USC has its best ranking in 39 years after moving up to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll on Monday.

The Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday, beating then-No. 2 UCLA for the second time this year. That victory vaulted USC up two spots for its highest appearance in the poll since the team was second on Jan. 5, 1986. USC garnered six first-place votes from a 31-member national media panel.

“A goal was to come here and bring USC back to what it was at one point,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a phone interview. “Recognition of our history and admiration of the history and its a neat feeling in the present moment.”

Texas remained the top choice after receiving the other 25 first-place ballots. The Longhorns beat Georgia, Mississippi State and Florida last week to wrap up a share of the SEC title with South Carolina.

The Bruins fell to fourth with UConn right in front of them. South Carolina was fifth. Notre Dame dropped three places to sixth after losing to Florida State last week.

North Carolina State and TCU were seventh and eighth. LSU fell to ninth after the Tigers dropped both their games, losing to then-No. 20 Alabama in overtime and to Ole Mis.

Oklahoma rounded out the top 10.

Auburn and Duke remain atop the AP Top 25. The rest of the poll was a big jumble.

Auburn was the unanimous pick at No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving all 61 votes from a media panel in the poll released on Monday. The Tigers held the top spot for the eighth straight week following lopsided wins over Ole Miss and then-No. 17 Kentucky.

Duke was No. 2 for the second straight week after blowing out Miami and Florida State.

No. 3 Houston moved up a spot after beating Texas Tech and Cincinnati, while Tennessee climbed to No. 4 following Jahmai Mashack’s last-second 3-pointer from well beyond halfcourt to beat Alabama 79-76.

Florida rounded out the top five, dropping two places after losing to Georgia and beating Texas A&M.

No. 8 Michigan State joined Auburn and Duke as the only teams to have the same ranking as last week.

Rounding out the top 10 are No. 6 St. John’s, No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Texas Tech and No. 10 Iowa State.

NFL

Jimmy Johnson, the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach who won two Super Bowls and a college national championship, announced his retirement from Fox Sports on Monday after being part of its NFL coverage for 31 years.

The 81-year-old Johnson made the announcement during an appearance on “The Herd With Colin Cowherd.”

“The most fun I ever had in my career, that’s counting Super Bowls and national championships, was at Fox Sports,” he said, adding that he loved working for CEO Eric Shanks and Fox NFL Sunday producer Bill Richards.

“But I’ve made an extremely difficult decision,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it for the last four or five years and I’ve decided to retire from Fox. I’m going to miss it. I’m going to miss all the guys. I’ll see them occasionally. It’s been a great run starting 31 years ago.”

Johnson worked alongside hosts Curt Menefee and Terry Bradshaw and analysts Howie Long and Michael Strahan.

Johnson won Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1992 and ’93 seasons and the college football national championship with Miami in 1987.

Green Bay linebacker Isaiah McDuffie has agreed to terms on a two-year, $8 million deal that will keep him with the Packers, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced. ESPN first reported that McDuffie and the Packers had agreed to terms.

McDuffie, 25, started all 17 games for the Packers this past season and ranked second on the team with a career-high 97 tackles. He also had three tackles for loss, three passes defensed and a forced fumble.

MOTORSPORTS

Katherine Legge will become the first woman in a NASCAR Cup Series race since Danica Patrick in 2018 when the veteran makes her debut Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

Legge will drive the No. 78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports. She becomes the first woman since Patrick made her final Cup Series start in the Daytona 500 seven years ago.

Legge, who is a 44-year-old native of England, has five career starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. She most recently raced in NASCAR at Road America in 2023. She ran the ARCA race last month at Daytona International Speedway.

Legge has raced in multiple series over the years, including seven IndyCar Series starts last season. She has four career starts in the Indianapolis 500 and in 2023 set a record for fastest qualifying time by a woman.

“Entering the NASCAR Cup Series is a dream come true,” Legge said. “Racing stock cars has been an incredibly fun and new challenge that’s given me a renewed sense of vigor for this sport.”

Legge has four career wins in sports car racing.

BOXING

The New York State Athletic Commission said a “technical issue” prevented officials from seeing replay of Gervonta Davis going to a knee in the ninth round of his fight against Lamont Roach, ESPN and other outlets reported Monday.

Had officials seen the knockdown that referee Steve Willis did not call, Davis would have lost a point in that round and the result would have allowed Roach to win the fight and Davis’ lightweight title. Instead, the fight ended as a majority draw.

The NYSAC said in a statement that: “During the round in question, following the commission’s request for the replay video, there was a technical issue preventing the commission from receiving it within the allotted time for review. Therefore, the referee’s in-ring decision was relied upon and the fight continued.”

Roach appeared to land a jab to Davis’ eye when the champion suddenly turned away and knelt to the canvas, before getting up and leaning over the ropes so his corner could wipe the area around his eye with a towel.

Davis, said afterward that grease got in his eye after having his hair done during the week, won the round 10-9 on two of the judges’ scorecards. Roach would have won it 10-8 had the knockdown been credited.

One judge scored the fight 115-113 for Davis and the other two had it 114-114. Davis wrote Monday on X that he’s “pushing for the rematch.”