St. Joseph’s picked up its sixth win in its last seven games following a 67-58 final on the road against La Salle on Saturday.
The Hawks (14-8, 6-3 Atlantic 10) shot 14 of 32 in three-pointers, while La Salle (7-14, 3-6) made 3 of 19 three-point attempts.
The Hawks were led by sophomore guard Dasear Haskins, who finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Alongside Haskins, Hawks sophomore guard Jaiden Glover-Toscano added 16 points.
After a disappointing nonconference slate, the Hawks have surged in A-10 play. After Saturday’s matchup, St. Joe’s sits third in the conference. Head coach Steve Donahue praised his team’s ability to ignore the noise early in the season.
“We’ve been through a lot,” Donahue said. “I just see [the team’s] ability to forget about personal expectations and figure out what needs to be done on that game, and that tonight was a perfect example.”
Haskins said it simpler.
“Winning is so fun,” he said. ”I love winning so much.”
The Explorers were competitive early in the game, thanks to Rob Dockery’s 26 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. The redshirt sophomore guard was the only Explorer to finish in double-digit scoring, with freshman guard Ashton Walker adding nine points and six assists.
Hawks’ Haskins hot from deep
St. Joe’s came out hunting the deep-ball early. Thirty of the team’s 36 first-half points came in three-pointers. Six threes were courtesy of Haskins, who made all of his attempts in the first half.
With under four minutes to go before halftime, Haskins showed off his shooting touch with a pocket three that rattled around the rim before dropping.
“I was just confident in my shots,” Haskins said. “My guys were cutting for me early, making it easy for me, and I was just making shots.”
Still, La Salle did not shake.
With the Hawks living beyond the arc, La Salle’s Dockery made St. Joe’s pay in the paint, where he had 16 first-half points.
Even with Haskins’ spotless shooting to start, the Explorers trailed 36-29 entering halftime.
Late push by La Salle
Both teams exchanged punches to start the second half, but St. Joe’s kept its lead.
With 12 minutes remaining, Walker made a flashy hop step pull-up jumper in the paint to bring the score to 48-41. After exchanging misses, Toscano hit a one-handed slam to extend the Hawks’ lead back to nine.
For every positive play the Explorers made, the Hawks had an answer.
“I thought defensively we had some breakdowns that we shouldn’t have had,” said La Salle coach Darris Nichols. “But, you know, they’re a good team. They’re playing well right now, they do the job of sharing the ball.”
As St. Joe’s converted free-throws down the stretch to put the game away, its student section loudly chanted “The Hawk will never die” as the La Salle faithful filed out of Glaser.
Donahue made his way over to the fans to show his appreciation.
“I feel [the fans’ impact] at St Joe’s, more than any place I’ve been,” Donahue said. “They really care about basketball. The students care. It’s fun to be a part of that.”
After a rough start to the season, St. Joseph’s head coach Steve Donahue has the Hawks sitting third in the Atlantic 10 conference.
Up next …
La Salle travels to take on Loyola (Ill.) on Tuesday (8 p.m., ESPN+). On Wednesday, St Joe’s will host George Washington (7 p.m., NBC Sports Philadelphia).
The Flyers did not get the memo about the early start on Saturday.
Adrian Kempe and the Kings got out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period with two point-blank goals, and the Kings nearly made it 3-0 just seconds later, until an Andrei Kuzmenko goal got called back for offside.
But from that point on, the Flyers got their legs back. Trevor Zegras brought the team within one on the power play under a minute into the second period, and Travis Konecny tipped in a point shot from Rasmus Ristolainen seconds into the third period to tie the game. But in overtime, Konecny hit the post on a breakaway opportunity against Darcy Kuemper, and then Quinton Byfield and the Kings capitalized shortly after on the other end.
“We made some good plays, had a couple bounces that easily could have went in,” Konecny said. “I’ve got to put it away there in overtime.”
The Flyers may not have left Saturday’s game with two points, continuing their four-game losing skid, but it wasn’t all bad.
After going down 2-0 early, the Flyers killed two consecutive penalties late in the first and then drew a power play of their own, which helped build momentum heading into the second period.
Dan Vladař looking to block a potential shot from the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
“We play the team game,” said Rick Tocchet. “We can’t afford to play our own game. We just can’t. It’s not an individual sport. We have too many guys that — they don’t mean to do it, but they have to understand we have to play a certain way if we’re going to compete. We did in the second or third, and we cleaned stuff up.”
Defenseman Nick Seeler said he didn’t think the overall game plan for LA changed in the second, but the team failed to execute on that game plan in the first.
After the first intermission, he said, the team regrouped.
“Our process was there, and I thought we started forechecking, and their guys got a little tired from the pressure we were putting on them,” Seeler said.
‘Trying to do the right things’
Tocchet said he thinks the team is dealing with nerves, leading to some of the issues early in games. The Flyers also haven’t had as much practice time as Tocchet would like, but they will have multiple opportunities to practice next week before the Olympic break.
But someone who’s helping the Flyers set the emotional and physical tone for each game is Konecny, who scored the game-tying goal and nearly had the game-winner.
“He’s trying to do the right things,” Tocchet said. “He’s getting open, he’s sprinting. He’s getting those goals. That’s what I’m trying to get these guys to understand. Get to those areas quick. There might be some sticks and bodies. You’ve got to get inside. I call it racing to get inside. [Konecny’s] racing to get inside.”
Travis Konecny, (11), and Christian Dvorak, (22), fighting for the puck during the second period against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
After the Flyers’ loss in Boston, Konecny was frank that he’s sick of losing, and just wants to make the playoffs again. Picking up at least one point in the standings Saturday was important, given where the Flyers currently sit with 58 points in the Metro division.
With the top three teams, Carolina, Pittsburgh, and the Islanders, starting to separate themselves a bit from the pack, it’s more important than ever that the young Flyers roster stays composed and mentally prepared to fight for a playoff spot.
“I just don’t want these guys to get bummed out because we lost,” Tocchet said. “We did some good things without the puck, and that’s what we have to do.”
Zegras back at center
Trevor Zegras played his second game in a row at center, playing primarily with Bobby Brink and Matvei Michkov. Playing center, the position he was drafted by Anaheim to play, was always in the Flyers’ plans for Zegras, but as the season has progressed, he was moved back to the wing, and at least in the early goings, he thrived in that role.
“I think we were moving our feet without the puck tonight, which was great,” Zegras said. “I thought [Brink] was awesome away from [the puck], getting over the top of people, and when guys are doing that stuff and you’re getting turnovers, that’s where the skill comes out.”
Early into the second period, Zegras scored his first goal in seven games on the power play on a feed from Brink. The goal was Zegras’ first point since a two-assist night in Utah on Jan. 21.
Trevor Zegras scores the first point for the Flyers during the second period against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
Zegras said the thing he felt most comfortable with from game one to two back at center was his face-offs. He won five of his eight draws on Saturday.
“Face-offs are the big one,” Zegras said. “I wasn’t great in Boston. Obviously, I’ve been talking to [Sean Couturier], because that’s something he’s really good at. It’s something I’m always working on, for sure.”
Konecny pointed to face-offs more generally as a key issue in the Flyers’ slow starts, including on the Kings’ first goal of the game, and in overtime.
“The linesmen, they’re kicking a lot of guys out, and especially like D-zone draws, which are hard, when you’ve got one guy in there and then I lose that one, and then it ends up in the back of the cage,” Konecny said.
Brink, who played primarily with Zegras, ended up taking five draws, losing four of them.
Breakaways
Aleksei Kolosov was recalled from Lehigh Valley and backed up Vladař against the Kings after Samuel Ersson was injured in Thursday’s loss to Boston… Lane Pederson was re-assigned to the AHL.
Up Next
The Flyers return to Xfinity Mobile arena on Tuesday (7 p.m./NBC Sports Philadelphia) to take on the Washington Capitals.
They’d won two consecutive games Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, Paul George made a record nine three-pointers. On Thursday, the win came thanks to a last-second shot by their best and most popular player, All-Star starter Tyrese Maxey.
They were 26-21 and held the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference, with ammunition on the roster for the trade deadline this coming Thursday.
After last season was lost to injury, and half of this season sputtered through lingering ailments, the Big Three — of Maxey, George, and Joel Embiid — were cooking. With the deadline looming, both Embiid and George, high-mileage thirty-somethings with injury baggage and maximum contracts, finally had played themselves into marketability. The Sixers also finally had assets to trade to augment the current roster, if they wished.
There was even more to feel good about.
On Saturday, the Sixers planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 2000-01 team with Allen Iverson that made it to the NBA Finals — which also is the last time the franchise was truly relevant. They are in the 14th year of a scorched-earth rebuild dubbed The Process. However, as Embiid and George gelled with Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe, the Sixers looked like they could make a serious postseason run in an Eastern Conference decimated by injury.
That might still happen, but they’ve hit another roadblock.
On Friday, Josh Harris appeared in the notorious Epstein files as a business associate of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. While Harris was not implicated in Epstein’s crimes, that’s a hard stench to wash away.
Then, George was suspended 25 games for violating the NBA’s antidrug policy beginning with Saturday night’s game against the visiting New Orleans Pelicans.
It goes without saying that George’s carelessness and selfishness are inexcusable. George told ESPN that he mistakenly took a banned medication to address a mental health concern.
We’re all in favor of addressing mental health, we’re also in favor of telling team doctors about every chemical you put in your body. That’s how you stay available. That’s how you earn that four-year, $211 million contract, the biggest free-agent deal in franchise history.
The Phillies had a similar issue this past season, when reliever José Alvarado was suspended 80 games in the middle of the season, as well as for the entire postseason, for taking an unvetted weight-loss drug last winter. There is simply no excuse.
It’s as if all that losing on purpose — The Process — cursed the team indefinitely.
Since the day Harris bought them in 2011, the Sixers have been an entertaining, if star-crossed, clown show. Much of it has been of their own doing. Following the Andrew Bynum deal in 2012, then the worst trade in Philadelphia history, roster builders Sam Hinkie, Bryan Colangelo, and now Daryl Morey have drafted poorly, have been held hostage by unaccomplished stars, and have hired ill-suited coaches.
Home-grown cornerstone players declined to properly develop: Nerlens Noel and Ben Simmons refused to learn to shoot, while Embiid, moody and undisciplined, refused to mature into the jaw-dropping professional he might have become.
But Noel, who was drafted ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo; Embiid, whom they drafted over Nikola JokićJokic; Jahlil Okafor, whom they drafted over Kristaps Porziņģis; and Simmons, whom they drafted over Jaylen Brown, all were injured almost as soon as they were assigned a jersey number.
By his third season at the helm, Hinkie, brilliant in some aspects, proved unable to manage a franchise. Colangelo turned out to be more than just a nepotistic mis-hire: He and his wife were accused of using burner social media accounts to criticize Sixers players. Yes, you read that correctly. Former coach Doc Rivers so seriously offended Simmons that he forced his way out of town. James Harden did the same thing after Morey, who’d traded for him and extended his contract once, declined to offer Harden the maximum-salary money he believed Morey had promised.
There have been dozens of other rake-stepping incidents by the Sixers. None is more consequential than the Sixers’ aggressive initiative to build a downtown arena, only to pull the rug from the project at the last minute and instead build in South Philly.
That happened about this time last year in the middle of yet another lost season for Embiid, who played just 19 games as he dealt with a knee injury that limited him the previous season, but which did not deter him from a meaningless appearance in the 2024 Olympics. George and Maxey also missed significant time due to injury last season.
The Sixers started to look promising, especially when Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George were on the court tougether.
But, as of this past week, things seemed to be rounding into form for the franchise. The Big Three played together Thursday, and, after a disastrous start to the season when playing together, they improved to 9-8.
Embiid had played in 20 of 27 games, averaging 27.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 32.8 minutes. George played in 27 of 35 games, averaging 16.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 30.5 minutes.
For the first time since the end of the 2022-23 season, when they squandered a 3-2 lead in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, things looked legitimately promising.
The 76ers’ season, which was starting to take shape, suffered a significant blow Saturday.
The NBA announced that Paul George will be suspended 25 games without pay for violating the terms of the NBA and National Basketball Players Association anti-drug program.
“Over the past few years, I’ve discussed the importance of mental health, and in the course of recently seeking treatment for an issue of my own, I made the mistake of taking an improper medication,” George said in a statement to ESPN. “I take full responsibility for my actions and apologize to the Sixers organization, my teammates, and the Philly fans for my decision-making during this process.
“I am focused on using this time to make sure that my mind and body are in the best condition to help the team when I return.”
Under the suspension, George won’t be eligible to play until the March 25 game against the Chicago Bulls at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The 35-year-old will lose $11.7 million during the suspension.
As a result, the Sixers will receive a $5.8 million tax variance credit.
After the fifth game of his suspension, George will be moved from the active to the suspended list. The Sixers will be able to sign an additional player once he’s on that list.
The Sixers head into Saturday’s home game against the New Orleans Pelicans with the Eastern Conference’s sixth-best record of 26-21.
With George and Joel Embiid healthy, the Sixers were recognized as one of the NBA’s most dangerous teams. They were a squad capable of beating any team on any given night.
The 6-foot-8 forward is averaging 16.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.5 steals in 27 games this season.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse said before Saturday’s game that he’s spoken to George. Nurse also didn’t say that George didn’t exhibit signs of dealing with mental-health issues this season.
“I’m not gonna share anybody’s mental health issues with anybody, in general,” he said. “I think he’s been fine. Been really fun to coach, a really good teammate, his teammates really like him. I think showing some great leadership, and I think he’s played well, and I think he’s, again, slotted into a situation where he kinda sees OK, Tyrese [Maxey] is going here, and [Joel Embiid]’s coming back, and this is what I need to do, and I think he was doing things at a really high level.”
Prior to this suspension, he was dealing with injuries during his tenure with the Sixers.
George, in his 16th NBA season, missed the first 12 games of the season with left knee injury management. He has yet to be cleared to play in back-to-back games.
Paul George was considered the NBA’s top free agent when he signed with the Sixers.
The Sixers signed George to a four-year, $211.5 million contract in July 2024 to form the Big Three with Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
As the NBA’s top free-agent target that summer, his presence was encouraging for a Sixers franchise with championship aspirations.
The six-time All-NBA selection and four-time All-Defensive pick averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.5 steals in 2023-24 for the Los Angeles Clippers. He shot a career-best 41.3% on three-pointers.
Yet George played in only 41 games last season as a Sixer, hampered by various injuries. His final contest of the season was on March 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was officially ruled out for the remainder of that season on March 17, the day he received injections in the left adductor muscle in his groin and left knee.
George was expected to return in time for training camp. However, the nine-time All-Star had arthroscopic left knee surgery on July 11. As a result, he missed all four exhibition games and the start of the regular season.
“He’s still part of the team,” Nurse said. “He can’t play the games, but still allowed in the facility. and practices and all that stuff.
“We’re gonna make sure those things continue to happen to get him back, and I just told him listen—as with all our players dealing with this type of stuff—we care about him. We’re here to help him, the organization is, in any way possible, and gotta get through it the best way we can, and then go from there.“
Villanova leaned on sixth man Devin Askew’s team-high 20 points to defeat Providence, 87-73, on Friday night at Finneran Pavilion.
Villanova (16-5, 7-3 Big East) shot 47% from three-point range in the first half to build a 17-point cushion. Askew went 4-for-5 from three and scored 17 first-half points. He now has four games with 20 or more points off the bench this season.
“[We are] trying to get [Devin] to play off his strengths ever since he’s now kind of back to strength,” said Villanova coach Kevin Willard. “He had a great week of practice. I think that was the big thing. I think everybody did. We had three really good days of practice, and that’s the way he played for the last three days.”
Askew, who suffered a major knee sprain over the summer, is averaging 15.8 points in his last six games. He missed about two months of practice as the team prepared to open the season.
Villanova coach Kevin Willard reacts in the second half against Providence on Friday.
“I feel really good out there,” Askew said when asked about his health. “But just like always, I still have some work to do. Still got to get better every day.”
Junior guard Tyler Perkins scored 19 points, marking his fifth consecutive game in double digits. He shot 6-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-6 from three-point range.
“I just [have] been in the gym,” Perkins said. “We have a great strength coach in [Justin McClelland], and he gets us better every day, especially in the summer. We do ‘Strong Man,’ and that’s a big part of just being in shape and getting your body right for the season. So it’s just a testament to the coaching staff that we have around us.”
Villanova shot 51% from the field and made a conference-high 13 three-pointers (45%).
Villanova scored 20 fast break points to Providence’s two. Askew and Perkins were a main reason why Villanova was successful on fast break opportunities.
“We’re a really good transition team,” Perkins said. “We got a bunch of good shooters like Devin, Bryce [Lindsay], so if we get out and run, we got a good opportunity to score.”
Villanova guard Tyler Perkins gathers teammates Bryce Lindsay, Duke Brennan, and Acaden Lewis against Providence on Jan. 30.
Villanova forced Providence (9-13, 2-9) into 10 first-half turnovers, including seven steals, three by freshman guard Acaden Lewis. Villanova scored 15 first-half points off those forced turnovers.
The Wildcats currently rank 36th in KenPom’s defensive ratings after the win over Providence.
Slow second half
Despite being a strong second-half team, Villanova came out flat. The Wildcats missed their first ten field goal attempts, allowing Providence to cut its deficit to eight points.
“I think the defensive end we kind of gave, [Stefan Vaaks], he’s good,” Willard said. “He’s a pro with his size and the way he shoots it. We left him [open] twice to start the second half, and kind of gave them nine points and let them right back into the game. So I thought we did a much better job of just sitting down, defending.”
Villanova forward Matt Hodge shoots a three-pointer against Providence guard Stefan Vaaks, who finished a game-high 25 points, on Friday.
Vaaks, a 6-foot-7 freshman guard, finished with a game-high 25 points
In the final 11 minutes of play, however, Villanova went 12-for-13 from the field, which included an 11-1 scoring run.
“They don’t fold,” said Providence coach Kim English. “They stick to that process. We guarded them [well] to start the second half. They didn’t score for a long time to start, think it was like 20% or something. But they stuck with their process. They’re a really good shot quality team, and that’s what it takes. Paint decisions was the game.”
Villanova will host Seton Hall (15-6, 5-5) on Wednesday (6:30 p.m., Peacock). In its last meeting, Villanova beat Seton Hall, 64-56, to pick up a Quad 1 win in the NCAA NET Rankings. This time, it would be a possible Quad 2 victory. This season, Villanova is 3-4 in Quad 1 wins and 2-1 in Quad 2.
We hear often that it’s good to run things in life like a business. It’s said especially loudly about women’s sports, in Philadelphia and elsewhere.
So let’s do that.
The 21,490 fans who packed Xfinity Mobile Arena for Friday’s Unrivaled basketball showcase clearly had business on their minds. It was the largest announced attendance in arena history, helped by Unrivaled’s three-on-three court being smaller than regulation, and it was full of wallets.
They were opened often, to buy T-shirts, hats, hoodies, hot dogs, and all the fancier food and drinks on offer these days.
The crowd roared for hometown heroes Natasha Cloud and Kahleah Copper, but not just for them. Paige Bueckers, Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray, and Marina Mabrey also drew big cheers.
Kahleah Copper during player introductions before the Rose game against the Lunar Owls in Game 2 of the Philly is Unrivaled doubleheader on Friday.
“I think it was awesome to see them come out and support us like that,” Mabrey said after scoring an Unrivaled game record 47 points in the Lunar Owls’ 85-75 win over Rose. “I don’t know what I expected, but I didn’t realize it was going to be so much hype around it and so much support.”
There was celebrity wattage from Wanda Sykes, Leslie Jones, Freeway, and Jason and Kylie Kelce. Dawn Staley was in the front row, of course. The 76ers’ Tyrese Maxey, Kyle Lowry, Andre Drummond, Trendon Watford, and Dominick Barlow had courtside seats too.
They all helped answer a question that’s been simmering in town for a while.
At any business school, they’ll teach you that the most fundamental rule of economics is supply and demand. But how can you prove there’s demand when there’s no supply in the first place?
One way, for sure, is to not try in the first place. That was the case with women’s basketball in Philadelphia for 28 years, the time between the end of the Philadelphia Rage in 1998 and now. It’s mostly been the case with women’s soccer since the Independence folded in 2011, though at least the U.S. national team visits every few years.
Yet Philadelphia has now set two women’s sports attendance records in recent years. In 2019, Lincoln Financial Field hosted 49,504 fans for a U.S. women’s soccer game, and that’s still the largest crowd for a standalone home friendly. On Friday, the arena across 11th Street hosted the largest crowd to watch a regular-season professional women’s basketball game.
Another path to travel invokes another rule of economics. In a free market, shouldn’t someone be able try something? If they fail, so be it, and if they succeed, they profit.
The people who brought Unrivaled here, and those who will bring a WNBA team here in 2030, chose the second road.
‘It wasn’t a charity event’
On the day in October when Unrivaled announced it would come here, Comcast Spectacor chief financial officer Blair Listino watched her phone light up with notifications of ticket sales.
A Phantom fan cheers the team during its game against Breeze.
“While we were sitting there waiting for the [announcement] event to happen,” she told The Inquirer, “7,000 tickets were sold within the first few hours of the event being on sale. So right then and there, I knew, ‘OK, there is demand.’”
Listino also is an alternate governor of the Flyers. She was the team’s CFO from 2019 to 2023 and has worked for Comcast in a range of finance-related capacities since 2011. So she has plenty of experience with measuring what Philadelphia sports fans want — and with making hard business deals.
“We worked with Unrivaled management, and we treated it like any other event,” she said. “It wasn’t a charity event; we didn’t give them a sweetheart deal. It was a true rental agreement where we said, ‘We believe in you, we think that you’ll be able to sell out this building, and we’ll all be profitable from it.’”
That made it, she said, “good business sense for both us and Unrivaled.”
Philadelphia welcomes Paige Bueckers to the floor:
It was not just based on Jen Leary, the founder of Watch Party PHL, holding events and selling out of “Philly Is A Women’s Sports Town” T-shirts for over a year. Or Chivonn Anderson opening Marsha’s, a women’s sports bar on South Street. Or any number of people on social media, or in this reporter’s inbox, or so on.
No, this was Philadelphia’s biggest company believing that women’s sports can be profitable in its city. And now there’s proof.
Along with that, an Unrivaled spokesperson told The Inquirer on Saturday that the night delivered $2 million in revenue to the league, including over $1 million in ticket sales and $400,000 in merchandise sales at the arena.
“I think when choosing a market that doesn’t necessarily have a team, but there’s demand, you take a leap of faith into your decision,” said Cloud, whose Phantom beat Breeze, 71-68. “And Unrivaled chose the right city, the right sports town, and the right fan base.”
The crowd returned the favor many times over Friday, bringing the Broomall native to tears in a postgame interview on court.
“You just give us the opportunity to actually do it,” North Philadelphia’s Copper said. She recalled playing a WNBA preseason game in Toronto with the Chicago Sky in 2023 in front of a sellout crowd at the city’s NBA arena. That moment lit a spark that led to the Toronto Tempo, an expansion team that will tip off this year.
“How they were able to kind of lead up and have that build up, I think it’s kind of the same,” she said. “And I think the city has been wanting it. So this is a good introduction, and we’ll give them something to look forward to.”
It’s not just the local products who’ve felt that. Players from elsewhere who are used to big crowds at their games were excited to be part of a first here.
“Kudos to Alex [Bazzell], our president, and the whole league having ‘Tash’ and ‘Kah’ be spokespersons for this amazing city,” said Breeze’s Cameron Brink, who played collegiately for Stanford and is now with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. “Kah has done so much for women’s basketball in this city and the resources that are now available. I’m just proud that we saw that this is a city that wants to cheer on women’s basketball — so hopefully there’s more of it in the future.”
Cameron Brink leaps past Natasha Cloud (right) during the first quarter of the Breeze-Phantom game.
Brink grew up in Princeton, N.J., and her parents played college basketball at Virginia Tech. She moved to the Portland, Ore., suburbs at age 8, but heard plenty of stories from her mother, Michelle, about the East Coast.
“I was talking with her the other day — she’s like, ‘I honestly can’t believe women’s basketball has gotten to this point,’” Brink said. “I mean, we’ve always believed, but it’s really special that we get to soak in this moment. So I just think back to the women before me, and I’m just thankful for how they paved the way.”
Kate Martin of Unrivaled’s Breeze has played for Iowa and the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries, both of which draw huge crowds to every game. She knew Philadelphia doesn’t have that track record, so she was excited to be part of a first.
“I think it’s really important for young girls to be able to see people that they want to be like,” Martin said. “I think it’s important for them to be able to see if they want to be a women’s basketball player, to see that in their city, and be able to have access to going to a game.”
Kate Martin in action Friday.
Friday’s spectacle undoubtedly will push Unrivaled to take more of its games on the road next season, and they may well come back here. There might not be another full house with the novelty factor gone, and one night in 2026 doesn’t mean the future WNBA team will sell out all of its games years later.
Nor does it mean that what’s true today was true in past years, when Cloud and Copper weren’t yet big names.
But it does mean there’s demand for a product right now, and that it can make money right now. Philadelphia finally got an opportunity, and took it.
However, Mannion did serve as the offensive coordinator for the West team during the East-West Shrine Bowl game earlier this week. While the play-calling and offensive structure was largely simplistic due to the environment of college players trying to showcase their skills for NFL scouts, the game film provides some clues on what Mannion’s vision for an offense may look like.
Here’s a look at some of the influences Mannion may draw from ahead of his first NFL play-calling opportunity next season, and where Grizzard’s concepts could have an impact:
Under-center runs and play-action
The Mannion-led offense in the Shrine Bowl moved up and down the field in a 21-17 win over the East team, with the majority of the 72 offensive snaps coming from under-center. One frequent play call was play-action, specifically bootlegs where the quarterback would roll to the left or right after faking the handoff, effectively moving the pocket.
The play-action bootlegs are staples for Matt LaFleur, Kyle Shanahan, and Sean McVay-led offenses. They typically give the quarterback two or three options, with a flat route from the front or backside tight end and a crossing route from the backside receiver. The tight wide receiver alignments Mannion had his Shrine Bowl receivers in are a direct comparison to LaFleur’s offense, which utilizes a lot of tight wide receiver splits. Packers quarterback Jordan Love had the fifth-highest play-action rate in the NFL in 2025.
New #Eagles OC Sean Mannion has never called plays in an NFL game, but was the OC for the West team at the Shrine Bowl earlier this week. While most of the offensive install were fairly simple, there's some Matt LaFleur and Kyle Shanahan influences in the small sample size.… pic.twitter.com/At7YvzPNkI
Beyond play-action bootlegs, Mannion also dialed up more traditional play-action passes, and incorporated a concept similar to dagger, where a deep crossing vertical route occupies the safety and allows for a deep intermediate middle-of-the-field route to be run right behind it.
Several teams run the passing concept, but the 49ers and Vikings run it from under-center and on play-action throws more frequently than the Rams or Packers. Mannion spent two seasons of his playing career being coached by McVay and his final year playing quarterback was with the Vikings in 2023, under Kevin O’Connell.
Would like to see Sean Mannion bring some of this playcalling to the #Eagles as well. Big play-action here in 12 personnel during the Shrine Bowl and Mark Gronowski hits the deep dig route with the slot receiver clearing out on a crosser.
From a running game perspective, in the limited plays from the Shrine Bowl, Mannion seemed to draw on Shanahan’s run game philosophy. The first example was the inside toss play, which allows a running back to get downhill quickly. It’s also a play Mike McDaniel took with him to Miami and will likely now implement with Chargers.
Again, this is only observations from Sean Mannion's playcalling at the East-West Shrine Bowl since he doesn't have NFL playcalling experience, but the new #Eagles OC used a run scheme staple from Kyle Shanahan, utilizing the inside run toss a few times on Tuesday night. pic.twitter.com/cge0yBr1Sj
The other example was under-center power scheme runs, which pull the backside guard across the formation with the fullback kicking out the playside edge defender. Kyle Juszczyk had the most run blocking snaps among fullbacks in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Eagles tried to do more fullback runs last season, so Cameron Latu could be an option to fill a similar role as Juszczyk should Mannion decide to utilize more fullback run-blocking schemes.
Saw more run-game influence from Kyle Shanahan when new #Eagles OC Sean Mannion called plays for the West team during the Shrine Bowl. 49ers use a lot of FB run elements, and Mannion used that from under-center during the Shrine Bowl, primarily running power run schemes during… pic.twitter.com/zm3SFeVan6
During the Shrine Bowl game, Mannion also mixed in some outside zone run schemes from under-center to keep the defense honest. Outside zone runs are big staples of the McVay and Shanahan offenses.
Mannion and Grizzard employ similar concepts
The Packers last season threw out routes at one of the highest rates in the NFL last season. Could that become a staple for the Eagles in 2026?
During the Shrine Bowl game, Mannion called at least three passing concepts that required the outside receivers to run out-breaking routes toward the sideline, and two of them were completed for first downs. Throwing such routes require timing and accuracy, because mislocating the football gives defensive backs a chance to break on the football.
In the limited sample size from the Shrine Bowl game on Tuesday, new #Eagles OC Sean Mannion dialed up out routes at least three times in the game, and two the passes were completed along the sideline. Would imagine this could be a part of the offense next season. https://t.co/8sCT4wGWGFpic.twitter.com/DU7vv0aclL
During the Shrine Bowl game, Mannion also called mesh concepts twice, an approach that has two receivers running shallow crossing routes across the field going opposite directions, and a route sitting over the ball behind the two receivers. It could also include the running back releasing from the backfield on a wheel route.
Grizzard ran mesh quite a bit as the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator in 2025. The passing concept can beat both man and zone coverages and is difficult to defend if defenders end up chasing the crossing routes.
With Josh Grizzard as the new #Eagles PGC, I wonder if they run mesh passing concepts like he did as the #Bucs OC. During the Shrine Bowl game, Sean Mannion called Mesh twice, including mesh rail, which is shown on the Bucs TD attached to this. https://t.co/RyX6jsz8mVpic.twitter.com/Fop4oRsRff
Grizzard also utilized a lot of screens in the passing game in Tampa, getting the ball in the hands of Bucky Irving, Emeka Egbuka and others behind the line of scrimmage. The first offensive play that Mannion called in the Shrine Bowl was a tight end screen. The screen game is also a staple in LaFleur’s offense, though the Green Bay coach is far more creative in presenting them.
Tackling Bucky, never easy.
Bucs love this escort screen, having a lot of success running it for Bucky with Cade doing the dirty work pic.twitter.com/MBCbY6NgI7
While the Shrine Bowl gave a glimpse into Mannion’s influences from LaFleur, McVay, and Shanahan, how the Eagles’ offense looks in their season-opener is a mystery. Leaning into more under-center play-action and moving the pocket with Jalen Hurts seem like logical additions to an Eagles offense that struggled with their identity in 2025.
Adding in an experienced playcaller like Grizzard into the fold can help give the Eagles some formational advantages and add less predictability to the offense. More pre-snap motion seems to be in the cards too. The Packers ranked eighth in motion rate and the Buccaneers ranked ninth, according to Sharp Football Analysis.
One thing is likely: the Eagles offense will be modernized and look vastly different from the previous iterations under Nick Sirianni.
The crowd inside Xfinity Mobile Arena for Philly is Unrivaled already was high-energy. Then Marina Mabrey brought the house down with an Unrivaled-record 47 points in the second game of the doubleheader.
The Belmar, N.J., native plays in Connecticut and has no real connection to Philadelphia, but the crowd went crazy for every three-pointer like she was one of their own.
“I brought my Jersey to Philly, and I hope that you guys enjoyed it,” Mabrey said. “Thank you for welcoming me with open arms.”
Friday’s Unrivaled doubleheader at Xfinity Mobile Arena was the first time the three-on-three league had left its Miami-area home. Unlike the WNBA or NBA, the teams are not tied to a specific city or region. That makes the league a fascinating “social experiment,” TV analyst Renee Montgomery said.
Unrivaled is driven by fans’ love for players and for the game, Rose BC’s Lexie Hull said. A number of the 21,490 fans in the building came in repping their favorite players across the women’s basketball world, with plenty of love for superstar Paige Bueckers and Philly locals Natasha Cloud and Kahleah Copper, or in T-shirts declaring that “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” or that “Philly is a Women’s Sports Town.”
“Philly is a basketball city,” Montgomery said. “… I think there’s certain cities that lean in and they don’t just halfway do anything, and I feel like Philly is that type of city. They see that Unrivaled chose this place to be the first one, and Philly’s like, ‘Bet, let’s show out.’ That’s what it felt like to me.”
The neutral crowds make Unrivaled a different environment in the pro sports landscape, but neutral didn’t mean there was any less passion.
“One thing I know about Philly is, it’s really passionate about its sports, good and bad, through and through, the City of Brotherly Love,” Bueckers said. “You feel that, and we felt that tonight, just how passionate they were and are about women’s basketball.”
Philadelphia has never been home to a WNBA franchise, and was home to an American Basketball League franchise for just two years before the team folded in 1998. But with an expansion franchise set to come to Philadelphia in 2030, Unrivaled’s sold-out crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena was just a taste of Philly’s appetite for women’s professional basketball.
Hull said she hoped to see Unrivaled continue to thrive in that niche, serving markets like Philadelphia that don’t have WNBA franchises yet. Unrivaled’s Philly tour stop set the record for most fans at a regular-season professional women’s basketball game, and a building record for Xfinity Mobile Arena.
“With the growth of the sport, there’s just so many people that want to see it live and don’t have the opportunity to fly to a [WNBA] city and watch a game during the season,” Hull said. “This gives them the opportunity to get to watch and grow the game, so it’s awesome.”
Sixers Kyle Lowry, Andre Drummond, Trendon Watford, and Dominick Barlow, and New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu were among the basketball stars in the building.
But of course, one of the most excited fans in the building was South Carolina head coach and local basketball legend Dawn Staley. For Phantom BC’s Aliyah Boston, who played for Staley in college, it was an amazing surprise to see Staley courtside again.
“I was shocked, when I came out, one of our assistants was like, ‘See Coach Staley?’” And I was like, ‘What? What?’ Saw her right over there, gave her a hug.”
Boston said that the two still have a “special relationship,” and she had to go up to Staley at halftime to ask for feedback on her game.
After playing for Staley, Boston said she had an idea of what to expect of playing in Philly, and the intensity and toughness needed for the tight game matched her expectations.
“The biggest thing for her was just that mindset,” Boston said. “She talked about her upbringing and that grind in Philly, and that’s the approach that she wants us to take on the court. Just have that dog mentality. Being able to hear that for four years just continued to shape me into who I am as a player today.”
Friday’s event was a huge head start in showing the players just how good of a women’s basketball market Philly can be. With the record-setting, energetic crowd, the conversation now turns to how to keep the momentum going until the WNBA franchise establishes itself in 2030.
Unrivaled players were excited about the prospect of adding new tour stops and continuing to travel in the seasons to come, and Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell confirmed Friday that the league plans to do more road trips next year.
Could Philly be on that list a second time?
Breeze BC’s Kate Martin, who played for the Golden State Valkyries in their inaugural season last year, shared the advice she’d give to anyone playing for a Philly expansion franchise, after the Valkyries quickly became the most-attended team in the WNBA in their first year.
“When you start to build that sense of community, that people feel more like they have a relationship with you, they want to come, they want to support,” Martin said. “Making the atmosphere fun, making people feel welcome, making people feel excited about basketball.”
Kate Martin, who plays for the Breeze and the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries, knows a thing or two about building a fan base.
Xfinity Mobile Arena became the home of Unrivaled on Friday night. Fans flooded the arena in their favorite WNBA gear as Philadelphia made history, bringing the world’s top WNBA players to the city for the women’s basketball three-on-three league’s first — and only — tour stop.
The doubleheader, featuring the Breeze, Phantom, Rose, and Lunar Owls, gave Philadelphia an early glimpse of what’s to come in 2030, when the city gets its own WNBA team.
From fans discussing the importance of the night at Stateside Live! to different activations at Xfinity Mobile Arena, here’s everything you missed from the historic night:
‘We’re in the middle of history right now’
To celebrate the landmark event, The Stoop Pigeon by Watch Party PHL partnered with the Philadelphia Sisters and Unrivaled to host a pregame party and watch party across the street from the arena at Stateside Live!
“We’re in the middle of history right now,” said Jen Leary, the founder of Watch Party PHL. “Unrivaled is sold out, and this will be the most-attended women’s basketball game in history, and it’s happening here in Philly. It’s just so important for the city. It shows that not only did Unrivaled make the right decision coming here, but that the WNBA made the right decision giving us a team in 2030.”
The event, which was thrown to build up excitement entering the doubleheader, was free and open to the public. Fans traveled far and wide to witness history in the making, including 35-year old Connecticut native Corrine Sisk.
“Women’s basketball is so important in Connecticut,” Sisk said. “It has been since I was a teenager. I’ve been watching games like this since I was a little kid, and I’m so excited to see it happening countrywide. I think it’s important that we support these women, and they need to know that this is where everybody wants them to be.”
Kiley Gelston, a 25-year-old New Jersey native, has been playing basketball ever since she could walk. As soon as she found out Unrivaled would make its way to Philly, she knew she had to had to be in the arena.
During Friday’s pregame party, Gelston, who is a high school basketball coach, recognized the impact the doubleheader would have on the younger generation.
“It’s important for the younger girls because they can see where they can get to,” Gelston said. “They can have somebody to look up to, especially now with the women’s basketball boom.”
One of those younger girls in attendance was 16-year-old Baylee Rubeck. As a big fan of the WNBA, and a major fan of Paige Bueckers, the Pennsylvania native was excited to see some of her idols take the court at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
“I’m so excited to see everybody that I’ve been following on social media,” Rubeck said. “I’m so excited to finally get to watch all my role models. I look up to them so much because they’re just amazing human beings. So I’m just so excited to see that in person.”
Another Bueckers superfan in attendance was 15-year-old Laila Perez. Wearing her “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” T-shirt, she took the train from New Jersey to attend.
An avid women’s basketball fan who started her own basketball YouTube channel called LP’s Bucket List, she was excited to attend her first women’s professional basketball game.
“It’s so cool. It’s kind of crazy,” Perez said. “I’m not used to seeing the players in person. … It’s important for women’s sports to be promoted in Philly because the more people see it and are around it, they’ll be more curious and want to to come and see what it’s all about.”
Although Philadelphia doesn’t have a WNBA team yet, this could be a glimpse of what the city will see in 2030.
“This is just the beginning,” Gelston said. “This is going to continue on for many years to come, hopefully. This is just a taste. It sucks that we have to wait until 2030 now. So it’s almost like a tease. But we can enjoy it now.”
Keeping the energy high
If Friday’s pregame party at Stateside Live! wasn’t enough to get fans excited for the doubleheader, there were activations aplenty. The Sephora tunnel offered fans an opportunity to channel their inner WNBA star with their own tunnel walk.
There were plenty of surprises throughout the night. Fans received a number of chances to win a Sephora goody bag through music trivia, fashion competitions, and parachutes from the rafters.
Time for a little surprise Sephora parachute drop at Unrivaled’s doubleheader pic.twitter.com/UT3SBZRK2Y
And in between games, Philly-born hip-hop artist Lay Bankz performed several songs in front of the sold-out crowd, including her hit single “Tell Ur Girlfriend.”
After both games concluded, smiling fans crowded the main concourse. For 29-year-old Maryland native Brandi McLeain, the night was the perfect birthday present.
“First game was great,” McLeain said. “A real nail-biter. Then we got to see the point god in action in Kahleah Copper. And of course, Marina Mabrey broke a record tonight. So that was amazing.”
Mabrey finished with an Unrivaled single-game record 47 points, and it was clear McLeain wasn’t the only one was impressed by the Belmar, N.J., native’s performance.
Dalilah Haden, 28, and Samantha Woods, 29, made the trip from Brooklyn to watch the doubleheader and said Mabrey was the most impressive player of the night. And this wasn’t Woods’ first Unrivaled game of the week. She also attended Sunday’s game in Medley, Fla., near Miami. But, according to Woods, the 1,000-seat Sephora Arena doesn’t compare to Philly.
“Getting to be here with 21,000 other fans is so cool,” Woods said. “Sephora Arena is dope. But, this is like a treat. The women deserve this kind of love. And you can see it in the way they played tonight.”
Haden added: “Here you had everyone from different backgrounds, different ages, different races, genders, sexualities. This was so cool. And the energy was also crazy.”
In a move to create depth at multiple positions, the Phillies signed one of the most versatile players in baseball to a minor league contract.
Dylan Moore, who has played everywhere on the field except catcher in seven major league seasons and won a Gold Glove in 2024, will come to spring training as a nonroster invitee, a league source confirmed Friday night, after agreeing to a minor league deal that would pay him a $1.85 million base salary in the majors. He could make as much as $3.25 million with escalators based on plate appearances.
Moore, 33, is a .206 career hitter with 63 homers and a .693 OPS in 689 major league games, mostly with the Mariners. He was released by Seattle last August and finished the season with the Rangers.
In 2024, Moore played in a career-high 135 games, including 108 starts, while filling in for injured Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford, and was slightly better than a league-average hitter with a 103 OPS+. He has started games at seven positions, but most often at second base (139 starts), shortstop (93), left field (99), and right field (67).
Edmundo Sosa is ticketed as the Phillies’ primary utility man. He often started at second base last season against left-handed pitching. Sosa, who turns 30 in March, batted .318 with an .895 OPS against lefties, .276 with a .777 OPS in 89 games overall. He’s due to make $4.4 million in his final year of salary arbitration.
Dylan Moore has spent most of his career as a utilityman with the Seattle Mariners.
Moore has spent the majority of the last seven seasons in the majors and made $3.7 million last season.
Additionally, former Phillies reliever David Robertson announced his retirement Friday after a 17-year major league career. Robertson, who had three stints with the Phillies, including the final two months of last season at age 40, finished with a 2.93 ERA and 179 saves. He also pitched for the Yankees, White Sox, Rays, Cubs, Marlins, and Rangers.
