Bulldogs

Team USA players came inside the Kerry Sports basketball facility one by one, each sporting their preferred and comfortable gear from the blazing heat of the Philippine weather they were not so accustomed to. They were about to hold their first practices in Manila for the FIBA World Cup 2023, the sport&rsquo;s world championship meet.
Anthony Edwards was one of the last ones to enter the gym along with fellow NBA no.1 overall pick Paolo Banchero. He had his Adidas Adilette comfort slides put on with black Team USA jogger pants and an Adidas triple-colored hoodie. Edwards was fixated on his phone, walking past whispering reporters onto the team&rsquo;s huddle at center court, clearly being the center of attraction for the young Team USA squad.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s who they call the Ant-Man.&rdquo;
Once upon a time, Edwards&rsquo; name was held in a much lower regard. The 22-year-old is considered to be one of the best and brightest young players in the league but has yet to establish himself as one of the staples and premier superstars with an iconic and deep playoff performance that cements him in that tier.
Until these playoffs.
Edwards has separated himself from the pack of young superstars leading their teams and entered the upper echelon of basketball royalty in the NBA. With the league anticipating the &lsquo;changing of the guard&rsquo; as current faces LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant eventually diminish their shining glories as the league&rsquo;s best of the best, Edwards comes in as one of the hopefuls to take the mantle when that inevitable day comes.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been saying that he (Edwards) is the face of the league but he hates it when I say it &ndash; but it&rsquo;s true. The future&rsquo;s so bright you gotta put the sunglasses on when you&rsquo;re walking around him,&rdquo; Karl-Anthony Towns said, in their post-game interview after their first-round series with the&nbsp;Phoenix Suns.
Edwards glanced briefly at Towns, who was beside him at the podium. He had that little smile on his face while bowing down his head as his teammate praised him in front of the listening reporters. He looked at Towns again, this time shaking his head in disbelief, but it had the element of confidence. There was obviously a focus on what Towns was talking about but with Edwards&rsquo; elite level-headedness through it all.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a young superstar in the league and you have to face it,&rdquo; the statement emphasized on Edwards as he&rsquo;s trying to soak it all in.
Ever since Edwards has been adamant about not calling himself anything until he wins in the playoffs. Now that his Wolves beat the Suns to win the franchise&rsquo;s first playoff series since 2004, Edwards certainly has all the right in the world to give himself even the tiniest bit of praise.
He thought for a good three seconds, glancing at the reporter and the horizon for a moment. He was just asked if he was now able to give himself some grace in that regard when people call him that &lsquo;young superstar&rsquo; label. A small grin emerged onto his face, clearly oozing with confidence albeit a controlled one. He looked back with that smile on his face while nodding, he said:
&ldquo;Nah, not yet a man. Not yet.&rdquo;
Behind this usual brash, confident, and charismatic Edwards is a hungry side that never gets contented and satisfied until he achieves his ultimate goal: winning a championship. Maybe he&rsquo;ll have the guts to call himself one when they reach the Finals and end up going all the way. But that remains to be seen.
He&rsquo;s got the swagger, the personality, and the charisma to be marketable by the league. Edwards mentioned wanting to go kill everybody that&rsquo;s in front of him, and boy, he did.&nbsp;
Edwards swept the Suns featuring his childhood idol and favorite player of all time Kevin Durant, who he has been jawing back and forth at several times in the series. This was him going at his childhood hero, taking on the challenge and never backing down. However, the play of the series happened in Game 4 when Minnesota was trying to put the nail in the coffin for Phoenix.&nbsp;
With 2:18 left on the clock in the 4th quarter, Edwards blew by Beal and rose through the air as high as he could. Durant made the right business decision by not going up together with a rampaging bull as he should For a brief moment, he looked like the second coming of a certain Michael Jordan &ndash; yet again &ndash; after he&rsquo;s been labeled as such throughout the course of the season after each jaw-dropping spectacular play. Edwards threw down a ferocious poster slam dunk that might have literally blown the roof over the Footprint Center as the play signaled the beginning of the end for the Suns.
Durant and Edwards will play together in Team USA in August for the Paris Olympics, and these two for sure would go head to head making their practice sessions much more interesting. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely a good feeling because he&rsquo;s my favorite player of all time, and I can tell him that I was the one who sent him home. It&rsquo;s gonna be a fun summer for sure,&rdquo; Edwards said.
First game of the Western Conference Finals and up against the Nuggets, Edwards scored a playoff career-high 43 points. He dissected their entire defense, scoring in all types of ways imaginable for a superstar. Edwards hit threes, blown by some of the toughest defenders in the NBA Aaron Gordon, and hit fadeaway mid-range jumpers reminiscent of Jordan. More importantly, Edwards displayed the level of maturity a superstar has to make in the playoffs &ndash; playing off of your teammates and playmaking for the entire team. He has done it so far with relative ease and that&rsquo;s why the Timberwolves have found their early success in this postseason.
He&rsquo;s doing it against supposedly their biggest challenge &ndash; the defending champions &ndash; who sent them home a year ago. &ldquo;Last year we didn&rsquo;t have Jaden (McDaniels) and Naz (Reid) against them so it was quite frustrating. Now that we have both I think we can definitely do better,&rdquo; Edwards said about their biggest thing in this rematch series vs Denver is being healthy.
Before the season started, Edwards was this up-and-coming 22-year-old star leading his nation at the World Championships for a chance at glory. Although the Americans ended up not medalling after losing to eventual world champions Germany in the semifinals and to neighboring Canada in the third-place game, Edwards was clearly the best player on the team filled with young American talent. He led Team USA in scoring, and at 22 years old, this was only the start of a big year ahead.
Edwards then was the clear-cut best player for the third-best team in the West, with Minnesota having a 56-26 record. Those 56 wins were the most since 2004 when they had 58 and went to the Western Conference Finals. They were led back then by legend Kevin Garnett but that was also their last time seeing the playoffs.&nbsp;
20 years later, Edwards is now shouldering all the burden by taking this Wolves team back to relevance, basking in all the glory he&rsquo;s worked so hard to attain. He&rsquo;s one of the bonafide young rising superstars in the league, and he intends to take them all the way.
Edwards&rsquo; huge season and ascension to superstardom could be attributed back to something you see coming even from a mile away. And it all started in that summer lengthy yet productive summer in 2023.
While most players use their summers to recuperate, have a vacation somewhere, and spend time with families and loved ones, Edwards took a privileged yet opportunistic route: play with the National Team at the FIBA World Cup. Usually, NBA superstars all express their willingness to play with the National Team at the Olympics. For no definite reason, somehow the FIBA World Cup does not seem appealing to play for the older/senior superstar guys, so it&rsquo;s usually the juniors/young guys who represent Team USA. Anthony Edwards took up that challenge and became the best player for the team and in turn, he&rsquo;s reaping the benefits of it in the playoffs.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve put in work this summer. Big shoutout to the USA team, man. They got me ready for the season.&rdquo;
That killer mentality that Edwards has is something that&rsquo;s never seen often and has been with only a select few in the history of the game, particularly Jordan and Lakers great Kobe Bryant. Behind all that bold and tough personality, however, is a side of himself that genuinely enjoys playing with his teammates.
When asked about the prospect of having his Wolves&rsquo; teammates, the first thing out of his mouth was how he was excited to meet them while playing for their respective countries (Rudy Gobert for France, Karl-Anthony Towns for Dominican Republic, Kyle Anderson for China, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker for Canada). He looked forward to playing against them, citing how much fun he would have once it happened.
Despite his clear burgeoning superstardom, however,&nbsp; Edwards still deflected every credit thrown towards him. When asked what he feels as one of the guys being billed as one of the next faces of the league, Edwards dismissed the idea faster than a Math teacher dispersing students after giving out a tough assignment due &ndash;&nbsp; immediately answering without hesitation that he does not make anything of it.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just gonna keep working, man. I make nothing of it, yeah. I just hope that I keep getting better.&rdquo;
It was clear all along among all the people in the gym that fateful day: Edwards had the most aura out of them all. It was just oozing, something you can feel when you&rsquo;re around certain people. It&rsquo;s kind of intimidating, but only to a certain extent. You can just feel the energy brewing and that certain look when you come across one of the ones. The underlying factor before the season was Minnesota only having five national TV games all season long. With most of their games out of the eyes of the majority, Edwards assured one thing going into the season sternly and convincingly.
&ldquo;We just gonna try to keep playing, man. We&rsquo;re not really worried about the national TV games. As long as we win, we&rsquo;ll be on TV when we make it into the playoffs. The world will know about us.&rdquo;
As their playoff mantra suggests, the Timberwolves have been waiting for this moment since 2004. From the annals of the great Kevin Garnett&rsquo;s era to ushering this new one paved by superstar-in-the-making, young Anthony Edwards, the Minnesota Timberwolves have arrived.

The underlying factor before the season was Minnesota only having five national TV games all season despite having Anthony Edwards.

‘WOLVES BACK’: Anthony Edwards introduces the Timberwolves back to the world

The NBA today announced that Los Angeles has been selected to host NBA All-Star 2026. The 75th NBA All-Star Game will take place at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, home of the LA Clippers, on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. This will mark the record seventh NBA All-Star in Los Angeles, and the first time the Intuit Dome will host the annual midseason showcase reaching fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 50 languages.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made the announcement today during a press conference at Intuit Dome, where he was joined by Clippers Chairman Steve Ballmer, Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr.
&ldquo;The Intuit Dome promises to present a unique and innovative live basketball experience which will be an extraordinary venue for the NBA All-Star Game in 2026,&rdquo; said Silver. &ldquo;Thanks again to Steve Ballmer, Gillian Zucker, and the Clippers organization for their commitment to delivering a world-class showcase of the very best of our sport.&rdquo;
Intuit Dome, which is set to open in August 2024, is a multipurpose venue that will be the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers.
&ldquo;We are building Intuit Dome to house and showcase the best basketball players in the world, and we are honored they will all be under our roof for NBA All-Star,&rdquo; said Ballmer. &ldquo;Along with Inglewood and Los Angeles, we thank the NBA for bringing the league&rsquo;s marquee event to Intuit Dome in 2026.&rdquo;
The Clippers worked in collaboration with the Los Angeles Sports &amp; Entertainment Commission to bring NBA All-Star 2026 to Los Angeles.
NBA All-Star on-court events will tip off on Friday, Feb. 13 at Intuit Dome with NBA Rising Stars, an annual showcase for top rookies and second-year NBA players. On Feb. 14, State Farm All-Star Saturday Night will feature the Kia Skills Challenge, the Starry 3-Point Challenge and AT&amp;T Slam Dunk. NBA All-Star 2026 will culminate with the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 15. The NBA will host several events for fans of all ages at venues throughout Los Angeles and Inglewood, including at Kia Forum and the Los Angeles Convention Center.
These events, including NBA All-Star Practice presented by AT&amp;T, the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and an NBA All-Star fan fest, will feature basketball programming and entertainment for fans as well as up-close access to NBA players, legends and celebrities.
The league will also continue to celebrate its commitment to social responsibility with a full schedule of NBA Cares events during NBA All-Star 2026. Through partnerships with schools, local and national nonprofit organizations, the league will reach thousands of children and families in Los Angeles, Inglewood and the surrounding areas and provide critical resources to community-based programs.
NBA ALL-STAR HISTORY IN LOS ANGELES
This will mark the record seventh NBA All-Star in the Los Angeles area, which hosted the event in 2018, 2011, 2004, 1983, 1972 and 1963, and the first time the midseason showcase has been held at the Intuit Dome. The previous six NBA All-Star events in Los Angeles (including two at The Forum in Inglewood) have showcased extraordinary performances by some of the best players in league history. Each NBA All-Star Game MVP in Los Angeles was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team and selected to at least 11 All-Star Games: LeBron James (MVP in 2018), Kobe Bryant (2011), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal (2004), Julius Erving (1983), Jerry West (1972) and Bill Russell (1963).
The most recent NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles (2018) featured a dramatic finish as Team LeBron rallied from a 13-point deficit with seven minutes to play to defeat Team Stephen 148-145 in the first All-Star Game without a matchup between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference. As the captain of Team LeBron, James made a game-tying three-pointer with 1:30 remaining and a go-ahead layup with 34.5 seconds left in the game. NBA All-Star 2026 will mark the 15th anniversary of the 2011 midseason celebration in Los Angeles, where the Clippers&rsquo; Blake Griffin played on the winning teams in the All-Star Game and Rising Stars and was crowned Slam Dunk champion as a rookie. That year, the Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; Bryant earned his record-tying fourth NBA All-Star Game MVP Award after scoring 37 points to lift the Western Conference past the Eastern Conference 148-143.

Los Angeles has been selected to host the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend at the Clippers' new arena, Intuit Dome, in Inglewood.

Los Angeles to host 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend at Clippers' Intuit Dome

Blake Stern previews the NBA's Central Division, breaking down each team's projected lineup and burning question entering the year.

NBA Central Division Preview: Burning questions, rotation projections

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Adrian Griffin understands the responsibility that comes with taking over a title contender as a first-time head coach.
&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be real,&rdquo; Griffin said Tuesday during his introductory news conference as the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-milwaukee-bucks-adrian-griffin-769056191fa4144c6de394c5b902e78e">Milwaukee Bucks&rsquo; coach.</a>&nbsp;What first-time head coach gets to coach the Milwaukee Bucks, with all the special talent on this team? I&rsquo;m extremely humbled.&rdquo;
The Bucks went against the grain by selecting Griffin, who spent the last five seasons as an assistant with Toronto. He replaces Mike Budenholzer, who led Milwaukee to the league&rsquo;s best regular-season record but&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-bucks-budenholzer-fired-e9ab56f83d317afd621adb7d7c244006">got fired</a>&nbsp;after a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-bucks-heat-giannis-antetokounmpo-budenholzer-5e7ea2d31a0e15e286d5f499b8247723">first-round playoff loss</a>&nbsp;to Miami.
Six teams have made coaching changes since the end of the regular season. The Bucks are the lone team thus far to pick someone without head coaching experience.
The Philadelphia 76ers chose&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/76ers-nick-nurse-2023-nba-282f466ed20036346af54a2658cf214a">former Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse,</a>&nbsp;the Houston Rockets selected&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/rockets-udoka-e24d2a5ccedef68bf86faee4ba2b5917">ex-Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka</a>, and the Detroit Pistons hired&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/monty-williams-nba-pistons-23b27fdbdb44eee0cf2f95737ae87803">former Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams.</a>&nbsp;Phoenix hired&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/suns-coach-frank-vogel-booker-durant-af0addd381c9727751361b4aa4f2637d">Frank Vogel</a>&nbsp;for his fourth NBA coaching job. Toronto still hasn&rsquo;t filled its vacancy.
Bucks general manager Jon Horst said Griffin&rsquo;s background as an NBA player and assistant over the last two decades made him an ideal candidate. Horst cited a comment from his assistant general manager.
&ldquo;Milt Newton said throughout this process after we met with Adrian, &lsquo;Adrian&rsquo;s a head coach. He just hasn&rsquo;t gotten the opportunity yet,&rsquo;&rdquo; Horst recalled.
Griffin, who turns 49 on July 4, already is taking steps to address his lack of experience. He confirmed Tuesday that his staff will include&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/stottte99c.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Terry Stotts,</a>&nbsp;who spent 13 seasons as an NBA head coach, including a two-year stint with Milwaukee from 2005-07.
&ldquo;To get a guy like Terry is a home run,&rdquo; Griffin said. &ldquo;He brings unbelievable experience.&rdquo;
Griffin was an undrafted swingman from Seton Hall who ended up playing&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/griffad01.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eight seasons in the NBA</a>&nbsp;after toiling in lesser leagues. He has spent&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/griffad01c.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">15 years as an NBA assistant</a>&nbsp;since the end of his playing career.
He now steps into a big opportunity with expectations to match.
The Bucks fired Budenholzer just two years after he led Milwaukee to its first NBA championship in half a century. The Bucks posted the NBA&rsquo;s top regular-season record in three of Budenholzer&rsquo;s five seasons but, with the exception of 2021, they&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-milwaukee-bucks-horst-budenholzer-aefb9f69a0d524eccbf8773e71dfd147">couldn&rsquo;t match that success in the playoffs.</a>
Griffin takes over a talent-laden roster led by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. Griffin spoke to Antetokounmpo before he was hired and said he felt like they connected and that they have similar values.
&ldquo;Yes, we have high expectations, but we&rsquo;re going to embrace them,&rdquo; Griffin said. &ldquo;But it starts by getting to work. Never lose sight of the work involved. I think going undrafted and going the minor league route, it taught me the value of hard work. That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re going to build upon from day one.&rdquo;
Griffin was on Toronto&rsquo;s staff when the Raptors won the 2019 championship. One year later came a development that could have hindered his shot at becoming a head coach.
Griffin&rsquo;s ex-wife, Audrey Sterling, accused him in an August 2020 social media post of physically abusing her and failing to pay child support. Griffin filed a defamation suit a year later that was settled last September.
The initial complaint filed by Griffin included statements posted on social media by two of their children supporting him and denying their mother&rsquo;s allegations.
Griffin said Wednesday he couldn&rsquo;t get into the details of the litigation but noted that he &ldquo;absolutely denied&rdquo; his ex-wife&rsquo;s accusations and pointed out he was the one who filed the defamation lawsuit. Horst said the Bucks researched the issue and cited a review the Raptors had conducted in collaboration with the NBA.
&ldquo;It was clear and determined the accusations were just unfounded,&rdquo; Horst said. &ldquo;I can tell you beyond that, just the multiple conversations I&rsquo;ve had with Adrian and others had with him, in each case his comments were just really heartfelt and sincere. Ultimately, we believe him and believe in him, and the person of high character that he is. Everyone that we spoke to felt the same. It gave us a ton of excitement and confidence in making the hire, even though we were aware of those allegations.&rdquo;
Griffin now is back in the place where he began his coaching career.
After getting traded to Milwaukee in the summer of 2008, Griffin stayed with the Bucks throughout training camp before getting a call from coach Scott Skiles at the start of the season. Griffin hadn&rsquo;t made the team but got an offer to join Skiles&rsquo; staff.
Griffin has been coaching ever since. He now rejoins Horst, who was the Bucks&rsquo; director of basketball operations in 2008.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny how life works,&rdquo; Griffin said. &ldquo;Everything has come full circle.&rdquo;

Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin discussed the responsibility that comes with taking over a title contender as a first-time head coach.

Bucks’ Adrian Griffin excited to begin head coaching career with contender

The NBA announced that 242 players have filed as early-entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft. Here is the complete list.

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

Coby White scored 24 points and the short-handed Chicago Bulls rallied past the depleted Mavericks 115-112 on Friday night, eliminating Dallas from play-in contention a year after the club reached the Western Conference finals.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd said before the game an &ldquo;organizational decision&rdquo; was made to limit Luka Doncic to the first quarter while sitting fellow All-Star Kyrie Irving and four other regulars before the club was eliminated from the postseason.
Despite the move, the Mavericks led by double digits when Markieff Morris scored 13 points in the second quarter and rookie Jaden Hardy hit a half-court shot to beat the halftime buzzer for a 67-54 lead.
Neither Morris nor Hardy played in the second half, and a lineup filled mostly with players who spent the season at the end of the Dallas bench lost the lead but kept the game close.
McKinley Wright IV's layup got Dallas within a point with 39 seconds left before Dalen Terry scored on an alley-oop dunk from White with 23 to go.
Theo Pinson missed a potential tying 3-pointer for Dallas, which had three more attempts at a tying 3 in the final seconds.
The loss clinched the 10th seed and final play-in spot in the Western Conference for Oklahoma City.
Irving was out for right foot injury recovery. The others sitting with him were Tim Hardaway Jr. with left ankle soreness, Maxi Kleber for right hamstring injury recovery and Josh Green and Christian Wood for rest.
The Bulls sat their top two scorers in DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, but they are already locked in to the 10th seed in the East. Patrick Williams scored 23 points, and Nikola Vucevic had 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Doncic, who scored 13 points, ended up playing a few seconds into the second quarter on a night when the Mavericks paid tribute to his home country of Slovenia.
Keeping Doncic in was an apparent attempt to get him an ovation after Kidd suggested before the game it would be the 24-year-old superstar's final action of the season. The move didn't work because fans didn't seem aware and therefore didn't cheer.
Kidd said the decision was made by owner Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison to rest most of the regulars. Dallas entered the game tied with Chicago for the 10th-worst record in the NBA.
If the Mavericks have a top-10 pick in the draft in June, they get to keep it. If the pick is 11th or lower, it goes to the New York Knicks as final payment for Dallas' trade to acquire Kristaps Porzingis in 2019. Next month's draft lottery will determine the final order.
Wright joined Doncic and Morris with 13 points to lead the Mavs.
SCORING RACE
Doncic's limited action in most likely his last game of the season should clinch the scoring title for Philadelphia's Joel Embiid. Doncic is at 32.4 points per game to Embiid's 33.1. The Sixers' MVP candidate is probably finished for the regular season with his team locked in to the third seed in the East.
UP NEXT
Both teams are at home for their regular-season finales Sunday. The Bulls play Detroit. The Mavs face San Antonio.

The short-handed Bulls rallied past the depleted Mavericks 115-112 on Friday night, eliminating Dallas from play-in contention.

Mavericks fall to Bulls, eliminated from play-in race

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Rodney Terry held Texas together in crisis. Then he took the Longhorns on their deepest NCAA Tournament run in 15 years.
His reward: Texas removed the &ldquo;interim&rdquo; tag from his title and made him the full-time head coach.
&ldquo;I felt confident the whole time to be honest with you,&rdquo; Terry said Tuesday at his news conference, where the former assistant was introduced as head coach. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d prepared my whole life for this opportunity.&rdquo;
Not everyone was so calm about it. As the season wore on and Texas advanced deeper in the NCAA Tournament, the university&rsquo;s wait-and-see approach became one of the biggest stories of the postseason as fans and players, past and present, wondered what more did he have to prove?
For some, March Madness was being mad at Texas for being slow on the decision.
Texas finally announced Monday &mdash; about 24 hours after the Longhorns&rsquo; season ended in the Elite Eight &mdash; that Terry was indeed the new head coach.
&ldquo;You had a very long job interview,&rdquo; Texas President Jay Hartzell said Tuesday. &ldquo;And I would say you nailed it.&rdquo;
Texas officials put Terry in charge when Chris Beard initially was suspended, then fired, midseason after a felony domestic violence arrest.
He&rsquo;d been a Texas assistant for a decade under Rick Barnes before head-coaching stints at Fresno State and UTEP, before returning to the Longhorns as an assistant in 2021.
&ldquo;My time and Fresno and UTEP prepared me for this opportunity,&rdquo; Terry said. &ldquo;No one knows this place better than me and how to be successful at an elite level (at Texas).&rdquo;
Once in charge, Terry did just about everything anyone could ask. He guided an experienced, senior-laden team to a second-place finish in the Big 12 Conference, the third-most wins in school history, a Big 12 Tournament championship and its first Elite Eight since 2008.
The university did not immediately release a copy of the contract under a public records request from The Associated Press. University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife said Terry got a five-year deal for $3 million per year.
&ldquo;Coach Terry is just everything we want in a leader,&rdquo; Eltife said. &ldquo;We all want to win. But you also want someone who is a role model for our student. Class, integrity and character. And look at the way he handled himself after the incident we went through.&rdquo;
Attending the news conference were Terry&rsquo;s players from this season, as well as several former prominent Longhorns and NBA players, including LaMarcus Aldridge and T.J. Ford. Both played at Texas while Terry was an assistant.
&ldquo;Everyone was worried what would happen&rdquo; after Beard was fired, Aldridge said. &ldquo;He bonded those guys together.&rdquo;
Beard was arrested on Dec. 12 after his fianc&eacute;e told police he strangled, bit and hit her during a confrontation at his home. She later said Beard didn&rsquo;t choke her. Texas fired Beard on Jan. 5, calling him &ldquo;unfit&rdquo; to lead the program.
The district attorney dismissed the charge in February. Prosecutors said they could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and the fianc&eacute;e did not want to go to trial.
Beard has since been hired at Mississippi.
Terry said Beard reached out to congratulate him on Monday, adding he wished Beard &ldquo;nothing but success&rdquo; at Ole Miss.
Terry credited the Longhorns players for not fracturing under the stress of having their head coach fired midseason.
&ldquo;No team faced the challenge you guys faced this year,&rdquo; Terry said.
Texas should be regular contenders for the Elite Eight and beyond, he said. Texas went to the Final Four in 2003 and advanced to the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight four more times in his first stint as an assistant.
&ldquo;We set a high bar for ourselves&rdquo; this season, Terry said. &ldquo;We want to get back to that Elite Eight game. Obviously we want a different outcome when we get to that game and have a chance to get to the Final Four.&rdquo;

Rodney Terry held Texas together in crisis. Then he took the Longhorns on their deepest NCAA Tournament run in 15 years.

Terry says he always felt confident he’d earn Texas job

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Destiny Harden made a shot in the lane with 3.5 seconds left to send ninth-seeded Miami past top-seeded Indiana 70-68 on Monday night, lifting the Hurricanes to their first Sweet 16 since 1992.
The Hoosiers (28-4) became the second No. 1 seed to be eliminated in two nights. Stanford was upset Sunday on its home court. It&rsquo;s the second time since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1994 that two No. 1 seeds didn&rsquo;t make the Sweet 16. It also happened in 1998.
Harden finished with 18 points and Lola Pendade had 19 points for the Hurricanes (21-12), who never trailed.
Indiana tied the score at 68 on Yarden Garzon&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left but couldn&rsquo;t get the defensive stop it needed and turned the ball over on the final possession to seal their only home loss of the season.
No. 4 VILLANOVA 76, No. 12 FLORIDA GULF COAST 57
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Maddy Siegrist scored 31 points and sent the winningest team in Villanova history into the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history with a win over Florida Gulf Coast.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats (30-6) won their record 30th game and celebrated the March Madness milestone in front of another packed house at the Pavilion. Siegrist, the first-team AP All-American, made 13 of 24 shots in what was likely her final home game. The four-year star has left some wiggle room that she could return for a fifth season, but all signs point toward her playing in the WNBA this summer.
One thing is sure, Siegrist is headed to the Sweet 16.
The Wildcats are going for the first time since 2003 -- the coach of that team, Harry Perretta, watched this one from behind the basket -- and they will the play winner of Monday&rsquo;s game in Indianapolis between top-seeded Indiana and No. 9 seed Miami.
SEATTLE 3 REGION
No. 4 TENNESSEE 94, NO. 12 TOLEDO 47
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Reserves Sara Puckett and Jillian Hollingshead led five Lady Vols in double figures with 13 points apiece as Tennessee routed Toledo.
This is the first time since 2015 and 2016 that Tennessee (25-11) has reached consecutive Sweet 16s and the first in coach Kellie Harper&rsquo;s fourth season. The Lady Vols now have reached the Sweet 16 for the 36th time as the only program to play in all 41 NCAA Tournaments.
Toledo (29-5) snapped a program record 17-game winning streak and missed out on its first Sweet 16. The Rockets lost for the first time since Jan. 18 at Bowling Green, which was avenged in the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship for their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2017.
Quinesha Lockett led Toledo with 19 points.
No. 3 OHIO STATE 71, No. 6 NORTH CAROLINA 69
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Jacy Sheldon made a tiebreaking jumper in the lane with 1.8 seconds left to lift Ohio State to a win over North Carolina and help the Buckeyes advance to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season.
With the game tied, Sheldon took the pass from Eboni Walker and floated in the game-winning score. North Carolina had one final chance, but turned it over with a second remaining.
Ohio State (27-7) saw its 12-point lead with 7:02 to go erased as the Tar Heels went on a 13-2 run midway through the fourth quarter. The Tar Heels did most of that run without star Deja Kelly, who exited midway through the final quarter with a leg injury. She went to the locker room, but returned to the court a short time later.
Trailing 66-63, Kelly made two free throws before Paulina Paris made a layup in transition to give the Tar Heels (22-11) its first lead of the game with 2:09 left.
No. 2 UCONN 77, No. 7 BAYLOR 58
STORRS, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Azzi Fudd scored 16 of her 22 points in a decisive third quarter, leading UConn to a win over Baylor and into a 29th straight Sweet 16.
Aaliyah Edwards added 19 points and Nika Muhl had 10 assists for the Huskies (31-5). Dorka Juhasz chipped in with 11 points and Caroline Ducharme added 10.
Ja&rsquo;mee Asberry scored 15 points and Jaden Owens had 14 for Baylor, which finishes its season 20-13. Bella Fontleroy scored 12 points for the Bears, who made 12 3-pointers after hitting 14 in their first-round win over Alabama.
But the Huskies dominated inside, outscoring the Bears 36-12 in the paint and outrebounding Baylor 42-31.
SEATTLE 4 REGION
No. 5 LOUISVILLE 73, No. 4 TEXAS 51
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Hailey Van Lith scored 21 points and Louisville rolled over Texas on the Longhorns&rsquo; home court to send the the Cardinals to the Sweet 16 for the sixth NCAA Tournament in row.
In a matchup of two teams that began the season in the Top 10 only to all out of the rankings before regrouping late, the Cardinals smothered the Longhorns and standout point guard Rori Harmon all night, stretching a 14-point halftime lead to 21 by end of the third quarter.
Louisville (25-11) led by as much as 27 early in the fourth. The win sends the Cardinals to the Seattle 4 Region to play No. 8-seed Mississippi, which upset No. 1 Stanford on Sunday.
DeYona Gaston scored 12 points to lead Texas (26-10).
No. 6 COLORADO 61, No. 3 DUKE 53
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Quay Miller had 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Aaronette Vonleh converted two overtime baskets in the lane after picking up her fourth foul, helping Colorado beat Duke.
Jaylyn Sherrod had 14 points and Vonleh finished with 12 as the Buffaloes (25-8) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 20 years.
Elizabeth Balogun scored 14 points and Reigan Richardson had 10, but the Blue Devils didn&rsquo;t hit a field goal in overtime. Duke overcame a 13-point deficit in regulation.
Next up for Colorado is Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Seattle 4 Region semifinals.
Duke lost for the third time in its last four second-round home games in the NCAA tourney.
GREENVILLE 1 REGION
No. 4 UCLA 82, No. 5 OKLAHOMA 73
LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Charisma Osborne scored a career-high 36 points in her final game at Pauley Pavilion and UCLA rallied in the fourth quarter after blowing an 18-point lead to defeat Oklahoma.
The Bruins, who had an 18-point lead in the second quarter, found themselves trailing 54-50 late in the third quarter before Osborne started the comeback. She drove the lane and hit a layup while being fouled by Beatrice Culliton. Osborne made the ensuing free throw to bring them within one.
She had 13 points in the final 10 minutes as the Bruins (26-7) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. UCLA regained control by going on a 6-1 run at the beginning of the fourth.
Kiki Rice added 14 points for the Bruins, who will face top-ranked South Carolina on Saturday in a Greenville 1 Regional semifinal. UCLA hung tough with the Gamecocks earlier in the season before losing 73-64.
Madi Williams scored 24 points and Ana Llanusa 15 for the Sooners, who end their season 26-7.

A recap of Monday's action of the 2023 Women's NCAA Tournament includes yet another eight seed upending a top seed.

Miami women shock top-seed Indiana in March Madness

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 27 points and Terry Rozier had 21 points and nine assists as the Charlotte Hornets beat Detroit 113-103 on Thursday night and extended the Pistons&rsquo; losing streak to 10 games.
&ldquo;I thought we did a good job of following the game plan and staying disciplined,&rdquo; said Oubre, who is averaging 20.8 points in eight games since returning from a hand injury. &ldquo;I stayed around the team 24/7 when I was hurt so I would be ready to go when I came back.&rdquo;
P.J. Washington added 20 points and Nick Richards had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Hornets, who won their second straight game and for the seventh time in 10 games.
&ldquo;Our guys are working hard and they are finally getting some results,&rdquo; Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. &ldquo;We were really active tonight and we had great rim protection.&rdquo;
Cory Joseph scored 17 points and James Wiseman had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Pistons.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s super tough to be playing from behind every night,&rdquo; Wiseman said. &ldquo;We need to find a way to come out with better energy to get over this hump.&rdquo;
Detroit played without four of the five starters from its season-opening win over the Orlando Magic. Cade Cunningham (leg), Isaiah Stewart (shoulder) and Bojan Bogdanovic (Achilles) are injured, while Saddiq Bey was traded to the Atlanta Hawks. Rookie Jaden Ivey is the only player to start both games.
&ldquo;I thought our approach was disappointing tonight,&rdquo; Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it is just all the games we&rsquo;ve played in a short time, but I didn&rsquo;t feel like we came out with the kind of energy we needed.&rdquo;
The Hornets finished the first half with an 8-0 run and held a 59-50 lead. Charlotte used a 13-5 run at the start of the third quarter and increased the margin to 17 points.
Joseph scored 14 points in the quarter, helping Detroit close within 93-83 heading to the fourth. But the Hornets extended their lead to as many as 18 points in the sloppy closing period.
&ldquo;I thought that was the key stretch of the game,&rdquo; Clifford said. &ldquo;They had it down to 10, but we got it to 18 early in the fourth and took away their momentum.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Hornets: Charlotte beat the Pistons 117-106 at home on Feb. 27, and split the season series 2-2. The Hornets have won eight of their last 11 games against Detroit.
Pistons: Detroit announced before the game that Stewart is suffering from a right shoulder impingement and will be evaluated again in three to four weeks. Stewart is second on the team in blocks and rebounds.
INJURY UPDATE
Charlotte center Mark Williams didn&rsquo;t play in the second half due to a thumb injury.
&ldquo;He went back to the locker room after he did it, but he came back to try to play,&rdquo; Clifford said. &ldquo;He just wasn&rsquo;t able to catch the ball. Hopefully, it won&rsquo;t be anything serious.&rdquo;
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
The Pistons honored the 2003 WNBA champion Detroit Shock at halftime. The Shock, who also won titles in 2006 and 2008, moved to Tulsa after the 2009 season and are now the Dallas Wings.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect this to happen, because the franchise has been gone for a while now,&rdquo; said Shock forward Swin Cash-Canal, who was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022. &ldquo;But they called and said they wanted to do it for Women&rsquo;s History Month, and we appreciate it. They have done a top-notch job of this.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Hornets: Host the Utah Jazz on Saturday.
Pistons: Host the Indiana Pacers on Saturday and on Monday.

Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 27 points as the Hornets beat Detroit 113-103 on Thursday night, extending the Pistons’ losing streak to 10 games.

Oubre, Rozier help Hornets deal Pistons 10th straight loss

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Freshman Brandon Miller scored 30 points as fourth-ranked Alabama beat Vanderbilt 78-66 Tuesday night for their seventh straight victory two days after a teammate was charged with capital murder.
Reserve junior forward Darius Miles was charged Sunday, a day after Alabama already had announced he would miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury. Coach Nate Oats said Monday that the Tide was going through a &ldquo;kind of grieving process.&rdquo;
The Crimson Tide (16-2, 6-0 SEC) rebounded well against a team that beat them in the conference tournament last March. All six SEC wins have come by double digits, though Vandy threatened late with a 13-2 run.
Jordan Wright missed a 3 with 36 seconds to go with Vandy down 70-62. The Crimson Tide finished off the win at the free throw line knocking down all eight attempts, and Miller had six of those.
Jaden Bradley and Noah Gurley each added 12 points as eight Alabama players scored. Gurley capped the win with a dunk in the final seconds.
Vanderbilt (9-9, 2-3) now has lost three of its last four &mdash; all against ranked opponents. The Commodores now are 3-15 against Top 25 teams overall in coach Jerry Stackhouse&rsquo;s fourth season.
Tyrin Lawrence led Vanderbilt with 20 points, Wright added 15 and Ezra Manjon had 11.&nbsp;
Alabama opened the game scoring the first six points and went up 13-3 on a free throw by Noah Gurley. Vanderbilt answered back and took its lone lead at 22-21 on a 3-pointer by Malik Dia. Then the Crimson Tide took control, finishing the half on a 15-4 run for a 36-26 lead at the half.
The Tide just kept scoring. Miller capped a 32-8 run with a 3-pointer with 12:44 remaining for Alabama&rsquo;s biggest lead at 53-30. Vanderbilt couldn&rsquo;t have been much colder, missing 10 of its first 11 shots for the half. Wright&rsquo;s 3 with 12:28 to go was the Commodores&rsquo; second made bucket of the second half.
BIG PICTURE
Alabama showed off its speed and shooting to remain undefeated in league play. This is just the Tide&rsquo;s second 6-0 start in the SEC under Oats in his fourth season. Alabama had not opened SEC play undefeated this far into league play since a 5-0 start in the 1986-87 season.
Vanderbilt wasn&rsquo;t helped by not having fifth-year forward Liam Robbins out with an injured ankle. He had 18 points in last weekend&rsquo;s win over then-No. 15 Arkansas. Robbins will miss four to six weeks. The 7-footer ranks fifth nationally blocking an average of 2.94 shots per game and was eighth with 50 total blocks. He saved a pair of victories blocking potential game-winners at the buzzer against Temple and Pittsburgh and is a big reason the Commodores rank 19th averaging 5.3 blocked shots a game.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
The Crimson Tide positioned themselves to potentially gain more votes winning their first game since Miles&rsquo; arrest.
UP NEXT
Alabama continues a two-game road swing Saturday at Missouri.
Vanderbilt visits Georgia on Saturday.&nbsp;

Freshman Brandon Miller scored 30 points as fourth-ranked Alabama beat Vanderbilt 78-66 Tuesday night for their seventh straight victory.

Miller scores 30 points as No. 4 Alabama beats Vandy 78-66

ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; A 25-0 run removed any suspense from Tony Bennett&rsquo;s pursuit of a Virginia coaching milestone.
The No. 13 Cavaliers&nbsp;blew away Georgia Tech&nbsp;with the spurt, which began in the closing minutes of the first half and carried over after the break to give Virginia a 74-56 victory Saturday.
For Bennett, it was win No. 326 as the Cavaliers&rsquo; coach,&nbsp;pushing him into a tie with Terry Holland&nbsp;for the most in school history.
&ldquo;Just the way he has represented basketball and this program, what he&rsquo;s built, it&rsquo;s just tremendous to be able to talk about him,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;I never got into coaching to break records. I just wanted to win because I love the game.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With today's 326th win, Tony Bennett has tied Terry Holland for the most wins in program history! 🔶⚔️🔷<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHoos?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHoos</a> <a href="https://t.co/LF45Vtxtoe">pic.twitter.com/LF45Vtxtoe</a>
&mdash; Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/UVAMensHoops/status/1609262555825831940?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

Bennett improved to 326-119 in 14 years leading the Virginia men&rsquo;s basketball program. Holland went 326-173 over a 16-season tenure that ended in 1990.
Virginia (10-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference)&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1609245239021113344" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scored the final nine points of the first half</a>&nbsp;&mdash; all on 3-pointers off Georgia Tech turnovers &mdash; to take a 36-25 lead into halftime.
It would get worse for the Yellow Jackets (7-6, 0-3) when the teams returned to the court, as the Cavaliers ripped off another 16 points to make it 52-25 before the home team finally made a basket.
&ldquo;For the most part defensively, we didn&rsquo;t give them anything easy,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;Then we got a few turnovers and made 3s. When you&rsquo;re not exchanging baskets, that&rsquo;s when stuff like that can happen.&rdquo;
Kihei Clark had 15 points and eight assists to lead Virginia, which kept up its domination of Georgia Tech with a 10th straight victory in the series.&nbsp;Jayden Gardner&nbsp;added 14 points, while Armaan Franklin and Kadin Shedrick added 11 apiece.
Looking to bounce back from an ugly 13-point home loss to Clemson before the 10-day Christmas break, Georgia Tech shook up its lineup by bringing top scorer Miles Kelly off the bench. It did no good.
The Yellow Jackets have lost their first three ACC games by an average margin of nearly 16 points and appear headed for another dismal season. They went 12-20 a year ago.
Kelly scored 20 points but none of his teammates reached double figures. The Yellow Jackets turned it over 23 times, leading to 30 points for the Cavaliers.
&ldquo;Virginia was knocking down a lot of shots,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;That was really the game. We couldn&rsquo;t get any stops on the defensive end."
DRE IN THE HOUSE
Former Virginia star De&rsquo;Andre Hunter was at McCamish Pavilion to cheer on his alma mater and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/UVAMensHoops/status/1609270059989336066" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stopped by the locker room</a>&nbsp;afterward.
Hunter was a key player on the Cavaliers&rsquo; national championship team in 2019. He now plays for the NBA&rsquo;s Atlanta Hawks, who were off Saturday after losing to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers the night before.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a while since we&rsquo;ve had one of those kind of runs,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;Maybe it was because De&rsquo;Andre was sitting behind the bench.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Virginia: The Cavaliers set the tone with their accuracy beyond the arc. Eight of their 13 first-half baskets were 3-pointers, many coming in transition off Virginia&rsquo;s smothering defense. Bennett&rsquo;s team looked more like the team that rose to No. 2 in the rankings before consecutive losses to Houston and Miami.
Georgia Tech: Pastner has given little indication in his seven-year tenure that he can transform the Yellow Jackets into a perennial conference contender. Other than a surprising run to the ACC tournament title during the pandemic-marred 2020-21 season, the Yellow Jackets are 36-60 in league play under Pastner.
&ldquo;This was no fun for anybody,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s a lot of basketball to be played.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Virginia: Bennett will look to break the tie with Holland when the Cavaliers travel to Pittsburgh for an ACC game Tuesday night.
Georgia Tech: Hosts another ranked ACC team, No. 14 Miami, to wrap up a four-game homestand Wednesday night.

The No. 13 Cavaliers beat Georgia Tech 74-56 on Saturday. It was Tony Bennett's 326th win, which is tied for most in school history.

No. 13 Virginia beats Georgia Tech, Bennett ties school wins mark

Throughout his basketball journey, Jalen McDaniels points out that he&rsquo;s always had to &ldquo;take the long route&rdquo; and work extra hard to prove that he belonged.
After being ranked 98th in his high-school class and doing a red-shirt season at San Diego State, McDaniels would ultimately slip to No. 52 overall in the 2019 NBA Draft.
McDaniels entered draft night with a lot of nerves and excitement, but that quickly turned to frustration and confusion as he saw the players who were getting picked ahead of him.
&ldquo;Like, I played against some of these guys in the workouts [and I&rsquo;m thinking], &lsquo;What?! How?!&rsquo; I had so many questions,&rdquo; McDaniels told Basketball News. &ldquo;Like, how?! But it&rsquo;s all good. It worked out for me, so it&rsquo;s all good.&rdquo;
McDaniels would be picked by the Charlotte Hornets, but he spent most of his rookie campaign with their G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm. In 31 games with the Swarm, he averaged 15.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.0 steals, 1.1 blocks and 1.4 threes on .443/.386/.828 shooting splits.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Playing in the G League, it just got me real confident &mdash; just letting me play through my mistakes and play a lot of minutes,&rdquo; McDaniels said. &ldquo;I was starting and playing probably 35 minutes per game and shooting the ball a lot, and through that, just building confidence, working on my game, doing stuff that me and my trainer had worked on in practice and implementing it in games. I played well down there, and it just made me real confident. That was one thing I took away from the G League: [I knew] that I could play in the NBA.&rdquo;
There's no guarantee that the No. 52 pick will even make their team's roster, much less carve out a significant role. But that's exactly what McDaniels managed to do. While his path has been frustrating at times, he believes that every step of his journey has helped him and he wouldn&rsquo;t have it any other way.
&ldquo;I embrace it, for sure. It&rsquo;s just who I am and how it&rsquo;s been for me my whole life, I feel like. It&rsquo;s nothing new to me,&rdquo; McDaniels explained. &ldquo;I just got a longer route; I don&rsquo;t know. Everybody&rsquo;s path is different. I just [had to] stick with it.&rdquo;
Now, in his fourth NBA season, McDaniels has become a key contributor for the Hornets, averaging 10.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.3 threes and a steal &mdash; all of which are career-highs &mdash; while shooting 45.6% from the field, 37.1% from three and 88.1% from the free-throw line.&nbsp;
Last month against the Boston Celtics, McDaniels had 24 points and 4 threes, while shooting 75% from the field, 66.7% from three and 100% from the free-throw line. In early December, he had a 21-point, 5-rebound performance against the Milwaukee Bucks. Then, a week-and-a-half later, McDaniels had a 21-point, 6-rebound, 3-three outing against the Detroit Pistons.
He says his confidence is at an all-time high, which has translated into a breakout campaign.
&ldquo;I feel like in Year 4, I just know a lot,&rdquo; McDaniels explained. &ldquo;I learned a lot of the game, coming from the G League, playing in a lot of games and just knowing what to expect. I feel like my game is just locked in and I know where I&rsquo;m supposed to be. And just having that confidence that I&rsquo;ve worked on everything that I&rsquo;m doing out there; I&rsquo;m not doing anything outside of my game. I&rsquo;m confident in everything that I&rsquo;m doing. And when I&rsquo;m guarding, I&rsquo;m confident that I can stop my man as well.&rdquo;
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McDaniels is referencing the offseason work that he put in with his trainer, Clint Parks.
&ldquo;I just worked on my overall game. A lot of ball-handling, learning to create my own shots, finishing, pull-ups, one-dribble moves, counters, a lot of three-point shooting and just touching up a lot of things that I&rsquo;m already good at,&rdquo; McDaniels said. &ldquo;My trainer, Clint, just keeps it real simple. It&rsquo;s a lot of reps and it&rsquo;s the same stuff. It&rsquo;s just straight-to-the-point workouts &ndash; we&rsquo;re not doing any extra stuff. We&rsquo;re just getting straight to it.&rdquo;
When asked if his success is even sweeter after taking the long route, McDaniels smiles.
&ldquo;Definitely! It&rsquo;s just a crazy feeling and you just want to have a smile on your face,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At times, you can be negative and go into a hole, like, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not playing well&hellip;&rsquo; and stuff like that. But you just gotta grind through that and then when you make it through, you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Alright, I&rsquo;m prepared; I&rsquo;m ready for anything.&rsquo; You feel like you&rsquo;re built for this. And that&rsquo;s how I feel.&rdquo;
It certainly seems as if McDaniels is built for the modern NBA. As a versatile, two-way wing who can knock down three-pointers, his skill-set is highly coveted among NBA talent evaluators.
&ldquo;My game has always been like that &ndash; in college and even in high school,&rdquo; McDaniels said. &ldquo;In high school, on the defensive end, I was able to guard little guards. In college, my coaches would have me guard the point guard, shooting guard [and so on]; I&rsquo;d guard everybody. I feel like on the defensive end, that&rsquo;s been in me for so long. Offensively, I feel like being versatile and playing multiple positions &ndash; like the 2, 3, 4 or whatever it may be &ndash; [was the result of] me working on stuff like coming off of pick-and-rolls and stuff like that, so when I&rsquo;m in a position like that, I know what to do and can make the read.
&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m one of those players who is versatile &ndash; you can throw me anywhere and I&rsquo;ll be fine. I feel like I can adapt well and just be a two-way player.&rdquo;&nbsp;
McDaniels knows his role and does whatever is asked of him, without trying to do too much. When asked about the keys to being a great role player in the NBA, he lights up.
&ldquo;Bringing energy, playing with a high motor and being able to change the game,&rdquo; McDaniels said. &ldquo;Defensively, you&rsquo;re in the right spots, you&rsquo;re guarding, you&rsquo;re picking up the pressure and people are feeding off of your energy. Offensively, you&rsquo;re making the right play. You&rsquo;re getting limited shots since you&rsquo;re a role player, so you&rsquo;ve gotta hit those shots and make those reads. You&rsquo;re still being aggressive, but making the right play. And being locked in, for sure. That&rsquo;s how to be a great role player, [following] all those rules.&rdquo;
By doing these things, McDaniels hopes to have a long, successful career in the league.
&ldquo;My long-term goal is to play for as long as I can &mdash; 10-15 years, you feel me?&rdquo; McDaniels said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going out there and playing. I love the game and I love to compete.&rdquo;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_15666376.jpg" alt="" width="631" height="420" />
BROTHERLY COMPETITION
As middle-schoolers, people would tell Jalen and his brother, Jaden, that they were headed to the NBA.
&ldquo;People would say, &lsquo;Ya&rsquo;ll are going to the NBA!&rsquo; We&rsquo;d be like, &lsquo;Why would you say that? We&rsquo;re only in middle school!&rsquo;&rdquo; Jalen said with a laugh. &ldquo;Me and my brother would just say, &lsquo;Yeah, I guess, whatever.'&rdquo;
The brothers were gifted athletes who played multiple sports. Jalen and Jaden would compete constantly. They&rsquo;d have &ldquo;heated&rdquo; NBA 2K sessions. (&ldquo;He&rsquo;d get hot and throw the controller,&rdquo; Jalen recalls of his younger brother.) They&rsquo;d go head-to-head in various sports. Even if they were just working out or doing a shooting drill, it would quickly turn into a competition.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always just been competitors,&rdquo; Jalen explained. &ldquo;That just came from me and my brother beating on each other in anything. Playing one-on-one football, trying to get past each other. [Playing] one-on-one basketball. Anything we did, we were just competitive. I felt like that just built us up, honestly&hellip;
&ldquo;So, when we would do AAU circuits, I feel like that competitiveness just always came out. Like [when we were] getting recruited and stuff, I feel like coaches have just always seen that.&rdquo;
While they loved battling one another, they dreamed of teaming up in the NBA.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We always used to talk about being on the same [NBA] team and how that would be crazy, throwing lobs to each other and stuff like that,&rdquo; Jalen said. &rdquo;We just always thought playing on the same team would be fun and just [with] our chemistry together, of course it would just go crazy. Yeah, that was one dream we had, for sure.&rdquo;
From a young age, Will McDaniels instilled a strong work ethic in his sons and taught them that nothing would ever be handed to them. If they wanted a new pair of shoes, they&rsquo;d have to work around the house for a week. And when his two kids dreamed of playing in the NBA, he&rsquo;d say, &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve gotta work to get there. It&rsquo;s not just gonna be given to you.&rdquo;&nbsp;
ESPN listed Jalen as a three-star recruit when he was in high school, while Jaden would later be a five-star recruit and one of the top players in his high-school class. While Jalen wasn&rsquo;t a McDonald&rsquo;s All-American like his brother, his high-school experience was a crucial part of his journey because it&rsquo;s when he fell in love with the grind and became obsessed with improving.&nbsp;
&ldquo;For me, it was high school,&rdquo; Jalen said when asked when he started taking basketball seriously. &ldquo;Freshman year AAU, I just kept taking steps forward. Junior year, I started getting recruited. Then, I started working out a lot and I felt like I just started getting better, and that&rsquo;s what made me really love it. Like, okay, I see the results, so I&rsquo;m just starting to go crazy &ndash; working out after practice, before 5 a.m. when my mom could drop me off, everything. I just started falling in love with seeing myself get better.&rdquo;
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At that time, Jalen&rsquo;s favorite players were LeBron James and Kevin Durant. He&rsquo;d watch their moves on TV and then try to copy them the next day while he was in the gym with Parks, who has trained him since college.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m over here trying [their moves] in the gym and that&rsquo;s when I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Okay, I can really do some stuff!&rsquo; That built my confidence and ever since then, it just took off &ndash; just loving the game and loving being a competitor,&rdquo; McDaniels said.&nbsp;
Both brothers managed to turn their NBA dream into reality. Jalen is thriving with the Hornets, while Jaden has become an every-night starter for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jalen and Jaden have now faced off three times in the NBA, which was surreal for the brothers.
&ldquo;It was dope. Like, we&rsquo;re on the same court in the NBA in a real game! It&rsquo;s crazy!&rdquo; Jalen said, before sprinkling in some trash-talk for his little brother. &ldquo;Like, you can&rsquo;t hide! And you can&rsquo;t foul me either, like how you would in one-on-one! No, this is a real game. And you know I&rsquo;m on top, 3-0, like I&rsquo;m supposed to be.&rdquo;
After Jaden was drafted by the Timberwolves with the No. 28 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Jalen would offer his brother advice as he got accustomed to playing in the NBA.
&ldquo;When he first got to the NBA, I remember he was struggling and I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Bro, you gotta play through it. You&rsquo;re just learning. It&rsquo;s a learning curve &ndash; you just gotta get through it and stick to your routine,&rsquo;&rdquo; Jalen said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had times where he isn&rsquo;t shooting it as well and I&rsquo;m always like, &lsquo;Stick to your routine and keep shooting. You aren&rsquo;t supposed to make every shot, bro. Just shake it off and be positive about it. Because as soon as you get in your head, it&rsquo;s over with; you start doing stuff you&rsquo;re not supposed to and now you&rsquo;re messing your whole game up.&rsquo; So I&rsquo;ve just always told him to stay positive and respond better than you did last time.&rdquo;
Now, Jaden is in his third NBA season and he has become a key piece for the Wolves. He&rsquo;s averaging career-highs in points (11.5), assists (1.7), blocks (1.2), steals (1.1), made threes (1.2) and three-point percentage (38%).&nbsp;
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing great. Ever since high school, he&rsquo;s been skilled &ndash; super skilled &ndash; you could just see it. For him to be doing what he&rsquo;s doing in the NBA, it&rsquo;s just great,&rdquo; Jalen said of his brother. &ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s seen it coming, and he&rsquo;s just letting his game speak for itself. Every year, I feel like he&rsquo;s just gonna let more of his game come out; he&rsquo;s got so much skill. His role right now is to defend and make the right play, but when he can get that ability to really rock out, then I feel like he&rsquo;s really going to take off too.&rdquo;
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CHARLOTTE'S BRIGHT FUTURE
When Jalen looks back at how much he has improved from the start of his stint with the Hornets to now, it&rsquo;s a night-and-day difference. He recalls his first few weeks in Charlotte, when his veteran teammates would torch him in practice on a daily basis.
&ldquo;When I first got to Charlotte, I remember I was playing five-on-five and I had to guard guys like Dwayne Bacon and Devonte&rsquo; Graham. I&rsquo;m fresh in Charlotte and young, and I gotta guard Dwayne and he&rsquo;s [experienced], so he was getting buckets on me. And I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;I gotta play with him every day in practice?!&rsquo;&rdquo; Jalen said with a laugh. &ldquo;As the weeks went on, it just kept getting better and better. I feel like them dudes made me better.&rdquo;
While McDaniels&rsquo; on-court impact is obvious these days, he&rsquo;s also a positive locker-room presence. He gets along with all of his teammates, and Terry Rozier recently told <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/charlotte-hornets/article269221222.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Charlotte Observer</a> that McDaniels is "the funniest person on the team."
&ldquo;[When it comes to] getting along with guys, I&rsquo;m just a cool dude, I guess!&rdquo; McDaniels said with a laugh. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I don&rsquo;t have problems with nobody, I just be chilling. I bring great energy and I&rsquo;m really positive. That&rsquo;s just me...
&ldquo;[I was always funny] with my friends. I wasn&rsquo;t a class clown; I was kinda shy. But with my friends, I&rsquo;m just myself &ndash; goofy, playing around all day, talking, whatever. So when Terry said that, I already knew what he was talking about. We just be making jokes &ndash; like someone will do something and we&rsquo;ll just make eye contact, like we&rsquo;re peeping the same stuff. It&rsquo;s just funny."
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McDaniels is grateful that he entered the NBA on an up-and-coming squad with plenty of other young players whom he could relate to.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re going through the same stuff and having the same type of problems on the court, messing up. Like, bro, when we first got here, the defensive scheme and stuff like that, we were all going through it like, &lsquo;Man, this is different from college,&rsquo;&rdquo; McDaniels said.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all the same age, so I feel like we&rsquo;re all kinda going through the same types of things in life. Just growing together, that&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s been like, to be honest. We&rsquo;re all just growing together.&rdquo;
Entering this season, the Hornets had the sixth-youngest roster in the NBA (with an average age of 24.6 years old). Jalen is one of nine players on the roster who is age-24 or younger.
The Hornets are currently 10-26, with the NBA's 30th-ranked offense and 26th-ranked defense. However, McDaniels believes that the young core has a lot of potential going forward.
"I feel like the young guys we&rsquo;ve got, we&rsquo;re growing now. Me, PJ [Washington], Cody [Martin], we&rsquo;re all in Year 4. LaMelo [Ball] is in Year 3. We all kinda came in together, and we&rsquo;re just gonna keep building, I feel like. Terry as well; he got here [in 2019]. I feel like we just gotta keep building off of that," McDaniels said.
&ldquo;I love our group&rsquo;s upside. We&rsquo;ve got great young players. I feel like we&rsquo;re building, and it can be something real special."

Jalen McDaniels opens up to Alex Kennedy about his career-year with the Charlotte Hornets and his journey to this point.

Hornets' Jalen McDaniels thriving after 'taking the long route' to NBA

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 28 points, and the Charlotte Hornets stopped Minnesota's five-game win streak with a 110-108 victory over Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves on Friday night.
Terry Rozier had 22 points and eight assists, helping the Hornets (6-14) win back-to-back games for the first time this season. P.J. Washington scored 16 points, and reserve Theo Maledon finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.
&ldquo;It's a great mood booster for sure," Oubre said of getting two wins in three nights. &ldquo;We have to continue to learn from our losses and mistakes and learn how to win. The more you win the more you can do the same things you did in the game before.&rdquo;
Edwards scored 25 points for the Timberwolves (10-9), who shot 22% from 3-point range. D&rsquo;Angelo Russell had 20 points and 10 assists, and Rudy Gobert finished with 17 points and 17 rebounds.
The Timberwolves bolted to a 62-52 halftime lead as Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 30 points.
But Charlotte battled back to take a 91-83 lead after outscoring the Timberwolves 39-21 in the third quarter behind 11 points from Oubre and 10 from Rozier.
&ldquo;We just came out with not much energy or focus and not a lot of purpose," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of his team's effort in the third. "We haven&rsquo;t done that for a long time. It was kind of our habit at the beginning of the season. Tonight, we just didn&rsquo;t have it in the third quarter for whatever reason.&rdquo;
Charlotte carried that momentum into the fourth. Nick Richards rejected Gobert at the rim, setting up a high-flying dunk by Kai Jones off a feed from Rozier that brought the crowd to its feet and helped push the lead to 14.
The Timberwolves had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds after Rozier missed a floater, but they were unable to corral the rebound. That forced them to foul Washington, who made one of two throws with 4.7 seconds left to help close it out.
After the free throw, Washington smiled and gave a nod to his bench.
&ldquo;We are figuring out how to play,&rdquo; Washington said. &ldquo;The game we played tonight and the one before (a 107-101 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night) are two that we can grow from. If we play to our strengths it is going to be hard for teams to beat us."
JONES STEPS UP
Jones, a lanky, athletic 6-foot-11 2021 first-round draft pick out of Texas, was the first player off the Hornets bench as Charlotte looked to combat Minnesota&rsquo;s height. The gamble paid off as the seldom-used Jones finished with nine points and 12 rebounds &mdash; both career bests.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see that he&rsquo;s doing anything that he can&rsquo;t do every night," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing to his real strengths. He&rsquo;s tough, he&rsquo;s a terrific athlete, he&rsquo;s got a good nose for the ball, and he&rsquo;s playing very smart.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: Towns was 0 for 8 from 3-point range in the second half. ... Jaden McDaniels opened the game matched up against his older brother Jalen McDaniels.
Hornets: Played without PG LaMelo Ball (ankle), F Gordon Hayward (shoulder), PG Dennis Smith Jr. (ankle) and Cody Martin (knee).
UP NEXT
Timberwolves: Host Golden State on Sunday.
Hornets: Visit Boston on Monday night.

Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 28 points, and the Hornets snapped the Wolves' five-game win streak with a 110-108 victory on Friday night.

Oubre scores 28, Hornets snap T-Wolves' 5-game win streak

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Bam Adebayo scored 30 points, including a pair of free throws to put Miami up for good with 35 seconds left, and the Heat rallied from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Phoenix Suns 113-112 on Monday night.
Phoenix had three shots to win on its final possession &mdash; a missed layup by Cameron Payne, a jumper from Devin Booker that Jimmy Butler blocked, and then a 3-pointer from Booker that fell short.
Butler finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for Miami. Caleb Martin and Kyle Lowry each scored 15 for Miami, which got back to .500 at 7-7.
Booker led Phoenix with 25 points, and Duane Washington Jr. added 21. Deandre Ayton finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Suns, who shot only four free throws compared to 25 for Miami.
CELTICS 126, THUNDER 122
BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Marcus Smart scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half, and Boston beat Oklahoma City for its seventh straight win.
Boston trailed by 15 in the third quarter but outscored Oklahoma City 37-26 in the fourth.
Jayson Tatum had 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics. Jaylen Brown scored 26, and Al Horford added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Smart also had eight assists and five rebounds, and reserve Payton Pritchard added 10 points, leading a key surge late in the third and early in the fourth as the Celtics rallied.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 37 points. Lu Dort scored 21 and Aleksej Pokusevski finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
HAWKS 121, BUCKS 106
MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; De&rsquo;Andre Hunter scored 24 points and Trae Young had 21 points and nine assists, leading Atlanta over Milwaukee.
Clint Capela added 19 points and 10 rebounds as the Hawks won for the fifth time in seven games. Dejounte Murray also scored 19, and John Collins had 16 points and nine boards.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, who missed the previous two games and three of the past four with left knee soreness, scored 27 points in 31 minutes. The Bucks have lost three of four after a 9-0 start.
It was the third meeting between the teams in 16 days. MarJon Beauchamp had 20 points for the Bucks, who dropped to 7-1 at home.
WARRIORS 132, SPURS 95
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) &mdash; Back in the starting lineup for a night, Jordan Poole scored a season-best 36 points on the debut of his first bobblehead and led Golden State past San Antonio.
Poole shot 13 for 20 and knocked down five 3-pointers. He exited with 8:04 left following his 13th career game of 30 or more points.
Stephen Curry added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes. It was the second game of a back-to-back for the Warriors after they lost 122-115 at Sacramento on Sunday to fall to 0-7 on the road.
Keldon Johnson had 15 points for the injury-plagued Spurs.
RAPTORS 115, PISTONS 111
DETROIT (AP) &mdash; Dalano Banton scored 27 points and Chris Boucher added 20 as short-handed Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over Detroit.
O.G. Anunoby added 19 points and seven rebounds for the Raptors, who played without Fred VanVleet (non-COVID-19 illness), Pascal Siakam (abdominal strain) and Gary Trent (hip).
Rookie guard Jaden Ivey scored 21 for the Pistons, who lost their fourth straight. Bojan Bogdanovic added 18 points.
HORNETS 112, MAGIC 105
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; LaMelo Ball had 17 points and nine assists, and Charlotte stopped an eight-game slide by beating Orlando.
Seven players scored in double figures for the Hornets, including their entire starting lineup. Mason Plumlee had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Terry Rozier scored 17, and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 16.
Franz Wagner scored 23 points and Wendell Carter Jr. added 20 for Orlando, but the Magic committed 22 turnovers.
Ball, who missed the Hornets&rsquo; 113-93 loss at Orlando last month because of a sprained ankle, played in only his second game of the season after missing the first 13.
CLIPPERS 122, ROCKETS 106
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Paul George scored 22 points in three quarters to lead Los Angeles past Houston.
George, who also had eight rebounds and five assists, spent the fourth quarter on the bench with the game in hand as Clippers coach Tyronn Lue didn&rsquo;t play his starters in the final period on the front end of a back-to-back.
Jalen Green scored 25 points and Kevin Porter Jr. added 20 for the Rockets, who dropped their third in a row.
Reggie Jackson had 17 points and six assists to help the Clippers win for the third time in four games.

Bam Adebayo scored 30 points, and the Heat rallied from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Suns 113-112 on Monday.

Adebayo scores 30 points as Heat rally past Suns 113-112

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Jeremy Roach scored 16 first-half points to help seventh-ranked Duke open Jon Scheyer&rsquo;s coaching tenure with a 71-44 win over Jacksonville on Monday night.
Freshman Mark Mitchell had a team-high 18 points for the Blue Devils, who used a 25-4 run spanning halftime to blow the game open.
It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Scheyer taking over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. Duke has 11 new players, including the nation&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked recruiting class and two power-conference transfers. The Blue Devils didn&rsquo;t have top freshmen Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead for this one as they recover from preseason injuries.
Mike Marsh scored 15 points to lead the Dolphins, who shot 34% and missed 18 of 19 3-pointers before making two meaningless 3s late.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 69, UNC WILMINGTON 56
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Love and RJ Davis scored 17 points apiece and North Carolina began a season of grand expectations by pulling away from UNC Wilmington.
Armando Bacot added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels, who were perhaps most impressive at the defensive end. UNCW shot 29.8% from the field.
The Tar Heels, who were the NCAA Tournament runner-up in April, began the new season with the top ranking for the first time in seven years. It&rsquo;s a record 10th time that North Carolina has been ranked No. 1 to start a season &mdash; one more than rival Duke.
Trazarien White scored 19 points for UNCW, which faced a top-ranked team for the first time in program history.
NO. 2 GONZAGA 104, NORTH FLORIDA 63
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 22 points, Julian Strawther added 16 and No. 2 Gonzaga used a big first-half run to beat North Florida in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Anton Watson had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and five steals for Gonzaga, which won its 68th consecutive home game, the nation&rsquo;s longest such streak.
Carter Hendricksen scored 16 points, Jadyn Parker 13 and Jose Placer 12 for North Florida, a veteran-laden team from the Atlantic Sun Conference that returned its top four scorers from last season.
NO. 3 HOUSTON 83, NORTHERN COLORADO 36
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Marcus Sasser scored 21 points, J&rsquo;Wan Roberts added 12 points and six rebounds, and Houston opened the season by beating Northern Colorado.
Sasser, a preseason All-American, scored 11 points in the first half. He finished 7 of 14 from the field and made 4 of 8 3-pointers. The senior guard missed the second half of last season and all of Houston&rsquo;s run to the Elite Eight with a toe injury.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson won his 700th career game and 200th with the Cougars.
Matt Johnson II, Riley Abercrombie and Caleb Shaw each scored eight points for the Bears.
NO. 4 KENTUCKY 95, HOWARD 63
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Antonio Reeves scored 22 points, CJ Fredrick had 20 and Kentucky beat Howard with All-American Oscar Tshiebwe and two other players sidelined.
Tshiebwe had a procedure last month on his right knee. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler (right leg) and sophomore forward Daimion Collins (personal reasons) were also out, but the Wildcats still shot 55% against the overmatched Bison.
Jacob Toppin and freshman Cason Wallace each added 15 points for Kentucky.
Kobe Dickson scored 17 points and Elijah Hawkins had 14 for Howard, which shot 34%.
NO. 5 KANSAS 89, OMAHA 64
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Gradey Dick added 23 points in his debut, and Kansas began defense of its national championship without suspended coach Bill Self by routing Omaha.
Bobby Pettiford Jr. added 13 points, Dajuan Harris had 11 points and eight assists, and Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar Jr. scored 10 for the Jayhawks, who broke open a close game in the second half with two big runs.
Self served the first of a four-game punishment along with assistant Kurtis Townsend as part of the fallout from a 2017 federal investigation into college basketball corruption.
Jaeden Marshall scored 13 points and Luke Jungers had 12 for the Mavericks.
NO. 5 BAYLOR 117, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 53
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Adam Flagler scored 21 points to lead six players in double figures as Baylor won the opener of its 20th season with coach Scott Drew.
Flagler, a preseason All-Big 12 pick who also was the Bears&rsquo; leading scorer last season, also had eight assists and one of his four 3-pointers started a 24-0 run midway through the first half.
LJ Cryer had 16 points and Dale Bonner, another returning guard, had 14.
Alvin Stredic scored 14 points and Terry Collins 10 for Mississippi Valley State in its first game for new coach George Ivory.
NO. 9 CREIGHTON 72, ST. THOMAS 60
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Baylor Scheierman made back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to give Creighton the lead for good.
Arthur Kaluma scored 17 points, Trey Alexander had 12 and Scheierman added 11 as the Bluejays won their 25th opener in 26 years.
St. Thomas, a Summit League member beginning its second season in Division I, gave the Bluejays all they could handle until the last few minutes. Andrew Rohde had 15 points to lead the Tommies.
NO. 10 ARKANSAS 76, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 58
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) &mdash; Trevon Brazile had 21 points and 12 rebounds in his debut as Arkansas won its season opener.
Brazile, a sophomore transfer from Missouri, scored six straight points during an 11-0 run early in the second half that gave Arkansas a 16-point lead with 15 minutes left.
Wichita State transfer Ricky Council led the Razorbacks with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting.
Grant Nelson and Boden Skunberg had 17 points apiece to lead North Dakota State.
NO. 11 TENNESSEE 75, TENNESSEE TECH 43
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Tyreke Key came off the bench to score 17 points and Tennessee beat Tennessee Tech in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Key, an Indiana State transfer, connected on 4 of 8 3-pointers to ignite a sluggish Volunteer offense. Zakai Zeigler scored all but two of his 12 points in the second half.
Brett Thompson led the Golden Eagles with 15 points.
NO. 12 TEXAS 72, UTEP 57
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Tyrese Hunter scored 18 points to lead Texas past UTEP in the debut of its new arena.
Hunter, a transfer from Iowa State, was 6-of-8 shooting and added five rebounds. Ze&rsquo;Ri Onyema led UTEP with 10 points.
Texas this season moved to the $375 million Moody Center on the edge of campus, leaving behind the old Frank Erwin Center after 45 years.
NO. 13 INDIANA 88, MOREHEAD STATE 53
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Preseason All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis and freshman Malik Reneau each scored 15 points, helping Indiana beat Morehead State in the season opener for both teams.
The Hoosiers have won all six matchups in the series and are 26-0 all-time against Ohio Valley Conference foes.
Mark Freeman led the Eagles with 14 points, and Drew Thelwell had 11 for the OVC favorites.
NO. 14 TCU 73, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 72
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Mike Miles hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds remaining to finally put TCU ahead to stay against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which built an early 20-point lead in the season opener for both teams.
Miles, the preseason Big 12 player of the year, hit from deep beyond the top of the key for a 71-68 lead.
Emanuel Miller had 15 of his 19 points in the second half, and Miles finished with 15 points for the Horned Frogs. They returned all five starters and five other scholarship players after winning their first NCAA Tournament game since 1987.
Shaun Doss had 25 points with four of Arkansas-Pine Bluff&rsquo;s 13 3-pointers.
NO. 15 AUBURN 70, GEORGE MASON 52
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Wendell Green Jr. scored 16 points while K.D. Johnson and Johni Broome each had 12 to lead Auburn to a season-opening win over George Mason.
The Tigers weren&rsquo;t really challenged much in their first game since losing NBA first-round draft picks Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.
Ronald Polite III led George Mason with 10 points, and Victor Bailey Jr. had nine.
NO. 16 VILLANOVA 81, LA SALLE 68
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Daniels scored 24 points to make coach Kyle Neptune a winner in his Villanova debut.
Neptune replaced Hall of Famer Jay Wright, who retired in the offseason. The Wildcats returned three starters (a fourth, Justin Moore, was injured) from the team that lost a national semifinal game to Kansas. Eric Dixon added 20 points for Villanova.
Daniels made his first five 3-pointers and the Wildcats used an early 10-0 run to put away their city rival and spoiled 74-year-old coach Fran Dunphy&rsquo;s return to the bench.
Josh Nickelberry scored 22 points to lead the Explorers.
NO. 17 ARIZONA 117, NICHOLLS STATE 75
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Azuolas Tubelis scored 23 points and Arizona went on a massive opening run to begin its second season under coach Tommy Lloyd with a rout.
Ballo scored 18 points, helping Arizona set a school record with 71.7% shooting from the floor against the reigning Southland Conference regular-season champions. The Wildcats opened the game with a 30-4 run.
Micah Thomas led Nicholls State with 20 points.
NO. 18 VIRGINIA 73, NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL 61
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman sparked a 15-2 second-half run, and Virginia beat North Carolina Central after blowing a 16-point first-half lead.
Armaan Franklin led Virginia with 21 points in the season opener for both teams, and Francisco Caffaro had 10.
Justin Wright scored 20 and Eric Boone had 18 for the Eagles, who used a 12-0 run just after halftime to go ahead. But Clark hit a 3 and Beekman followed with a steal and a breakaway.
NO. 19 SAN DIEGO STATE 80, CAL STATE FULLERTON 57
SAN DIEGO (AP) &mdash; Darrion Trammell hit three 3-pointers during a 29-10 run to open the second half and finished with 18 points as San Diego State beat Cal State Fullerton.
Fellow newcomer Jaedon LeDee and Lamont Butler scored 11 points apiece and Nathan Mensah had 10 for the Aztecs, who won their 10th straight season opener and their 17th in 18 seasons.
Vincent Lee scored 11 and Jalen Harris 10 for the Titans, the defending Big West Conference champions.
NO. 20 ALABAMA 75, LONGWOOD 54
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Freshman Brandon Miller had 14 points and 13 rebounds in his debut as Alabama beat Longwood.
Fellow freshman Rylan Griffen also scored 14 for the Crimson Tide, and point guard Mark Sears had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Freshman guard Jaden Bradley added 11 points and six boards.
Alabama held Longwood to 27% shooting and blocked nine shots. Michael Christmas led Longwood with 12 points.
NO. 21 OREGON 80, FLORIDA A&amp;M 45
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) &mdash; N&rsquo;Faly Dante had 16 points and 10 rebounds as Oregon opened with an easy win over Florida A&amp;M.
Keeshawn Barthelemy added 13 points for the Ducks, ranked to start the season for the ninth straight year. Will Richardson scored 11.
Jordan Tillmon and Jordan Chatman had eight points apiece for the Rattlers, who have 11 new players. Florida A&amp;M coach Robert McCullum was on Oregon coach Dana Altman&rsquo;s staff from 2014-17.
NO. 22 MICHIGAN 75, PURDUE FORT WAYNE 56
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) &mdash; Hunter Dickinson had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and freshman Jett Howard added 21 points in Michigan&rsquo;s season-opening win.
After Purdue Fort Wayne opened an 8-4 lead, Michigan went on a 20-0 run to take control.
Quinton Morton-Robertson scored 15 points and Bobby Planutis added 13 for the Mastodons.
NO. 23 ILLINOIS 87, EASTERN ILLINOIS 57
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) &mdash; Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 24 points and Coleman Hawkins had 23 points and 12 rebounds as Illinois cruised past Eastern Illinois.
Dain Dainja added 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Illini, who outrebounded the Panthers 53-30 in the opener for both teams.
Kinyon Hodges scored 14 points and Yaakema Rose added 10 for Eastern Illinois.
NO. 24 DAYTON 73, LINDENWOOD 46
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Mustapha Amzil scored 14 points, DaRon Holmes II and R.J. Blakney each had 13 and Dayton beat Lindenwood in a sluggish opener for both teams.
Dayton was without injured point guard Malachi Smith and didn&rsquo;t play particularly well until late, but it had a large margin for error against Lindenwood, which was playing its first game after moving up to Division I.
Chris Childs had 15 points for the Lions, who shot 33% from the field.
NO. 25 TEXAS TECH 73, NORTHWESTERN STATE 49
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) &mdash; Daniel Batcho had 12 points and 10 rebounds as Texas Tech rolled past Northwestern State in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Texas Tech broke it open late in the first half and led 42-23 at halftime.
Isaac Haney led Northwestern State with 16 points.

It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Jon Scheyer taking over Duke's program.

Roach leads No. 7 Duke past Jacksonville in Scheyer’s debut

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Duncan Robinson scored 29 points to lead the Miami Heat to a 111-108 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.
Robinson shot 7 for 11 from the field, including 5 for 7 on 3-pointers. Jamal Cain, an undrafted rookie who played his last college season at Oakland University, scored 19 points, and Nikola Jovic &mdash; the 27th overall pick in the draft &mdash; scored 13 points as the Heat played the game with their reserves.
Dillon Brooks led Memphis with 18 points, while Ja Morant and Desmond Bane each scored 17 with four assists.
The Heat, playing on the road for the second night of a back-to-back, sat their starters, including Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and Bam Adebayo.
Meanwhile, Memphis was at full strength, except for forward Jaren Jackson Jr., who is out for a couple of more months recovering from a stress fracture in his right foot.
While the Grizzlies played their regular starters, there were some reserves who took the night off, tightening the rotation. Bane played 28 minutes, while Morant and Brooks logged 26 minutes each.
The Heat took their lead with a rally spanning the second and third quarters and held on at the end when both teams had bench players in the game. Memphis missed a pair of 3-point attempts to tie the game in the closing 10 seconds
CELTICS 112, HORNETS 103
In Greensboro, North Carolina, Jaylen Brown scored 19 points, Derrick White finished with 18 points and six assists to lead Boston.
Justin Jackson added 16 for the Celtics, and Payton Pritchard scored 15. Noah Vonleh had 14 points and 13 rebounds.
LaMelo Ball had 23 points and nine assists to lead the Hornets, and Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 18 points on 7-for-14 shooting. Terry Rozier added 14 points as Charlotte remained winless in three preseason games.
The Celtics sat some of their starters, including Jayson Tatum, Al Horford and Marcus Smart. However, Blake Griffin &mdash; signed this week &mdash; finished with seven points and nine rebounds in 16 minutes in his Celtics debut.
MAGIC 110, MAVERICKS 105
Top draft pick Paolo Banchero scored 19 points and Terrence Ross added 16 to led visiting Orlando.
Banchero, the 6-foot-10 forward out of Duke, shot 6 for 13 from the field and had five rebounds. Mo Bamba had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Magic.
Christian Wood scored 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting. Luka Doncic had 16 points in 18 minutes, making 6 of 8 shots from the field, and also had five assists.
KNICKS 131, PACERS 114
Obi Toppin scored 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting to lead host New York.
Toppin was 4 for 7 on 3-pointers as the Knicks improved to 2-0 in the preseason. RJ Barrett scored 18 points, while Jalen Brunson and Immanuel Quickley finished with 17 points each.
Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers with 20 points. Bennedict Mathurin, the sixth overall pick in last summer&rsquo;s draft, had 19 points and Buddy Hield added 13 points.
BULLS 131, NUGGETS 113
DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting to lead host Chicago.
Coby White and Javonte Green added 15 points each for the Bulls, while Nikola Vucevic finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Bones Hyland had 24 points for Denver, while Michael Porter Jr. scored 20 points. Aaron Gordon added 14 points.
ROCKETS 116, RAPTORS 100
Tari Eason, the seventh overall pick in last summer&rsquo;s draft out of LSU, had 24 points and eight rebounds to lead host Houston.
Jalen Green added 23 points for the Rockets, while Kevin Porter Jr. had 15.
Pascal Siakam scored 18 points for the Raptors. O.G. Anunoby scored 13 points, but missed all five of his 3-point attempts. Dalano Banton had 14 points. Gary Trent Jr., Precious Achiuwa and Chris Boucer each scored 10 points in the game.
PELICANS 107, PISTONS 101
Jose Alvarado scored 28 points and Zion Williamson added 13 for host New Orleans.
Naji Marshall had 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting, including just 3 for 12 on free throws for the Hornets. Alvarado shot 12 for 18 from the field.
Saddiq Bey led the Pistons with 23 points, while Isaiah Steward and Jaden Ivey finished with 14 apiece.

Duncan Robinson scored 29 points to lead the Heat to a 111-108 victory over the Grizzlies on Friday night.

Duncan Robinson scores 29 as Heat beat Grizzlies 111-108

PHILADELPHIA (AP) &mdash; Joel Embiid and James Harden were done with their preseason debuts long before Montrezl Harrell scored the go-ahead basket with 26 seconds left, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat Cleveland 113-112 on Wednesday night in Donovan Mitchell's first game with the Cavaliers.
Embiid had 12 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes before taking a seat after halftime. Harden played 19 minutes and scored nine points, going 3 of 9 from the field but adding five assists.
Tyrese Maxey, who had 20 points in Monday&rsquo;s win over the Nets, continued his good start to the preseason, leading Philadelphia with 21 points in the first half. He went 9 of 11, making all three of his 3-pointers. Harrell, who signed a two-year contract with Philadelphia during the offseason, scored 13 points.
Mitchell scored 16 points in his first game since being traded from Utah, while Darius Garland and Raul Neto each had 12. Dean Wade and Sharife Cooper finished with 11 points apiece.
Cleveland played without second-year big man Evan Mobley, who is expected to be out a couple of weeks with a right ankle sprain suffered this week.
The Cavaliers got an optimistic glimpse of the backcourt tandem of Mitchell with Garland in the first half. Mitchell was 6 of 9 for the game, including 3 of 4 from outside the arc to go with five assists. Garland, meanwhile, made 4 of 7 shots and handed out four assists.
Shake Milton had 12 points for Philadelphia, while De&rsquo;Anthony Melton, picked up from Memphis in a draft night trade, had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.
DOC UNDER THE WEATHER
Doc Rivers was absent from the game with an undisclosed illness. Assistant coach Dave Joerger, who has head coaching experience with the Grizzlies and the Kings, ran the club.
PACERS 122; HORNETS 97
Aaron Nesmith scored 16 points, rookie Benedict Mathurin, the No. 6 pick in the draft from Arizona, added 15 and Indiana beat Charlotte. Isaiah Jackson finished with 13 points, while Myles Turner and Chris Duarte contributed 12 points apiece. Mathurin was 5 of 10 from the field, despite missing all four of his 3-pointers over 19 minutes.
Terry Rozier led the Hornets with 18 points and P.J. Washington finished with 13. Kelly Oubre Jr. had 11 points and nine rebounds, while LeMelo Ball scored 12 points and handed out seven assists.
RAPTORS 125; CELTICS 119, OT
Pascal Siakam and Precious Achiuwa scored 13 points apiece and Toronto used an early burst in overtime to beat Boston.
Josh Jackson also had 13 points for the Raptors. Siakam recorded six rebounds and Achiuwa seven boards as the Raptors improved to 2-0 in the preseason.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 23 points and Sam Hauser had 22, connecting on 8 of 12 shots, including 5 of 8 from outside the arc. Jayson Tatum finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for Boston, now 1-1 in the preseason.
Payton Pritchard scored 17 points and had five assists
The teams were tied at 110 at the end of regulation after Jeff Dowtin (10 points) converted a 9-footer for the Raptors. Pritchard&rsquo;s 18-footer was off the mark as time in regulation ran out, sending the game to the extra period.
The Raptors outscored the Celtics 11-4 to open overtime and never relinquished the lead.
MAVERICKS 98; THUNDER 96
Jaden Hardy scored 21 points, Christian Wood finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Dallas used a fourth-quarter rally to beat Oklahoma City.
Dwight Powell finished with 13 points and five rebounds for the Mavericks in their opening game of the preseason.
Josh Giddey led the Thunder with 13 points, shooting 6 for 10. Rookie Jalen Williams, the 12th overall pick out of Santa Clara, finished with 10 points.

The 76ers beat Cleveland 113-112 on Wednesday night in Donovan Mitchell's first game with the Cavaliers.

Embiid, Harden help 76ers top Cavs in Mitchell's debut

Nekias Duncan thoroughly breaks down all five teams in the Central Division ahead of the 2022-23 season.

2022-23 NBA Season Preview: Central Division

CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; Zion Williamson scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds over 15 minutes in his return after a lost season with a broken foot, and the New Orleans Pelicans held on to beat the Chicago Bulls 129-125 on Tuesday night.
Devonte&rsquo; Graham led the Pelicans with 21 points and five assists. Willy Hernangomez and rookie Dyson Daniels, the eighth overall pick in last summer&rsquo;s draft, had 15 points apiece. Dyson had 12 points in the fourth quarter as New Orleans won with a late push.
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 21 points, and Javonte Green had 18. Nikola Vucevic finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Rookie Dalen Terry scored 11 points.
The Pelicans built a 73-50 lead at halftime with a significant portion of the scoring coming from the bench, a testament to New Orleans&rsquo; depth. And the Pelicans were without Brandon Ingram, who sat out with a sore toe.
Williamson was the only New Orleans starter to reach double figures. Jaxson Hayes added 14 points off the bench.
KNICKS 117, PISTONS 96
RJ Barrett scored 21 points, Jalen Brunson had 16 points and five assists in his debut as the Knicks point guard, and New York used a third-quarter push to beat Detroit.
Julius Randle added 15 points for the Knicks, shooting 6 for 10 and contributing six rebounds and four assists. Immanuel Quickley finished with 13 points and Miles McBride had six steals as the Knicks forced 22 turnovers, leading to 26 points.
Rookie Jaden Ivey from Purdue, the fifth overall pick in the draft, started at guard and scored 16 points in 22 minutes for Detroit. Ivey connected on 6 of 9 shots in his preseason debut. Isaiah Livers scored 13 points, while Bojan Bogdanovic, who came over from Utah, and Killian Hayes added 11 apiece.
Brunson, who played for Dallas last season, signed a four-year contract in the offseason as the Knicks continue their search for a point guard. Brunson got off to a nice start with six points and three assists in the first quarter.
A 33-21 third quarter put the Knicks in control as both teams moved to their reserves in the second half.
Jalen Duren, the 13th overall pick, grabbed 14 rebounds for the Pistons.
TIMBERWOLVES 121, HEAT 111
Anthony Edwards scored 24 points, connecting on 9 of 15 shots in 23 minutes, to lead Minnesota over Miami.
Taurean Prince added 19 points, while Bryn Forbes scored 15 for the Timberwolves, who played without frontline players Karl-Anthony Towns and newly acquired Rudy Gobert.
Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro led the Heat with 22 points apiece, while Caleb Martin scored 12. Omer Yurtseven finished with 11 points and nine rebounds after starting at center for Miami.
Towns is still recovering from a throat illness that eventually required hospitalization. Gobert is resting after playing for France last month.
Meanwhile, Miami played without Jimmy Butler, last year&rsquo;s leading scorer at 21.4 points per game, and Victor Oladipo.
The Timberwolves benefitted from 51% shooting, including 13 of 33 from outside the arc. Miami was limited to 43% and 9 of 34 from 3-point range. Fifteen Heat turnovers led to 25 Minnesota points.
JAZZ 118, TRAIL BLAZERS 101
Jordan Clarkson scored 19 points, Mike Conley finished with 16 on 6-of-9 shooting, and Utah beat Portland.
Both Conley and Clarkson were 3 of 5 from outside the arc, with the Jazz shooting 46% from 3-point range. Collin Sexton scored 13 points and Kelly Olynyk finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
Damian Lillard led Portland with 21 points. Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant scored 13 points apiece, while Jusuf Nurkic finished with 12 points as the Trail Blazers lost for the second time in as many nights.

Zion Williamson returned to the court after missing a season as the Pelicans beat the Bulls in their pre-season opener.

Zion Williamson scores 13 points in return after missing season

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) &mdash; It is a new day for the New York Knicks.
That was the collective message by the Knicks on Monday during media day at the team's training center.
Coming off a 2020-21 season in which New York compiled a 41-31 record and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012-13, the Knicks stumbled to a 37-45 mark last season and missed the playoffs.
They believe the disappointment of last season could be a galvanizing force.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s always motivation,&rdquo; Julius Randle said. &ldquo;... There&rsquo;s always, (you) feel like you have something to prove.&rdquo;
Especially in a division with Eastern Conference champion Boston, the star-laden New York Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, and a young, talented and exciting Toronto squad. All those teams qualified for the playoffs last season while the Knicks watched and waited, and waited and waited some more.
&ldquo;(The) offseason was a long one,&rdquo; Randle said. &ldquo;Eventually it gets to a point where it&rsquo;s like, alright man, let&rsquo;s get to it. You never want to be sitting at home for that long. &hellip; You never want to be away from the game like that for that long.&rdquo;
Indeed not. So, the front office, led by team president Leon Rose and general manager Scott Perry, looked to improve the squad by signing point guard Jalen Brunson to a four-year, $104 million contract, as well as agreeing to a four-year, $120 million extension with swingman R.J. Barrett. Barrett&rsquo;s extension kicks in beginning in 2023-24.
But the Knicks missed out on Donovan Mitchell, traded by Utah to Cleveland in a blockbuster deal. The 6-foot-1 Mitchell is from Westchester, New York and had spent part of his summer in New York while Danny Ainge, Utah&rsquo;s CEO of basketball operations, and Rose engaged in ultimately fruitless talks.
There had been speculation that the Knicks would part with one of, if not both Barrett or Randle, in a trade package to acquire Mitchell. Both professed to have ignored the rumors.
&ldquo;Whatever was going to happen was going to happen,&rdquo; Barrett said. &ldquo;I trust the organization.&rdquo;
Added Randle: &ldquo;You control what you can, and what you can&rsquo;t control, what&rsquo;s the point of focusing on this?&rdquo;
WELCOME TO NEW YORK
It is not exactly a state secret that the Knicks have had a gaping hole at point guard for more than two decades. Enter the 26-year old Brunson, who is coming off a 2021-22 season in which he averaged 16.3 points on 50.2% shooting from the field and 4.8 assists for a Dallas Mavericks squad that reached the finals of the Western Conference.
During his first group interview session with the print and television reporters who cover the team, Brunson made it clear that he views himself as a part of the team instead of a player the team is built around.
&ldquo;(I&rsquo;m) not a savior in any way, shape, or form,&rdquo; said Brunson, whose signing the Knicks officially announced on July 12. &ldquo;I just want to be able to contribute to the team, try to win some games. I like the group. (Can&rsquo;t wait) to build some chemistry with these guys (and) see what we can unlock.&rdquo;
LESS IS MORE
One aspect of Brunson&rsquo;s arrival that could pay dividends for the Knicks is that Randle won&rsquo;t have as much responsibility as the primary ballhandler. Over the course of his first three seasons with the Knicks, Randle was often tasked with bringing the ball up court as the offense ran through him. With Brunson in the fold, Randle won&rsquo;t have to worry as much about getting the offense set.
&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;ll be easier,&rdquo; Randle said, when asked if he thought not being the primary ballhandler would be a difficult adjustment. &ldquo;You have to create a lot (with) the ball in your hands. It could be tough because the defense has all eyes on you all the time. So for me being able to get some things off the ball, whether it&rsquo;s running for a pick-and-roll, cuts, offensive rebounds, stuff like that, I&rsquo;m just thinking it&rsquo;ll make the game easier for myself and I&rsquo;ll be able to help my teammates more.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

The New York Knicks are looking to build around new acquisition Jalen Brunson and the re-signed R.J. Barrett.

Kaden