A statement win in Austin sparked a firestorm after the coach’s comments, and a star continued to shine the brightest. In this daily roundup, we shed light on the biggest events of the day.

No. 4 Texas hosted No. 5 Vanderbilt in a clash to determine who could emerge as a true challenger to South Carolina for the SEC regular-season title. Against the odds, it was Vanderbilt, powered by record-breaking Mikayla Blakes, that came out on top, and let’s just say Vic Schaefer was far from pleased with the result.

In other news, Bad Bunny is still drawing global criticism for his Super Bowl halftime performance, and women’s basketball standout Sophie Cunningham has now added her voice to the conversation. So let’s begin with that.

Sophie Cunningham Reacts to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show will likely go down as one of the most controversial in history. He closed his 13-minute Super Bowl LX performance with a message of unity, saying, “Together we are America.” But that ended up being the only English line in the entire set, which became one of the main reasons some fans did not like it. And that was not the only issue.

Anyone who follows Bad Bunny closely knows he has a habit of making bold statements through his music. He did the same at the Grammys, where he called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stay out of communities, and that same message carried into his Super Bowl performance.

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It came in the form of a quote flashed across the stadium’s Jumbotron: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” The line neatly captured the tone of the 13-minute performance. Instead of feeding into the divisiveness surrounding the event, he leaned toward unity, highlighting Latino culture from Chile to Puerto Rico and emphasizing that “God bless America” applies to all of them as well.

President Donald Trump called the show “an affront to the greatness of America.” But there were supporters as well, including Lewis Hamilton, who described it as “one of the most important performances in history.” Now, women’s basketball player Sophie Cunningham has also shared her thoughts on the show on her podcast.

“I think you’re in the United States, and it’s a melting pot,” Cunningham said in the Show Me Something podcast. “You’re going to have a lot of different ethnicities, a lot of people who speak different languages. You have to evolve with the times, too. Like it’s Bad Bunny, he’s one of the best performers in the world right now. So, it makes sense on why they chose him.”

She continued, “I mean, you see it everywhere on the scoreboard that says the only thing more powerful than hate is love. Like, that has been everywhere, and I love that.”

With both critics and supporters weighing in, including fans celebrating his cultural impact, we want to know: where do your views fall?

Texas Women’s Basketball Coach Vic Schaefer Under Intense Scrutiny

Women’s basketball fans got a true marquee showdown as Texas faced Vanderbilt, two of the nation’s elite teams. In the end, it was Shea Ralph’s squad that made a statement, securing an emphatic 86–70 victory.

The last time Texas lost, against South Carolina, coach Vic Schaefer had criticized the SEC for scheduling back-to-back road games against LSU and South Carolina. This time, however, the game was at home, and after watching his team play its fourth straight ranked opponent, Schaefer was far from pleased. Instead of blaming the schedule, he turned his frustration toward his own squad.

“It’s the first time at Texas where my team was out-toughed. The other team played harder, and just quite frankly, we had no heart,” Schaefer said in the post-game interview. “My staff and I were really frustrated with coaching them. The focus, energy, that’s a given, it used to come with scholarship, now it comes with thousands of dollars. That’s not the way you represent the University of Texas. I’m accountable, it’s my team, but that’s the softest team I’ve had in years.”

For a team ranked No. 4 in the country and sitting at 8–3 in the SEC, many fans felt he was being overly critical, and plenty called him out for his remarks. So why not take a look at those comments?

Mikayla Blakes Joins the Clark–Watkins Tier

Mikayla Blakes continued her hot streak and once again showed why women’s basketball is on the rise. She dropped 34 points against Texas, marking her fourth straight game with 30 or more. Head coach Shea Ralph has already drawn comparisons between Blakes and Caitlin Clark, and her record-breaking stretch is starting to put her firmly in that conversation.

ESPN reporter Alexa Philippou noted that Blakes is the first SEC player in 25 years to post four consecutive 30-point outings. It was also her second 30-point performance against a top-five opponent this season, after LSU. But that’s not all! She is now just the third player in the past five seasons with multiple such games, joining Caitlin Clark and JuJu Watkins.

It is worth noting that when JuJu Watkins surpassed Caitlin Clark last season for the most points scored through a player’s first two collegiate seasons, few expected anyone to be on pace to challenge that mark so soon. Now, Mikayla Blakes is on track to surpass them.

The Somerset native currently sits 211 points behind Clark and 258 behind Watkins, both totals that could be within reach this season depending on how far Vanderbilt advances in the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. If the Commodores make a deep run and she maintains her 25.9 scoring average, she would have a real shot at eclipsing both marks.

So yes, women’s basketball has another superstar, and the talent pipeline shows no signs of slowing down. Exciting times lie ahead for fans of the game.