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Mavericks

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

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; Kyrie Irving sat for the last two games as part of a plan by the Dallas Mavericks to get back a draft pick sent to the New York Knicks in a trade four years ago.
Now they wait to see if the eight-time All-Star will re-sign in free agency, or be a failed two-month rental from a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-dallas-mavericks-nba-sports-disaster-planning-and-response-7749902360cabe682d60dd63e8b16786" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blockbuster deal with Brooklyn</a>.
&ldquo;I think I said this before, he&rsquo;s at peace,&rdquo; coach Jason Kidd said, striking an optimistic tone after Irving declined to meet with reporters for a season-ending interview. &ldquo;He likes it here.&rdquo;
The Mavs sat Irving and five other regulars in a meaningless, reserve-filled finale against San Antonio on Sunday, losing 138-117 to Sandro Mamukelashvili and the Spurs.
Irving and fellow All-Star Luka Doncic were among those who didn&rsquo;t play with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/mavericks-playoffs-nba-investigation-tanking-7ac5f76590adafd9df1c7c590a78d346" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dallas being investigated by the NBA</a>&nbsp;for similar roster decisions two days earlier against Chicago.
The Mavericks still had a shot at the final Western Conference play-in spot before blowing an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Bulls.
The Spurs sat nine players, but they&rsquo;ve been out of contention for months and were already locked in to the best draft lottery odds at 14%, along with Detroit and Houston, in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes.
The loss gave Dallas the 10th-worst record and lottery chances of 4.5%, which is part of the reason the NBA opened an investigation when Doncic was pulled early and Irving and four other regulars didn&rsquo;t play at all against Chicago.
The Mavs and Bulls were tied for the 10th-best record going into the game. Dallas gets the pick if it&rsquo;s in the top 10, but otherwise surrenders it to the Knicks from Dallas&rsquo; 2019 trade for Kristaps Porzingis.
The pick would give Dallas a bit of collateral if Irving decides not to re-sign.
The mercurial Irving said when he was introduced in Dallas after the trade that he didn&rsquo;t want to talk about his future until after the season. When that time came, he still wasn&rsquo;t talking.
The Mavs were in the middle of the playoff race when they created the first pair of All-Star starters in franchise history, but Doncic and Irving were just 5-11 together with both missing multiple games because of injuries.
Dallas won its first two games with Irving but went 7-18 the rest of the way, missing the playoffs for the first time since Doncic&rsquo;s rookie year in 2018-19 after reaching the West finals last season.
&ldquo;I know you guys will talk about the record, which is fair and not fair, between the two players of Luka and (Irving),&rdquo; Kidd said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s also other participants. So let&rsquo;s put everybody in that fish bowl, not just those two. He&rsquo;s excited to work with Luka. He believes that we have a chance to win.&rdquo;
Doncic has three years remaining before the player option on the $215 million rookie max extension he signed two summers ago. He said he wants to see where the superstar pairing can go.
&ldquo;I wish we could continue that chemistry, relationship,&rdquo; said Doncic, who finished second in the scoring race at a career-best 32.4 points per game. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not going to happen in a day, in a week. It&rsquo;s a building process.&rdquo;
Mamukelashvili had 23 points. Dominick Barlow scored 21 points, and Malaki Branham added 20 for the Spurs.
Rookie Jaden Hardy led Dallas with 25 points, and Theo Pinson had a triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.
The Spurs ended a seven-game losing streak against Dallas, leading by as many as 31 points in the first half.
The Mavericks started three players for the first time this season, with the other two having just eight starts between them. Of the 17 players in the game for both teams, 15 scored in double figures.
TEXAS 3 MISSTEP
The Dallas loss to Chicago clinched the first NBA season in which all three Texas teams missed the playoffs. The Mavs were the last of the three to join the league, in 1980-81.
Houston and San Antonio were buried at the bottom of the West standings for months. The Spurs missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season after qualifying the previous 22 years. The Rockets are on a three-year drought.

The Mavs will now shift their focus to Kyrie Irving's free agency and whether he'll re-sign in free agency or be a failed two-month rental from the Nets.

Mavs turn focus to Kyrie Irving after reserve-filled loss to Spurs

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

Cinderella teams make for great stories and busted brackets. They don&rsquo;t necessarily make for great television ratings, though.
After getting a dream Final Four field last year, CBS and Turner Sports have something&nbsp;very different this weekend with Florida Atlantic, Miami, San Diego State and Connecticut making it to Houston.
The lack of recognizable names could affect the ratings.
Upsets during the first two weeks have seemingly already taken a toll. The tournament is averaging 9.11 million viewers through the regional finals, which is down 6% from last year. This after the first round on March 16-17 averaged 9.2 million, a record for the most-watched round of 64.
Last year&rsquo;s Final Four of Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Villanova resonated even with casual fans because it was loaded with national brands. It also included Mike Krzyzewski&rsquo;s final tournament as Duke&rsquo;s coach.
This year&rsquo;s group doesn&rsquo;t have the same cachet.
&ldquo;The public is telling us that they would rather see the bluebloods. The ratings support that,&rdquo; said former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson, who now runs his own sports television consulting company. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s because they&rsquo;re not familiar with teams like San Diego State, Miami or FAU. There was relatively little press attention paid to those teams during the year. Connecticut has a history, but they&rsquo;re the only one of the four that really has had national exposure.&rdquo;
College basketball also isn&rsquo;t different from other sports when it comes to marquee teams translating to bigger audiences.
Two of last year&rsquo;s Final Four games rank among the three most-watched college basketball games in cable TV history. The semifinal matchup between North Carolina and Duke averaged 18.5 million on TBS and ranks second, while Kansas&rsquo; comeback victory over North Carolina averaged 18.1 million.
According to Sports Media Watch, which tracked Final Four ratings to 1975, the Baylor-Houston game from two years ago ranks as the least-watched semifinal at 8.36 million (individual semis started being tracked in 2002).
The low for a title game on CBS is 2004, when 17.09 million watched UConn defeat Georgia Tech. The overall low was in 2018 on TBS, when 15.99 million viewed Villanova&rsquo;s win over Michigan. CBS and TBS began alternating Final Fours in 2016.
Another thing that might factor into ratings this year is that Miami and Florida Atlantic are from the same television markets (Miami/West Palm Beach).
There are signs that suggest the viewer drop won&rsquo;t be as bad. Last Sunday&rsquo;s regional final between Miami and Texas on CBS averaged 11.3 million, which was the most-watched basketball game since last year&rsquo;s deciding game of the NBA Finals.
Also, the 2011 semifinal between Butler and Virginia Commonwealth &mdash; the last time two mid-majors met in a Final Four &mdash; was down only 2% from the 2010 early semi, when Butler beat Michigan State.
&ldquo;UConn is a very well-known program but with the other three, that&rsquo;s where the interesting storylines are,&rdquo; said Tag Garson, senior vice president of properties for Wasserman Media Group. &ldquo;There are pundits who said they were seeded on a line that wasn&rsquo;t reflective enough of the type season they had. There are some tremendous players that will be playing this weekend regardless of which team you are talking about.&rdquo;

How will a Final Four consisting of Florida Atlantic, Miami, San Diego State and Connecticut affect March Madness TV ratings?

Lack of big-name teams could take toll on Final Four ratings

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Jack Nunge scored 18 points, Adam Kunkel added 15 on five first-half 3-pointers, and No. 3 seed Xavier beat 11th-seeded Pittsburgh 84-73 on Sunday to reach its first Sweet 16 since 2017.
Colby Jones had 10 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, and Souley Boum and Jerome Hunter each chipped in with 14 points as all five Xavier starters scored in double digits.
Xavier distributed the ball well, particularly early on with 17 assists on 19 baskets in the first half to build a 48-34 lead at the break. The Musketeers finished with 22 assists.
Xavier (27-9) moves on to play No. 2 seed Texas on Friday in the Midwest Region semifinals in Kansas City, Missouri.
Blake Hinson scored 18 points and Jamarius Burton had 16 for Pitt (24-12).
Nunge set the tone early, dominating the paint with eight points in the first 10 minutes while Jones knocked down two 3s as the Musketeers built a 28-18 lead.
The Musketeers then blew the game open with a 12-2 run behind Kunkel, who made two 3s and threw an alley-oop dunk to Nunge. Kunkel followed with his fifth 3 of the first half to give Xavier a 19-point lead with 1:26 left.
Nunge picked up his fourth foul with 9:35 remaining in the game and Xavier up by 18, a play that ended with Pitt coach Jeff Capel getting slapped with technical foul that left him barking at officials. Pitt guard Greg Elliott stepped in front of his coach and tried to box him out at the scorer&rsquo;s table to keep him from getting a second tech.
The Musketeers managed just fine without Nunge, pushing the lead to 20 with 7:22 remaining on a jumper by Boum.
Nunge returned but fouled out with 3:18 left and Xavier up by 14.
Burton cut the lead to 10 with an and-one off a drive through an unprotected lane. Elliott&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 1:45 remaining trimmed Xavier&rsquo;s lead to eight, but the Panthers did not get closer.
BIG PICTURE
Pitt: The Panthers won their first two NCAA Tournament games since 2014, beating Mississippi State in the First Four and throttling No. 6 Iowa State in the first round. After holding the Cyclones to 41 points on Friday, Pitt allowed Xavier to score 42 in the first 15 minutes. It didn&rsquo;t help that big man Federiko Federiko played less than a minute because of a knee problem.
Xavier: Sean Miller has the Musketeers headed in the right direction in the first season of his second stint as their coach. After needing to come back from 13 down in the second half to beat 14 seed Kennesaw State, the Musketeers left no doubt about this one, coming out focused and ready to play.
UP NEXT
Xavier will face a Longhorns team that has won six straight games.

Jack Nunge scored 18 points, Adam Kunkel added 15 on five first-half threes, and No. 3 seed Xavier beat 11th-seeded Pittsburgh.

Xavier beats Pitt 84-73, reaches first Sweet 16 since 2017

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Oscar Tshiebwe kept battling for position, pushing his way to daylight and grabbing seemingly every loose rebound with a rugged relentlessness.
No one was going to stop him, either.
When it was over, the two-time Associated Press All-American had turned in the best rebounding performance in the NCAA Tournament in nearly a half-century &mdash; and Kentucky was free to move past last year&rsquo;s one-and-done showing.
Tshiebwe pulled down 25 rebounds and Antonio Reeves scored 22 points, helping the Wildcats beat Providence 61-53 in Friday night&rsquo;s first round.
Tshiebwe&rsquo;s rebounding output represented the most in any tournament game since 1977. Eleven of his rebounds came on the offensive glass &mdash; a big factor in the sixth-seeded Wildcats (22-11) staying in control as both offenses grinded to a halt after halftime.
&ldquo;I told (my teammates), I said, &lsquo;This year we come in and fight, last year doesn&rsquo;t matter anymore,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Tshiebwe, who entered as the nation&rsquo;s leading rebounder at 13.1 per game.
The &ldquo;last year,&rdquo; of course, was the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-saint-peters-upsets-kentucky-b0fdd8fbd0ea432a9b6150f0cd8e6b22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shocking first-round exit against 15th-seeded Saint Peter&rsquo;s</a> that had hung over the program all season. Now the Wildcats are moving on to face the Montana State-Kansas State winner Sunday in the East Region.
&ldquo;Yeah, it was a big relief obviously,&rdquo; forward Jacob Toppin said.
When the horn sounded, guard Cason Wallace let out a scream before giving a chest bump to Reaves. And Tshiebwe soon emerged from a postgame TV interview by gleefully skipping his way off toward the locker room.
His rebounding total was the most in the tournament since Michigan&rsquo;s Phil Hubbard had 26 boards against Detroit Mercy in 1977.
Behind Tshiebwe, Kentucky finished with a 48-31 rebounding advantage, controlling the offensive glass (plus-10) and dominating in second-chance points for an 18-2 edge.
That was vital considering shots weren&rsquo;t falling; Kentucky shot 36.5% overall but just 7 of 28 (25%) after halftime.
Reeves hit five 3-pointers to lead the offense, while Toppin had his own big game with 18 points. Tshiebwe managed eight points, but he was still an indomitable force that the 11th-seeded Friars (21-12) just couldn&rsquo;t manage.
&ldquo;Sometimes you just have an &lsquo;it,&rsquo; a la Dennis Rodman, Ben Wallace,&rdquo; Providence coach Ed Cooley said. &ldquo;Those guys just have an &lsquo;it&rsquo; for it. Some guys have an &lsquo;it&rsquo; to score. Some people have an &lsquo;it&rsquo; to pass. He has an incredible &lsquo;it,&rsquo; an elite &lsquo;it&rsquo; to rebound.&rdquo;
Ed Croswell scored 16 points for Providence, which shot just 36.2% while making 5 of 24 3-pointers. The Friars matched the Wildcats&rsquo; second-half troubles, making just 8 of 27 shots (29.6%).
&ldquo;You can say you wish you could win this game and all that,&rdquo; Friars guard Jared Bynum said, &ldquo;but you have to embrace the moment at the end of it.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Providence: The Friars have been to the NCAAs seven times in the past nine seasons under Cooley, including last year&rsquo;s Sweet 16 before falling to eventual champion Kansas. But they entered this game just 3-6 in NCAA games under Cooley.
Kentucky: The Wildcats got off to a successful though grinding start to March Madness &mdash; and that was good enough for coach John Calipari.
&ldquo;If in this tournament, winning is a relief, what the heck are you doing here?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is joy.&rdquo;
KEY STRETCH
Tshiebwe came through in a tight game, starting with &mdash; what else? &mdash; his rebounding.
With Kentucky leading 50-46, he leapt to dunk home Wallace&rsquo;s missed drive. Minutes later, he came up with a steal, then an offensive rebound off his own miss before feeding Chris Livingston on the other side of the paint for the layup and a 54-46 lead with 2:43 left.
BUMPY REUNION
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-transfers-blake-hinson-bryce-hopkins-5bafaa08f771c7cb8e389f9fbe750213" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The game marked a reunion</a>&nbsp;between Providence star Bryce Hopkins and the Kentucky program he left behind. Hopkins came in averaging 16.1 points, but finished with just seven on 2-for-9 shooting in a tough night while being chased primarily by Toppin.
Hopkins fought back tears as he made his way through the postgame handshake line with Calipari and former teammates.
FULL STOP
The game&rsquo;s oddest moment&nbsp;came at the foul line.
With 8:36 left before halftime, Providence&rsquo;s Clifton Moore launched a free throw that hit the rim on the left side and rolled all the way around the inside of the rim before popping out and sitting on the back of the goal.
And then, it just stopped and stayed there.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What are the odds? 😂<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://t.co/XGCiyy9pVd">pic.twitter.com/XGCiyy9pVd</a>
&mdash; NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636875109322612738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2023</a></blockquote>

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

The 6-foot-9 Toppin stood next to an official under the net looking up at the ball, his hands on his hips, before jumping to tap it loose.
It went down as a miss. Moore made the second.
LOOK-INS
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/no-16-fairleigh-dickinson-stuns-no-1-seed-purdue-in-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The upset by 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson against No. 1 seed Purdue</a>&nbsp;in Columbus, Ohio, drew a captivated audience in Greensboro Coliseum for live look-ins being shown on the scoreboard.
During one timeout, with Fairleigh Dickinson up five in the final seconds, fans in Greensboro began chanting &ldquo;FDU! FDU!&rdquo; and booing whenever the game was taken off the scoreboard even when Providence-Kentucky had resumed on the court below.

Oscar Tshiebwe pulled down 25 rebounds, helping the Kentucky Wildcats beat Providence 61-53 in Friday night’s first round.

Tshiebwe’s 25 boards helps Kentucky top Providence in NCAA opener

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
But Houston pulled away&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early 3-pointer. But Sasser didn&rsquo;t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn&rsquo;t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
&ldquo;He said it felt funny,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;So he shut it down, which is the right thing to do.&rdquo;
Sampson also revealed that guard Jamal Shead is bothered by a sore knee, thought he managed to play more than 36 minutes. Shead chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to see how many healthy bodies we have right now,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably our most important thing.&rdquo;
The Cougars got by without Sasser on this night.
The Norse&rsquo;s upset bid went down in a hail of clankers, the Horizon League champions shooting just 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) &mdash; including a horrendous 5 of 34 from 3-point range &mdash; to ruin any chance of becoming the next UMBC.
The Retrievers remain the only 16th seed in NCAA history to knock off a No. 1 seed, shocking Virginia in 2018.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m unbelievably proud of our team, the fight that we showed,&rdquo; coach Darrin Horn said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a stretch to say we outplayed Houston tonight. We just didn&rsquo;t make enough shots.&rdquo;
Sam Vinson led the Norse (22-13) with 15 points, though he made just 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
&ldquo;It was frustrating a little bit, but we don&rsquo;t think about that during the game,&rdquo; Vinson said. &ldquo;The coaches keep saying, &lsquo;Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.&rsquo;&rdquo;
The Cougars avoided UMBC&rsquo;s fate but things figure to get much tougher in the next one, especially if Sasser can&rsquo;t go.
Auburn knocked off No. 8 seed Iowa 83-75 and will have another de facto home game in the second round, playing just a two-hour drive from its campus.
&ldquo;Good for them,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great break.&rdquo;
The Cougars struggled offensively against Northern Kentucky&rsquo;s matchup zone, which was unlike any defense they had seen this season. Houston led just 30-27 at halftime and finished well under its 75-point average coming into the game.
Sampson and his players also conceded to a lack of toughness.
&ldquo;They were more aggressive,&rdquo; said J&rsquo;Wan Roberts, who had 11 points and 12 rebounds. &ldquo;It felt like they wanted it more. We&rsquo;ve got to learn from that and get better.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Northern Kentucky: The Norse have yet to win three NCAA Tournament appearances, losing as a 14th, 15th and now 16th seed.
Houston: The Cougars hardly looked like a national championship contender, and Sasser&rsquo;s health makes a title run look even more tenuous.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will be playing Auburn for the first time since Dec. 8, 1982, when Houston&rsquo;s &ldquo;Phi Slama Jama&rdquo; powerhouse featuring Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler prevailed 77-65 against the Charles Barkley-led Tigers. Overall, the teams have met just seven times, with the Cougars winning six. Auburn&rsquo;s lone victory in the series came in 1962.

With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston beat Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.

Sasser reinjured as top-seeded Houston beats Northern Kentucky

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Jamarius Burton made a go-ahead jumper with 10 seconds left and Pitt edged Mississippi State 60-59 in a back-and-forth First Four game Tuesday night that featured 21 lead changes &mdash; most in the NCAA Tournament in five years.
Mississippi State had a great chance to win at the end, but Shakeel Moore missed a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner with two seconds remaining off an inbounds play. D.J. Jeffries&rsquo; tip-in attempt was off target just before the buzzer.
Nelly Cummings led Pitt with 15 points. Greg Elliott scored 13 and Blake Hinson added 12 as the Panthers (23-11) won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2014.
They slotted into the Midwest Region bracket as the 11th seed and advanced to face No. 6 seed Iowa State on Friday in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Dashawn Davis had 15 points for the Bulldogs (21-13).
TEXAS A&amp;M-CORPUS CHRISTI 75, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE 71
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Isaac Mushila had 15 points and 12 rebounds as Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi held off Southeast Missouri State to earn the first NCAA Tournament win in program history.
Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi went 3 of 4 at the free-throw line in the final 15 seconds to ice the game and advance to play top-seeded Alabama in the South Region on Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama.
The 16th-seeded Islanders (24-10), winners of the Southland Conference, returned to the First Four for a second straight season and led for all but 23 seconds in the opening game of this NCAA Tournament.
Southeast Missouri State (19-17) erased a 10-point deficit and tied it at 64 with 3:07 left.
Jalen Jackson led the Islanders with 22 points. Trevian Tennyson scooped in a slick layup off the glass to give Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi a 72-69 lead with 22 seconds remaining.
Chris Harris scored 23 points before fouling out for the Redhawks, the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champions. Phillip Russell came up short on a good look at a potential tying 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds to go.
Southeast Missouri State went 9 of 20 at the free-throw line.

The Pitt Panthers and Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders advanced to the Round of 64 in two First Four contests.

Pitt gets past Mississippi St in first March Madness games

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Marcus Hammond and Cormac Ryan each scored 20 points as Notre Dame won longtime coach Mike Brey&rsquo;s final home game with an 88-81 victory over No. 25 Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
Nate Laszewski and Trey Wertz each added 14 points as the Fighting Irish (11-19, 3-16 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Brey, who is stepping down at season&rsquo;s end and received warm ovations from the crowd before and after the game, improved to 315-76 at Purcell Pavilion over 23 years as Notre Dame coach.
&ldquo;What an unbelievable night,&rdquo; Brey said over the public address. &ldquo;We defended pretty much the whole game. I thought we were good defensively. &hellip; It was neat for our seniors to finish like that.&rdquo;
Jamarius Burton, Nelly Cummings and Nike Sibande all scored 19 points, and Blake Hinson added 15 points and 13 rebounds, for the Panthers (21-9, 14-5), who entered with wins in eight of their last nine games. Pitt was playing its first game since moving into the AP Top 25 for the first time in seven years.
&ldquo;First and foremost, congrats to Notre Dame,&rdquo; Panther coach Jeff Capel said. &ldquo;They were terrific. I knew they would come out and be really inspired and emotional (with five grad players in their starting lineup), and obviously being the last game here for Coach Brey.&rdquo;
Pitt, the conference leader going in, had a chance to clinch at least a tie for its first ACC title across its 10 years in the league, but struggled with its shooting.
The Panthers finished 7 of 22 on 3-pointers and 20 of 36 at the line, while the Irish closed 10 of 27 and 26 of 31. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of things we didn&rsquo;t do well,&rdquo; Capel said, &ldquo;but I love the fight that we had.&rdquo;
Notre Dame led by a high of 61-41 at 11:49 remaining, after scoring the final 11 points of the first half for a 42-28 advantage at the break. Late-rallying Pitt got no closer than 84-79 at 38 seconds remaining.
BIG PICTURE 
Pittsburgh: While the Panthers appear safely into the NCAA Tournament field, their 2-2 mark over their last four games while facing entirely sub-.500 ACC teams won&rsquo;t help their seeding. They can still trend back up with a win at Miami or an extended league tourney run.
Notre Dame: While the win was sweet for the Irish, barring a miracle title in next week&rsquo;s ACC Tournament and thus the league&rsquo;s automatic NCAA Tourney bid, they&rsquo;ll be turning their full attention toward hiring Brey&rsquo;s successor.
BREY-KING AWAY 
Brey had declared Tuesday that he would be heading over to the Linebacker, an iconic bar just off the Notre Dame campus, immediately after Wednesday&rsquo;s game and that all others were welcome as well. &ldquo;I gotta get over to the Linebacker,&rdquo; Brey said to start his postgame radio interview over the PA while doubling down on his Tuesday intentions. True to his word the coach went to the bar. Brey said he had never been in the bar in all his 23 years at Notre Dame and thought this would be a fitting time. The PA interview lasted just three minutes and he did not conduct a postgame press conference.
CAPEL CIRCLES BACK 
Capel was asked if this was an emotional night for him as well. The first two years of his playing career at Duke, beginning in 1993, were also the final two years of Brey&rsquo;s time as an assistant with the Blue Devils. Brey has described Capel as &ldquo;like a son.&rdquo; &ldquo;Certainly I love Coach Brey, Capel said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a big part of my life since I was about 17 years old.&rdquo; Added Capel, &ldquo;We were excited about the opportunity to play them in Coach Brey&rsquo;s final home game here (given) how much he&rsquo;s put into this program.&rdquo;
UP NEXT 
Pittsburgh: At least a share of the ACC regular-season title goes to the winner when the Panthers visit No. 16 Miami (23-6, 14-5) in Saturday night&rsquo;s league finale. No. 13 Virginia (22-6, 14-5) remains in the mix as well and hosts last-place Louisville (4-26, 2-17) Saturday.
Notre Dame: The Irish conclude their regular season Saturday at Clemson (21-9, 13-6), where the Tigers may need a win to assure a top-four finish in the ACC and a double bye in next week&rsquo;s league tourney.

Brey is stepping down at season’s end and received warm ovations from the Notre Dame crowd before and after the game.

Notre Dame wins coach Mike Brey’s home finale, upsets Pitt

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Jahvon Quinerly scored 24 points, Brandon Miller made the clinching free throws with six seconds left and No. 2 Alabama rallied from a 17-point deficit before beating archrival Auburn 90-85 in overtime Wednesday night.
The Crimson Tide (26-4, 16-1 Southeastern Conference) clinched outright their second regular-season SEC title in three years but continued to live on the edge over a troubling eight days that included courtroom revelations in a capital murder trial.
Miller rebounded teammate Jaden Bradley&rsquo;s missed dunk and drew a foul, making both free throws. Noah Clowney had blocked K.D. Johnson&rsquo;s layup attempt on the other end.
The Tigers (19-11, 9-8), who had three key players foul out, couldn&rsquo;t close it out after leading almost the entire way in regulation. They were up 17 with under 11 minutes left.
Alabama won its fourth straight but the past three have gone down to the wire since courtroom revelations tied freshmen Miller and Bradley to the scene of a murder. Neither has been charged or accused of a crime, but then-teammate Darius Miles and another man are facing capital murder charges.
Police said Miles texted Miller asking him to bring the gun.
NO. 22 TCU 75, NO. 9 TEXAS 73
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) &mdash; Damion Baugh scored a career-high 24 points, Emanuel Miller had 20 and TCU denied Texas a chance to play for a share of the Big 12 title in its upcoming regular-season finale.
Baugh scored on a breakaway layup off the opening tip and the Horned Frogs (20-10, 9-8 Big 12) never trailed. It was the second loss in a row and third in five games for the Longhorns (22-8, 11-6), who haven&rsquo;t won a regular-season conference crown since 2008.
Texas hosts third-ranked Kansas (25-5, 13-4) on Saturday. The Jayhawks had already clinched at least a piece of the Big 12 title Tuesday night, and now know they won&rsquo;t have to share it.
Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice scored 16 points for the Longhorns, and Tyrese Hunter had 15.
NO. 10 GONZAGA 104, CHICAGO STATE 65
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 17 points in what&rsquo;s expected to be his final home game at Gonzaga, and the Bulldogs trounced Chicago State in a postseason tune-up.
Timme made his 99th start at Gonzaga. The senior forward ranks second on the school&rsquo;s career scoring list, 21 points behind Frank Burgess (1958-61).
The 6-foot-10 Timme has played four seasons at Gonzaga but could return for a fifth because of extra eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has not announced any definitive plans.
Fellow senior Rasir Bolton added 15 points for the Zags (26-5), who won their seventh straight game. Malachi Smith scored 14.
Jahsean Corbett led Chicago State (11-19) with 22 points and seven rebounds.
Gonzaga added the game to avoid going more than a week without playing before the West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.
NO. 11 KANSAS STATE 85, OKLAHOMA 69
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Desi Sills flirted with a triple-double in his Bramlage Coliseum farewell and Kansas State held on to beat Oklahoma.
Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell also had big senior send-offs for the Wildcats. Sills finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, while Johnson had 16 points and Nowell added 11 points and 10 assists to help Kansas State (23-7, 11-6 Big 12) snap a three-game skid against the Sooners.
Nae&rsquo;Qwan Tomlin scored 19 points for Kansas State, which led by 20 early in the second half before the Sooners (14-16, 4-13) made a late run. Milos Uzan had 20 points to lead Oklahoma.
NO. 14 UCONN 88, DEPAUL 59
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Adama Sanogo scored 26 points to lead five UConn players in double figures and the Huskies closed out their home schedule in emphatic style with an easy win over skidding DePaul.
Andre Jackson filled up the stat sheet for Connecticut (23-7, 12-7 Big East) with 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Tristen Newton added 12 points for the Huskies, who have won four straight and seven of eight.
Nick Ongenda tied a career high with 17 points for DePaul (9-21, 3-16), which has lost 11 in a row.
UConn put the game away early, opening on a 29-2 run.
NO. 19 XAVIER 94, NO. 20 PROVIDENCE 89
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) &mdash; Souley Boum scored a season-high 33 points and Colby Jones added a career-best 29 to help Xavier beat Providence and clinch the No. 2 seed in the Big East Tournament.
Ed Croswell had 17 points with 13 rebounds, and Bryce Hopkins also scored 17 for Providence, which cut a 22-point first-half deficit to two in the second half.
It was the Friars&rsquo; first loss at home in 16 games this season.
With one game remaining, Xavier (22-8, 14-5 Big East) has a one-game lead over Providence (21-9, 13-6) and controls the tiebreaker, having swept their two regular-season matchups.
OHIO STATE 73, NO. 21 MARYLAND 62
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Felix Okpara had 12 points and 12 rebounds to help Ohio State finish its home schedule with a win over Maryland.
Justice Sueing had 16 points to lead six Buckeyes in double figures. Ohio State (13-17, 5-14 Big Ten) jumped ahead early with a 12-0 run and didn&rsquo;t give up the lead the rest of the way.
Julian Reese had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Terrapins (20-10, 11-8).
VANDERBILT 68, NO. 23 KENTUCKY 66
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Jordan Wright hit a go-ahead fall-away jumper in the lane with 2.6 seconds remaining to finish with 23 points, and Vanderbilt topped Kentucky for its first win at Rupp Arena since January 2007.
The surging Commodores (17-13, 10-7 Southeastern Conference) earned their seventh win in eight games and are 7-3 since losing to Kentucky 69-53 last month in Nashville.
Wright&rsquo;s drive tied the game with 42 seconds left, and Tyrin Lawrence grabbed Antonio Reeves&rsquo; missed jumper with 20 seconds to go.
Reeves&rsquo; 3-point attempt missed the rim altogether as time expired. Kentucky had won its previous four and re-entered the rankings on Monday for the first time in seven weeks.
Oscar Tshiebwe had 21 points and 20 rebounds for the Wildcats (20-10, 11-6).
NOTRE DAME 88, NO. 25 PITTSBURGH 81
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Marcus Hammond and Cormac Ryan each scored 20 points as Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh to win longtime coach Mike Brey&rsquo;s final home game.
Nate Laszewski and Trey Wertz each added 14 points for the Fighting Irish (11-19, 3-16 Atlantic Coast Conference), who snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Brey, stepping down at season&rsquo;s end, received warm ovations from the crowd before and after the game. He improved to 315-76 at Purcell Pavilion over 23 years as Notre Dame coach.
Jamarius Burton, Nelly Cummings and Nike Sibande all scored 19 points for Pittsburgh. Blake Hinson added 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Panthers (21-9, 14-5), who lost for only the second time in 10 games. They were playing their first game since moving into the AP Top 25 for the first time in seven years.

A recap of Wednesday's top-25 action in men's college hoops includes the Crimson Tide winning the regular-season SEC title.

No. 2 Alabama rallies from 17 down to top rival Auburn in OT

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; Luka Doncic had 53 points in his return to the lineup and Spencer Dinwiddie scored 10 of his 12 in the fourth quarter as the Dallas Mavericks rallied to beat the Detroit Pistons 111-105 on Monday night.
Four of Doncic&rsquo;s five career 50-point games have come this season. He scored a career-best 60 against the New York Knicks in a game that went to overtime on Dec. 27.
His 53 points tied for second-most in Dallas history with Dirk Nowitzki&rsquo;s total against the Houston Rockets on Dec. 2, 2004.
Doncic had 24 points in the first quarter and 18 in the third. Second in the NBA going in with an average of 33 points per game, he returned after spraining his left ankle three-plus minutes into last Thursday&rsquo;s game at Phoenix and then missing Saturday&rsquo;s game at Utah.
Usually animated and vocal on the court, Doncic was particularly involved in a running conversation with Pistons assistant coach Jerome Allen.
&ldquo;From the first quarter, he was just chirping,&rdquo; Doncic said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say the words. I have no problem with that. It&rsquo;s basketball. It gets me going, for sure.&rdquo;
The Mavericks (27-25) moved into sixth place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of the four-team play-in positions.
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Bojan Bogdanovic had 29 points and Saddiq Bey scored 18 &mdash; including five 3-pointers &mdash; for the Pistons (13-39), who have lost six of seven.
Doncic&rsquo;s final basket was a shot that bounced off the front rim and dropped in to put Dallas ahead 109-105 with 46 seconds left. On the Pistons&rsquo; next possession, Bogdanovic missed a long 3-pointer near the right sideline amid traffic and landed on his backside out of bounds.
&ldquo;We thought Bojan got fouled,&rdquo; Detroit coach Dwane Casey said. &ldquo;You still have to play in all those situations and close out the game, because we put ourselves in a situation to win.&rdquo;
The Pistons were called for 31 fouls to the Mavericks&rsquo; 18. Doncic was 14 of 18 at the free throw line while Detroit went 19 for 27.
Detroit led by 11 in the third quarter and 84-83 going into the fourth. Dallas opened the period on a 9-2 run with Doncic on the bench, as Dinwiddie scored six points on his first three field goals of the game.
Dinwiddie&rsquo;s 12 points followed his two highest-scoring games of the season &mdash; 36 and 35 points in Doncic&rsquo;s absence.
The Pistons shook off a 10-0 deficit nearly three minutes in and grabbed their first lead with 4:41 to play in the first quarter. They led 57-53 at halftime.
ONE-MAN BAND
Doncic had 18 of Dallas&rsquo; first 20 points and 24 of the Mavericks&rsquo; 30 in the first quarter, the highest-scoring opening period for an NBA player this season. It was his fourth quarter with at least 20 points this season, tying Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving for most in the NBA.
&ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t ask for a better quarter,&rdquo; Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said.
TIP-INS
Pistons: Bogdanovic has scored at least 20 points in each of his last 10 games, the longest streak of his career and tied for the fourth-longest active streak in the NBA. &hellip; Reserve guard Hamidou Diallo, who averages 17 minutes per game, was out with a stomach flu.
Mavericks: Kidd said the team expects a medical update later this week on starting center Christian Wood, who missed his sixth consecutive game with a broken left thumb. &hellip; Theo Pinson was assessed a technical foul late in the first quarter while sitting near the end of the bench.
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Luka Doncic had 53 points as the Dallas Mavericks rallied to beat the Detroit Pistons 111-105.

Doncic scores 53 in return, Mavericks beat Pistons 111-105

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Grant Sherfield scored a season-high 30 points, and Oklahoma beat No. 2 Alabama 93-69 on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge to end the Crimson Tide&rsquo;s nine-win streak.
Jalen Hill added a career-high 26 points, helping second-year Oklahoma coach Porter Moser to his biggest win with the program. Tanner Groves had 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The Sooners (12-9) had lost three straight, but against the Crimson Tide shot 58% from the field.
Rylan Griffen led Alabama (18-3) with 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Brandon Miller, who came in averaging 19.5 points per game, finished with 11.
NO. 3 HOUSTON 75, CINCINNATI 69
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Jarace Walker had a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds, and Houston rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat Cincinnati.
Walker, who scored 13 points in the second half, was 10 of 14 from the field. J&rsquo;Wan Roberts added 14 points and six rebounds, and Jamal Shead scored 13 points for Houston (20-2, 8-1 American Athletic Conference).
Houston has won at least 20 games in eight straight seasons under coach Kelvin Sampson.
Landers Nolley II had 24 points, including 6 3-pointers. Vicktor Lakhin added 15 points, and David DeJulius had 14 points and nine assists for Cincinnati (14-8, 5-4).&nbsp;
NO. 4 TENNESSEE 82, NO. 10 TEXAS 71
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Olivier Nkamhoua scored 27 points and Zakai Zeigler had 22 points and 10 assists to lead Tennessee over Texas in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Josiah-Jordan James added 14 and Santiago Vescovi had 12 for Tennessee (18-3), which led by as many as 22 midway through the second half.
Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice scored 21 to lead Texas (17-4). Marcus Carr and Brock Cunningham finished with 11 each.
NO. 5 KANSAS STATE 64, FLORIDA 50
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Keyontae Johnson had 13 points and 11 rebounds against his former team, Markquis Nowell flirted with the first triple-double in Kanas State history, and the Wildcats beat Florida in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Nowell finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and Nae&rsquo;Qwan Tomlin also had 11 points. The Wildcats improved to 18-3 to match the 1972-73 team for the best start through 21 games in school history.
Johnson struggled from the field, going just 5 of 16 and even getting stuffed by the front of the rim during a windmill dunk on a second-half fast break. But it was nevertheless a special night for the senior forward, who collapsed on the Gators&rsquo; sideline due to a heart condition during a game against Florida State just over two years ago.
Colin Castleton scored 13 points for the Gators (12-9). Myreon Jones and Will Richard had 11 apiece.
NO. 6 ARIZONA 95, WASHINGTON 72
SEATTLE (AP) &mdash; Azuolas Tubelis had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Oumar Ballo added 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Arizona used a big second-half run to pull away to win its fourth straight.
Tubelis topped 20 points for the first time in five games and his rebound putback while being fouled with 4:29 remaining gave the Wildcats a 78-63 lead and sent Washington fans headed for the exits.
Kerr Kriisa added 18 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and Courtney Ramey scored 14 for the Wildcats (19-3, 8-3 Pac-12).
Keion Brooks Jr. led Washington with 25 points and Keyon Menifield added 21. But the Huskies (13-10, 5-7) suffered from too many scoring droughts and didn&rsquo;t have an answer for Arizona&rsquo;s 19-1 run in the early stages of the second half.
NO. 7 VIRGINIA 76, BOSTON COLLEGE 57
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Armaan Franklin and Jayden Gardner scored 18 points each and Virginia used a big first-half run to take control over Boston College for its sixth straight victory.
The Cavaliers (16-3, 8-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 18-15 before starting an 18-4 run over the next 11 minutes. Virginia put the game away with a 16-4 second-half spurt.
Quinten Post scored 24 to lead the Eagles (10-12, 4-7) and Makai Ashton-Langford added 12 points.
Virginia&rsquo;s Isaac McKneely finished with 12 points and Reece Beekman had 11 and eight assists.
NO. 9 KANSAS 77, KENTUCKY 68
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson scored 22 points, including one in a series of huge 3-pointers down the stretch, and Kansas avoided its first four-game losing streak under coach Bill Self.
Wilson made 9 of 18 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds for Kansas (17-4), which finished even with Kentucky at 49% shooting. K.J. Adams Jr. added 17 points, Dick had 13 and McCullar 11 with 12 rebounds as the Jayhawks edged Kentucky 34-29 on the glass.
Oscar Tshiebwe had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Jacob Toppin and Cason Wallace each added 14 for Kentucky (14-7), which had won its previous four.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 81, NO. 11 TCU 74, OT
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) &mdash; Tolu Smith had 27 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead Mississippi State to an overtime victory.
Dashawn Davis added 16 points to help Mississippi State (13-8) snap a five-game losing streak. Shakeel Moore had 11, including six in overtime, while Cameron Matthews had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Tyler Stevenson also added 10 points off the Bulldogs&rsquo; bench.
Damion Baugh led TCU (16-5) with 19 points and Emanuel Miller had 13. Shahada Wells and Jakobe Coles each had 12 for the Horned Frogs and Chuck O&rsquo;Bannon had 10.
Davis&rsquo; 3 pointer with 55 seconds left in the second half gave the Bulldogs a 66-64 advantage. Emanuel Miller scored with 32 seconds remaining and then both teams missed chances to win in regulation.
MISSOURI 78, NO. 12 IOWA STATE 61
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) &mdash; Kobe Brown scored 20 points, and D&rsquo;Moi Hodge scored 17 points to help Missouri take down Iowa State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Brown scored 14 of his points in the first half and led Missouri (16-5) with 12 rebounds. Nick Honor added 12 points and DeAndre Gholston scored 10.
Jaren Holmes led Iowa State (15-5) with 19 points, and Gabe Kalscheur added 14.
The Tigers&rsquo; 78 points were a season-high for an Iowa State opponent in regulation; the Cyclones are 0-3 this season when allowing at least 70 points in regulation.
CREIGHTON 84, NO. 13 XAVIER 67
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Arthur Kamula scored 20 points, Creighton&rsquo;s four other starters finished in double-figures and the Bluejays earned their fourth straight Big East win.
Creighton (13-8, 7-3) steadily built a double-digit lead throughout the game and made 34 of its 60 field goal attempts (56.7%) before a sold-out crowd.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 17 points, Baylor Scheierman had 14, Trey Alexander finished with 13 and Ryan Nembhard added 11 for the Bluejays, who avenged a 90-87 loss at Xavier on Jan. 11.
Zach Freemantle led Xavier (17-5, 9-2) with 18 points, followed by Colby Jones and Adam Kunkel with 13.
NO. 14 GONZAGA 82, PORTLAND 67
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Julian Strawther had a career-high 40 points, including eight 3-pointers, and Gonzaga pulled away down the stretch for its 16th consecutive victory over Portland.
Anton Watson added 17 points for Gonzaga (18-4, 7-1 West Coast Conference).
Strawther is the first player to reach 40 points for the Zags since Kyle Wiltjer had 45 against Pacific in 2016.
Portland (11-13, 3-5) was led by Moses Wood with 19 points. Juan Sebastian Gorosito, a freshman, finished with a career-high 17 points.
WEST VIRGINIA 80, NO. 15 AUBURN 77
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) &mdash; Erik Stevenson scored a career-high 31 points and West Virginia withstood a furious late rally from Auburn to win an SEC/Big 12 Challenge matchup.
The Mountaineers (13-8) have won two straight for the first time in a month. Jimmy Bell Jr. added 15 points for the Mountaineers.
Charles Barkley cheered on his alma mater from a courtside seat, but Auburn (16-5) couldn&rsquo;t overcome another slow start. The Tigers have lost two straight for the first time in two years.
Jaylin Williams led Auburn with 18 points. Johni Broome added 15 and Allen Flanigan scored 13.
NO. 16 MARQUETTE 89, DEPAUL 69
CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; David Joplin went 8 for 11 from 3-point range for a career-high 28 points, Tyler Kolek had 24 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds, and Marquette defeated DePaul.
Marquette has won eight of its last nine games, and moved into a tie with No. 13 Xavier atop the Big East.
Marquette (17-5, 9-2) pulled away in the second half. Oso Ighodaro had 10 points, making all five of his shots, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper scored 13 and had 8 rebounds.
Umoja Gibson scored 25 points for DePaul (9-13, 3-8) on 8-of-12 shooting.
NO. 17 BAYLOR 67, ARKANSAS 64
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Keyonte George scored 24 points, including seven in a row down the stretch, and Baylor beat Arkansas in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Baylor (16-5) fell behind by as many as eight points in the second half after an early 11-point lead. But the Bears closed it out after Flo Thamba made two free throws for a 55-53 lead with 3:37 left.
LJ Cryer added 20 points and Jalen Bridges had 10 for the Bears, who won their sixth game in a row despite shooting a 34% (20 of 59) from the field. They offset the season-worst shooting from the field by making 21 of 24 free throws, including two by Cryer with 10 seconds left and two by George with 4.3 seconds remaining.
Ricky Council IV scored 25 points for Arkansas (14-7). Davonte Davis had 16 points, but missed the front end of a 1-plus-1 with 2.3 seconds left, though Joseph Pinion got the ball in the right corner only to miss wildly on a 3-pointer as time ran out.
HOFSTRA 85, NO. 18 COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 81
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) &mdash; Aaron Estrada scored 25 points and Darlinstone Dubar added 18 as Hofstra ended College of Charleston&rsquo;s 20-game winning streak.
The Pride (15-8, 8-2 Colonial Athletic Association) were down 28-20 early before rallying past the Cougars (21-2, 9-1), who had not lost since falling to then-No. 1 North Carolina on Nov. 11.
Tyler Thomas had 17 points and eight rebounds for Hofstra.
Ante Brzovic finished with 18 points to lead Charleston.
PITTSBURGH 71, NO. 20 MIAMI 68
PITTSBURGH (AP) &mdash; Blake Hinson tipped in a Jamarius Burton miss with 31 seconds remaining and Pittsburgh rallied past Miami.
The Panthers (15-7, 8-3 ACC) held the Hurricanes (16-5, 7-4) scoreless over the final 2:26 while closing on an 11-0 run to beat a ranked team for the third time this season to bolster its increasingly impressive NCAA tournament resume.
Hinson finished with 21 points for Pitt. Burton had 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the Panthers stunned Miami in front of a rare sell-out crowd at the Petersen Events Center.
Jordan Miller led the Hurricanes with 18 points. Isaiah Wong added 14 but Miami committed three of its 12 turnovers in the final 35 seconds as the Panthers stormed back.
NO. 21 FAU 70, W. KENTUCKY 63
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Brandon Weatherspoon scored 14 points and Florida Atlantic remained undefeated at home.
The victory extended FAU&rsquo;s winning streak to a program-record 20 games, which is now the nation&rsquo;s longest. The Owls&rsquo; 21 victories on the season ties their Division I record set in 2010-11. Western Kentucky (11-11, 3-8 Conference USA) has lost five straight.
Alijah Martin scored eight while grabbing seven rebounds for the Owls (21-1, 11-0).
Jordan Rawls led all scorers with 17 for W. Kentucky. Dayvion McKnight and Emmanuel Akot each had 16.
NO. 22 SAINT MARY&rsquo;S (CAL) 57, BYU 56
PROVO, Utah (AP) &mdash; Logan Johnson had 14 points and freshman Aidan Mahaney scored all 10 of his points, including a fade-away jumper just before the buzzer, in the second half and Saint Mary&rsquo;s (Cal) won its 10th in a row.
Mitchell Saxen had 11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks for Saint Mary&rsquo;s (19-4, 8-0 West Coast Conference). Alex Ducas scored 12 points and Augustas Marciulionis added 10.
Dallin Hall was fouled on a driving lay-up attempt with 10.2 seconds left and made 1-of-2 free throws to give BYU a 56-55 lead but Mahaney took the inbounds pass, probed the defense before he drove the lane, stopped near the right block and pivoted away from the basket before hitting the winning jumper over the out-stretched arm of defender Fousseyni Traore.
Hall scored a career-high 23 points on 9 of 14 shooting but made just 3 of 6 from the free-throw line for BYU (14-10, 4-5). Fousseyni Traore added 11 points and eight rebounds.
NO. 24 CLEMSON 82, FLORIDA STATE 81
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Chase Hunter drove the lane and drew a foul, sinking the free throw, to help Clemson escape with a win over Florida State.
Hunter Tyson scored 27 points on 10 of 17 shooting for Clemson (18-4, 10-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which halted an eight-game road losing streak to Florida State. Hunter finished with 25.
Matthew Cleveland scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half for Florida State (7-15, 5-6), which made a season-high 13 3-pointers. Caleb Mills and Darin Green Jr. each hit four 3-pointers for the Seminoles. Freshman forward Baba Miller had his best game, scoring 11 points and pulling down four rebounds in 20 minutes.

A recap of Saturday's action in men's college hoops includes five upsets in the AP top 15.

Oklahoma's rout of No. 2 Alabama one of many top-15 upsets on Saturday

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Shahada Wells scored 17 points as No. 14 TCU beat No. 2 Kansas 83-60 on Saturday in one of the worst losses in Bill Self&rsquo;s 20-year coaching career with the Jayhawks.
The loss snapped a 16-game winning streak at home for Kansas and was the second-largest home loss under Self. The Jayhawks (15-3, 5-2 Big 12), who lost 83-82 in overtime at Kansas State on Tuesday, had not lost consecutive games in the state since 1989 &mdash; against K-State and Missouri.
Kansas trailed by 10 at halftime and never closed the gap within single digits. TCU extended the lead to as many as 24 points. The Jayhawks shot only 32.1% in the second half.
TCU (15-4, 4-3 Big 12), which shot 54.4% (31 of 57) from the field, got 15 points from Mike Miles Jr. and 11 from Damion Baugh.
NO. 4 ALABAMA 85, MISSOURI 64
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) &mdash; Noah Clowney and Mark Sears each scored 17 points, and Alabama remained undefeated against unranked teams this season.
Freshman Brandon Miller added 15 points and eight rebounds for Alabama (17-2, 7-0 Southeastern Conference), and reserve Jahvon Quinterly scored 13 points. Clowney also had 14 rebounds, and Sears finished with eight rebounds and three steals.
Isiaih Mosley led Missouri (14-5, 3-4) with 19 points. Mohamed Diarra had eight points and 12 rebounds.
NO. 11 ARIZONA 58, NO. 5 UCLA 52
TUSCON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Oumar Ballo scored 16 points, Azuolas Tubelis had a double-double and Arizona withstood a late rally to end UCLA&rsquo;s 14-game winning streak.
The Wildcats (17-3, 5-3 Pac-12) took a 56-44 lead on Ballo&rsquo;s alley-oop dunk with 2:07 left. But the Bruins (17-3, 8-1) fought back, creating four straight turnovers to pull within 56-52. UCLA then blocked consecutive shots but couldn&rsquo;t convert on two shots of its own. Arizona&rsquo;s Pelle Larsson hit two free throws with 0.9 seconds to close it out.
Tyger Campbell led the Bruins with 13 points and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 12 with 11 rebounds.
NO. 6 GONZAGA 99, PACIFIC 90
STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 24 of his career-high 38 points in the second half, including 18 straight points during one stretch, and Gonzaga pulled away in the closing minutes.
Timme made 17 of 23 shots and almost all of them within a couple feet of the rim. Anton Watson added 16 points and 13 rebounds for Gonzaga (17-4, 6-1 WCC). Rasir Bolton added 16 points for the Bulldogs, who had won their previous three road games in conference play by a combined eight points, and Julian Strawther had 15.
Jordan Ivy-Curry led five Pacific players in double figures with 17 points. Nick Blake scored 16 before fouling out. Keylan Boone finished with 15, Luke Avdalovic added 13 and Judson Martindale finished with 12. Pacific (10-12, 3-4) made eight 3-pointers in the first half and was tied at 47 at halftime, but the Tigers were just 1 of 8 from deep in the second half.
NO. 7 TEXAS 69, WEST VIRGINIA 61
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Marcus Carr scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half to lead Texas.
Dylan Disu added 13 points before fouling out, and Christian Bishop and Tyrese Hunter scored 11 apiece for the Longhorns (16-3, 5-2 Big 12), who bounced back from a double-digit loss at No. 12 Iowa State on Wednesday.
The Mountaineers (11-8, 1-6) had several players in early foul trouble. Kedrian Johnson had a career-high 22 points, but his teammates fell flat in the second half against the Longhorns.
NO. 8 XAVIER 95, GEORGETOWN 82
CINCINNATI (AP) &mdash; Zach Freemantle tied a career-high with 30 points and Colby Jones had 20 as Xavier handed Georgetown its 29th straight Big East loss.
Adam Kunkel scored 14 points to help the Musketeers (16-4, 8-1 Big East) bounce back from a 73-72 loss at DePaul on Wednesday.
Primo Spears scored a career-high 37 points and Akok Akok had 14 for the Hoyas (5-15, 0-9 Big East), who have lost 10 straight. Spears&rsquo; previous high was 34 against LaSalle on March 5, 2022.
NO. 9 TENNESSEE 77, LSU 56
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) &mdash; Josiah-Jordan James scored a season-high 22 points and Tennessee defeated LSU, which has lost six straight.
James, who missed eight games in November and December due to injury, made his second straight start for the Volunteers (16-3, 6-1 Southeastern Conference). Playing 31 minutes, James was 9-of-16 from the field and matched his career-high with four 3-pointers.
Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler had 12 points and 10 assists, which tied his career high. Julian Phillips and Tyreke Key each had 10 points.
KJ Williams led LSU (12-7, 1-6) with 16 points. Trae Hannibal added 10 points. The Tigers committed 19 turnovers which resulted in 33 Volunteers points.
NO. 10 VIRGINIA 76, WAKE FOREST 67
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Armaan Franklin scored 18 of his 25 points during the first half and Virginia survived blowing nearly all of a 19-point lead to beat Wake Forest.
Kihei Clark added 12 points despite getting into foul trouble for the Cavaliers (15-3, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). But it was a day of wild swings for Virginia, who went from missing its first eight shots to suddenly being unable to miss to go up 34-15 &mdash; only to see the Demon Deacons push back to within a single point with 8 1/2 minutes left.
Damari Monsanto had a career-high 25 points for the Demon Deacons (14-6, 6-3), highlighted by making 7 of 15 3-pointers.
OKLAHOMA STATE 61, NO. 12 IOWA STATE 59
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Avery Anderson scored 18 points, including the go-ahead free throws, and Oklahoma State defeated Iowa State for its first win over a ranked team this season.
Kalib Boone added 13 points for the Cowboys (11-8, 3-4 Big 12), who won their second straight game.
Osun Osunniyi scored 15 points and Gabe Kalscheur added 14 for Iowa State (14-4, 5-2), which had won seven of its last eight games. Cyclones sharpshooter Caleb Grill spent most of the second half on the bench wearing a back brace and wasn&rsquo;t in the game in the closing minutes.
NO. 13 KANSAS STATE 68, TEXAS TECH 58
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Markquis Nowell had 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists in Kansas State&rsquo;s win over Texas Tech.
Keyontae Johnson had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats (17-2, 6-1 Big 12), who won for the 11th time in 12 games. Ismael Massoud scored 12 points.
Pop Isaacs and De&rsquo;Vion Harmon each scored 13 points for Texas Tech (10-9, 0-7), which shot 32.4% (23 for 71) from the field.
NO. 16 AUBURN 81, SOUTH CAROLINA 66
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) &mdash; Johni Broome had a season-high 27 points and 11 rebounds as Auburn took control late in the opening half to run past struggling South Carolina.
Broome&rsquo;s performance helped the Tigers to their fifth straight win and offset a career-best 30 points from Gamecocks&rsquo; freshman Gregory &ldquo;GG&rdquo; Jackson II.
The 6-foot-10 Broome took full advantage of South Carolina&rsquo;s undersized interior for the Tigers (16-3, 6-1 Southeastern Conference). He hit 12 of his 17 shots in 30 minutes for his sixth double-double this season and fifth against an SEC opponent.
Meechie Johnson was the only other player for South Carolina (8-11, 1-5) in double figures with 11 points.
DUKE 68, NO. 17 MIAMI
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Kyle Filipowski had 17 points and 14 rebounds and Jeremy Roach scored 14 points in his first game in more than two weeks to lift Duke over Miami.
Tyrese Proctor had 11 points and Dariq Whitehead added 10 points for the Blue Devils (15-4, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who played their first game of the season without a national ranking.
Jordan Miller&rsquo;s 19 points and Nijel Pack&rsquo;s 18 were tops for Miami (15-4, 6-3), which has lost three of its last five games.
NO. 18 CHARLESTON 87, NORTHEASTERN 61
BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Ben Burnham scored 15 points, Pat Robinson III added 14 and Ryan Larson had 12 to lead Charleston to its 20th win in a row.
The Cougars (21-1, 9-0 Colonial Athletic Association) scored 13 straight points in the first half to pull away and extend the longest active winning streak in the nation. They have not lost since the second game of the season, to then-No. 1 North Carolina on Nov. 11, climbing to their highest ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 since 1999.
Chris Doherty had 11 points and 13 rebounds and Jared Turner also scored 11 for Northeastern (8-11, 4-4). The Huskies haven&rsquo;t beat a Top 25 team since 2015.
NO. 19 CLEMSON 51, VIRGINIA TECH 50
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) &mdash; Hunter Tyson&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 12 seconds left lifted Clemson to a dramatic victory over Virginia Tech.
Tyson caught a pass just left of the key, took a look at at the basket and let it fly. The crowd exploded as the ball went through and the Tigers (16-4, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) continued their unexpected run atop the ACC.
PJ Hall led Clemson with 20 points and eight rebounds.
Grant Basile led the Hokies (11-8, 1-7) with 13 points.
NO. 20 MARQUETTE 74, SETON HALL 53
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) &mdash; Kam Jones scored 22 points, Oso Ighodaro had 18 on 7-for-7 shooting and Marquette beat Seton Hall.
Marquette (16-5, 8-2 Big East) shot 54% (29 for 54) from the field in its second straight win since an 80-76 loss to Xavier last weekend.
Kadary Richmond led Seton Hall (12-9, 5-5) with 10 points and five assists. The Pirates committed a season-high 26 turnovers.
NO. 21 BAYLOR 62, OKLAHOMA 60
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Bridges scored 11 points and hit a trio of game-turning 3-pointers in the final five minutes as Baylor rallied to hold off Oklahoma.
Adam Flagler had 16 points and five assists, and Keyonte George added 11 points as Baylor (14-5, 4-3 Big 12) won its fourth straight game after opening conference play with three straight losses and briefly dropping out of The Associated Press Top 25.
Jalen Hill had 17 points and nine rebounds, while Tanner Groves added 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots for the Sooners (12-7, 2-5).
NO. 22 PROVIDENCE 75, DEPAUL 64
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) &mdash; Noah Locke had a career-high 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, to help Providence fend off DePaul.
Bryce Hopkins added 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Friars (15-5, 7-2 Big East) snapped a two-game losing skid and improved to 11-0 at home. They are 2-2 without point guard Jared Bynum, who missed his fourth consecutive game with a torso injury.
The Blue Demons (9-11, 3-6) came in fresh off a home victory over eighth-ranked Xavier. But they dropped their sixth straight road game and are now 0-4 in conference games away from home. Umjoja Gibson had 16 points and five assists for DePaul and Da&rsquo;Sean Nelson added 13 points.
NO. 24 FLORIDA ATLANTIC 67, UTEP 59
EL PASO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Johnell Davis scored 20 points on 6-for-9 shooting and Florida Atlantic extended its program record for consecutive wins to 18.
Davis hit 2 of 3 attempts from 3-point distance and was perfect on six shots from the line for FAU (19-1, 9-0 Conference USA). Vladislav Goldin finished with 11 points, six rebounds and three blocks for the Owls.
Calvin Solomon finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Tae Hardy also scored 16 points for UTEP (11-9, 4-5). Mario McKinney Jr. added 11 points, seven rebounds and two steals.
NO. 25 ARKANSAS 69, OLE MISS 57
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) &mdash; Anthony Black scored 17 points, reserve Joseph Pinion had 13 and Arkansas snapped a four-game losing streak by topping Mississippi.
Only nine teams in Division I had made fewer 3-pointers than Arkansas (13-6, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) this season, but the Razorbacks tied a season high by making eight from beyond the arc. They led by as many as 21 points.
Pinion and Devo Davis each made three 3s. Davis had 16 points and Jordan Walsh finished with 13.
Ole Miss (9-10, 1-6) committed 17 turnovers. The Rebels had six giveaways in the first six minutes of the second half, helping Arkansas extend its three-point halftime lead to 11 at the first media timeout after the break.

A roundup of Saturday's top-25 action in men's college basketball includes a TCU rout of the second-ranked Jayhawks on the road.

No. 14 TCU blows out No. 2 Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse

John Wall&rsquo;s two-year stint with the Houston Rockets finally came to an end last offseason, when the two sides agreed to a buyout &ndash; allowing the 32-year-old point guard to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers.&nbsp;
Now, in a candid conversation on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMHTV1PpNWA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;Run Your Race&rdquo; podcast</a>, Wall opened up to Dallas Mavericks guard Theo Pinson and co-host AJ Richardson about his time in Houston and why the relationship soured.
As soon as Pinson brought up the Rockets, Wall said that his experience was &ldquo;trash.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;Beyond trash. Because I'm going there thinking James [Harden] is going to be there, you know what I mean, when I get traded [there], but he already wants out," Wall said. "When I landed, I&rsquo;m about to go do my [press] conference and sh*t and he was like, &lsquo;Well, I'm on my way to Atlanta for Lil Baby&rsquo;s birthday.&rsquo; The f*ck?! [He&rsquo;s] talking about, &lsquo;You want to get on a jet with me?&rsquo; I just got traded here! I can&rsquo;t f*ck up. I gotta be on good terms. I don't know how the owner is, how the GM is, I don't know nothing. This ain't like I'm in D.C. If I was in D.C. I&rsquo;d be like, &lsquo;Hell yeah, we out!&rsquo; It&rsquo;s my show. But this ain&rsquo;t my show over here&hellip;
&ldquo;He don't come to training camp, none of that, so that news is all toxic. For me, I ain't played in two years. Mom passed, my Achilles, then COVID so I'm like, &lsquo;I don't give a f*ck who playing, I just want to hoop. That's it.&rsquo; I went there, worked my ass off and played.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Once Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in January, it became clear that the Rockets were entering a rebuild. Wall claims that the team tanked to secure a top draft pick. Houston would win just 17 games that season, finishing with the NBA's worst record and ultimately landing the No. 2 overall pick (which they used on Jalen Green).
&ldquo;I mean, we lost 20 in a row; we was trying to lose on purpose &ndash; tanking,&rdquo; Wall said. &ldquo;Like, we started starting someone named Justin Patton! This is how our starting line-up was: me, David Nwaba, Jae'Sean Tate, Justin Patton and somebody else. I'm like, well, who the f*ck can I win a game with, with this sh*t?&rdquo;
At that point, Wall said he focused on mentoring the team's young core &ndash; explaining that this situation wasn&rsquo;t normal and that they shouldn&rsquo;t get used to losing or their bad habits.
"I always wanted to teach them like, &lsquo;Don't get used to this sh*t, this is not how the NBA is. It&rsquo;s just a bad organization right now.&rsquo; Like, they got to fix some sh*t around,&rdquo; Wall said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d always talk to Jalen Green, Kevin Porter, KJ [Martin], like, &lsquo;Don't get adjusted to this losing sh*t, this is not how the league is.&rsquo; But at the same time, I had to tell them like, &rsquo;The sh*t y&rsquo;all are getting away with over here, if you go to any other teams, you would be out of the f*cking league! You wouldn't play!&rsquo; I'm trying to explain that to them because they think it's sweet. But I'm like, &lsquo;If you ever get traded or go somewhere else, you&rsquo;re going to be like, &lsquo;This motherf*cker was right!&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Over the course of Wall's two seasons with the Rockets, he only appeared in 40 games &ndash; averaging 20.6 points, 6.9 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 2.0 threes and 1.1 steals on .404/.317/.749 shooting splits.&nbsp;
Entering the 2021-22 season, the front office and Wall weren&rsquo;t on the same page about his role, so the executives ultimately asked Wall to stay away from the team.
&ldquo;My second year [in Houston], they didn't want to play me at all,&rdquo; Wall said. &ldquo;At the end of my first year, they were like, &lsquo;Yo, we want to bring you back. We love the way you leading the team. You've been a leader for the young guys.&rsquo; I'm like, &lsquo;I don't give a f*ck about none of that. I said if God put me in this place to help the young guys, then that's what it is. But he didn't put me here for y'all to try to tank and, for me to be a player that can still play and just be wasting my talent, I'm not doing it.&rsquo; They were like, &lsquo;Nah, you&rsquo;re going to start for us next year...&rsquo; and whatever. And I would have been fine coming off the bench for them! But I'm like, &lsquo;Don't just give a motherf*cker a [starting] spot, let him earn it!&rsquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;So, I go back to check on my condo and a month before the season, they call... This is Coach (Stephen Silas) talking to me and he goes, &lsquo;How would you feel coming off the bench?&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;For who? No offense, but for who? I was your best player last year.&rsquo; [He says], &lsquo;This is what the GM wants. He wants you to play like 10-to-15 minutes a game and sometimes don't play.&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;I'm not doing it.&rsquo; Either you&rsquo;re going to guarantee me some minutes or not. But I'm like, &lsquo;Let a motherf*cker earn the [starting] spot!&rsquo; The coach was like, &lsquo;Man, you don't deserve that, you should be a starter, but this is what they want to do.&rsquo; Well, I'm not doing that. I said I'll rehab, I'll work out every day, I&rsquo;ll stick around the team, I'll come to meetings, I'll fly with ya&rsquo;ll and I'll mentor the guys. So, that&rsquo;s what I'm doing. Then, it got to the point where they were like, &lsquo;Don't come around.&rsquo; They didn't want me around.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I had to work out at 7 a.m. like I was a rookie. I had to work out before they got there; by the time they would come in, I'd be home. I'd be back home by 10:30, chilling all day. So, I'm like, &lsquo;My kids are in Miami. Sh*t, I can't be here.&rsquo; And I'm bored as sh*t! From 10:30 to all day, I'm just chilling until the game. The game is at 7:00 and I get there at 6:59 [since] I ain&rsquo;t playing and I&rsquo;ve already worked out for the day. So, I'm in a whole other place. I'm going out like a motherf*cker, I&rsquo;m bored as hell, I'm wasting money for no reason. So I said, &lsquo;Let me go back to Miami, get on a regular schedule and spend time with my kids every day until I get traded.&rsquo; I didn't get traded, but I got a buyout, so now I'm here [in Los Angeles]. That's how it all went. That&rsquo;s how crazy it was.&rdquo;
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Silas pushed back on Wall&rsquo;s claim that the Rockets were intentionally trying to lose games.
"When we go out every night, we&rsquo;re trying to win a basketball game. And we prepare the same way that I prepared when I was working for perennial playoff teams," Silas said, according to the <a href="https://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/article/stephen-silas-john-wall-criticism-17726187.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Houston Chronicle</a>. "We have the same expectations for play. We do things in a manner that is putting us in the direction to win every single night that we&rsquo;re out there. Is that [always] going to happen? No. We&rsquo;re a young team, we have 19- and 20- and 21-year-old guys who emotionally, they go up and down, and with their games there is going to be inconsistency."
Also, Silas said that Wall's dismissal from the team "wasn't a perfect situation for anybody," and that the Rockets' decision to build around Green and Porter "made it hard for John."&nbsp;
The Rockets are still rebuilding, and they currently have the NBA's worst record (10-36). Houston has the league's 30th-ranked offense (scoring 106.2 points per 100 possessions) and 28th-ranked defense (allowing 115.5 points per 100 possessions). However, Silas doesn't think the Rockets' culture is broken or that this rebuilding period will do long-term damage to the team's young core, as Wall suggested.
"The best teacher is experience, and that's what they're getting right now," Silas <a href="https://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/article/stephen-silas-john-wall-criticism-17726187.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>. "You look at certain guys around the league, and just because they went through a rebuild, they [don&rsquo;t] have a losing attitude."
Wall is currently averaging 11.4 points, 5.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 22.2 minutes per game for the Clippers, who currently have the eighth-best record in the Western Conference at 24-24.

In a candid interview, John Wall detailed his split from the Rockets and described his stint in Houston as "beyond trash."

John Wall criticizes Rockets: 'It's just a bad organization right now'

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Joel Soriano scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in St. John&rsquo;s win over No. 6 UConn 85-74 on Sunday &mdash; its first victory in Hartford since 1988.
The double-double was the 16th of the season for Soriano. AJ Storr and Posh Alexander each added 14 points for the Red Storm (13-6, 3-5 Big East), which has won two in a row after a five-game losing streak. Dylan Addae-Wusu and Rafael Pinzon added 12 points each and Andre Curbelo had 10.
Jordan Hawkins led all scorers with 31 for UConn (15-4, 4-4 Big East), which has lost four of its last five games after starting the season 14-0. Alex Karaban had 16 points and Adama Sanogo added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies.
The game was tied at the halftime, but St. John&rsquo;s scored the first two baskets after intermission and led the entire second half.
NO. 12 XAVIER 80, NO. 25 MARQUETTE 76
CINCINNATI (AP) &mdash; Souley Boum and Jack Nunge each scored 16 points and Xavier won its 11th straight game by taking down No. 25 Marquette.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper made a jumper to cut Xavier&rsquo;s lead to 78-76 with 8 seconds left. Boum then hit two free throws to seal the victory.
Six players scored in double figures for Xavier (15-3, 7-0 Big East), which is off to its best start ever in Big East play.Nunge had 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double this season and second straight.&nbsp;
Tyler Kolek scored 25 points and Oso Ighodaro had 14 for Marquette (14-5, 6-2 Big East), which snapped a five-game winning streak.

Joel Soriano scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in St. John’s win over No. 6 UConn 85-74 — its first victory in Hartford since 1988.

St. John’s gives No. 6 UConn its 4th loss in 5 games

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) &mdash; Bryce Hopkins scored 27 points and Providence dominated the second half and knocked off fourth-ranked UConn 73-61 on Wednesday night for its eighth straight victory.
Noah Locke added 17 points to help the Friars (13-3, 5-0) earn their second win over a ranked team this season and remain unbeaten in the Big East. It was Providence&rsquo;s first win over the Huskies at Amica Mutual Pavilion since Feb. 20, 2012, when the Friars won 72-70.
Jordan Hawkins led the Huskies (14-2, 3-2) with 15 points, and Donovan Clingan added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Huskies have lost two in a row after opening the season with 14 straight wins and winning their first three conference games.
GEORGIA TECH 76, NO. 12 MIAMI 70
ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; Lance Terry scored a season-high 24 points, Miles Kelly added 20 and Georgia Tech snapped Miami&rsquo;s nine-game winning streak.
The Yellow Jackets (8-6, 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) closed the game on a 12-0 run that ended with a pair of free throws by Kelly with 16.5 seconds remaining. That ended the scoring.
Miami (13-2, 4-1) didn&rsquo;t score over the last four-plus minutes. Jordan Miller and Norchad Omier each led the Hurricanes with 17 points, and Nijel Pack had 13.
NO. 13 ARKANSAS 74, NO. 20 MISSOURI 68
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) &mdash; Ricky Council scored 25 points and Joseph Pinion scored 13 off the bench as Arkansas rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Missouri.
The Razorbacks (12-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) didn&rsquo;t lead until back-to-back fast-break buckets from Council and guard Devo Davis provided a one-point advantage with 14:24 left.
Missouri (12-2, 1-1) had stifled Arkansas and built its lead to 17 points with its zone defense in the first half, limiting the Razorbacks to 36% shooting from the field and 2 for 12 from 3-point range.
Sean East led Missouri with 13 points, while Nick Honor and Kobe Brown added 12 and 11, respectively.
N.C. STATE 84, NO. 16 DUKE 60
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Terquavion Smith scored 24 points and N.C. State jumped all over Duke from the opening tip.
Jarkel Joiner added 21 points, nine assists and six rebounds for the Wolfpack (12-4, 2-3 ACC), who scored the game&rsquo;s first 15 points and led by 22 by halftime in a shocking romp.
While the Wolfpack pounced, the Blue Devils (11-4, 2-2) watched early shots roll off the rim or be swatted away. They compounded their problems by piling up turnovers in a game that quickly got away.
Freshman Kyle Filipowski scored 14 points to lead Duke, which shot 40% and just 5 of 15 from 3-point range. Duke also committed 21 turnovers, many fueling the Wolfpack&rsquo;s 25 fast-break points.
NO. 17 TCU 88, NO. 19 BAYLOR 87
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Chuck O&rsquo;Bannon made a jumper with 4 seconds left and TCU rallied to beat Baylor, extending the Horned Frogs&rsquo; winning streak to 11 games.
The Frogs (13-1, 2-0 Big 12) got the ball back after a missed 3-pointer by Baylor&rsquo;s Jaylen Bridges that went out of bounds with 10 seconds left. Mike Miles Jr., who scored a career-high 33 points, had the ball, but passed to O&rsquo;Bannon in front of the TCU bench.
Baylor freshman Keyonte George scored a season-high 27 points, but he missed a contested drive to the hoop as the game ended.
Damian Baugh and Eddie Lampkin both had 15 points for TCU, which has come back from double-digit deficits in each of its first two Big 12 games. Lampkin had five points in the final 1:45.
Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer had 13 points each for Baylor (10-4, 0-2), which had its 13-game home winning streak snapped.
GEORGIA 76, NO. 22 AUBURN 64
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) &mdash; Terry Roberts overcame early foul trouble to match his career high with 26 points and Georgia made first-year coach Mike White&rsquo;s Southeastern Conference debut with the Bulldogs memorable by beating Auburn.
Auburn (11-3, 1-1 SEC) trailed most of the game despite Johni Broome&rsquo;s 22 points and 12 rebounds. The Tigers couldn&rsquo;t stage a serious late comeback, pulling no closer than eight points in the final 3 minutes.
Kario Oquendo had 17 points for Georgia (11-3, 1-0), which celebrated its SEC opener after a strong nonconference showing under White, the former Florida coach.
NO. 23 CHARLESTON 92, N.C. A&amp;T 79
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Dalton Bolon tallied his first career double-double with 22 points and 10 boards as the College of Charleston won its 14th straight game by notching a victory over N.C. A&amp;T.
Charleston (15-1, 3-0 Colonial Athletic Association) is off to its best single-season start since joining the Division I ranks in 1991.
Bolon &mdash; who was one of five Charleston players to score in double digits &mdash; made 10 of 16 shots for the Cougars and also dished out two assists. Ante Brzovic and Pat Robinson III each scored 12 points, while Raekwon Horton and Ben Burnham both had 11.
Kam Woods scored a career-high 30 points to lead N.C. A&amp;T (6-10, 1-2). Duncan Powell added 20 points for the Aggies, while Marcus Watson had 12 points and 12 boards.
NO. 25 IOWA STATE 63, OKLAHOMA 60
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Grill scored 20 points and Iowa State held on to beat Oklahoma.
Osun Osunniyi added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Cyclones (11-2, 2-0 Big 12).
Jalen Hill scored 16 and Tanner Groves had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Sooners (9-5, 0-2). Oklahoma was coming off a 70-69 home loss to No. 6 Texas.
Oklahoma&rsquo;s Grant Sherfield, who was averaging 18.3 points per game, finished with four points on 1 for 7 shooting.

A recap of Wednesday night's men's college basketball slate includes the Friars staying red-hot against a top-five Huskies team.

Providence beats No. 4 UConn 73-61 for 8th straight win

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Luka Doncic had a game-high 30 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. chipped in 28 points against his former team, and the Dallas Mavericks beat the New York Knicks 121-100 on Saturday.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 17 points for Dallas, which outscored New York 69-41 in the second half for just its second win seven games.
&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s great that everyone&rsquo;s in the locker room smiling,&rdquo; Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. &ldquo;Everybody saw the ball go in, we shared the ball, we played the right way. ... We&rsquo;re a team that lives or dies by the 3, and today we made them.&rdquo;
Forward Julius Randle led the Knicks with 24 points, and Immanuel Quickly chipped in 23. Leading scorer Jalen Brunson had 13 points playing against Dallas for the first time since he signed with the Knicks on July 12, but New York fell for the sixth time in its past eight games.
&ldquo;To be honest, not fun,&rdquo; Brunson said when asked what it was like playing against his former team. &ldquo;They played great tonight. You got to give them credit. No matter who is on the floor, my approach stays the same. But to see them after the game and shake their hands, that was pretty cool.&rdquo;
Hardaway exacted revenge against his former team, with whom he played 254 games over parts of four seasons. Hardaway had 17 points in the third quarter, including five 3-pointers, during a 27-6 run. He credited familiarity in New York &mdash; and Dallas&rsquo; previous game in Detroit &mdash; as keys to his third straight 20-plus point game.
&ldquo;This road trip, when you have family and friends in both cities, it lightens you and brings some positive vibes and some positive energy,&rdquo; Hardaway said. &ldquo;To come here, to Detroit and to New York, both places where I used to play college and professionally, was a great atmosphere. I was comfortable, and my teammates (were) keeping me positive.&rdquo;
Doncic, the NBA&rsquo;s leading scorer, had just 11 points on 3 of 11 shooting in the first half. But he took over in the third, scoring 19 points on 8 of 10 shooting. Dallas outscored New York 41-15 in the third quarter, turning a tight game into a rout.
&ldquo;The first half I wasn&rsquo;t really participating,&rdquo; Doncic said. &ldquo;It was a challenge to come out of the locker room with more energy.&rdquo;
The Knicks shot 55% in the first half, including 63% from the field in the first quarter. Randle had 14 of his 21 first-half points in the first quarter, including seven on a 9-0 run that gave New York an early 14-5 advantage.
The Knicks led by as many as 15 in the second quarter, but Dallas turned up the defensive intensity and cut New York&rsquo;s lead to seven, 59-52, at halftime.
&ldquo;The start of the game, I thought we were pretty good,&rdquo; Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. &ldquo;We built the 15-point lead, then we sort of lost traction mid-second quarter.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Dallas was without center Christian Wood (non-COVID illness). He had scored 20-plus points in five of the Mavericks&rsquo; previous eight games. &hellip; Five Mavericks players &mdash; Hardaway, Reggie Bullock (10 points in 25 minutes), Frank Ntilikina (0 points in 5 minutes), Theo Pinson (0 points in 4 minutes) and Kemba Walker (DNP) &mdash; previously spent time with the Knicks. &hellip; Walker, who played 37 games for the Knicks in 2021-22, was on the Mavericks bench but did not dress after signing a one-year contract with Dallas on Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Dallas: Host Phoenix on Monday.
New York: Host Cleveland on Sunday.

Luka Doncic had a game-high 30 points, and the Dallas Mavericks beat the New York Knicks 121-100 on Saturday.

Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr. lead Mavs to 121-100 win over Knicks

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

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

Unusual venues make non-conference games more memorable

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; Luka Doncic didn't really have time to get out of playing shape after leading Slovenia at the EuroBasket tournament coming off a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/golden-state-warriors-dallas-mavericks-nba-sports-295f852415ba2ca337d8b768ec4ac3f0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trip to the Western Conference finals</a> with the Dallas Mavericks.
Therefore, the topic on the eve of training camp was how to ease the young superstar into the NBA season, quite the contrast to a year ago when Doncic was criticized for appearing to be out of shape as the Mavericks started slowly.
Doncic's break after EuroBasket was longer than he would have hoped, with the defending champs from his home country losing a shocker to Poland in the quarterfinals.
Still, that wasn't quite two weeks ago, as opposed to almost two months in 2021 after Doncic carried Slovenia to the semifinals as a first-time Olympic qualifier in Tokyo.
&ldquo;We're going to start a little light,&rdquo; coach Jason Kidd said. &ldquo;Luka loves to play basketball, and so he's ready to go. We want just to start slow. This is a marathon, and he just got done playing.&rdquo;
Analyst Reggie Miller questioned Doncic's conditioning on national TV during a loss to Brooklyn last December, and a 10-game absence because of injuries and COVID-19 soon followed.
When Doncic returned for the first game on the 2022 calendar, the Mavericks had just started a 36-12 finishing kick that carried them from under .500 to the fourth seed in the West playoffs.
Dallas knocked off Utah in the first round despite Doncic missing the first three games with a calf strain and blew out defending West champ Phoenix on the road in Game 7 in the second round before losing to Golden State in five games in the conference finals.
&ldquo;Hopefully we don't start like last year,&rdquo; Doncic said. &ldquo;But it's not how you start. It's how you end. It was a good run. Not the best, obviously, but it was a good run.&rdquo;
In his first season, Kidd coached Dallas beyond the first round for the first time since he was the point guard on the Dirk Nowitzki-led team that won the 2011 title.
Now the Mavericks have to figure out how to make another run without Jalen Brunson, the point guard who surged from backing up Doncic to starting alongside him and playing a huge role without him in winning two of three against the Jazz.
Brunson decided he wanted a leading role similar to what he had in winning two NCAA titles with Villanova. A second-round pick in 2018 when Doncic was drafted third overall, Brunson signed with the New York Knicks in free agency.
Doncic didn't have Spencer Dinwiddie in his backcourt to start last season, and finished it with shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. sidelined by a broken foot. Both will have to help fill the Brunson void, along with 3-and-D specialist Dorian Finney-Smith.
&ldquo;I'm happy to try to co-pilot with a top five, probably, player in the NBA and try to improve on last year,&rdquo; said Dinwiddie, acquired in a midseason trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Washington. &ldquo;I think we have the talent to do that.&rdquo;
The Mavericks have a retooled frontcourt with free agent pickup JaVale McGee and Christian Wood, who was an expected starter after being acquired in a trade with Houston but now appears to have a sixth-man role after Kidd said McGee would start.
&ldquo;This is a different team,&rdquo; Kidd said. &ldquo;C-Wood can score the ball, JaVale can roll with the best of them and we all know Luka's playmaking. Don't know if we're going to try to create 40 (3-pointers) like we did in the playoffs because that's what we needed to do to win.&rdquo;
CHEERING SECTION
The dynamic of the cheering section will change with Hardaway's return from injury. He and Theo Pinson led the boosters from the bench in the playoffs in such a way that the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/golden-state-warriors-dallas-mavericks-nba-sports-stephen-curry-171b1c7a09da7d977562ad6162c49102" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA fined the Mavericks three times</a> for violating rules of bench decorum during the postseason.
The third fine came after the Warriors threw a pass out of bounds in the direction of the Dallas bench when Pinson was wearing white, similar to Golden State's home jersey. The league tightened the bench rules during the offseason, giving officials the option of penalizing teams during games.
&ldquo;We had a little &lsquo;Miami Vice&rsquo; action going on on the bench,&rdquo; Hardaway said. &ldquo;The NBA made a rule after us, so we must have been doing something right.&rdquo;
KLEBER CONTRACT
Maxi Kleber, who broke out of a lengthy shooting slump to key a Game 2 victory that sparked the first-round win over Utah, enters his sixth season with the Mavericks after signing a $33 million, three-year extension.
Kleber&rsquo;s Dallas tenure could push a decade, but he&rsquo;d still have a ways to go to match the other longtime Maverick from Wurzburg, Germany. Nowitzki set an NBA record by playing all 21 seasons with the Mavs.
&nbsp;

Following changes in the offseason, Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are gearing up for a run deep into the NBA playoffs.

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