Buckeyes

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Desmond Cambridge Jr. scored 20 points and Arizona State never trailed in blowing out No. 20 Michigan 87-62 on Thursday night to win the Legends Classic at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
It was the most lopsided championship game in the event&rsquo;s 16-year history and Arizona State&rsquo;s largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent.
&ldquo;I thought it was an elite performance,&rdquo; coach Bobby Hurley said. &ldquo;These guys were just &mdash; man, they were making plays all over the court. I just kind of told them, I&rsquo;m kind of in awe of them a little bit. Just kind of took a step back and was watching and just proud of how they competed and performed and made plays out there.&rdquo;
DJ Horne added 19 points, Austin Nunez had 15 and Luther Muhammad scored 13 for the Sun Devils (4-1), who reached the championship game by overcoming an 11-point deficit in the final nine minutes of a 63-59 victory Wednesday night over VCU.
All-America center Hunter Dickinson, who was double- and triple-teamed down low by Arizona State, scored 14 points and Jett Howard had 12 for Michigan (3-1), which routed Pittsburgh 91-60 on Wednesday but shot just 34% against ASU.
&ldquo;I was looking at a lot of things that we did last night in that win and I think it started with our defense,&rdquo; Horne said. &ldquo;So I wanted to start there in this game today, emphasizing that defense is going to get us this win.&rdquo;
Seven players scored during a game-opening 29-10 run by Arizona State, which scored on nine straight possessions during the surge but shot even better in the second half (66.7%) than in the first half (56.3%).
&ldquo;Some of the shots were uncontested &mdash; that was disappointing,&rdquo; Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. &ldquo;But there were times when they made shots that were contested because of the fact (of) the confidence level that they had.&rdquo;
Michigan got within 15 just once following Arizona State&rsquo;s opening run. Dickinson put back a miss by Jett Howard to cut the lead to 50-34 early in the second half, but the momentum was short-lived as Howard was whistled for a foul 12 seconds later before Arizona State&rsquo;s Warren Washington slammed home an alley-oop.
Cambridge, who finished with four 3-pointers, hit consecutive 3s &mdash; the second with Jett Howard&rsquo;s hand in his face &mdash; before he cut into the lane, took a pass from Washington and dunked to make it 60-41.
A jumper by Horne with 10:55 left extended it to 64-43 for Arizona State, which led by 32 before Michigan emptied the bench with 4:12 remaining. The Sun Devils followed suit with 2:26 to play.
&ldquo;Getting beat like that is pretty embarrassing,&rdquo; Dickinson said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want to have that kind of wakeup call, but it happened. So for us, I feel like it&rsquo;ll level us and kind of bring us back down to Earth that obviously we can&rsquo;t just roll a ball out there and play and expect to win.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Michigan: Led by the 7-foot-1 Dickinson down low, the Wolverines made 62.3% of their 2-point attempts in their first three games. But with Dickinson mostly contained, Michigan shot just 43% from inside the arc Thursday. The Wolverines missed four consecutive shots at or near the basket during a single possession while down 22-10. They couldn&rsquo;t make up for it from beyond the arc, finishing 4 of 22 (18%) on 3s.
Arizona State: The Sun Devils entered shooting just 29.4% from 3-point territory but thrived against Michigan&rsquo;s zone defense, going 8 for 14 in the first half and 11 of 19 (58%) overall.
UP NEXT
Michigan: Tries to rebound against Ohio at home Sunday night.
Arizona State: Will host Grambling on Tuesday night.

It was the most lopsided championship game in the event’s history and ASU’s largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent.

Arizona State routs No. 20 Michigan to win Legends Classic

Bill Russell's No. 6 jersey is being retired across the NBA, a first for the league.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Thursday that the number worn by the 11-time champion, civil rights activist and person good enough to be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach was being permanently retired by all 30 teams.
&ldquo;Bill Russell&rsquo;s unparalleled success on the court and pioneering civil rights activism deserve to be honored in a unique and historic way,&rdquo; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. &ldquo;Permanently retiring his No. 6 across every NBA team ensures that Bill&rsquo;s transcendent career will always be recognized.&rdquo;
Players who currently wear No. 6 &mdash; including the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James &mdash; may continue doing so. But the number cannot be issued again, the league said.
All NBA players will wear a patch on the right shoulder of their jerseys this season, the league said, and every NBA court will display a clover-shaped logo with the No. 6 on the sideline near the scorer&rsquo;s table.
The Boston Celtics have &ldquo;separate and unique recognition for him on their uniforms" planned, the NBA said.
Russell <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bill-russell-nba-obit-48db4e1f37deb6e6574263c9f42dee46">died on July 31</a> at the age of 88. He was the most prolific winner in NBA history, an 11-time champion during a 13-year career &mdash; winning the last two of those titles as a player-coach &mdash; and the first Black coach in any of the major U.S. pro sports to win a championship.
He <a href="https://apnews.com/article/boston-celtics-nba-entertainment-sports-racial-injustice-e5f54724c115afa42cca7922b78338a3">marched with Martin Luther King Jr.</a>, stood with Muhammad Ali and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
And having his number retired leaguewide puts him in a very exclusive club.
Major League Baseball permanently retired No. 42 &mdash; in honor of Jackie Robinson, who broke the big league&rsquo;s color barrier &mdash; with the understanding that those who were wearing that number could continue to do so. Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees was the last in the majors to wear No. 42, doing so through his final season in 2013.
The NHL, upon Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s retirement in 1999, said his No. 99 would be retired leaguewide in honor of that sport&rsquo;s all-time scoring leader.
And now, Russell gets the same treatment. It also seems fitting that he and Robinson &mdash; both barrier-breakers &mdash; are linked again. Russell called Robinson a hero, once saying that &ldquo;he showed me the way to be a man in professional sports.&rdquo;
Robinson, clearly, held Russell in high esteem as well. Rachel Robinson, his widow, asked Russell to be a pallbearer at her husband&rsquo;s funeral in 1972.
&ldquo;This is a momentous honor reserved for one of the greatest champions to ever play the game,&rdquo; NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio said. &ldquo;Bill&rsquo;s actions on and off the court throughout the course of his life helped to shape generations of players for the better and for that, we are forever grateful. We are proud to continue the celebration of his life and legacy alongside the league.&rdquo;
There have been more than 250 players in NBA history to wear a No. 6 jersey, including 24 who did so in at least one game last season &mdash; most notably, James, who has alternated between 6 and 23 throughout his NBA career.
Nobody has worn No. 6 for the Celtics since Russell&rsquo;s final season, 1968-69.
Russell is one of 12 players currently enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame who wore No. 6 at at least some point in their careers. The others: Julius Erving, Patrick Ewing, Ben Wallace, Don Barksdale, Chuck Cooper, Larry Costello, Tom Gola, Cliff Hagan, Alex Hannum, Buddy Jeanette and Neil Johnston.

Players who currently wear No. 6 — including LeBron James — may continue doing so. But the number cannot be issued again.

Russell’s No. 6 being retired across NBA, a first for league

Bill Russell hated autographs. Saw no point to them. If he was out dining and got approached by someone asking for his signature, Russell&rsquo;s usual response was to instead ask the person to join him at the table to have a conversation about life.
The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/boston-celtics-nba-entertainment-sports-basketball-cea50d85fbb99c8dfcf7ead0d2a9f4be">autograph-seekers almost always declined</a>.
Oh, the stories they missed.
Russell, the greatest winner in the history of team sports, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bill-russell-nba-obit-48db4e1f37deb6e6574263c9f42dee46">died Sunday at 88</a>. The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-entertainment-sports-bill-russell-obituaries-cb23760ea7a2068597646a64a361c53f">basketball legacy is beyond well-known</a>: 11 championships in 13 years with the Boston Celtics, first Black coach in the NBA, first Black coach to win an NBA title, Hall of Fame player, Hall of Fame coach, Olympic champion, NCAA champion, member of the league&rsquo;s 75th anniversary team, and the namesake of the NBA Finals MVP award which, had it existed when he played, he would have won at least a half-dozen times.
But if those souvenir hounds had taken Russell up on the chance to sit with him for a meal, they might have heard about his obsession with golf. Or the mating habits of bees, something he penned a column about once. Or expensive cars with souped-up sound systems so he could blare the music of Laura Nyro, Janis Ian, or Crosby, Stills and Nash &mdash; some of his favorites.
&ldquo;His mind was bigger than basketball,&rdquo; author Taylor Branch, who spent about a year living with Russell near Seattle in the 1970s while working with him on a book, said Sunday. &ldquo;And so was his personality, as great as he was in basketball.&rdquo;
Take away all the on-court accomplishments, and Russell still lived a life.
He stood side-by-side with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s, the height of the civil rights movement. He was in the audience when King delivered the &ldquo;I Have A Dream&rdquo; speech in Washington in 1963. He marched in Mississippi after the slaying of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. He supported Muhammad Ali when the fighter refused to go to Vietnam. He helped start the National Basketball Players Association. President Barack Obama &mdash; at about 6-foot-2, a taller-than-average individual &mdash; had to stretch a bit when draping the Presidential Medal of Freedom around Russell&rsquo;s neck in 2011, even after Russell crouched down to accommodate the moment.
&ldquo;He endured insults and vandalism, but he kept on focusing on making the teammates who he loved better players, and made possible the success of so many who would follow,&rdquo; Obama said that day. &ldquo;And I hope that one day, in the streets of Boston, children will look up at a statue built not only to Bill Russell the player, but Bill Russell the man.&rdquo;
Russell once got asked a question about being a Black star in Boston, a city with a complicated history when it comes to race. The premise was that it had to be difficult for Russell to live in such a place, to play for fans in such a city.
&ldquo;What I ascribed to do, and I did quite well, is every time I came into an adversarial situation, I decided to take control of it so that if a guy came up to me and tried to give me a bad day, I made sure that he was the one who left with the bad day,&rdquo; Russell said. &ldquo;And so, to do this took thought, planning and discretion and intelligence. That was the way I conducted my life.&rdquo;
Case in point: The apparent invasion of raccoons into Reading, Massachusetts, around 1958.
In his second season with the Celtics, Russell bought a house in Reading. He left for a road trip and his garbage cans got turned over. Same thing happened during the season&rsquo;s second road trip. Russell went to the police, who surmised that raccoons must be the culprits. Russell asked for a gun permit.
&ldquo;The raccoons heard about that,&rdquo; Russell said. &ldquo;Never turned the trash cans over again.&rdquo;
The gun never got purchased, either.
It would be a disservice &mdash; an insult, really &mdash; to look at Russell as only a basketball player, even as one of the greatest ever. He&rsquo;s still second on the NBA&rsquo;s all-time rebounding list, behind only Wilt Chamberlain, and will probably be in that spot forever since nobody has come remotely close to him in the last 50 years. He won five MVP awards, tied for second-most with Michael Jordan, one behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s league record.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I did,&rdquo; Russell said in 2009. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t who I was.&rdquo;
That&rsquo;s the lesson. He didn&rsquo;t shut up and dribble. He stood for what he believed, stood with who he believed in. Being fearless on the basketball court was easy. Being fearless in the real world &mdash; even when dealing with matters of race in some of the nation&rsquo;s darkest times on that topic &mdash; was somehow even easier.
&ldquo;He had such curiosity about human nature, about psychology,&rdquo; Branch said. &ldquo;It was a treasure for me to be around Bill and see how he viewed the world in all of its dimensions.&rdquo;
The world has many of them. So did Russell. And on Sunday, the world lost an absolute legend.
Oh, the stories we will miss.

Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press mourns the loss of the legendary Bill Russell.

Appreciation: Bill Russell lived a life like very few others

NEW YORK &mdash; The NBA today announced the creation of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award, a new annual honor that will recognize a current NBA player for pursuing social justice and upholding the league&rsquo;s decades-long values of equality, respect and inclusion.
The award is named after six-time NBA champion and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. &nbsp;The recipient will have advanced Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s mission to drive change and inspired others to reflect on injustice and take collective action in their communities over the previous year.
The winner of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion honor will select an organization to receive a $100,000 contribution on his behalf. &nbsp;The other four finalists will each select an organization to receive a $25,000 contribution.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m honored and grateful to be associated with this award that will recognize the dedicated and selfless people fighting to promote social justice for all marginalized people,&rdquo; said Abdul-Jabbar. &nbsp;&ldquo;To me, it&rsquo;s another giant step in the right direction for the country and all people who value equality.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
JUST ANNOUNCED: The <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBA</a> is announcing a new award, the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award, named after the Hall of Famer and longtime activist.<a href="https://twitter.com/vladduthiersCBS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@vladduthiersCBS</a> spoke with <a href="https://twitter.com/kaj33?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kaj33</a> in an exclusive interview. <a href="https://t.co/oYtJHOPt8T">pic.twitter.com/oYtJHOPt8T</a>
&mdash; CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSThisMorning/status/1392824097340526594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

&ldquo;In addition to being one of our greatest players, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has devoted much of his life to advocating for equality and social justice,&rdquo; said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. &nbsp;&ldquo;With this new award, we are proud to recognize and celebrate NBA players who are using their influence to make an impact on their communities and our broader society.&rdquo;
All 30 NBA teams will nominate one player from their roster to be the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion. &nbsp;The finalists and winner will be selected by a committee composed of NBA legends, league executives and social justice leaders.
Abdul-Jabbar has been a champion of inclusivity dating to his youth. &nbsp;At 17, he met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s hometown of Harlem, N.Y. &nbsp;Inspired by King&rsquo;s message, Abdul-Jabbar committed to using his influence as a visible athlete to engage on critically important social issues during the Civil Rights Movement. &nbsp;He attended the 1967 Cleveland Summit where Bill Russell, Jim Brown and other prominent Black athletes gathered to discuss Muhammad Ali&rsquo;s refusal to serve in the Vietnam War. &nbsp;Abdul-Jabbar has continued to promote equality and combat discrimination in the decades since his retirement from basketball. &nbsp;In 2016, former President Barack Obama awarded him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation&rsquo;s highest civilian honor. &nbsp;In 2009, Abdul-Jabbar created the Skyhook Foundation, aimed at providing educational STEM opportunities to underserved communities.
One of the most accomplished players in NBA history, Abdul-Jabbar holds league records for regular-season MVP awards (six), All-Star Game selections (19) and career points (38,387) captured during his 20 NBA seasons playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks. &nbsp;Abdul-Jabbar joined the NBA in the 1969-70 season after leading UCLA to three consecutive national championships.
Additional details regarding the inaugural award, including the finalists and winner, will be announced during the postseason.

The winner of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion honor will select an organization to receive a $100,000 contribution on his behalf.