RENNES, France (AP) — Goalkeeper Brice Samba is joining Rennes from French league rival Lens, the Brittany club said Wednesday.
Rennes said Samba, who is France's second-choice goalkeeper behind Mike Maignan, signed until 2029. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 30-year-old Samba could make his league debut with Rennes this weekend against Marseille, his former club.
Samba joined Lens in 2022 after helping Nottingham Forest gain promotion to the Premier League, and made 96 appearances for the northern club.
He will be replaced at Lens by Spanish goalkeeper Pau Lopez, who has been loaned by Marseille until the end of the season with an option to make the move permanent.
The 30-year-old Lopez was loaned to Spanish side Girona at the start of the season but made just one appearance in the Spanish Cup. He is set to become No. 1 at Lens in place of Burkina Faso 'keeper Hervé Koffi, who has played the last two games for Lens — including the French Cup defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on penalty kicks.
Rennes is 13th after 16 rounds of games in the French league, already lagging 23 points behind leader PSG.
“I want to be as decisive as possible, that’s what got me into the French national team and I hope to continue in that vein,” Samba said.
Samba has played three matches with France.
Samba is the second significant signing by recently hired Rennes coach Jorge Sampaoli — and the second who played for Lens — after Ivory Coast midfielder Seko Fofana joined earlier this month until 2029 following a brief spell in Saudi Arabia.
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FILE - Brice Samba, with Nottingham Forest, looks on during an English FA Cup fourth-round soccer match against Leicester City at the City Ground, Nottingham, England, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Zeke Mayo scored 23 points and No. 11 Kansas held Arizona State to 13 in the second half of a 74-55 victory Wednesday night.
Hunter Dickinson added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Jayhawks (11-3, 2-1 Big 12), who started the second period with a 20-3 spurt that turned a six-point deficit into an 11-point lead at the second media timeout.
Kansas outscored the Sun Devils 38-13 after halftime.
Arizona State (10-4, 1-2) didn't score its 10th point of the half until 3:09 remained. ASU was led by Alston Mason with 19 points. BJ Freeman had 10, and Jayden Quaintance added nine points and 11 rebounds.
Arizona State: The Sun Devils clearly missed co-leading scorer Joson Sanon and his 13.5 points per game. Down a player, and with Freeman picking up his fourth foul with 12:32 left, they had trouble handling Kansas’ press for most of the second half.
Kansas: The Jayhawks lost their previous home game to West Virginia, but haven’t dropped consecutive home games since losing four straight in 1988-89 as part of a seven-game losing streak in Roy Williams’ first season as coach.
Kansas trailed 42-36 at halftime, but Dickinson took a pass from Dajuan Harris and threw down a thunderous dunk over Quaintance to tie the score early in the second half. Quaintance picked up the foul and Dickinson’s free throw gave Kansas its first lead since the 8:24 mark of the first half. It was part of an 11-0 run to start the period.
Arizona State, which shot 46.7% in the first half, including 5 of 13 from 3-point territory, shot just 21.7% in the second half, including 1 of 11 from long range.
Arizona State returns home Saturday to face Baylor, while Kansas visits Cincinnati.
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Kansas guard Rylan Griffen, right, looks to shoot under pressure from Arizona State guard BJ Freeman during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
