Dec 27, 2021 3 min read

In college football

The Arizona Bowl was canceled on Monday night after Boise State pulled out and shut down all team activities because of COVID-19 issues within the program.

The Broncos were scheduled to play Central Michigan at Arizona Stadium on Friday but instead joined numerous college basketball programs that have been hit with coronavirus issues coming out of the Christmas break.

Barstool Sports, the sponsor of the Arizona Bowl, tweeted that it made the “difficult decision” to cancel the game, which would have been streamed on its multiple platforms.

Central Michigan will instead play Washington State in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, replacing Miami in a game that’ll be televised by CBS.

n Kaleb Eleby threw two touchdowns and ran for another and Western Michigan recorded its second bowl victory in program history, rolling past Nevada 52-24 in the Quick Lane Bowl on Monday.

Sean Tyler rushed for 146 yards on 14 carries and returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown for Western Michigan (8-5). Jaxson Kincaide, a Nevada transfer, rushed for 105 yards on 17 carries and scored two touchdowns.

n Ohio State wide receiver Garrett Wilson is skipping the Rose Bowl to enter the NFL draft.

Wide receiver Chris Olave, offensive tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere and defensive tackle Haskell Garrett are also bypassing the game, coach Ryan Day said during the Buckeyes’ visit to Disneyland to celebrate their New Year’s Day showdown against Pac-12 champion Utah.

In college basketball

A combination of cancellations and the holidays made for a quiet week in college basketball.

The latest Associated Press poll reflected the light week.

Baylor remained No. 1 for the third straight week in the poll released Monday, receiving all 61 first-place votes from a national media panel. The Bears (11-0) had 60 first-place votes a week ago and were a unanimous selection this week with a blowout win over Alcorn State and Arizona’s loss to Tennessee.

The top five remained the same from last week, with Duke, Purdue, Gonzaga and UCLA behind Baylor.

Arizona dropped three spots to No. 9 after losing for the first time this season, 77-73 at Tennessee last Wednesday.

In hockey

David Quinn is set to coach the U.S. men’s hockey team at the upcoming Winter Olympics after the NHL decided not to send players to Beijing.

USA Hockey named Quinn coach and John Vanbiesbrouck general manager Monday in the first shift to plan B for another Olympics without NHL participation.

Quinn replaces Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. He was supposed to be an assistant under Sullivan and was the only member of the coaching staff not currently working in the NHL.

The 55-year-old Quinn coached the New York Rangers the past three seasons after five years at Boston University. Quinn most recently coached for the U.S. internationally as an assistant at the 2016 world championships and was also on staff for that tournament in 2007 and 2012.

In the NBA

Terry Rozier scored 27 points and made seven 3-pointers, and the Charlotte Hornets routed the Houston Rockets 123-99 Monday night for their second straight win.

Kelly Oubre chipped in with 18 points, while LaMelo Ball and Jalen McDaniels had 16. Mason Plumlee finished with a season-high 15 points and nine rebounds for the Hornets, who pulled back above .500 on the season.