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Tag: missed

  • Top 25 roundup: SMU halts No. 12 UNC’s 7-game win streak

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    (Photo credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)

    No. 1 Arizona 97, Utah 78Jaden Bradley scored 18 points and Koa Peat added 17 to lead the unbeaten Wildcats over the Utes in the teams’ Big 12 opener in Salt Lake City.Tobe Akawa tallied 18 points and 12 rebounds off the bench to help Arizona (14-0) win its ninth straight game by double figures. Brayden Burries chipped in 17 points and a career-high 11 rebounds while Ivan Kharchenkov added 13 points. The Wildcats shot 53.6% from the floor and went 7 of 18 from 3-point range.Terrence Brown led Utah (8-6) with 26 points and six assists. Keanu Dawes added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Utes while Don McHenry chipped in 15 points as the Utes lost at home for just the second time this season.

    No. 5 Purdue 89, Wisconsin 73

    Braden Smith shattered the Big Ten’s career assists record and the Boilermakers shattered the Badgers’ will with an extended second-half spree to earn a Big Ten victory in Madison, Wis.

    Smith, who needed nine helpers to tie the 890 assists handed out by Michigan State’s Cassius Winston from 2017-20, finished with 14 points and 12 assists to lead the Boilermakers’ balanced attack. Fletcher Loyer led Purdue (13-1, 3-0 Big Ten) with 20 points while C.J. Cox posted 14 points and Oscar Cluff notched 12 points and 11 rebounds.

    Wisconsin (9-5, 1-2), which tried to become the first team to beat Purdue three times in a row since Smith and Loyer joined the program in the summer of 2022, was paced by Nick Boyd’s 24 points. Nolan Winter added 18 points and 10 rebounds, but the Badgers finished 4 of 25 (16%) on 3-point attempts.

    No. 6 Duke 91, Florida State 87

    Isaiah Evans made six 3-pointers and poured in a career-high 28 points to help the Blue Devils come away with a win over the upset-minded Seminoles in Tallahassee, Fla.

    Evans scored 18 of his points in the second half and was 6-of-14 from 3-point range to become the first Duke player besides Cameron Boozer to lead the team in scoring since Nov. 21 vs. Niagara. Boozer still made his presence felt with 17 points, a career-high nine assists and five rebounds for the Blue Devils (13-1, 2-0 ACC).

    Chauncey Wiggins tied his career high with 22 points for Florida State (7-8, 0-2), making 4 of 5 shots from outside the arc. Robert McCray V added 22 points and made 3 of 4 threes with five assists. Kobe MaGee added 17 points, hitting four 3s.No. 8 Houston 67, Cincinnati 60

    Kingston Flemings scored 19 points and Milos Uzan added 16 of his 18 points in the second half, lifting the Cougars to a victory over host Cincinnati in the Big 12 opener for both teams.

    Uzan sank 4 of 7 shots from 3-point range and Flemings added six assists and five steals. The Cougars (13-1) have won seven in a row overall and extended the nation’s longest active road winning streak to 15 despite a tough outing by leading scorer Emanuel Sharp, who missed all nine of his shots and scored two points.

    Cincinnati’s Day Day Thomas highlighted his 15-point performance by scoring his team’s last 12 points of the first half. Moustapha Thiam scored 13 points and Baba Miller added 11 for the Bearcats (8-6).

    No. 10 BYU 83, Kansas State 73

    AJ Dybantsa scored 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had three steals to lead No. 10 the Cougars to a win over the Wildcats in Manhattan, Kan., in the Big 12 Conference opener for both teams.

    Robert Wright III added 18 points, Richie Saunders pitched in 13 points and Keba Keita had a double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds for BYU (13-1), winners of 10 straight games.

    PJ Haggerty led Kansas State (9-5) with 24 points. Abdi Bashir Jr. scored 16 points, David Castillo chipped in 13 points off the bench and Khamari McGriff added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Wildcats, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.

    No. 11 Vanderbilt 83, South Carolina 71

    Tyler Tanner scored 19 points and tied a single-game school record with 14 assists as the Commodores knocked off the Gamecocks in Columbia, S.C.

    With two of Vanderbilt’s three primary ball-handlers out (Duke Miles and Frankie Collins), Tanner logged 37 minutes and turned the ball over just once in the SEC opener for both teams. AK Okereke added a season-high 17 points for the Commodores (14-0), Tyler Nickel scored 16, Devin McGlockton notched 15 and Jalen Washington added 10. Vanderbilt shot 51% from the field, 43% from 3-point range and 83% from the foul line.

    South Carolina (9-5) shot just 25% from 3-point range while being out-rebounded, 37-25. Elijah Strong led the Gamecocks in scoring with 17. South Carolina’s leading scorer, Meechie Johnson with 14.0 points per game coming in, had just nine on 2-of-9 shooting.

    No. 14 Alabama 89, Kentucky 74Aden Holloway made six 3-pointers and tied his career high of 26 points to lead the Crimson Tide to a solid win over the Wildcats in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams at Tuscaloosa, Ala.Labaron Philon Jr. returned from a one-game absence due to a leg injury to register 17 points and three steals for Alabama (11-3). Houston Mallette drained four 3-pointers while scoring 14 points, Amari Allen had 11 points and nine rebounds and Noah Williamson added 10 points.Otega Oweh recorded 22 points and eight rebounds and Jaland Lowe added a season-best 21 points for Kentucky (9-5), which fell to 1-5 against ranked foes this season.

    No. 15 Texas Tech 102, Oklahoma State 80While there was plenty of offense, the Red Raiders’ defense was what turned the tide in a triumph over the Cowboys as the teams opened the Big 12 Conference season in Lubbock, Texas.Balanced scoring and 21 assists on 37 made shots were keys for Texas Tech (11-3) and J.T. Toppin helped his team control the backboards 48-36. All five Red Raider starters finished in double figures, with Toppin leading the way with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Christian Anderson logged a double-double with 19 points and a career-best 13 assists and LeJuan Watts also scored 19 and grabbed nine boards.Anthony Roy topped the Cowboys (12-2) with 22 points, and big man Parsa Fallah chimed in with 20.

    UCF 81, No. 17 Kansas 75

    Jordan Burks drained a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 42 seconds left, Riley Kugel converted a three-point play and the Knights opened Big 12 play with an upset of the Jayhawks in Orlando, Fla.

    After Burks broke a 72-all tie, the Jayhawks (10-4) — also playing their Big 12 opener — got three free throws from Tre White (14 points, 11 rebounds) to trim it to 76-75 with 16.2 seconds remaining. Kugel (19 points) iced it with a layup and was fouled on the play, making the free throw for the 11th straight win for the Knights (12-1), whose fans stormed the court after the second home victory over the Jayhawks in three seasons.

    The Knights’ Themus Fulks totaled 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. Burks scored 14 as UCF held a 38-30 edge in points in the paint. The Jayhawks welcomed the return of Darryn Peterson, who netted a career-high 26 points — all in the first half — in 23 minutes Melvin Council Jr. scored 20 points but it was not enough as Kansas lost for the first time in five games.No. 18 Arkansas 86, No. 19 Tennessee 75

    Darius Acuff Jr. scored a career-high 29 points, reserve Meleek Thomas added 18 points and the Razorbacks pulled away from the Volunteers for a win in Fayetteville, Ark., in the SEC opener for both schools.

    Reserve center Malique Ewin had 12 points, six rebounds and four of Arkansas’ 10 blocked shots. The Razorbacks (11-3), who had lost eight of the previous 10 in the series, had a big advantage at the free throw line, making 29 of 33 attempts. Arkansas has won six of their last seven games.

    Amari Evans had 16 points on 7-of-7 shooting, Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 14 points and Nate Ament had 13 for Tennessee (10-4), which had a three-game winning streak broken.

    No. 20 Illinois 73, Penn State 65

    Kylan Boswell scored 18 points, and Keaton Wagler added 16 as the Fighting Illini secured a win over the Nittany Lions in Big Ten play in Philadelphia.David Mirkovic added 13 points and 10 rebounds and Andrej Stojakovic had 12 points for Illinois (11-3, 2-1) in a contest played at The Palestra, the famed facility that opened in 1927. The Illini never trailed while winning for the fifth time in six games. Backup Zvonimir Ivisic collected 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.Kayden Mingo recorded 16 points, five assists and four steals and Eli Rice added 11 points for Penn State (9-5, 0-3), which lost for the fourth time in five games. The Nittany Lions made just 34.8% of its attempts, including a shaky 8 of 38 from behind the arc.

    No. 21 Virginia 76, NC State 61

    Sam Lewis poured in 23 points and the Cavaliers never trailed in a win over the Wolfpack in Raleigh, N.C.

    Virginia (12-2, 1-1 ACC) led by as many as 27 to give first-year head coach Ryan Odom his first conference victory. Thijs De Ridder added 14 points, Malik Thomas posted 13 and reserve Devin Tillis provided 10. Lewis connected on five 3-pointers — the same as NC State’s total (5 of 20). He began the day averaging 8.8 points per game but had 15 by halftime, matching the Toledo transfer’s highest total of the season.

    Quadir Copeland’s 15 points led the Wolfpack (10-5, 1-1), who were looking to knock off a ranked team for the first time this season (now 0-3). Paul McNeil Jr. added 13 points and Alyn Breed had 12, but NC State shot just 36% (18 of 50) and were outrebounded 36-24.

    Missouri 76, No. 22 Florida 74

    Anthony Robinson II had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists as the Tigers upset the Gators in Columbia, Mo., in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.

    Mark Mitchell scored 14 points and Jacob Crews added 13 for the Tigers (11-3). Trent Pierce added 10 points after missing the first 13 games with an injury. Jayden Stone proved he was fully recovered from his broken hand while scoring Missouri’s first eight points on two 3-point jumpers and a transition dunk in his first game since Nov. 20.

    Thomas Haugh led the Gators (9-5) with 24 points. Alex Condon had 14 points and six assists and Xaivian Lee added 11 points.

    No. 23 Georgia 104, Auburn 100Jeremiah Wilkinson scored a season-high 31 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in overtime, to help the Bulldogs outlast the Tigers in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams at Athens, Ga.

    The victory ended Georgia’s five-game losing streak to Auburn. The Bulldogs (13-1) posted their school-record seventh 100-point game. They also got a season-high 24 points from Marcus Millender, who had five 3-pointers. Somto Cyril added 15 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots.

    Auburn pulled off an improbable rally in the final second of regulation. Trailing 92-88, the Tigers’ Keyshawn Hall was fouled on a 3-point shot with 0.7 seconds remaining. Hall made the first two free throws, intentionally missed the third and Kevin Overton grabbed the rebound and scored to force overtime. Tahaad Pettiford scored 15 of his 25 points in the first half for Auburn (9-5) and Filip Jovic had his first double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

    No. 25 Iowa 74, UCLA 61

    Bennett Stirtz scored 27 points and the Hawkeyes rode a strong start to hold off the Bruins’ second-half rally in a win at Iowa City.

    The Hawkeyes (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten) deluged the Bruins early, going on a 14-1 run midway through the first half for a double-digit-point advantage going into the break. Iowa’s advantage swelled to 18 by intermission and 21 the first few minutes after the break, but UCLA (10-4, 2-1) battled back with an 18-2 run. Iowa got 13 points from Alvaro Folgueiras, 11 from Isaia Howard and 10 from Tavion Banks.

    Donovan Dent fueled the comeback, scoring 20 of his team-high 25 points in the second half. He shot 10 of 16 from the floor and committed no turnovers in the final 20 minutes after going just 2 for 3 with three giveaways through the first 20 minutes. Tyler Bilodeau, the only other UCLA player to score in double figures, added 10 points.

    –Field Level Media

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  • NBA roundup: Luka Doncic burns Mavs, Lakers sweep NBA Cup group

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    (Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)

    Luka Doncic scored 35 points and dished out 11 assists against his former team and the Los Angeles Lakers finished perfect in NBA Cup group play with a 129-119 victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Friday.

    Austin Reaves scored 38 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Deandre Ayton paired 17 points with eight rebounds, and LeBron James had 13 points and seven assists in his fourth game of the season after returning from sciatica.

    Doncic improved to 3-0 against Dallas after his surprising trade from the Mavericks in February. Los Angeles, which had already advanced to the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup, finished 4-0 in West Group B.

    P.J. Washington amassed 22 points and nine rebounds and Anthony Davis added 12 points for the Mavericks in his first game on his former home court after he was traded to Dallas in the Doncic deal. He was making his return after missing the previous 14 games with a calf injury.

    Thunder 123, Suns 119

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 points to help Oklahoma City record its 11th consecutive win, a home victory over Phoenix in an NBA Cup game that saw both teams advance.

    The win sends the Thunder to the knockout round of the NBA Cup after they went 4-0 in West Group A. The Suns, who lost for just the third time in 12 games overall, fell to 3-1 in NBA Cup action. However, they still earned a wild-card spot as the Western Conference’s best second-place team, so they will join the Thunder in the knockout round.

    Oklahoma City also improved to 19-1, becoming the fifth team in NBA history to win at least 19 games in the season’s first 20. After capturing the first nine games of the winning streak by 13 or more points, Oklahoma City has now won back-to-back tight games after beating Minnesota by eight on Wednesday.

    Spurs 139, Nuggets 136

    Devin Vassell scored 18 of his season-high 35 points in the fourth quarter and visiting San Antonio beat Denver to win West Group C and advance to the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup.

    Julian Champagnie scored 25 points — also a season high — and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Spurs. San Antonio sealed the win my making 7 of 8 free throws in the last minute.

    Jamal Murray put up 37 points for Denver, which went 2-2 in NBA Cup play. Nikola Jokic had 21 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists, and Cameron Johnson contributed a season-high 28 points.

    Hawks 130, Cavaliers 123

    Jalen Johnson produced his second triple-double of the season and Atlanta held off visiting Cleveland as both teams failed to advance in the NBA Cup.

    Johnson finished with 29 points, shooting 9-for-18 from the floor, to go with 12 rebounds and 12 assists. Atlanta has won three of its last four, while Cleveland has lost two in a row. Both teams finished 2-2 in East Group A and were eliminated from the NBA Cup. Nickeil Alexander-Walker finished with 30 points and Zaccharie Risacher had 14 points.

    Cleveland was led by Donovan Mitchell with 42 points, his 21st career game with 40-plus points. The Cavaliers got 20 points and 14 rebounds from Evan Mobley and 15 points and 10 assists from Darius Garland. Former Hawk De’Andre Hunter scored 16 in his return to Atlanta.

    Knicks 118, Bucks 109

    Jalen Brunson scored a game-high 37 points, helping New York earn a victory over visiting Milwaukee and advance to the NBA Cup knockout stage.

    Josh Hart finished with 19 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists and Miles McBride scored 19 for the Knicks, who won their third straight and finished atop East Group C with a 3-1 record. Mikal Bridges added 14 for New York, while Karl-Anthony Towns totaled nine points and 10 rebounds.

    Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 30 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists in his return from a four-game absence caused by a thigh injury. Kyle Kuzma scored 20, AJ Green added 18, Ryan Rollins put up 13 and Myles Turner had 10 for Milwaukee, which dropped its seventh straight game.

    76ers 115, Nets 103

    Tyrese Maxey totaled 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as the short-handed Philadelphia never trailed in a victory over Brooklyn in New York. The Sixers were without Joel Embiid (knee), VJ Edgecombe (calf), Kelly Oubre Jr. (knee) and Trendon Watford (groin).

    Jared McCain added 20 off Philadelphia’s bench. Rookie Egor Demin posted career bests of 23 points and nine rebounds for Brooklyn.

    Both teams entered the game having already been eliminated from advancing in the NBA Cup. They finished tied at the bottom of East Group B at 1-3.

    Hornets 123, Bulls 116

    Brandon Miller’s season-high 27 points and Miles Bridges’ 22 points carried Charlotte to an NBA Cup victory over visiting Chicago, a result that snapped the Hornets’ seven-game losing streak.

    Reserve Collin Sexton poured in 21 points, LaMelo Ball had 16 points and eight assists and Kon Knueppel added 12 points for the Hornets, who finished 1-3 in East Group C of the NBA Cup.

    Coby White and Josh Giddey each scored 25 points to lead the Bulls. Chicago also went 1-3 in NBA Cup play and has lost three of its past four games overall.

    Magic 112, Pistons 109

    Desmond Bane poured in 37 points and grabbed eight rebounds as visiting Orlando edged Detroit to advance to the knockout round of the NBA Cup.

    Orlando finished 4-0 in the East Group B of the event and won for the fifth time in its past six games. The Pistons, who went 2-2 in NBA Cup action, lost for the second time in a row following their 13-game winning streak.

    Franz Wagner had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Magic. Cade Cunningham carried the Pistons with 39 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. Cunningham was fouled with 4.7 seconds left but missed the first free throw and then intentionally missed the second. The Pistons got the rebound, but Duncan Robinson’s last-ditch 3-point try was blocked by Black.

    Pacers 119, Wizards 86

    Pascal Siakam amassed 24 points and 11 rebounds as Indiana cruised to a win over Washington in Indianapolis. Both teams finished 1-3 in East Group A of the NBA Cup.

    Bennedict Mathurin scored 20 points and matched his season high with four assists for the Pacers, who led by as many as 33 and won for the third time in their first 19 games.

    Alex Sarr led Washington with 24 points. The Wizards were unable to carry the momentum from Tuesday, when they snapped a 14-game losing streak with a home win over the Atlanta Hawks.

    Jazz 128, Kings 119

    Keyonte George scored 31 points, Lauri Markkanen added 28 and Utah avoided a winless round of pool play in the NBA Cup with a victory over Sacramento in Salt Lake City.

    Utah, which finished 1-3 in West Group A, snapped a four-game skid. The Jazz used a 12-2 run early in the second quarter to take a lead they never relinquished.

    Zach LaVine hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, part of a 6-of-9 period on his way to a game-high 34 points for the Kings. Sacramento ended up 0-4 in NBA Cup action.

    Grizzlies 112, Clippers 107

    Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 24 points and Zach Edey grabbed 19 rebounds to help Memphis rally to a win in Inglewood, Calif., in the NBA Cup finale for both teams.

    Vince Williams Jr. added 16 points and Jaylen Wells and backup Santi Aldama scored 13 points apiece as Memphis recovered from a 16-point third-quarter deficit. The Grizzlies went 3-1 in West Group B play but didn’t advance to the knockout round. Los Angeles went 2-2.

    Kawhi Leonard scored 39 points on 15-of-24 shooting but couldn’t prevent the Clippers from losing for the 12th time in the past 14 games. James Harden had 23 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for Los Angeles. Kris Dunn added 11 points, seven rebounds and five steals, and John Collins logged 10 points and seven rebounds.

    –Field Level Media

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  • Watch: Videos you may have missed this week

    Watch: Videos you may have missed this week

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    From a Florida police officer saving a kitten to a three-legged K-9 continuing to fight crime after losing his leg, here are some of the videos you may have missed this week:Video shows Florida officer saving a kitten on a highwayA kitten lying in the middle of a highway was rescued by a Florida police officer last week.Body camera video shows the officer walking toward the kitten while cars continue to drive past the ball of fur just feet away.Watch the video in the player above.Three-legged K-9 continues to fight crime after losing legBoone, a one-year-old bloodhound K-9 at the Wise County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, is proving that adversity can be overcome with determination and resilience.Video shows moment a 10-year-old learns he’s going to Disney World through Make-A-WishA wish came true for a Mississippi kid battling sickle cell disease.Ten-year-old Anthony Laird-McKay walked into a huge surprise Thursday at the Mississippi Children’s Museum.Thanks to a partnership between Mississippi Baptist Medical Center and Make-A-Wish Mississippi, Anthony is heading to Disney World and Universal Studios on June 4.Small plane loses power, skims suburban rooftops before making crash landingA pilot and passenger emerged unscathed from a light plane that made a dramatic crash landing in Australia after flying perilously close to houses in suburban Sydney.The Cessna plane lost power during the flight on Sunday, forcing the pilot to make a mayday call to report an engine problem and glide its way back home, CNN affiliate Nine News reported.

    From a Florida police officer saving a kitten to a three-legged K-9 continuing to fight crime after losing his leg, here are some of the videos you may have missed this week:

    Video shows Florida officer saving a kitten on a highway

    A kitten lying in the middle of a highway was rescued by a Florida police officer last week.

    Body camera video shows the officer walking toward the kitten while cars continue to drive past the ball of fur just feet away.

    Watch the video in the player above.


    Three-legged K-9 continues to fight crime after losing leg

    Boone, a one-year-old bloodhound K-9 at the Wise County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, is proving that adversity can be overcome with determination and resilience.


    Video shows moment a 10-year-old learns he’s going to Disney World through Make-A-Wish

    A wish came true for a Mississippi kid battling sickle cell disease.

    Ten-year-old Anthony Laird-McKay walked into a huge surprise Thursday at the Mississippi Children’s Museum.

    Thanks to a partnership between Mississippi Baptist Medical Center and Make-A-Wish Mississippi, Anthony is heading to Disney World and Universal Studios on June 4.


    Small plane loses power, skims suburban rooftops before making crash landing

    A pilot and passenger emerged unscathed from a light plane that made a dramatic crash landing in Australia after flying perilously close to houses in suburban Sydney.

    The Cessna plane lost power during the flight on Sunday, forcing the pilot to make a mayday call to report an engine problem and glide its way back home, CNN affiliate Nine News reported.

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  • The Halo TV series bailed on its best chance yet to actually take us to a Halo ring

    The Halo TV series bailed on its best chance yet to actually take us to a Halo ring

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    Reach has fallen in the Halo TV universe. If you know anything about the lore of the Halo games, you know that the next thing that’s supposed to happen is Master Chief escaping from Covenant forces above Reach, his ship getting attacked, and then promptly crashing onto the series’ first Halo ring. In other words, this is basically the moment where the action starts. That is not what happened in the Halo TV series. Instead, Chief (Pablo Schreiber) and his friends took a reflective excursion to a backwater planet that felt a lot more like a detour than character development.

    After escaping Reach, Chief and everyone else on the escape ship with him (which is basically all of the still-living series regulars except for Kate Kennedy’s Kai), visit Aleria, a small dirt farming planet with plenty of land to spare and nearly toxic soil. After an episode as big and exciting as the Fall of Reach, this feels like a very HBO-style respite: the kind of episode dedicated to taking stock of the characters we lost and examining the new shape of the world after a big shake-up. But those shows earn those reflective episodes with consistent quality before them, and they tend to make those quiet episodes feel ever bigger and more important than the loud ones. That was certainly not the case in Halo season 2’s fifth episode.

    Photo: Adrienn Szabo/Paramount Plus

    In defense of the Halo series’ entire premise, it has no obligation to follow the events of the games directly. Since the show’s announcement, the creative team behind it has been careful to specify that this series takes place in the “Silver Timeline,” which is completely separate from the canon of the games. So going somewhere other than Halo after the Fall of Reach isn’t really a problem. The problem is that the show once again fails the most basic and important test of doing interesting things with those changes.

    The series seems convinced that the audience loves and cares about its side characters. But they’re just not interesting. During this episode the most coherent plotline we spend time with involves Soren (the wonderful Bokeem Woodbine, trying his best as always) and his wife searching for their child. We see them question various people around the village, and even find someone they think is keeping their kid from them. But by the end of the episode, they discover that he was actually kidnapped by the UNSC — an organization we almost exclusively know at this point as the military that loves kidnapping children. It’s a bland, “no shit” reveal that feels both too obvious and totally meaningless at the same time. Another of the episode’s plotlines involves Riz, a Spartan who was introduced just a few episodes ago, deciding that she wants to be a farmer now that she is too injured to be a Spartan.

    With plotlines this boring, about characters that the show never really does a good job of convincing us to care about, it’s getting awfully hard not to long for the circular perfection and alien weirdness of the Halo rings that give this franchise its name. So why aren’t we there yet?

    The answer seems to lie in the Halo show’s approach to the rings in general. The series clearly recognizes one of the great strengths of the first game was that Halo was profoundly mysterious. But the show is approaching that mystery in a very different way than the original game did.

    Fiona O’Shaughnessy as Laera in Halo season 2 stands wrapped in a blanket with two people talking behind her on a porch

    Photo: Adrienn Szabo/Paramount Plus

    For the game, the mystery of Halo was in how little information you had about both the alien ring and the video game’s world. Aside from the basic premise of humanity being on the back foot in a war against aliens, almost everything else was a black box. So when you crash-land on Halo in the game’s second level (a level also called “Halo”), the path is clear for the game to slowly reveal its secrets about Forerunners, the Covenant religion, the Flood, 343 Guilty Spark, and everything else that feels commonplace in the series today. The TV series, on the other hand, decided to make Halo a destination. Instead of giving us no lore, it’s been stacking up piles and piles of lore through its first two seasons and dangling the Halo ring in front of his via characters’ prophetic visions. This path to Halo isn’t inherently bad; a well-done buildup and reveal can make for a fantastic moment in a TV show. But like the Hatch in Lost, the key is that you have to show the audience why the thing is mysterious and important — you have to really prove it to us, not just have characters bombard us with insistent dialogue that it matters. And more importantly, the characters actually have to get into it eventually.

    None of this is to say that the show has run out of time to make it to Halo, or even that it can’t be good once it gets there. But it is to say that the journey there so far has felt profoundly misjudged and way too slow, and it’s starting to feel like it might not happen at all. In this episode, Makee (Charlie Murphy) tries to convince the Arbiter to go to the Halo rings because she insists that the Prophets are lying about the Great Journey, telling the rest of the Covenant fanciful stories about its importance and transcending the physical realm, but never actually planning to take them along on their trip to divinity. Now, I’m not saying that the Halo series is the Prophets and we’re the rest of the Covenant, but I am saying that our lack of a journey to a Halo ring is starting to feel a little suspicious, and they’re running out of time to convince me we’re really going.

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    Austen Goslin

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  • 10 great indie games you might have missed in 2023

    10 great indie games you might have missed in 2023

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    It’s been one of those strange, busy years where any of Polygon’s top 10 games of the year could have made the No. 1 slot. Heck, you could expand that outward to include the top 20. There was a wealth of great games throughout the year, making it impossible to keep up with everything — even here at Polygon, where many of our jobs are to keep up with video games. That’s why we’ve created this list of 10 games you might have missed, all from indie studios. They cover a bunch of different genres, from a goofy multiplayer game to an inventory management roguelike.

    Like with Polygon’s list of the top 50 games of the year, there are plenty of fantastic games that slipped through the cracks. Think we’ve missed any extra-special indies from the past year? Drop your favorites in the comments.


    Bread & Fred

    Image: SandCastles Studio/Apogee Entertainment

    Developer: SandCastles Studio
    Where to play: Windows PC

    Bread & Fred is a game you’re going to want to play with a friend. (Only one of you needs a copy of the game, thanks to Steam’s Remote Play Together.) You’ll play as two penguins tied together on a short rope, tasked with climbing a snowy mountain. It’s hard! The rope is very short, meaning there’s little wiggle room. Communication is key to timing each jump precisely — or you might fall down the mountain once again with a splat. So yes, Bread & Fred is hard, but it’s not impossible. Better yet, its challenge is pretty hilarious when playing with a friend you’re comfortable shouting at — or with. The animations have a slapstick element, making the already silly premise even funnier. —Nicole Carpenter

    American Arcadia

    Inside an office, there are several computer screens lit up. In the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, there’s a hand holding a cellphone.

    Image: Out of the Blue Games/Raw Fury

    Developer: Out of the Blue Games
    Where to play: Windows PC

    Trevor, an office drone, wakes up one morning and learns his bosses are conspiring to kill him — and also that his entire life is built on a lie. American Arcadia is set in a ’70s-inspired metropolis called Arcadia, but something’s up with Arcadia: It’s a Truman Show-type widespread deception designed to trick thousands of people into living guilelessly for the entertainment of others. But that’s not American Arcadia’s only trick. One minute you’re bouncing across platforms like any other side-scrolling platformer. The next, you’re solving puzzles from a first-person perspective. Video games don’t often deploy multiple perspectives. Here, the shift is jarring but effective; it puts you on edge — kind of, one imagines, like learning the truth about Arcadia. —Ari Notis

    El Paso, Elsewhere

    El Paso, Elsewhere - A protagonist shoots his way through a brightly lit hotel room

    Image: Strange Scaffold

    Developer: Strange Scaffold
    Where to play: Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X

    If you can’t get enough of Max Payne, you won’t want to miss El Paso, Elsewhere. When vampires and werewolves arrive in a mysterious, supernatural motel, vampire hunter James Savage takes them head-on. What you get is a third-person shooter that revels in PlayStation-era graphics and explosive gameplay, with a narrative that sets the stakes especially high. You see, Savage’s ex is a vampire that’s about to perform a ritual — in that El Paso motel — to end the world. Within the mayhem of El Paso, Elsewhere, there’s a beautiful story about addiction and heartbreak that grounds the game’s physical demons within its metaphorical ones.

    Yes, I made a Max Payne comparison — and you’ll see that a lot when reading about El Paso, Elsewhere — but the game is something wholly itself. It’s not to be missed. —NC

    A Highland Song

    A girl runs up a mountain in the Scottish Highlands in A Highland Song. A deer rushes up in front of her.

    Image: inkle

    Developer: inkle
    Where to play: Nintendo Switch, Windows PC

    A Highland Song is one of those 2023 latecomers, sneaking into this year’s release calendar on Dec. 5. From the creators of 80 Days and Heaven’s Vault, it’s not a game to be missed. The stylized art style perfectly renders the Scottish Highlands, where Moira is exploring in order to get to the sea. It’s one of those games, like A Short Hike, where the journey is much more important than the destination. Set to music from Scottish folk artists TALISK and Fourth Moon, A Highland Song has so many lovely, warming moments, even when you’re sheltered up in a cave to escape the cold. —NC

    MyHouse

    A game made on top of Doom, called MyHouse. A person points a gun at a house.

    Image: Veddge

    Developer: Veddge
    Where to play: Windows PC

    MyHouse.wad is a pretty boring Doom mod. I’m no game designer, and I’m hesitant to repeat a tired line about modern art, but come on: I could have made this! The map is just a typical suburban split-level home. There’s nothing to do but scurry around polygonal furniture, look at tacky domestic art, and shoot some generic Doom enemies. I suspect — if I’m being honest — its elevated reputation stems from its tragic backstory.

    A Doomworld user named Veddge released MyHouse.wad on the site’s forum back in March. Veddge was clear from the beginning that MyHouse wasn’t his mod; he’d just polished it up. The original version belonged to Veddge’s childhood friend Tom, who had recently passed away. To honor his pal, he decided to touch up the map into operable shape and share the file with some hardcore Doom nerds — the sort of folks who might appreciate this amateur but lovingly made map.

    I appreciate the good intentions. I just can’t understand why anybody would find this normal house all that interesting. I mean sure, the rooms keep moving. And sometimes there’s no way out. And other times I wake up in an empty hospital. But this is just a normal, boring Doom mod. There’s nothing to see here.

    Unless none of this is true. —Chris Plante

    Videoverse

    Videoverse screenshot showing a fictional video game console that looks like a bulky Nintendo 3DS, as well as some magazines, soda, and a calendar on a desk.

    Image: Kinmoku

    Developer: Kinmoku
    Where to play: Mac, Linux, Windows PC

    Videoverse is a game for those of us nostalgic for the early internet and its intimate communities. When I was a kid, I spent my free time digging into niches on Neopets and talking to strangers about shared interests in AOL chat rooms. I made friends in forums, creating an online world sometimes more enticing than my own real life. Videoverse is all of those things on a fictional forum dedicated to a dying MMO, and it perfectly captures the drama and sadness of letting go. All at once, Videoverse has recreated the frivolous, beautiful, dramatic, and profound ways technology has influenced my life, and maybe yours, too. —NC

    A Space for the Unbound

    A row of houses in which the centered one is yellow, rendered in pixel art. Several people stand in front of the homes. (Screenshot from A Space for the Unbound)

    Image: Mojiken/Toge Productions

    Developer: Mojiken
    Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X

    Set in rural Indonesia, A Space for the Unbound is a slice-of-life story of high school sweethearts Atma and Raya, who have a bucket list to fulfill. While A Space for the Unbound is an intimate look into a teenage relationship in ’90s Indonesia, it’s also the backdrop for a larger supernatural power that’s threatening reality — the end of the world. That framing makes for an interesting dichotomy between the scope of the stories: everyday moments paired with otherworldly drama. It’s one of those games that’s so earnest that’s it’s easy to overlook any flaws or bugs while captured by the stakes of the world and its characters. A bonus for pixel art fans: The game is gorgeous! —NC

    Tape to Tape

    Screenshot from Tape to Tape showing a bunch of hockey players on the ice. One team is wearing orange, the other black.

    Image: Excellent Rectangle/Null Games

    Developer: Excellent Rectangle
    Where to play: Windows PC

    A hockey game, but make it roguelite! Tape to Tape is in early access, so it hasn’t had its full release just yet. But what it is now is very fun: a game about building a hockey team by hiring players and managing the team. Play in games, of course, with different — not actual hockey-legal — abilities, upgrades, and bribes. Tape to Tape screams ’90s Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey, but a lot more wacky. As in other roguelites, losing is fine: It’s an opportunity to upgrade your tools of the trade and get further next time.

    Grab some hockey fans in your life for online multiplayer (with Remote Play Together) or on split screen. —NC

    Moonring

    Screenshot from Moonring, showing retro pixel boat. On the side, there’s a text input screen.

    Image: Fluttermind

    Developer: Fluttermind
    Where to play: Windows PC

    Don’t let the old-school visuals fool you: Moonring is one of 2023’s richest video game experiences. Created by Dene Carter, a co-creator of the iconic RPG Fable, the colorful adventure gives players the expansive freedom popularized by games of the 1980s — when graphics played second fiddle to creativity and scope. Trade with unsavory types. Partner with questionable cults. Converse with practically everyone.

    Perhaps most importantly for our readers, this Ultima-inspired roguelike is free. Like, free free. At that price, Carter may get his wish of introducing the old ways of game design to new audiences. “I hope Moonring recaptures some of the spirit of those days for you,” Carter writes on the Moonring Steam page. “For those who did not, I hope that the more modern conveniences you find in this game allow you to catch a glimpse of what we did 40 years ago.” —CP

    Backpack Hero

    A screenshot from Backpack Hero, with a mouse on the bottom of the screen. The backpack is open up top, showing three items, including a sword.

    Image: Jaspel/Different Tales, IndieArk

    Developer: Jaspel
    Where to play: Nintendo Switch, Mac, Windows PC

    When I can’t sleep, I consider the mysteries of the universe. Like, who came up with the whiskey sour? “Whiskey is amazing, but what if we added raw egg whites?” Backpack Hero’s creators took a similarly audacious approach with the classic dungeon crawler, splicing the genre with the Tetris-like inventory management popularized by Resident Evil 4. Much like the foamy cocktail, the results are delicious.

    Generally, I’m hesitant to list back-of-the-box bullet points, but I’m tickled by how big the creators have made a game about backpack organization: There are over 800 items and 100 enemies, you can play as five different heroes, and the dungeons are procedurally generated within a overworld map the player constructs. Like its hero mouse, Backpack Hero punches way above its weight class. And it will keep you up at night, because there’s always time for one more run. —CP

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    Nicole Carpenter

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  • Things We Missed in 2023

    Things We Missed in 2023

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    Steve and Jomi are joined by Daniel Chin to look back at the year in fandom culture and highlight some of their favorite shows and movies that they weren’t able to cover. Suzume, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are some of the many shows and movies covered in this episode. Later, producer Kerm chimes in with his favorite comic books in the world of X-Men in 2023.

    Hosts: Jomi Adeniran and Steve Ahlman
    Guest: Daniel Chin
    Producer: Jonathan Kermah

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts

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    Jomi Adeniran

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  • Beyoncé Backlash, and Lenny Kravitz Missed the Source Awards

    Beyoncé Backlash, and Lenny Kravitz Missed the Source Awards

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    Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay react to undefeated Florida State being snubbed by the College Football Playoff committee (13:31), before discussing criticism of Beyoncé’s concert film screening in Israeli theaters (37:45) and Lenny Kravitz’s comments on feeling shunned by Black media (55:25). Plus, a legendary drummer opens up about playing uncredited on Beatles records (1:15:26), and an Ohio woman is charged with a felony following a miscarriage (1:26:55).

    ‌Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay
    Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Stitcher

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    Van Lathan

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  • November games you might have missed

    November games you might have missed

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    Welcome to November, the mild hangover after October’s proverbial keg stand of awesome games. Even for a quieter month, if you gave the November’s game release calendar a thwap with the ol’ broom, a few huge AAA-tier games would drop to the ground. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Super Mario RPG, and more will kick up a cloud that overshadows the arrival of smaller games — potentially great ones, even, from developers you might’ve heard of and new indie creators alike.

    We don’t want to let these games slip by (and you’d probably like to know about them, right?), so as we do each month, we’ve rounded up a handful of notable game launches that you shouldn’t overlook. Stay tuned near the end of every month for our next batch of video game deep cuts.

    RoboCop: Rogue City

    Where to play: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

    A RoboCop game in the year 2023? And it’s half decent? Polygon’s review calls out that RoboCop: Rogue City is a solid first-person shooter that attempts (with decent success) to serve as the RoboCop 3 film that we should have gotten, and is filled with underdog charm and personality. It even has Peter Seller, who played the original RoboCop, voicing the titular action character in this game.

    The Talos Principle 2

    Where to play: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

    Portal walked so 2014’s The Talos Principle could run. But now, after a long wait, The Talos Principle 2 is sprinting on a gorgeous, puzzle-filled path of its own. This sequel builds on its foundation, with fantastic, stop-you-in-your-tracks environments and visuals, a story that’s a stirring crash course in philosophy. Of course, it’s also packed with puzzles that’ll likely have you scratching your head before figuring out a clever solution.

    Thirsty Suitors

    Where to play: PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC via Steam.

    If you’ve only seen video clips of Thirsty Suitors, you might think it’s a game consisting entirely of the quirkiest quick-time events imaginable. Those scenes, where your character is prepping South Asian-inspired dishes, or petting a dog don’t represent all that you can do in the game. The game’s director Chandana Ekanayake describes the game as “a baby Yakuza,” in the sense that it’s filled with an eclectic variety of activities that’ll leave players guessing. You can skateboard, cook, and then hop into turn-based battles — all delivered in a maximalist package, as our review points out.

    Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story

    Where to play: PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

    League of Legends’ most recent spinoff comes in the form of Song of Nunu, a game developed by Tequila Works that’s friendly for all ages. Between fun (if occasionally frustrating) platforming sections, the game expands into a third-person adventure that incorporates brawling as Willump, the big yeti, and solving environmental puzzles with Nunu’s magical flute. It’s a heartwarming game that succeeds in more closely examining characters from League of Legends’ MOBA experience. Read our full review to learn more.

    Teardown (PS5, Series X)

    Where to play: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X. The game was previously made available for Windows PC via Steam.

    Teardown is a physics sandbox for pure destruction. Not since Red Faction: Guerilla have I had so much fun breaking, well, everything in sight. The game, which originally debuted on PC in 2022, includes a story more where you’re given missions that both expand your arsenal of weaponry and puts your expertise with explosions to the test. The fact that they’re time-based missions amps up the excitement. Beyond the missions, its free play mode never gets old, and can serve as some good ol’ stress relief when you want to blow everything up without the usual real-world repercussions.

    Teardown

    Prices taken at time of publishing.

    The Invincible

    Where to play: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

    It cannot be denied that The Invincible has some of the most stunning looks of any 2023 game. In addition to the graphical swagger of this adaptation of Polish author Stainisław Lem’s book of the same name, I’m taken by this title’s blend of calm-but-eerie atmosphere, the rad “atompunk” tech you’ll use to find missing crew members, and being stealthy to avoid facing down intimidating robots.

    Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection

    Where to play: PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC via Steam.

    Limited Run Games is cracking open the gates of Jurassic Park so that gamers with modern consoles have a chance at the handful of titles that debuted during the franchise’s heyday in the early to mid 1990s. The Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection includes multiple versions of the original game, made for 8-bit, 16-bit (both SNES and Sega Genesis), and portable systems. It also includes Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues and Rampage Edition for the Genesis.

    I want to give a special shoutout to how frightening Jurassic Park for the SNES (the 16-bit version in this collection) was for me to play as kid. The game’s first-person mode that switched on while indoors successfully captured the dread of the famous velociraptor kitchen scene.

    Gangs of Sherwood

    Where to play: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

    Even though Gangs of Sherwood sounds like the name of a Netflix show that I would absolutely skip, a playable version sounds like fun. It’s a third-person action game set in a futuristic dystopia inspired by Robin Hood. Gameplay-wise, it looks like Dragon’s Dogma, with its multiple classe, each with different fighting styles and weaponry, mixed with Bayonetta-like action games, given that Gangs of Sherwood features a combo counter and a grading system. You can play this game alone, or with up to four players teaming up for some co-op.


    FROM OUR SPONSOR: Aliens: Dark Descent

    Prices taken at time of publishing.

    Battle to keep your squad alive against the deadliest foe mankind has ever faced! In Aliens: Dark Descent, command a squad of hardened Colonial Marines to stop a terrifying Xenomorph outbreak on Moon Lethe. Lead your soldiers in real-time combat against iconic Xenomorphs, rogue operatives from the insatiable Weyland-Yutani Corporation, and a host of horrifying creatures new to the Alien franchise.

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    Cameron Faulkner

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