Iowa
Haley 7 points ahead of DeSantis in Iowa: Survey
Republican White House candidate Nikki Haley tops GOP rival Ron DeSantis by 7 points in a new poll of likely caucusgoers in Iowa, days before the first presidential contest.
Haley drew support from 20 percent of likely caucusgoers in the Suffolk University Political Research Center poll released Thursday, while DeSantis had 13 percent.
Former President Trump maintained his dominant lead in the survey, with 54 percent of likely caucusgoers backing him.
No other candidate broke double digits.
Haley and DeSantis have gone after each other hard heading into Iowa, where polls have shown the pair battling for second.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who served as U.N. ambassador under Trump, squared off with DeSantis in a one-on-one debate Wednesday night in Des Moines, the final debate before Monday’s caucuses.
During the debate, DeSantis defended his record as Florida governor while attacking Haley over myriad issues, seeking to blunt her momentum in the primary. The pair sparred over issues such as abortion, foreign policy and spending.
“The best way to tell about a candidate is to see how they run their campaign,” Haley said at one point, attacking DeSantis. “He has blown through $150 million … I don’t even know how you do that.”
“He has nothing to show for it. He’s spent more money on private planes than he has on commercials trying to get Iowans to vote for him. If you can’t manage a campaign, how are you going to manage a country?” she added.
Trump skipped the CNN debate and appeared at his own town hall event hosted by Fox News.
Hours before the debate, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced he was dropping out of the GOP race, a move widely seen as helping boost Haley, especially in New Hampshire. The Granite State holds its primary Jan. 23 and polls have shown the race is tighter there, though Trump has generally held onto a lead.
Moments before he appeared on stage in New Hampshire to announce to supporters that he was suspending his campaign, Christie was heard on a hot mic predicting that Haley is “gonna get smoked” in the race against Trump.
“I mean look, she’s spent like $68 million so far, just on TV — spent $68 million so far — $59 million by DeSantis, and we spent $12 [million]. I mean, who’s punching above their weight and who’s getting a return on their investment, you know?” Christie was heard saying in the audio. “And she’s gonna get smoked. And you and I both know it. She’s not up to this.”
Christie was drawing 2 percent support in Iowa before he dropped out, according to the Suffolk University Political Research Center poll conducted earlier this week, while entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy earned 6 percent.
The survey of 500 likely Republican caucusgoers was conducted Jan. 6-10 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
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Iowa
Illini rip Big Ten rival Iowa to reach Final Four for first time in 21 years
HOUSTON — Freshman Keaton Wagler scored 25 points and Illinois ended Iowa’s underdog March Madness run by dominating in the frontcourt, beating the Hawkeyes 71-59 on Saturday to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2005.
This will be the sixth trip to the Final Four for Illinois, which has never won a national title. The Fighting Illini will face either Duke or UConn next weekend in Indianapolis.
The much taller Illini (28-8) outrebounded Iowa 38-21 in the South Region final. David Mirkovic led the way with 12 rebounds.
Coach Brad Underwood’s emphasis on recruiting in Eastern Europe has paid off in this tournament. Tomislav Ivisic of Croatia, who stands 7-foot-1, and his 7-2 twin brother Zvonimir have shined in March.
Andrej Stojakovic, who was born in Greece but whose father is Serbian three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic, scored 17 points for third-seeded Illinois.
His famous father watched proudly as his son punched his ticket to the Final Four, and Wagler’s parents — who met when they played basketball at a junior college in Kansas — cheered wildly throughout for their son, who was named MVP of the region.
Bennett Stirtz scored 24 points for the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (24-13), who knocked off top-seeded Florida in the second round as part of an impressive run under first-year coach Ben McCollum, a four-time Division II national champion at Northwest Missouri State.
Iowa
Rick Barnes reacts to Tennessee’s win over Iowa State
No. 6 seed Tennessee (25-11) defeated No. 2 seed Iowa State (29-8), 76-62, on Friday in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 at United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
The Vols advanced to their third consecutive Elite Eight under 11th-year head coach Rick Barnes.
“One, very humbled by it,” Barnes said. “Certainly proud of our basketball team. They worked really hard. Defensively, I thought we knew we would have to have a great effort defensively. Certainly Iowa State, outstanding. T.J. (Otzelberger), outstanding program, coach.
“This time of year is always tough when you lose a key guy like they did, and that’s part of the tournament. That’s the tough part about it, but just really proud of our guys and the effort they made and against a team that they play as hard as any team we played all year. The start of the game, I don’t think we’ve seen anything like that all year, and we were able to withstand it. Again, just really proud of the effort from our entire team. Everybody had a hand in us winning this game.”
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Iowa
Tennessee basketball vs Iowa State Sweet 16 tipoff time changed for later start
CHICAGO − Tennessee basketball’s Men’s NCAA Tournament game against Iowa State will start a little later than planned.
The Sweet 16 game between the No. 6 Vols (24-11) and No. 2 Cyclones (29-7) will now tipoff at 10:25 p.m. ET at the United Center on TBS.
The game was originally scheduled for 10:10 p.m. before the 15-minute delay. There is also the standard 30-minute break in between tournament games. Tennessee and Iowa State won’t begin until 30 minutes after the end of No. 1 Michigan (33-3) and No. 4 Alabama (29-5).
Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson status
Iowa State’s star forward Joshua Jefferson is questionable against Tennessee basketball according to the NCAA player availability report released at 6:32 p.m.
Jefferson sprained his ankle in the opening minutes of Iowa State’s first-round game against Tennessee State. He sat for the remainder of the game and missed the Cyclones’ win over Kentucky on March 22. Iowa State didn’t need the All-Big 12 forward as it generated 20 Wildcat turnovers in its 19-point victory.
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: wynton.jackson@knoxnews.com
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