In brief: Syracuse, South Carolina lead NCAA basketball attendance figures

College basketball: Syracuse is the attendance leader in men’s basketball, edging Kentucky for the second straight year.

The NCAA said Monday that Syracuse averaged 23,854 fans per game last season, just ahead of Kentucky’s 23,572. Louisville, at 21,386, was the only other school to draw better than 20,000 a game.

The Division I attendance total of more than 27.4 million was down slightly from a year ago but the ninth-highest in history.

In women’s basketball, South Carolina ended Tennessee’s 11-year run atop the attendance standings.

The Gamecocks averaged 12,293 fans this past season at home, the most in the country. The Lady Vols were second with 10,375. Gonzaga ranked 13th at 5,366.

In all, more than 8.1 million fans took in games last season, the fourth-highest total in the 34-year history of women’s basketball.

Caps re-sign Kuznetsov

NHL: Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov signed a $6 million, two-year contract.

As a rookie, Kuznetsov had 11 goals and 26 assists during the regular season, then totaled five goals and two assists in the playoffs.

• Oilers get Nilsson: The Edmonton Oilers acquired goaltender Anders Nilsson in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks.

The 25-year-old Nilsson has a 9-9 record and a 3.05 goals-against average in 23 career NHL games. The Blackhawks obtained forward Liam Coughlin from the Oilers.

New York City signs Pirlo

Soccer: Star midfielder Andrea Pirlo joined Major League Soccer’s New York City FC from Juventus, a little more than a month after winning a fifth consecutive Italian league title.

Pirlo, 36, has spent his entire professional career in Italy. He has won two Champions League titles and six Italian league titles and was also part of Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning squad.

• Ex-FIFA official banned: The official chosen by FIFA to inspect 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting candidates was banned from soccer for seven years for breaking ethics rules.

FIFA’s ethics committee gave no reason for its decision to suspend Harold Mayne-Nicholls, a former president of Chile’s football federation who is disputing the sanction.

FSU player dismissed

Miscellany: Florida State dismissed freshman quarterback De’Andre Johnson from the team on the same day that prosecutors released video showing him punching a woman at a bar.

Johnson and the woman started a physical confrontation before he struck her in the face. He has been charged with misdemeanor battery.

• Melendez busted: The UFC suspended Lightweight title contender Gilbert Melendez one year for failing a post-fight drug test.

Melendez (22-5) tested positive for testosterone metabolites from an external source after his split-decision loss to Eddie Alvarez on June 13.

• Breithaupt dies: Scot Alexander Breithaupt, who helped turn BMX bike racing from a backyard backwater into an international action sport, has died, authorities said. He was 57.

Breithaupt was among the first to organize bicycle races on dirt motorcycle courses in the early 1970s, becoming first a founder of BMX — or bicycle motocross — then a champion, then one of its first famous faces.