Lions

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) &mdash; &ldquo;The Freshies&rdquo; have had a winning impact on South Carolina, one coach Dawn Staley believes will last long after they leave campus.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had leaders leave a legacy of leadership,&rdquo; Staley said Sunday after her top-ranked team&rsquo;s 73-63 victory over Georgia. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s still intact.&rdquo;
And has more yet to accomplish.
The group of five led by reigning AP national player of the year Aliyah Boston and high-scoring Zia Cooke (they&rsquo;ve called themselves &ldquo;The Freshies&rdquo; since arriving as the country&rsquo;s No. 1 recruiting class) has helped the Gamecocks win three Southeastern Conference titles, two league tournament crowns and last year&rsquo;s NCAA championship.
Boston had her 78th career double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Cooke had 10 of her 12 points in the first half as the Gamecocks (29-0) completed a perfect, 16-0 SEC season.
The quintet, which also includes Brea Beal, Laeticia Amihere and Olivia Thompson, has a 122-8 record the past four years and has won 35 straight games since its last loss to Kentucky at the SEC Tournament a year ago.
Boston and her teammates hope to avenge that and add to their trophy collection this coming week.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s definitely no relief&rdquo; after their flawless regular season, she said. &ldquo;Now, were into the season where winning is the only option.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Kamilla Cardoso, the Gamecocks&rsquo; 6-foot-7 reserve, also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Georgia (20-10, 9-7) kept things uncomfortably close into the second quarter before the Gamecocks pulled away for their 17th straight victory in the series.
Georgia frustrated South Carolina nearly two months ago, holding Boston to four points and five boards in a 68-51 loss on Jan. 2.
The Bulldogs defense was at it again, this time limiting just about every other Gamecock besides Boston to stay within arms length of the defending national champions. Diamond Battles&rsquo; basket with 5:58 to go before the half tied things at 25.
South Carolina dialed up its own defense for a 10-2 run the rest of the half to take control. The Gamecocks forced three turnovers and Georgia missed its five attempts during the four-minute span.
Cooke opened the surge with a driving bucket and closed it with a three as the Gamecocks lead 35-27 at the break.
South Carolina used its dominating height advantage &mdash; Cardoso scored all her points the final 20 minutes &mdash; to maintain a double-figure lead for much of the second half.
Georgia came in with a five-game win streak, but fell to 0-4 this season against ranked opponents. Battles led the Bulldogs with 20 points.
Bulldogs first-year coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson was proud of her team&rsquo;s fight and said this doesn&rsquo;t diminish in how they&rsquo;ve gelled the past month.
&ldquo;Their personality is now becoming my personality,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Which I love that. They&rsquo;ve got to be fighters and they&rsquo;ve got to be tough.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Georgia: The Bulldogs had no offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes against South Carolina, which is second nationally in grabbing its opponents misses with more than 31 a game this season. Georgia entered this game fifth in SEC offensive rebounding per game at 13.3.
South Carolina: The Gamecocks were stunned by Kentucky in last year&rsquo;s SEC Tournament finals. But it&rsquo;s hard to imagine South Carolina&rsquo;s versatile, talented roster letting up after the way they&rsquo;ve handled the challenges of being No. 1 and remaining undefeated.
SENIOR TEARS
Aliyah Boston had her emotions on display as South Carolina&rsquo;s seven seniors were celebrated at Senior Day. Boston cried several times, including on video as she discussed her time at school in a taped message to fans. When Boston cried in the tunnel before the ceremony, she got a bit of coaching from Staley, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too early,&rdquo; Boston recalled.
UP NEXT
Georgia starts SEC Tournament play on Thursday.
South Carolina, the top seed, begins play in Friday&rsquo;s quarterfinals.

“We’ve had leaders leave a legacy of leadership,” Dawn Staley said Sunday after her team’s 73-63 victory over Georgia. “It’s still intact.”

Boston, No 1 Gamecocks take SEC title, top Georgia 73-63

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) &mdash; Angel Reese showed little interest in celebrating after extending her LSU-record double-double streak to help the third-ranked Tigers maintain their unblemished record.
She wasn&rsquo;t all that pleased with how she or her team played.
Reese had 23 points and 14 rebounds to extend her streak of double-doubles to 22 games, and No. 3 LSU narrowly remained unbeaten with an 82-77 victory over Georgia in overtime Thursday night.
&ldquo;Honestly, it&rsquo;s a wake-up call,&rdquo; Reese said. &ldquo;We beat Tennessee (on Monday) and then we came into Georgia thinking they were going to lay down.
&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t lay down,&rdquo; Reese continued. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re definitely the hunted and I think they did a great job scouting us, they did a great job playing against us.&rdquo;
Alexis Morris highlighted her 15-point night with a 3 from the right corner in the final minute of the extra period to give LSU (22-0, 10-0 SEC) a 77-74 lead, and the Tigers held on from there.
&ldquo;Lex has hit a few of those big shots this year,&rdquo; LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. &ldquo;It was big.&rdquo;
Morris was coming off a career-high 31 points against Tennessee, but didn&rsquo;t score in the first half against Georgia. She hit one 3 in the third quarter and scored 12 of her points in the fourth period and overtime.
&ldquo;I was clutch when I needed to be,&rdquo; Morris said. &ldquo;Of course, it&rsquo;s frustrating because everybody&rsquo;s expecting me to have another 30-ball right? But I showed up in a way I needed to.&rdquo;
Diamond Battles scored 22 points for Georgia (15-9, 4-6), which had a chance to pull within a point when De&rsquo;Mauri Flournoy was fouled behind the 3-point line with 8 seconds left. But Flournoy made just one free throw.
Morris rebounded Flournoy&rsquo;s last miss and then hit two free throws for the final margin.
Reese grabbed 11 of her rebounds on the offensive end, helping LSU score 20 vital second-chance points.
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t shoot well tonight, so I just tried to get as many rebounds as I could get to get second-chance opportunities,&rdquo; said Reese, whose point total could have been higher had she not missed six of her 15 free throws.
Sa&rsquo;Myah Smith and LaDazhia Williams each scored 10 points for LSU, which rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Brittney Smith scored 13 points, Javyn Nicholson 12 and Alisha Lewis 11 for Georgia, which held the Tigers to their second-lowest regulation point total this season.
The Lady Bulldogs &ldquo;fought, they stayed together, they stayed focused, they stuck to the game plan,&rdquo; Georgia coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said. &ldquo;Maybe the only thing we didn&rsquo;t do really well is box out.&rdquo;
Georgia led 59-50 after Battles converted her steal of Flau&rsquo;Jae Johnson&rsquo;s pass into a fast-break layup with 7:53 left.
But the Tigers quickly cut it to 59-55 on Reese&rsquo;s basket inside and Morris&rsquo; 3.
Reese hit four straight free throws over multiple possessions to pull LSU back into a tie at 63. After Battles&rsquo; free throws put Georgia back in front, Morris again tied it with a fast-break layup.
Smith and LSU&rsquo;s Kateri Poole each made one of two free throws, and regulation ended tied at 66 after both teams failed to score on their final possessions of the period.
The Lady Bulldogs never trailed by more than four points until the final seconds of overtime. LSU held a 30-29 lead at halftime, but Georgia led for the last 5:07 of the third quarter, going up 55-48 after Battles&rsquo; fast-break layup.
&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t get lax,&rdquo; Reese said. &ldquo;Just getting back in the gym and being able to get better, I think that&rsquo;s going to be important for us.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Georgia: The Lady Bulldogs looked formidable defensively in recent victories over Missouri (62-51) and Mississippi State (62-34) and maintained that form at LSU, holding the Tigers to 36% shooting (24 of 67). Nicholson scored at least 10 points for the 10th time this season, and for the seventh time in a reserve role.
LSU: This marked just the fourth time this season the Tigers were held below 70 points in regulation and the first time they were pushed to overtime. Georgia&rsquo;s defense had a lot to do with that, but LSU missed a number of open shots. The Tigers&rsquo; 18 turnovers were relatively few against a Georgia squad that has forced 20 or more opponent turnovers in 15 games this season, but Georgia was efficient in scoring 21 points off turnovers. LSU outscored Georgia at the foul line 28-15.
UP NEXT
Georgia: Visits Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon.
LSU: Visits Texas A&amp;M on Sunday afternoon.

Angel Reese had 23 points and 14 rebounds to extend her streak of double-doubles to 22 games.

Reese rescues No. 3 LSU in 82-77 OT win over Georgia

Gonzaga coach Mark Few always builds an ambitious nonconference schedule, helping not only harden his team for March but also to balance the Bulldogs&rsquo; weaker West Coast Conference slate when it comes to the NCAA selection committee.
They&rsquo;ve taken their lumps already this season, losing to second-ranked Texas and fifth-ranked Purdue to fall out of the top 10 for the first time since February 2018. But the No. 14 Bulldogs also have marquee wins over No. 19 Kentucky and No. 20 Michigan State, the latter played on the USS Abraham Lincoln at North Island Naval Air Station in California.
Next up on meatgrinder: No. 6 Baylor on Friday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Oh, and it just happens to be a rematch of the 2021 national title game won by the Bears in a rout.
&ldquo;Every time I see Baylor playing,&rdquo; Bulldogs guard Julian Strawther said, &ldquo;I just kind of think to that national championship game. For sure excited to get out there and play against a great team on a neutral site. Those are the games that all great players want: two top teams, a bunch of great players. I&rsquo;m super excited for it.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s not as if the Bears, who face Marquette on Tuesday night, will have had an easy road to South Dakota, either. They lost to third-ranked Virginia in Las Vegas before knocking off No. 21 UCLA in the Continental Tire Main Event.
&ldquo;(Baylor) is one of the most amazing stories in sports, from where it was &mdash; how low it could be, which is apathy plus all the stuff that happened there,&rdquo; said Few, who has grown close to Bears coach Scott Drew over the years.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just such a positive person and force and that&rsquo;s what his program is like,&rdquo; Few said. &ldquo;They really got, not a system but they recruit to what works at Baylor. Their perimeter players in the national championship game were terrific, the ones they have now are terrific. They have size inside. They&rsquo;ve really got that thing going.&rdquo;
BIG EAST-BIG 12 BATTLE
The two conferences have split their challenge the past two seasons with each winning three during the pandemic-plagued 2020-21 season and five apiece last season, and there are some premier showdowns coming this week.
The three most significant come Thursday night, when seventh-ranked Creighton visits No. 2 Texas, eighth-ranked UConn plays host to Oklahoma State and Seton Hall travels to No. 9 Kansas. The final game of the conference showdown happens Sunday, when St. John&rsquo;s faces No. 23 Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
ACC-BIG TEN CHALLENGE
The Big Ten has won the last three editions against the ACC, and with six teams ranked in the Top 25 this week, they are favored to make it four in a row. Half of the 14 games on the docket involve ranked teams, beginning with No. 22 Maryland visiting Louisville, Syracuse heading to No. 16 Illinois and third-ranked Virginia visiting Michigan on Tuesday night.
The schedule for Wednesday includes No. 5 Purdue visiting Florida State, No. 20 Michigan State heading to Notre Dame and No. 25 Ohio State visiting No. 17 Duke. Traditional powers also meet when No. 18 North Carolina visits No. 10 Indiana.
CONFERENCE PLAY
After beating up on other conferences, two of the biggest will begin beating up on each other this weekend. The ACC slate begins with the Blue Devils heading to Boston College and Virginia visiting Florida State on Saturday, while the Big Ten gets going Friday night with Illinois heading to Maryland and Saturday with Indiana taking on Rutgers.
OTHER GAMES TO WATCH
Houston will put its first No. 1 ranking since 1983 on the line against Saint Mary&rsquo;s on Saturday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. And on Sunday, Michigan takes on Kentucky at the 02 Arena in London.

Mark Few always builds an ambitious schedule, helping not only harden Gonzaga for March but also to balance a weaker WCC slate.

Gonzaga’s brutal slate continues with No. 6 Baylor up next

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Tyrese Hunter seemed to be getting farther and farther away every time he let another 3-pointer fly.
No distance seemed out of his range.
Hunter scored 26 points and a led a 3-point shooting spree that pushed No. 11 Texas to a dominant 93-74 win over No. 2 Gonzaga on Wednesday night.
Hunter, last season&rsquo;s Big 12 freshman of the year at Iowa State, was 9-of-14 shooting and made five of Texas&rsquo; 13 3-pointers. He made three from long range in the opening minutes of the second half as the Longhorns seized control.
&ldquo;Big shout-out to my teammates for finding me. I don&rsquo;t think I got one of them off the dribble,&rdquo; Hunter said.
Gonzaga couldn&rsquo;t push Hunter far enough away from the basket.
&ldquo;They hit a lot of deep, deep 3&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Bulldogs coach Mark Few said. &ldquo;We knew he could shoot them, but not from 30 feet or whatever. He was feeling it.&rdquo;
Texas was 3 of 22 from long range in its previous game against Houston Christian.
Defensively, Texas (3-0) shut down All-American forward Drew Timme for long stretches and rendered him mostly ineffective when the game was still close. Two of his first four shots were airballs against switching double-team defenses.
Marcus Carr added 16 points for Texas. Timme led Gonzaga (2-1) with 18 points.
Texas held Gonzaga to a single basket over the final five minutes of the first half and stretched a tight game into a 10-point halftime lead behind a rare scoring burst from defensive specialist Brock Cunningham. He made a 3-pointer and a reverse layup before tipping away a pass to Timme for his own layup that made it 47-37.
Texas broke it open with the flurry of 3-pointers to start the second half. Hunter struck first, then Dylan Disu was left wide open for another. Hunter then made two more before converting a three-point play on a steal and layup that pushed the Texas lead to 20.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty sure a lot of people were watching the game, saw who we are and what we&rsquo;re about,&rdquo; Hunter said.
BIG PICTURE
Gonzaga: The Bulldogs shot pretty well (49% overall with nine 3-pointers) but have a turnover problem. They finished with 20 turnovers, one game after they gave the ball away 18 times in a tight win over Michigan State on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Longhorns turned those turnovers into 27 points. Point guard Nolan Hickman had four turnovers and two assists.
&ldquo;Some of it was us, but a lot of it was their pressure,&rdquo; Few said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t function if we turn the ball over like that.&rdquo;
Texas: Disu was a big part of Texas&rsquo; ability to lock down Timme from the jump. At 6-foot-9, he&rsquo;s the tallest Longhorn and a nagging leg injury kept him off the court for much of last season. His physical play around the rim will be key for a team that lacks overall size. He scored 12 points and hit two 3-pointers with his soft shooting touch, giving the Longhorns a critical piece on both ends of the court.
&ldquo;He had great poise against a great player in Timme,&rdquo; Texas coach Chris Beard said.
POLL POSITION
Texas doesn&rsquo;t play again until next week&rsquo;s rankings come out and the Longhorns can expect to make a big jump.
FAST-BREAK POINTS
All those turnovers have the Longhorns running a lot. Texas has outscored its first three opponents 55-3 on the fast break.
UP NEXT
Gonzaga continues its rough early-season schedule with a home matchup against No. 4 Kentucky on Sunday.
Texas plays Northern Arizona in Edinburg, Texas on Nov. 21.

Tyrese Hunter scored 26 points and a led a three-point spree that pushed No. 11 Texas to a dominant 93-74 win over No. 2 Gonzaga.

Hunter scores 26, No. 11 Texas dominates No. 2 Gonzaga 93-74

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; Malik Hall forced two extra periods with dunks off inbounds plays, and Michigan State outlasted No. 4 Kentucky 86-77 in double overtime on Tuesday night after Oscar Tshiebwe concluded his strong season debut by fouling out.
Tshiebwe, last season&rsquo;s consensus national player of the year, had 22 points and 18 rebounds for the Wildcats (2-1) before picking up his fifth foul late in the first overtime.
Michigan State (2-1), coming off a one-point loss to No. 2 Gonzaga on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, appeared headed for another tough nonconference defeat in this Champions Classic matchup. But the Spartans tied the game in the final seconds of regulation and overtime thanks to Hall, who finished with 20 points.
Joey Hauser scored 23 points and Mady Sissoko had a career-high 16 points with eight rebounds for the Spartans, who spent most of the second half playing catch-up. But with Tshiebwe on the bench, Michigan State closed out the game by outscoring Kentucky 13-1. Sissoko gave the Spartans the lead with an alley-oop slam and had another dunk in the final minute.
Kentucky led 62-60 near the end of regulation when Tshiebwe lost Hall on an inbound pass. Hall took advantage by dunking with 3.7 seconds left.
It happened again in the first overtime when Hall broke free as the Spartans moved the ball into the front court. He drove in for the dunk to tie it 71-71 with 1.4 seconds left.
After Cason Wallace&rsquo;s 3-pointer early in the second overtime gave Kentucky a 76-73 lead, the Spartans locked down Kentucky&rsquo;s shooters and pulled away.
BIG PICTURE
Michigan State: Coach Tom Izzo&rsquo;s teams always seem to finish stronger than they start and if these Spartans do that again this season, they could be scary. Despite poor early shooting, they overcome a sluggish start to knock off a top-five team.
Kentucky: The Wildcats returned to the venue from their last loss, a first-round NCAA Tournament defeat to Saint Peter&rsquo;s in March, and left with the same result. Yes, they&rsquo;re big, long, athletic and defend well. But they&rsquo;ll need to develop a closing punch.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Michigan State: The Spartans were unranked in the preseason AP Top 25 and again this week. They&rsquo;ll likely move into the poll after two strong showings against top-five foes.
Kentucky: Coach John Calipari&rsquo;s squad didn&rsquo;t need Tshiebwe last week. He missed the first two games while recovering from a knee procedure. But when he&rsquo;s on the floor, the Wildcats are clearly one of the nation&rsquo;s top teams. They may slide a few spots after this loss but will have a chance to recover &mdash; if they can beat No. 2 Gonzaga on the road this weekend.
HE&rsquo;S BACK
Dick Vitale returned to ESPN&rsquo;s broadcast Tuesday night following his battle against cancer. Vitale missed most of last season when his signature voice was impaired as he fought against lymphoma and melanoma.
He sat at midcourt, in front of Wildcats fans, and opened the broadcast by thanking everyone who sent text messages and notes of support and acknowledged the famous words of the late Jim Valvano &mdash; &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t give up, don&rsquo;t ever give up&rdquo; &mdash; inspired him to persevere.
UP NEXT
Michigan State: Hosts Villanova on Friday.
Kentucky: Hosts South Carolina State on Thursday.

Malik Hall forced two extra periods with dunks off inbounds plays, and Michigan State outlasted No. 4 Kentucky 86-77 in double OT.

Michigan State outlasts Tshiebwe, No. 4 Kentucky in 2OT

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Two of the more notable games on Friday&rsquo;s college basketball schedule are taking place on an aircraft carrier and in a baseball stadium.
No. 2 Gonzaga will face Michigan State on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the San Diego harbor to celebrate Veterans Day. Wisconsin is playing Stanford at American Family Field, the retractable-roof park that is home to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Staging neutral-site games in non-traditional venues isn&rsquo;t new. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has scheduled games at many different sites over the past two decades.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been &lsquo;Outside the Box U&rsquo; for 20 years and other people are catching up,&rdquo; Izzo said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s good, and that&rsquo;s why I didn&rsquo;t want to pass up this game.&rdquo;
Izzo&rsquo;s penchant for this began in 2003, when Michigan State lost to Kentucky in front of 78,129 fans at Ford Field, the home of the NFL&rsquo;s Detroit Lions. Soon enough, plenty of late-round NCAA Tournament games started taking place in football stadiums.
This won&rsquo;t be the first time Izzo has coached a game on an aircraft carrier.
Michigan State lost to top-ranked North Carolina in November 2011 on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama watched from courtside.
Stanford coach Jerod Haase was a North Carolina assistant coach for that 2011 game. Now, he&rsquo;s preparing his team to play the first basketball game at a baseball-only stadium since San Diego faced San Diego State in 2015 at Petco Park, home of the Padres.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an experience for our guys to talk about when they&rsquo;re old like me, about how they played in a baseball stadium,&rdquo; Haase said.
The offbeat settings come with potential obstacles, particularly when they&rsquo;re outdoors. The roof will be closed for the American Family Field doubleheader that includes a women&rsquo;s game between Wisconsin and Kansas State.
The 2011 North Carolina-Michigan State game on a carrier finished less than an hour before rain fell.
A year later, condensation on the respective courts wiped out an Ohio State-Marquette game aboard the decommissioned USS Yorktown in Charleston, South Carolina, and a Georgetown-Florida game aboard the USS Bataan in Gainesville, Florida. Florida and Georgetown did play the first half before the game was scrapped.
During that 2012-13 season, a Syracuse-San Diego State game aboard the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum was delayed two days due to rain. And, windy conditions affected 3-point shooting when it was played.
The teams involved believe the opportunity is worth the potential drawbacks.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few jumped at the chance when the idea of playing on a carrier was proposed.
&ldquo;Tom Izzo told me it was the coolest thing he&rsquo;s ever done,&rdquo; Few said. &ldquo;I said, &lsquo;OK, I&rsquo;m in.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard says his hopes of having the Badgers play a game at American Family Field started about 15 years ago, when he was an assistant coach and the stadium was known as Miller Park.
Various plans were discussed over the years.
&ldquo;We were going to do a doubleheader basketball-hockey and set up ice in the outfield,&rdquo; Gard said. &ldquo;Everything was on the table at one point in time.&rdquo;
Gard is about to realize that dream &mdash; minus an ice rink.
Wisconsin and Stanford practiced Thursday on a court that encompasses much of the ballpark&rsquo;s infield, with baskets in the vicinity of first base and third base.
The pitcher&rsquo;s mound was removed, and fans will sit in temporary stands courtside, as well as in some of the stadium&rsquo;s permanent seats.
&ldquo;Listening to our players as we walked up out of the dugout, what their reactions were, I think it turned out really, really good,&rdquo; Gard said.
Wisconsin forward Tyler Wahl, who has attended just one Brewers home game, tried to envision just what to expect on Friday.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited to see what it looks like with basketball, bringing a whole different crew of fans,&rdquo; Wahl said. &ldquo;Hopefully it will be cool.&rdquo;
It might not be a one-time deal.
Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger said he was hopeful that the contest was the first of many chances to host hoop games at the ballpark.
Gard says he&rsquo;d love to see an NCAA regional at American Family Field, though it could be tough to host that kind of event in late March while still having the ballpark&rsquo;s grass surface ready in time for baseball season.
For now, Wisconsin and Stanford are looking forward to a unique experience in an atypical early-season game. Michigan State and Gonzaga feel the same.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little bit old school and I believe the college education is much more than just what you learn on the classroom and the games themselves,&rdquo; Haase said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all the experiences around them. I think this provides that.&rdquo;
___
AP Writer Nicholas K. Geranios and AP Sports Writers Larry Lage and Bernie Wilson contributed to this report.

Two notable games on Friday’s college basketball schedule are taking place on an aircraft carrier and in a baseball stadium.

Unusual venues make non-conference games more memorable

It is common for the players who score the most points to get the most praise. They get the credit on SportsCenter and are viewed as the stars of the night. But there is another kind of player who typically doesn't get the credit they deserve, whose importance to the team is not often illuminated.
Enter Victor Oladipo.
In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics on Saturday night, Oladipo's 5 points didn't make the ESPN highlight reel or pop out in the box score. His stat line wasn&rsquo;t highlighted on the NBA TV recap.
After being bumped out of the rotation in the first half in favor of Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson, Oladipo could have pouted and had an attitude. This is something that happens at every level: a player doesn&rsquo;t play in the first half and mentally checks out. Sometimes, they are visibily disgruntled. You may be able to see it during halftime warm-ups or in his demeanor on the bench.&nbsp;
Oladipo didn&rsquo;t do any of that. He stayed locked in and was ready and prepared if his number happened to be called. Then, it happened. Jimmy Butler went down and could not return to the game in the second half. Butler has been carrying the team throughout the series; he is who the offense runs through, who the team relies on every trip down the court in some capacity. When he couldn't return due to a knee injury, Oladipo&rsquo;s number was called and he was ready.
In just 20 minutes, Oladipo had 4 steals (twice as many as the Celtics had as team for the entire game) and 8 pass deflections (one more than the Celtics). After the game, PJ Tucker raved about Oladipo's play.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s usually his offense everybody talks about,&rdquo; Tucker said. &ldquo;He comes in with a spark. But his lateral slides and quickness were unbelievable. I told him tonight, 'That was some of the best lateral foot speed I&rsquo;ve seen anybody have.' Jaylen Brown, when he gets going &mdash; especially right &mdash; he's tough to get back in front of. For Vic to square him up was unreal. He gave us a spark.
&ldquo;We talked about it at the half, knowing he was about to start the half and play. To not play at all and then step in and do what he did in the second half, that level of professionalism is few and far between.&rdquo;
Former NBA guard Jamal Crawford tweeted: &ldquo;Vic Oladipo&rsquo;s stats won&rsquo;t justify the game he actually played. They don&rsquo;t win this game without him.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Vic Oladipo&rsquo;s stats won&rsquo;t justify the game he actually played. They don&rsquo;t win this game without him.
&mdash; 🏁 Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) <a href="https://twitter.com/JCrossover/status/1528214518660157440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

&ldquo;Everything about it, it speaks to his competitive character,&rdquo; Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Oladipo. &ldquo;That was not easy. We went with a slightly different rotation because Kyle [Lowry] came back. That is going to force some changes throughout the rotation, so he didn&rsquo;t play in the first half. We&rsquo;ve had so many guys that have had to take on different roles and sacrifice. We say it&rsquo;s always easy to sacrifice when you&rsquo;re not the one doing it, and he&rsquo;s had to sacrifice many times. That wasn&rsquo;t easy. That wasn&rsquo;t necessarily the way we were going to go the first half. Just things were going really well. We just kept going with that. Then, all of a sudden, boom: Jimmy is not going to go in the second half.
"For him to be stable enough and not be frustrated and not be rolling his eyes and like, 'Oh, okay, now I get an opportunity.... he&rsquo;s just steady. Stays the course. He&rsquo;s made himself available, made himself vulnerable through this whole process. He&rsquo;s prepared behind the scenes. His minutes in the second half were so important defensively against their two studs (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown), and then offensively, he just gave us a facsimile of a lot of the stuff we do with Jimmy. And I mean that as the ultimate compliment.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
This isn&rsquo;t the first time during these playoffs that Oladipo has had to be ready to jump right in and be a determining factor when his number was called. Oladipo was actually outside of Miami's rotation in the first round against the Atlanta Hawks. However, he ended up being one of the key reasons for the Heat's 97-94 win in Game 5, which could have easily gone in the Hawks favor. Oladipo poured in 23 points, 3 assists and 3 steals, while shooting 50% from the floor and 50% from three. After that game, his play was featured in ESPN's highlight reel and his stat line jumped out when looking at the box score.
But again, if he hadn't been ready when his number was called, none of that would have been possible. Time and time again, Oladipo has shown that when given the opportunity, he can produce at a high level and be a game-changing player. Any questions about his past injuries (including a ruptured right quadricep tendon) should be laid to rest as he's proven that he's back in terms of his lateral movement, athleticism, ability to create his own shot, outside shooting and transition defense.
&ldquo;Signing Victor Oladipo [to a veteran-minimum deal] was one of the biggest steals in NBA history for the Miami Heat," said Daniel Abraham, Oladipo&rsquo;s former AAU coach. "To get a former All-Star and All-Defensive Team player still near his prime like that for very little and be able to wait patiently for him to get healthy is the type of move that will likely land them in the NBA Finals! And if you know Vic like I do, you know the level of the dedication and work ethic he has always had, so none of this would surprise you.&ldquo;
Many in the NBA world were ready to write him off into irrelevance after he re-injured his leg in 2020 and got traded twice. In January 2021, Oladipo was traded to the Houston Rockets in the four-team blockbuster deal that also sent James Harden to Brooklyn and Caris LeVert to Indiana. Two months later, the Rockets sent Oladipo to Miami for a first-round pick swap, Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk.
But with all that behind him, Oladipo is proving all of his doubters wrong. He is far from finished and he has proven that he's still capable of being an impact player and a X-Factor for his team &mdash; whether it&rsquo;s by solely playing defense on one of the best scorers in the league or stepping in and being one of the game's high scorers himself. Regardless of his role, Oladipo will have the right attitude and energy, even if those opportunities don&rsquo;t present themselves each and every game.
This is the type of player whom any organization would want on their team, and Oladipo should receive plenty of interest from teams when he hits unrestricted free agency this summer.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1_lg-1_lg.png" alt="" width="546" height="273" />
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-1habvwh r-eqz5dr r-11rk87y r-1dye5f7 r-m611by r-13qz1uu">
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-eqz5dr r-glunga r-13qz1uu">
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-13qz1uu">
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-eqz5dr r-glunga r-13qz1uu">
<div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

Regardless of what the box score showed, Victor Oladipo played a crucial role in the Heat's Game 3 win over the Celtics.

Ant