Blue Devils

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Duke 7-footer Kyle Filipowski is returning to the Blue Devils for his sophomore season instead of testing the NBA draft waters.
Filipowski announced his decision Tuesday in a social media post, saying: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not done yet, see you next year.&rdquo;
Filipowski was named The Associated Press newcomer of the year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and he was named the most valuable player of the ACC Tournament after the Blue Devils&rsquo; claimed the title. He averaged 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds and possesses the ability to step outside.
Duke is losing a pair of one-and-done prospects, big man Dereck Lively II and wing Dariq Whitehead, to the NBA draft while junior guard Jeremy Roach has declared for the draft while maintaining his college eligibility. Filipowski&rsquo;s return gives the Blue Devils a strong core along with Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell, who announced plans to return.

Kyle Filipowski announced his decision Tuesday in a social media post, saying: “I’m not done yet, see you next year.”

Duke’s Filipowski to return for second season with Blue Devils

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Duke guard Jeremy Roach is entering his name into the NBA draft but maintaining his college eligibility.
The 6-foot-2 junior announced his decision in a social-media post Monday, saying he was looking forward to getting feedback on his game during pre-draft workouts.
Roach was the team&rsquo;s No. 2 scorer at 13.6 points per game for a team that won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Roach was coming off a strong postseason performance in a Final Four run in 2022 and battled through a lingering toe injury that briefly sidelined him as a team captain last season.
Duke big man Dereck Lively II and wing Dariq Whitehead have declared for the NBA draft after one season in Durham, though fellow freshmen Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell have announced his plans to return.
Kyle Filipowski, The Associated Press&rsquo; newcomer of the year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, hasn&rsquo;t announced his plans for next season.

Roach was the Blue Devils' No. 2 scorer at 13.6 points per game for a team that won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Duke’s Jeremy Roach to enter 2023 NBA Draft, keep college eligibility

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Olivier Nkamhoua tied his career high with 27 points, including 13 straight for Tennessee during a decisive span in the second half, and the fourth-seeded Volunteers beat Duke to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.
Tennessee (25-10) ended Duke&rsquo;s 10-game winning streak and sent first-year coach Jon Scheyer, charged with replacing Mike Krzyzewski, home after two NCAA Tournament games. These Vols used a brand of &ldquo;bully ball&rdquo; to send the fifth-seeded Blue Devils (27-9) packing.
Tennessee advanced to face Florida Atlantic or Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday in the East Region semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Duke didn&rsquo;t handle Tennessee&rsquo;s physical style very well. The Volunteers set the tone early, clearly wanting to push around Kyle Filipowski and get hands in the faces of guards Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor. Filipowski took an elbow to his face and ended up with a small cut under his left eye.
Proctor led Duke with 16 points. Roach and Filipowski chipped in 13 apiece.

Olivier Nkamhoua tied his career high with 27 points, and the fourth-seeded Volunteers beat Duke to advance to the Sweet 16.

No. 4 Tennessee beats No. 5 Duke 65-52 behind Nkamhoua's 27 points

Miami coach Jim Larra&ntilde;aga congratulated his 14th-ranked Hurricanes for battling through a &ldquo;marathon&rdquo; and claiming a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title. The Hurricanes face a different challenge now as the top seed for this week&rsquo;s ACC Tournament.
&ldquo;He told us what we have next is just a bunch of sprints,&rdquo; wing Jordan Miller said after the team beat Pittsburgh on Saturday to clinch that No. 1 seed.
The Hurricanes, No. 13 Virginia and No. 21 Duke are the headliners for the five-day event in Greensboro, North Carolina. Yet there&rsquo;s been plenty of parity in the ACC this season, with no clearly dominant team. That seemingly has the makings for an unpredictable tournament, and it&rsquo;s not clear how many teams can use the event to solidify their NCAA Tournament chances.
Miami (24-6, 15-5) claimed the top seed for the first time since 2013, when the Hurricanes won three games in the same venue to claim their lone title. The Hurricanes finished tied atop the league standings with the Cavaliers (23-6, 15-5), who hold the No. 2 seed.
Virginia, which fell on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble last year, closed its schedule with wins against Clemson and Louisville after looking wobbly in consecutive losses to Boston College and North Carolina.
&ldquo;I think the last two games were a step in the right direction,&rdquo; Virginia coach Tony Bennett said after the Louisville win.
DUKE&rsquo;S SURGE
The fourth-seeded Blue Devils (23-8, 14-6) are the the league&rsquo;s hottest team with six straight wins. Freshman big man Kyle Filipowski has been terrific all year (team highs of 15.0 points and 9.2 rebounds), but the Blue Devils have taken off with the growth and development of freshman point guard Tyrese Proctor and shot-altering big man Dereck Lively II.
Both of them have been key for a team that has forged a defense-and-rebounding identity under first-year coach Jon Scheyer.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve won games from loose balls and rebounds,&rdquo; Scheyer said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just incredible will, and it&rsquo;s really effort.&rdquo;
BREY&rsquo;S FAREWELL
This is the last time Mike Brey will lead Notre Dame into the ACC Tournament, with the school announcing in January he&rsquo;d step down after his 23rd season.
Brey took over in 2000, leading the Fighting Irish as they moved from the Big East to the ACC and reaching 13 NCAA Tournaments &mdash; including regional finals in 2015 and 2016. One of his biggest moments came in Greensboro, leading his 2015 team to the ACC Tournament title by beating North Carolina.
THE LAST SHOT
Does North Carolina have one last bit of March magic left?
The Tar Heels pulled off an improbable late-season run to reach last year&rsquo;s NCAA title game, including a win over Duke in the Final Four during an epic first-ever NCAA Tournament meeting between the rivals. But they&rsquo;ll arrive in Greensboro as the seventh seed and flirting with becoming the first No. 1-ranked team in The Associated Press preseason poll to miss the NCAAs since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
As of Monday, ESPN and BracketMatrix.com &mdash; which charted an average of 70 mock brackets &mdash; had the Tar Heels (19-12, 19-11) well short of an NCAA bid.
NCAA BIDS?
The tournament could change the number of NCAA bids for ACC teams.
Miami, Virginia and Duke are set. It also looks likely for fifth-seeded Pittsburgh, a 10-seed in ESPN&rsquo;s Bracketology projections. That&rsquo;s also where Pitt showed up in 61 of Bracketmatrix.com&rsquo;s 70 mock brackets on Monday. And sixth-seeded North Carolina State looks positioned for its first bid since 2018, appearing as a 10-seed on ESPN and in 67 of BracketMatrix&rsquo;s mock brackets.
That leaves third-seeded Clemson (22-9, 14-6) alongside UNC on the cut line, with the Tigers among ESPN&rsquo;s projected first four teams out.
&ldquo;At the end of the day you can&rsquo;t really worry about all that because then your mind is elsewhere,&rdquo; Tigers guard Hunter Tyson said.
THE SCHEDULE
The ACC Tournament begins with 12th-seeded Florida State and 13th-seeded Georgia Tech meeting in Tuesday&rsquo;s first of three first-round games. Winners advance to Thursday&rsquo;s second round headlined by Pitt and N.C. State.
The top four seeds have byes into Thursday&rsquo;s quarterfinals. The championship game is Saturday night, a little less than 24 hours before the NCAA field is announced.
___
AP Sports Writer Hank Kurz in Charlottesville, Virginia, contributed to this report.

There’s been plenty of parity in the ACC, with no clearly dominant team. That has the makings for an unpredictable tournament.

No. 14 Miami carries top seed into wide-open ACC tourney

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Kyle Filipowski scored 22 points and Duke beat Notre Dame 68-64 on Tuesday night with former coach Mike Krzyzewski on hand to watch the man who succeeded him pick up a milestone victory.
Krzyzewski, accompanied by wife Mickie, attended his first game at &ldquo;Coach K Court&rdquo; inside Cameron Indoor Stadium since retiring after last season to conclude a 42-year career as the Blue Devils coach. He saw Jon Scheyer become the first men&rsquo;s ACC coach to win his first 13 career home games, passing North Carolina&rsquo;s Hubert Davis, who had 12 to start the 2021-22 season.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Krzyzewskis are back in Cameron Indoor 🙌 📺: ESPN <a href="https://t.co/PzlIDM84wX">pic.twitter.com/PzlIDM84wX</a>
&mdash; ACC Network (@accnetwork) <a href="https://twitter.com/accnetwork/status/1625647753652224001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Filipowski was scoreless in an overtime loss at Virginia on Saturday in which the ACC admitted officials should have let a foul call stand on his last-second drive in regulation and given him two potential game-winning free throws. In Tuesday&rsquo;s win he was 9-of 16 shooting and the only Blue Devil to score in double figures.
Notre Dame&rsquo;s Dane Goodwin scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, including 17 straight. He was 11-of-13 shooting. Ven-Allen Lubin added 10 points. Nate Laszewski, who had a career-high 33 points in his last game, a loss to Virginia Tech, scored just five and fouled out, though he went over 1,500 career points.
Duke (18-8, 9-6) led by eight at halftime and 14 five minutes into the second half before the Fighting Irish rallied.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Cormac Ryan and JJ Starling cut Duke&rsquo;s lead to two and Starling&rsquo;s drive made it a one-point game with 36 seconds left. But Mark Mitchell followed with a baseline 3-pointer with 10.8 remaining before Lubin&rsquo;s tip-in cut the lead to two. Tyrese Proctor&rsquo;s two free throws finished the scoring.
Duke took a 31-23 halftime lead behind Filipowski&rsquo;s 10 points and Dariq Whitehead&rsquo;s nine on three 3-pointers. Notre Dame (10-16, 2-13) led by two midway through the half but then went 1 of 10 over a seven-minute stretch.
Notre Dame is at sixth-ranked Virginia and Duke plays at Syracuse in games Saturday.

Kyle Filipowski scored 22 points and Duke beat Notre Dame 68-64 on Tuesday night with former coach Mike Krzyzewski on hand.

Duke edges Notre Dame with Coach K in the house 68-64

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

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Mark Sears had 24 points, five rebounds and five assists, and No. 18 Alabama sent top-ranked North Carolina to a second straight loss with a 103-101 victory in a quadruple-overtime thriller on Sunday in the third-place game of the Phil Knight Invitational.
Jahvon Quinerly scored 21 points for the Crimson Tide (6-1), who knocked off the top-ranked team for the first time since upsetting Stanford in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. Charles Bediako had 14 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks.
North Carolina (5-2) wasted a big game for Caleb Love, who had 34 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. Armando Bacot finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and R.J. Davis had 19 points and nine rebounds in the second four-overtime game in North Carolina history. The other was a victory over Tulane in 1976.
Alabama forward Noah Clowney took a hard fall on a dunk attempt four minutes into the first half and had to be helped off the court. He did not return.
NO. 6 GONZAGA 88, XAVIER 84
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Julian Strawther scored 23 points, including 10 in the final 4:07, and Gonzaga beat Xavier in the third-place game of the Phil Knight Legacy men&rsquo;s tournament.
Each of Gonzaga&rsquo;s starters scored in double figures. Drew Timme and Anton Watson had 16 points apiece. Nolan Hickman finished with 14, and Rasir Bolton had 13 points and six assists.&nbsp;
Jack Nunge scored a game-high 25 points for Xavier (4-3), and Colby Jones had 22.
Strawther&rsquo;s 3 put Gonzaga (5-2) back in front at 76-75 with 3:18 to go. Watson then converted a floater, and Strawther made another 3 to make it 81-75 with 1:39 left.
NO. 24 PURDUE 75, NO. 8 DUKE 56
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Zach Edey had 21 points and 12 rebounds, helping Purdue beat Duke in the championship game of the Phil Knight Legacy men&rsquo;s tournament.
Fletcher Loyer scored 18 points for Purdue (6-0), and reserve Caleb Furst finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The 7-foot-4 Edey was 7 for 13 from the field and 7 for 8 at the line. He was named tournament MVP.
Duke (6-2) shot 36.2% (21 for 58) from the field. Tyres Proctor scored 16 points for the Blue Devils. Kyle Filipowski and Jeremy Roach each had 14.
Ethan Morton had a steal and a dunk to help Purdue open a 58-41 lead with 15:37 left in the second half.
NO. 12 MICHIGAN STATE 78, PORTLAND 77
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Tyson Walker scored 15 points, and Michigan State topped Portland in the fifth-place game of the Phil Knight Invitational.
Pierre Brooks made all four of his 3-pointers and scored 15 points for the Spartans (5-2). Joey Hauser added 14 points and seven rebounds. A.J. Hoggard had 12 points and nine assists.
After outscoring Michigan State 13-2 in the last three minutes and getting eight points in less than 30 seconds to make it 78-77 with 40.5 seconds to play, Portland rebounded a Spartans miss with 8.1 seconds to go. The Pilots got the ball inside to Tyler Robertson and his shot rolled off the rim, and a desperation putback by Juan Sebastian Gorosito wasn&rsquo;t close.
Robertson had 16 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals for the Pilots (5-4).
NO. 13 AUBURN 65, SAINT LOUIS 60
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Wendell Green Jr. scored 22 points, and Auburn reeled off 11 straight in the closing minutes.
The Tigers (7-0) rallied from a five-point deficit over the final five minutes, starting with back-to-back drives by K.D. Johnson and ending with Green&rsquo;s scoop shot in traffic.
The Billikens (5-2) missed six straight shots before Yuri Collins&rsquo; drive with 20 seconds left. Then Jaylin Williams turned it over with an errant inbounds pass.
But Gibson Jimerson missed a long jumper for Saint Louis and Green went 1 for 2 at the line.
Auburn closed the game on a 12-2 run.
NO. 19 UCLA 81, BELLARMINE 60
LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored a season-high 27 points, and UCLA got the win while playing without leading scorer Jaylen Clark.
Clark sat out for the first time this season because of a non-COVID-19 illness. The junior is averaging 15.7 points and 7.7 rebounds.
Freshman Adem Bona added 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field in his highest scoring game so far.
Bellarmine freshman Ben Johnson led the Knights (2-5) with 20 points. Curt Hopf added 16 points.
The Bruins (5-2) stretched their lead to 20 points in the second half.
NO. 20 UCONN 71, IOWA STATE 53
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Donovan Clingan had 15 points and 10 rebounds, powering UConn to the Phil Knight Invitational championship.
Tristen Newton scored 13 points for the Huskies (8-0), who went 20 for 25 at the free-throw line. Alex Karaban and Andre Jackson, Jr. each had 10 points.
Osun Osunniyi led Iowa State (5-1) with 14 points. Tamin Lipsey had 12 points and Jaren Holmes finished with 11.
Iowa State closed to 53-48 on Holmes&rsquo; 3-pointer midway through the second half. But Karaban made a 3 and a dunk, and Newton&rsquo;s jumper made it 60-48 with 7:13 remaining.

A recap of a busy Sunday for men's college basketball highlights a thriller in Portland for third place in the Phil Knight Invitational.

Sears, No. 18 Alabama top No. 1 North Carolina in 4 OTs

While NBA teams are looking ahead to the upcoming draft with much anticipation, that doesn&rsquo;t necessarily mean the incoming freshman class of college basketball players is any better than usual.
The fact of the matter is that the top 2023 draft prospects aren&rsquo;t playing college basketball.
That goes for Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French phenom who almost certainly will be selected No. 1 overall. The same is true of Scoot Henderson, who plays for the G League Ignite and is generally rated just behind Wembanyama.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a chance conceivably that a college player might not even get taken in the top five,&rdquo; said Eric Bossi, the director of basketball for 247Sports.
Indeed, ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony released a mock draft last month that was headed by three guys who aren&rsquo;t playing college basketball: Wembanyama, Henderson and Amen Thompson of Overtime Elite, a new basketball league that offers training and a salary for pro prospects willing to forfeit their college eligibility. Givony did have Arkansas freshman Nick Smith Jr. going fourth.
Even though they might not get taken at the top of next year&rsquo;s draft, plenty of exciting freshmen are ready to make an impact this season. Duke coach Jon Scheyer is beginning his career with the nation&rsquo;s top-ranked recruiting class according to composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports.
The seventh-ranked Blue Devils signed five of the nation&rsquo;s top 27 recruits in this class: Dereck Lively (No. 1), Dariq Whitehead (No. 2) and Kyle Filipowski (No. 4), Mark Mitchell (No. 22) and Tyrese Proctor (No. 27). Mitchell scored 15 points and Filipowski and Proctor had seven each Wednesday in the seventh-ranked Blue Devils&rsquo; 82-45 exhibition victory over Fayetteville State.
Lively and Whitehead didn&rsquo;t play in that game as they recover from injuries.
&ldquo;Dariq definitely won&rsquo;t play Monday,&rdquo; Scheyer said, referring to Duke&rsquo;s regular-season opener against Jacksonville. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s still a couple of weeks away. With Dereck, he&rsquo;s still day-to-day. He&rsquo;s been really ramping up. I think the big thing for both of those guys is not just being completely healthy, which they&rsquo;re right there. But you have to build up your game shape again, and we don&rsquo;t want to put them out too early at all.&rdquo;
Here&rsquo;s a look at some freshmen who could have big seasons.
AMARI BAILEY, UCLA
This 6-foot-5 guard is from Chicago but actually played high school basketball at Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth, California. He&rsquo;s ranked ninth in his class according to the 247Sports Composite. He started and had six points and eight rebounds in UCLA&rsquo;s exhibition victory over Concordia on Wednesday. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got two guys that are rock solid they can count on in Tyger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez, but they really need a third guy to step up and be a threat on a nightly basis,&rdquo; Bossi said. &ldquo;Bailey&rsquo;s the right kind of guy.&rdquo;
KEYONTE GEORGE, BAYLOR
Big 12 coaches made their expectations for George clear when they named him the conference&rsquo;s preseason freshman of the year. The 6-4 guard averaged 22.8 points for Baylor this summer at the GLOBL JAM international tournament. George is from Lewisville, Texas, but played for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He&rsquo;s ranked seventh in the 247Sports Composite.
GG JACKSON, SOUTH CAROLINA
Jackson was regarded as the nation&rsquo;s No. 1 prospect until he decided to reclassify and enter college a year early. Jackson had been committed to North Carolina until he reclassified and opted to enroll at South Carolina. The 6-9 forward from Ridge View High School in Columbia, South Carolina, is ranked sixth in this class, according to the 247Sports Composite. South Carolina says he&rsquo;s the highest-ranked prospect ever to sign with the Gamecocks. Jackson was named the MVP of the National Basketball Players Association top-100 camp in July.
DERECK LIVELY II, DUKE
Once he&rsquo;s healthy enough to play, this 7-1 center from Philadelphia should emerge as an immediate force on defense. Scheyer says Lively &ldquo;is as unique of a big as there is in the country&rdquo; because of his ability to defend in a variety of ways. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve talked about how to maximize what he can do on the defensive end especially, but that versatility for us is something that we can really use throughout the course of the season,&rdquo; Scheyer said. Lively played at Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also produced former Duke player and NBA lottery pick Cam Reddish.
NICK SMITH JR., ARKANSAS
Although he hasn&rsquo;t played a college game yet, Smith earned preseason first-team all-Southeastern Conference honors from the league&rsquo;s coaches and media. His prep career at North Little Rock (Arkansas) earned him the USA Today national high school player of the year award. The 6-5 guard is ranked third in the 247Sports Composite. &ldquo;He is a player that kind of moves on the floor effortlessly almost like he is on skates,&rdquo; Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. &ldquo;He is cosmetically pleasing to watch offensively with the way that he can find seams in the defense, and he is a really good shooter as well.&rdquo;
CASON WALLACE, KENTUCKY
Wallace, a 6-4 guard from Dallas, is the nation&rsquo;s No. 8 player in his class according to the 247Sports Composite. He averaged 10.5 points and had a team-high 12 steals in Kentucky&rsquo;s four-game international exhibition tour this summer. Wallace had nine points and a team-high seven rebounds Sunday in an exhibition victory over Missouri Western State. Kentucky coach John Calipari has praised Wallace&rsquo;s defense.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer is beginning his career with the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class.

No. 7 Duke’s class heads list of impact freshmen

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; A season of massive change has arrived at seventh-ranked Duke.
Jon Scheyer has taken over a program led by a Hall of Fame coach who to many was the face of college basketball in Mike Krzyzewski. And there&rsquo;s a nearly complete roster overhaul with 11 new players after the latest wave of early NBA departures from last year&rsquo;s Final Four team, including No. 1 overall pick Paolo Banchero.
&ldquo;Everyone has a first time for something in their lives,&rdquo; freshman 7-footer Kyle Filipowski said. &ldquo;There might be some pressure with that. But there&rsquo;s pressure in every situation you&rsquo;re put with. It&rsquo;s just how you really handle that ... and not let the outside noise get to you.&rdquo;
And there will be plenty of that.
Duke has long faced possession-by-possession scrutiny as a blueblood program, from its five NCAA championships to Krzyzewski&rsquo;s standing as the winningest coach in college basketball history. But that will be higher this year as the first-time head coach proves whether he can keep the Blue Devils among the national elite.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s done an excellent job, I&rsquo;m telling you, man,&rdquo; said associate head coach Chris Carrawell, a former player and coach under Krzyzewski who has remained on the staff for the transition.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s only 35 years old. ... I knew he would be good now. I didn&rsquo;t think it would be here, but I knew he would be a good head coach one day. He&rsquo;s exceeded expectations so far and he continues to do so.&rdquo;
Scheyer was the leading scorer on Duke&rsquo;s 2010 NCAA championship team, and he spent the past eight seasons on Krzyzewski&rsquo;s staff. He was designated as Krzyzewski&rsquo;s successor in June 2021 and spent last season preparing for this moment as his mentor&rsquo;s side.
He&rsquo;s been undeterred by the challenge ahead.
&ldquo;Really throughout the entire year, not only was I coaching at the highest level I could in the role assisting Coach K,&rdquo; Scheyer said, &ldquo;but I also realized: here are my non-negotiables as a coach, here&rsquo;s the things we&rsquo;re going to work on. So as we started the season, I already knew the first two weeks, we were doing defense.&rdquo;
He was a key part of Duke&rsquo;s recruiting success in recent years and landed the nation&rsquo;s No. 1 recruiting class for his debut season, including three of 247sports&rsquo; top four overall prospects in 7-foot-1 Dereck Lively II (No. 1), 6-7 wing Dariq Whitehead (No. 2) and Filipowski (No. 4).
The way they see it, they&rsquo;re part of a new era, too.
&ldquo;I feel like it played a big role in me coming to Duke, just knowing it was going to be a lot of pressure on (Scheyer) in his first year,&rdquo; Whitehead said. &ldquo;I told my mom that I look forward to embracing that with him and taking on this challenge of him being a first-year head coach.&rdquo;
PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS
The Blue Devils are picked to finish second behind No. 1 North Carolina in the 15-team ACC. And Scheyer has put together a roster capable of contending for a return to the Final Four.
ROACH&rsquo;S RETURN
Jeremy Roach is the lone returning starter and team captain coming off a strong postseason performance. He averaged 11.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists in five NCAA Tournament games.
TRANSFER HELP
Duke&rsquo;s newcomers include a pair of Big Ten transfers in 6-6 guard Jacob Grandison (Illinois) and 6-10 big Ryan Young (Northwestern).
Grandison averaged 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists while making 23 starts last year. He also shot 41% from 3-point range. Young averaged 8.7 points and shot nearly 58% over three college seasons.
PROCTOR&rsquo;S ARRIVAL
Duke&rsquo;s incoming class includes Australian guard Tyrese Proctor, who had committed to Duke for next year&rsquo;s class before reclassifying to play now. He attended the NBA Global Academy in Canberra designed to train elite international prospects.
&ldquo;I think it was just knowing that I thought I proved as much as I could in Australia, so I just wanted to take the next step,&rdquo; Proctor said of his reclassification.
DEFENSIVE FOCUS
Scheyer has been clear that he thinks this year&rsquo;s team could be an &ldquo;elite&rdquo; defensive team with its size and length. Lively&rsquo;s mobility and rim protection certainly offer a great starting point inside.
Scheyer said the coaches have &ldquo;talked about how to maximize what he can do on the defensive end especially&rdquo; to take advantage of his versatility.
___
Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap

Jon Scheyer has taken over a program led by a Hall of Fame coach who to many was the face of college basketball in Mike Krzyzewski.

No. 7 Blue Devils start anew with Scheyer, 11 new players

You never know who's going to walk through the door at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas.&nbsp;
Some days, you may see multiple stars training with Joe Abunassar and his staff. One day last summer, Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Paul George, LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton each came through to work out. Over a 24-hour span last week, Kevin Garnett, Carmelo Anthony and Tayshaun Prince showed up to the famed gym.
Impact Basketball is known as a revolving door of notable NBA players, with plenty of people popping in for a workout or pick-up run. However, a select few players spend the entire offseason at Impact, creating a custom development plan, working out with Abunassar daily, following a strict diet, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/josh-green-impact-basketball-dallas-mavericks-playoffs-joe-abunassar-offseason-training-diet-nutrition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tracking their biometrics</a> and more.
This summer, one player who committed to this intensive offseason regimen is Dallas Mavericks wing Josh Green. Less than 24 hours after the Mavs were eliminated from the 2022 NBA Playoffs, Green contacted Abunassar to map out his summer program.
&ldquo;I texted Joe the day after we unfortunately lost, and I told him that I was ready to go whenever,&rdquo; Green told Basketball News. &ldquo;After that, I stayed about three days in Dallas and went on a quick vacation, and then I was at Impact. I&rsquo;ve been here for about a month.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a lot of time to work with him this summer because he got here early,&rdquo; Abunassar said. &ldquo;He took four or five days after the season and then got out here, and he hasn&rsquo;t left town. While guys are in and out and doing all of this other stuff, he&rsquo;s been locked in and working on the same things every day. The fact that he&rsquo;s locked in and so consistent is going to result in a very good season. I think it says a lot about his commitment and what his focus is for next season. It&rsquo;s time for Josh to really, really step up &mdash; as he did last year, but this is that next step.&rdquo;
Prior to Garnett&rsquo;s MVP season in 2003-04, KG locked in and really embraced the nutrition component of Abunassar&rsquo;s program. Before Lowry became a first-time All-Star at 28 years old, he spent the offseason with Impact, making significant changes to his diet for the first time and even leaving his honeymoon early to get in extra training. In both cases, Abunassar predicted their breakout success before the season based on what he&rsquo;d witnessed behind the scenes.
&ldquo;If you talk to most NBA players, they&rsquo;re all over the place. For them to put themselves in one place for two straight months and consistently follow the same schedule, that&rsquo;s pretty rare,&rdquo; Abunassar said. &ldquo;But I will tell you this: I&rsquo;ve done this for 25 years and every guy who does that has a good season &mdash; whether it&rsquo;s with me or wherever.&rdquo;
Green is hoping to become Impact's latest success story. The 21-year-old entered this offseason with some extra motivation after getting benched during the Mavs&rsquo; postseason run.
&ldquo;Being able to get to the Conference Finals during my second year only makes me want to go further and further,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;I was able to play in the Utah series and then got benched. So, for me, it&rsquo;s cool that I was able to play in the rotation for the first [series], but shit, I&rsquo;m a basketball player and wanted to continue to [play]. But there was a reason: I need to hit my shots. So going into this offseason, that motivated me a lot more. I want to make sure I&rsquo;m ready to go for next season, so when that opportunity comes again, I&rsquo;m confident going into it and ready to go...
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard being on the bench and watching the team lose and being like, &lsquo;Damn, I want to play.&rsquo; ... I&rsquo;m one of the most competitive people. I hate it, but whatever it is, I&rsquo;m just very competitive.&rdquo;
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While he played sparingly during the Mavs&rsquo; series against Phoenix Suns, he was animated when discussing Dallas&rsquo; Game 6 win to protect its homecourt and the team&rsquo;s blowout win in Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
&ldquo;It was crazy!&rdquo; Green said of beating the Suns. &ldquo;Obviously, we had to defend our home court [in Game 6], otherwise they were going to win it. And I felt confident; I had never seen our team so locked in, so I was like, &lsquo;We&rsquo;ve got this game.&rsquo; Then, heading into Phoenix, you know, it&rsquo;s hard &mdash; you don&rsquo;t know what to expect. But we were the same prepared team. Then, we come out and we just start connecting and (snaps fingers).
"It was crazy, man. I&rsquo;m just watching the game like, &lsquo;Is this really happening?!&rsquo;&rsquo; It was really awesome to be a part of that and see the team so happy. Luka [Doncic] was a great leader that game, as he was the whole year. It was good for everybody, it was just a huge stride for our whole team.&rdquo;
Green looks like a different player this summer, knocking down three-pointers with ease, putting the ball on the floor and turning heads throughout the gym.
&ldquo;I think the biggest thing for me is just realizing what I need to do to help the team out; I&rsquo;m not trying to work on stuff that I&rsquo;m not gonna do in a game,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m coming in with full confidence, knowing what I need to do and being ready to go. I&rsquo;m more motivated than ever.&rdquo;
&ldquo;The first month, we really just worked on ball-handling, finishing and getting him more efficient,&rdquo; Abunassar explained. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so strong and powerful and fast that, if he&rsquo;s efficient and attacks the rim at angles and can finish, he&rsquo;s going to be really difficult to stop. Last year, he finished the season shooting over 40% on corner threes, so he&rsquo;s gotten a lot better in that area &mdash; but we&rsquo;ve continued to work on his three-point shooting. Three-point shooting, ball-handling, finishing and getting him into the ultimate physical shape are the main things.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Dallas Mavericks wing Josh Green (<a href="https://twitter.com/JoshBGreen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JoshBGreen</a>) is shooting the ball well: <a href="https://t.co/e5uRnyrbFr">pic.twitter.com/e5uRnyrbFr</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1547655324781330435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Green admits that his ball-handling and shooting weren&rsquo;t where they needed to be last season.
&ldquo;Last year, I was very hesitant with my dribbling and not knowing [what to do],&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always known how to dribble &mdash; like in high school and everything, I was playing point guard. But as you get on [higher levels of play], you get the ball less and less. So for me, it&rsquo;s just making sure that I&rsquo;m able to dribble. It creates many more [opportunities], and it builds a lot of confidence as well when you&rsquo;re able to dribble, so that&rsquo;s been a huge thing that we&rsquo;ve tried to work on this offseason.
&ldquo;[And shooting] is just something that you can never not work on. For me, my leg would go in a lot last year and I need to make sure that my base isn&rsquo;t too wide, so there were a couple of corrections that I made. I&rsquo;m just trying to stay as consistent as I can, and I&rsquo;ve been able to see a good amount of development in my shot, so I&rsquo;m just trying to keep that up and make sure that I shoot well next year... So, yeah, my shot has been a big thing that I&rsquo;ve been working on this summer.&rdquo;
After working on these aspects of his game over the last month, Green looks more confident than ever.
&ldquo;My confidence is high, man. I&rsquo;m ready to go, and I can&rsquo;t wait for next year,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;Coach [Jason] Kidd really helped me out last year, and he has a lot of trust in me, so now it&rsquo;s just about me going forward and continuing to develop and show what I can do. I&rsquo;m on a veteran team &mdash; a very good team &mdash; so for me, it&rsquo;s just about doing what I can do to impress and just play like I usually play.&rdquo;
&ldquo;His confidence has improved a lot,&rdquo; Abunassar added. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re working on something for three or four hours a day, you tend to become more confident as it improves. The confidence comes with the work, and the fact that he&rsquo;s stayed so consistent... I think just recently, the confidence has gotten even higher because it&rsquo;s working. As Josh has seen himself progress, he has become much more confident.&rdquo;
Green is also buying in from a nutrition standpoint. He&rsquo;s following his dietary plan and avoiding certain foods (such as butter), which has made eating out at restaurants a challenge.
"I want to have a big year,&rdquo; Green explained to Basketball News. "When you're young, whatever you see in front of you is what you want. I [was] able to start here early and realize, 'If I want to play ball for a while, it's important to put the right things in my body and stay healthy.' It's the same thing as seeing your physical therapist and getting treatment &mdash; if not more important for your body."&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/grre_690w.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="355" />
Abunassar is pleased with Green&rsquo;s development, especially since he&rsquo;s still just 21 years old (which is younger than some incoming rookies).&nbsp;
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s only 21, and I think his long-term potential is to be a starter on a really good team for a long time,&rdquo; Abunassar said. &ldquo;Josh wants to win. He&rsquo;s not a volume type of guy; he&rsquo;s a key piece on a really good team. I think teams are seeing that and Dallas is seeing that and putting a lot of confidence in him.&nbsp;
&ldquo;His rookie season was the COVID year, which started late. For all of those guys, it was kind of a wash; they couldn&rsquo;t do team-building stuff or extra workouts &mdash; there were restrictions on their gym time. So, for all of those guys, you&rsquo;re really looking at last year as being their rookie season. If you look at what he did as somewhat of a rookie last year, it was very impressive. And in the future, he&rsquo;ll continue to build to where he&rsquo;s a mainstay on a really good team.&rdquo;
Green agrees with Abunassar&rsquo;s assessment of his rookie year, and he hopes that the work he&rsquo;s putting in at Impact Basketball can help him take the next step in his career.
&ldquo;I feel like last year was a good year &mdash; it kinda felt like my rookie year, since I didn&rsquo;t really get to play much during my actual rookie year,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s kinda hard to tell [my ceiling] right now, so for me, it&rsquo;s just about focusing on the present and making sure that I&rsquo;m ready to go for next season. But I&rsquo;d like to think that I do have a high upside, and I really do think I can be a major piece for the Mavericks moving forward. I&rsquo;m hoping that next year I&rsquo;m able to show that.&nbsp;
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&ldquo;I love playing with guys like Luka and the rest of the team, and I think it&rsquo;s a perfect situation for me to be in. A lot of other rookies get to go to teams where they get an opportunity right away, but for others like me, it takes some time. I&rsquo;m just happy that I&rsquo;m at the time now where I&rsquo;m finally getting in the rotation.&rdquo;
Over his first two seasons in the NBA, Green didn&rsquo;t get to play a ton, but he did show flashes. Last January, in a win over the Houston Rockets, Green had 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in 25 minutes (while shooting 85.7% from the field, nailing his only attempt from three-point range and hitting 4-of-5 free throws). In the very next game, Green helped the Mavericks beat the Chicago Bulls, contributing an efficient 18 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes (on 80/100/100 shooting splits).
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very impressed with Josh and his game,&rdquo; Abunassar said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got great size, great speed, great athleticism. Defense is what&rsquo;s going to get him on the floor in Dallas; obviously, with their roster, they&rsquo;re not looking for another 25-point-per-game scorer. He&rsquo;ll start with his defense, but I think his offensive role will expand tremendously this season because of the improved ball-handling and finishing, and just him being a more confident Josh on the offensive side.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Last year, over the last 40- or 50-something games, he played 15-to-18 minutes and they were putting him in the game to guard. Now, I think they&rsquo;re going to continue to put him in the game to guard, but he can expand on that. Like any young player, you add stuff to your game every year; this year, I just think his offensive focus and their ability to use him on offense will be much greater.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Dallas Mavericks wing Josh Green (<a href="https://twitter.com/JoshBGreen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JoshBGreen</a>) is putting in work at <a href="https://twitter.com/impactbball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@impactbball</a>: <a href="https://t.co/3LwEyVpSFX">pic.twitter.com/3LwEyVpSFX</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1547651195199557633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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In 2020, Green represented Australia in the Olympics and helped the Boomers win the bronze medal (the country's first Olympic medal in men's basketball). It was an incredible experience for Green, who was a teenager at the time.
&ldquo;When we were at the Olympics, it felt like the whole world was behind us,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;I feel like it&rsquo;s a good team to cheer on; we have very good personalities and the team is just great to be around. I think [basketball] is getting a lot bigger in Australia. Obviously, there&rsquo;s Aussie rules [football] and rugby and cricket and all of that stuff, but now that there are seven or eight Australian players around the NBA, it&rsquo;s becoming a lot more appealing for these guys.&rdquo;
Next month, Green is visiting Australia for two weeks. Then, he&rsquo;ll be back at Impact Basketball until the start of training camp.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to being able to go back and just being able to go to my old school and everything like that,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;I miss Australia. I miss Australia a lot... I&rsquo;m really looking forward to it.&rdquo;
At 14 years old, Green left Australia in order to play high-school basketball in the United States and chase his NBA dream. It was a sacrifice that he was willing to make, but it wasn&rsquo;t easy.
&ldquo;When I came from Australia, I remember landing in Phoenix and being really excited, but then I was like, &lsquo;Oh my God, I&rsquo;m not going back,&rsquo;&rdquo; Green recalled. &ldquo;At that point, I was at a stage where I wasn&rsquo;t being recruited and I didn&rsquo;t even know if I was going to play basketball [at the next level], so I actually started asking my mom about going back to Australia and playing Australian football. But yeah, it was really hard.&nbsp;
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&ldquo;And going back is gonna be hard because I want to go back, but I miss it so much that I know I&rsquo;m gonna be there [and not want to leave]. It&rsquo;s awesome, man, and I&rsquo;m really looking forward to it. It&rsquo;s home. My little sister is talking to me &mdash; she&rsquo;s young and she doesn&rsquo;t remember anything, so I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s definitely time to go back.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Green is glad that today&rsquo;s up-and-coming Australian prospects don&rsquo;t need to leave the country in order to get recruited or show up on the NBA&rsquo;s radar. He points to his childhood friend, Tyrese Proctor, as an example; the Sydney native is a five-star recruit who will play for Duke next year.
&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s awesome, you&rsquo;ve got guys like Tyrese Procter coming up now,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s crazy because our families are extremely close; my dad was the best man in [his parents&rsquo;] wedding. So it&rsquo;s awesome seeing him from such a young age and then, out of nowhere, he&rsquo;s an NBA prospect now!
"But it&rsquo;s cool seeing Australia finally on the come up. For guys like me, I had to move at a young age in order to get recognition. Now, the fact that you can stay in Australia and go down that path [and get noticed], I think it&rsquo;s great. It&rsquo;s one of those things where I&rsquo;m always down to get involved and help out the next up-and-coming group. Australian culture is like nothing else I&rsquo;ve ever experienced, so I never want to be away from that.&rdquo;
Green would surely love to spend the entire summer in Australia and eat whatever he wants (like many 21-year-olds), but he understands that this is a pivotal summer for his NBA career.
Once again, he&rsquo;s prioritizing his NBA dream and making the necessary sacrifices in order to realize his full potential.

Mavericks wing Josh Green gave Alex Kennedy a behind-the-scenes look at his offseason training at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas.