to get done. He will challenge you. And when he challenges you with conviction, you'll know it."

FRISCO, Texas -- After looking outside the organization for Mike McCarthy's replacement, the Dallas Cowboys have chosen coordinator Brian Schottenheimer as the 10th coach in franchise history, Jerry Jones told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The Cowboys also interviewed Seattle Seahawks assistant head coach Leslie Frazier, former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh and Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who coached with the Cowboys for five seasons, spending 2019-22 as the offensive coordinator.

Schottenheimer interviewed this week with Jones, executive vice president Stephen Jones and vice president of player personnel Will McClay after the aforementioned coaches. He has a strong relationship with quarterback Dak Prescott and has connected well with people in the organization, but this will be his first head coaching job.

Schottenheimer, 51, joined the Cowboys in 2022 as a consultant, working mostly with former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. When Moore left for the Los Angeles Chargers after McCarthy decided to take over the play-calling duties, he was hired as the offensive coordinator.

Schottenheimer's father, Marty, was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington and San Diego Chargers. Marty Schottenheimer made the playoffs 18 times in 21 years as a coach and three times made it to the AFC Championship Game (twice with the Browns and once with the Chiefs). His 200 regular-season wins are seventh most in NFL history.

The only other coach in Jones' era to be named a head coach without prior experience was Dave Campo, who posted a 15-33 record from 2000-02. Jason Garrett served as the interim head coach in 2010 before landing the job full-time in 2011, lasting until 2019.

Schottenheimer has been an offensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams, Jets and Seahawks. He served as the Jacksonville Jaguars' passing game coordinator in 2021 before coming to Dallas.

In 12 years as a playcaller, Schottenheimer had four offenses finish inside the top 10 in points per game and three times in the top half in the league in yards per game. His best three years came with the Seahawks when they finished sixth, ninth and eighth in points per game with Russell Wilson at quarterback.

While he did not call plays under McCarthy, he had a large role in the offense with team sources saying he helped jumpstart the offense in 2023 after a slow start. The Cowboys finished with the highest-scoring offense in the league (29.9 points per game) and fifth in yards (371.6) but scored 30 or more points in seven of their final 11 games.

In 2024, the Cowboys' dipped dramatically, averaging 20.6 points and 327.5 yards per game. While hurt by injuries, particularly to Prescott, the Cowboys scored 30 or more points just three times last season. The Cowboys and McCarthy opted to part ways on Jan. 13 after it became clear the length of an extension was an issue, per multiple sources.

McCarthy went 49-35 in the regular season with the Cowboys, posting three straight 12-5 marks from 2021-23, but he was unable to continue the playoff success he had with the Green Bay Packers. The Cowboys were just 1-3 in the postseason, losing two games at AT&T Stadium, including a 48-32 defeat to the Packers in the wild-card round after the Cowboys entered that game with a 16-game home winning streak.

Now Schottenheimer will be tasked to take the Cowboys to a spot they have not been since 1995 and end a 29-year Super Bowl drought.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Grizzlies ruled out star guard Ja Morant for Friday's matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans because of cold symptoms.

The team also announced forward Santi Aldama, who left after playing only two quarters Wednesday in a win over Charlotte, is also out because of illness.

"We had an off day yesterday and they just reported some cold symptoms overnight," Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. "[They] woke up this morning. We opted for rest. Then, as the day went on, they're definitely going to be out tonight. [We're] hopeful for tomorrow. We'll see how they feel."

Multiple Grizzlies players and staff members have dealt with illnesses in recent days.

Morant, 25, ranks second in scoring (21.2 points) for Memphis but has been in and out of the lineup all season because of injuries that have limited him to 26 games.

In his fourth season, Aldama is averaging career highs in points (12.7), rebounds (6.9) and assists (2.7).

CHICAGO -- The White Sox will unveil a statue of former All-Star left-hander Mark Buehrle outside of Rate Field in a July 11 ceremony, the team announced Friday at its fan convention.

Buehrle, 45, already has his No. 56 retired by the team but now will be immortalized outside the ballpark he pitched in for the first 12 years of his 16-year career.

"Retiring my number is an incredible honor, but then to put a statue up, it's something's that's going to be of me out there forever," Buehrle said after the announcement. "I guess the number could be unretired, they could take it out and put it back into play. But the statue, unless somebody tears it down or does something, it's always going to be there."

Buehrle said he was informed of the decision by owner Jerry Reinsdorf last summer, then quickly asked about having to give a speech at the ceremony. Known for keeping it short with reporters during his playing days, he said he plans on doing the same when they unveil the statue.

"When they asked me about it, I threw that out there and said, 'Is there a speech attached to it?' And they said, 'We'll work with you,'" Buehrle said. "I don't know necessarily about a speech. I'll get up there and say a few words. I don't plan on it being very long."

The ceremony will be part of a 20th anniversary reunion of the 2005 team, which won the World Series, going 11-1 in the postseason. Buehrle finished fifth in the American League Cy Young Award voting that season. Of his 214 career wins, 161 came with the White Sox. He had a career 3.81 ERA and 14 straight seasons of throwing 200 or more innings.

Earlier this week, Buehrle received 11.4 percent of Hall of Fame votes in his fifth year of eligibility.

"I don't sit down and look at numbers," he said. "I can't tell you exactly what my numbers are compared to [Andy] Pettitte, compared to [CC] Sabathia, but I know there's some guys that are not in the Hall of Fame that have better numbers than I do. Are you going off innings? You going off strikeouts? You going off of WAR? There's so much stuff you can go off of. I'm literally just honored to be on the ballot for this many years."

The young collector who scored a one-of-a-kind baseball card featuring National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes has turned down a trade offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Topps announced Friday that the 11-year-old from the Los Angeles area had declined the deal and instead was going to put the card -- which features Skenes' autograph and a patch from a game-worn jersey -- up for auction.

??'? ????????: The 11-year-old collector who pulled the Paul Skenes 1/1 Debut Patch card has DECLINED the Pirates' offer.

The Pirates offer included:
- Two Pirates season tickets behind home plate for the next 30 years
- Meet & Greet with Paul Skenes
- Two Paul Skenes... pic.twitter.com/oRBhhD647j

Topps (@Topps) January 24, 2025

The Pirates had put together a package that included 30 years' worth of season tickets behind home plate at PNC Park and the chance to play a softball game on the field in exchange for the card.

Skenes' girlfriend, LSU gymnast and influencer Livvy Dunne, also offered the card's owner the opportunity to take in a game with her in a luxury suite at the ballpark during one of Skenes' starts.

While the collector wrote in a journal entry shared by Topps that nabbing the card was a "dream come true," that dream apparently did not include spending the next three decades attending games at PNC Park.

The 11-year-old collector who pulled the Paul Skenes 1/1 Debut Patch card just shared his journal entries...

It's an absolute MUST-READ pic.twitter.com/PldkJMS06W

Topps (@Topps) January 24, 2025

The team posted on X after the decision that it was "bummed" but offered to have the fan at a game sometime during the 2025 season.

Fanatics Collect, which will handle the auctioning of the card in March, said it would donate its proceeds from the sale to fire relief funds in the Los Angeles area.

The card could hold pretty high value considering the potentially bright future ahead for the 22-year-old Skenes, who finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting after an outstanding rookie season.

The No. 1 pick in the 2023 amateur draft made his major league debut in May and put together one of the most impressive rookie seasons in recent memory. Skenes was selected as the NL's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game after only 11 starts and finished 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 games.

Skenes said over the weekend he hasn't thought about the potential of signing a long-term contract to remain in Pittsburgh, saying instead that his focus is on helping the Pirates take a step toward contending in 2025. He is eligible for free agency after the 2029 season.

Britain's Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid won a sixth successive Australian Open wheelchair doubles title while Andy Lapthorne triumphed in the quad doubles final.

Top seeds Hewett and Reid defeated Spain's Daniel Caverzaschi and Frenchman Stephane Houdet 6-2 6-4 at Melbourne Park.

It is their 22nd Grand Slam title as a partnership.

Lapthorne and Dutchman Sam Schroder won the quad wheelchair doubles with a 6-1 6-4 victory against the top seeds, Niels Vink of the Netherlands and Israel's Guy Sasson.

Lapthorne, 34, has now won eight doubles titles in Melbourne.

A huge West Ham fan, Lapthorne said he had received messages from players in the build-up to his final and hoped to be back in the UK in time to watch them play at Aston Villa on Sunday.

"My flight, I think, is at 11pm tomorrow. If I'm not delayed, then I'll get straight in a car and drive up to Villa Park," he said.

"If not, hopefully I've got the week off and maybe go to the training ground and show the trophy off, meet some of the boys.

"I had some messages from [West Ham right-back] Vladimir Coufal last night, which was really nice.

"He just WhatsApped me saying he's watching and good luck. They've been amazing to me.

"It's just really nice to have the support of the fans of the club and the people within the club. It drives me on."

The odds are stacked against Keys as she hopes to deny Sabalenka, who won the Australian and US Open finals in straight sets last year.

Sabalenka has won four of her five previous meetings with Keys, including victory in their two previous Slam encounters.

Their most recent meeting at a major, in the semi-finals of the US Open in 2023, was a particularly painful one for Keys.

The American served for the match with a 6-0 5-3 lead, only for Sabalenka to pull off a remarkable fightback to advance.

"I felt like I tried to play safe. I wasn't playing how I wanted to in the big moments," Keys said of that defeat.

"That felt so bad. I didn't want to be in the same situation where I looked back and thought 'I should have gone for it'.

"I didn't want to have any regrets."