St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta could miss the first two months of the season with an injury to his left thumb. General manager John Mozeliak said Monday that Peralta is expected to return to St. Louis for a second opinion of what he said may be a damaged ulnar collateral ligament. Peralta hurt his glove hand while fielding a ground ball during Saturday’s exhibition game against Miami. ‘‘He felt some discomfort, but he certainly didn’t think it would be to this level,’’ Mozeliak said . . . Miami Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton missed Monday’s exhibition game against Washington because of a sore right knee . . . According to multiple reports, the Orioles and Pedro Alvarez have agreed to a one-year deal. Alvarez is expected to be used primarily as a DH.

NBA

Carter-Williams out for year

Bucks point guard and Hamilton, Mass., native Michael Carter-Williams will have left hip surgery and miss the rest of the season. Milwaukee GM John Hammond said Carter-Williams would have the procedure in Colorado on Thursday to repair a torn labrum. He will need three months to recover. The third-year guard has been dealing with discomfort in his hip since late December, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team has not yet fully discussed details of his condition. The former NBA Rookie of the Year averaged 11.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and a team-high 5.2 assists in 54 games this season, including 37 starts . . . The Pacers signed troubled point guard Ty Lawson, but his Indiana debut lasted just five minutes Monday night before he suffered a sprained left foot. He is day to day. Lawson was arrested twice last year on drunken-driving charges, once in Denver and once in Los Angeles, and was traded from Denver to Houston last summer. The Rockets bought out his contract last week . . . Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will miss two games, including Monday’s, because of a family medical situation.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Flint’s time at Drexel is over

Drexel fired men’s coach Bruiser Flint after a 15-year run without an NCAA Tournament appearance. Flint, who also coached UMass from 1996-2001, went 245-217 with the Dragons and slumped to 6-25 this season . . . Santa Clara fired men’s coach Kerry Keating after nine years . . . Wisconsin named Greg Gard the permanent replacement for retired men’s coach Bo Ryan . . . Kansas is No. 1 in the AP men’s poll for a second straight week and for the fourth time this season. The Jayhawks (27-4) received 63 of 65 first-place votes. No. 2 Michigan State (26-5) got the other two first-place votes . . . The UConn women (31-0), again the unanimous No. 1 in the AP poll, beat No. 21 South Florida, 77-51, in the American Athletic Conference title game in Uncasville, Conn. It’s the Huskies’ 69th straight win. Also reaching the women’s NCAA Tournament were Baylor (Big 12) and Iona (MAAC) . . . The men’s teams to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament were Chattanooga (Southern), UNC Wilmington (Colonial Athletic), and Iona (MAAC). Stony Brook and Vermont advanced to the America East final on Saturday.

Colorado women’s coach Linda Lappe agreed to resign. She spent six seasons at the school and had three years left on her contract.

Joi Williams was fired as Central Florida’s women’s coach after nine seasons. Williams was 114-163 overall.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Illinois lures Smith from NFL

Digging out from a scandal and weary of having its football program mired near the bottom of the Big Ten, Illinois made a splash by hiring former NFL coach Lovie Smith to lead the Illini. The move came two days after athletic director Josh Whitman, in his first official day on the job, fired Bill Cubit after a single season in Champaign. He turned to Smith, who took the Chicago Bears to the 2006 Super Bowl and was dismissed as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January. Smith agreed to a six-year contract worth $21 million, including $2 million per year for the first two seasons. This is the first college head coaching job for Smith, 58. Illinois has had six losing seasons in the past eight years, and the program also is recovering from allegations of player abuse that led the school to fire coach Tim Beckman a week before last season started.

The College Football Playoff semifinals are staying on New Year’s Eve — despite last season’s poor television ratings — but the schedule is getting a tweak. The Dec. 31 semifinals will start an hour earlier than they did last season — at 3 and 7 p.m. Eastern — and the Orange Bowl will now be played in prime time on Dec. 30, instead of during the day on Dec. 31.

MISCELLANY

Top ice dancers out of worlds

Former European ice dancing champion Ekaterina Bobrova told Russian media she failed a doping test, ruling her and her partner Dmitry Soloviev out of the world championships at TD Garden this month. Bobrova told Russian agency R-Sport that she tested positive for the heart medication Meldonium, which is banned in sport, after finishing third at the European Championships in January. Bobrova and Soloviev were Olympic gold medalists in the team event in 2014 and won the European title in 2013 . . . Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin’s will resume his career in the minors after the team lifted its suspension. GM Steve Yzerman said Drouin is scheduled to report to Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate in Syracuse for practice Tuesday. Drouin, drafted third overall in 2013, was suspended indefinitely in January for missing a Syracuse game . . . Australia and China both qualified for the women’s Olympic soccer tournament, while 2012 silver medalist Japan was eliminated during an Asian qualifier tournament in Osaka.

US Olympic Committee leaders say athletes have to decide for themselves about competing at the Summer Olympics in Brazil, where the outbreak of the Zika virus has made some question the wisdom of traveling there this year. The USOC recently appointed a health advisory committee to offer advice about the virus, which is mainly free of symptoms but can cause birth defects. But CEO Scott Blackmun said the USOC doesn’t want to be in position of making health policy. Blackmun and chairman Larry Probst also expressed confidence that sports leaders will do their best to clean up track and field ahead of the games. News about widespread doping in Russia and Kenya has placed both countries under watch, with the possibility they might be ineligible for track in Rio.

Tennis great Billie Jean King served new FIFA president Gianni Infantino with a challenge: Hire more women for top jobs. After years of corruption scandals, the male-dominated soccer world body has a chance to transform itself, King said in a keynote speech at FIFA headquarters in Munich. Infantino took over a FIFA with no women in top management having responsibility for soccer, commercial, legal or financial issues after more than 17 years under former president Sepp Blatter. ‘‘No pressure, but the world is counting on you,’’ King said, with Infantino having a front-row seat to hear the long-time equal rights activist address a women’s soccer leadership conference.