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Tag: per game

  • No. 13 Texas Tech skids into meeting with West Virginia

    (Photo credit: Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

    Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland has not pressed the panic button ahead of the No. 13 Red Raiders’ Big 12 Conference matchup against West Virginia on Sunday in Morgantown, W.Va.

    While every game in the conference offers a stern test, McCasland is confident the Red Raiders (16-6, 6-3 Big 12) will bounce back from two straight losses. The first was an 88-80 setback at UCF on Jan. 31, and the latest a 64-61 home defeat against No. 11 Kansas on Monday.

    ‘We’ve got the right guys, we just need more experience and time together,’ McCasland said. ‘I love this group and I believe in them and I know we can win real games that are meaningful in March. We’ve got to find ways to collectively get a little more experience, get a little tougher, get a little more fight and grit to the way we compete down the stretch. We are just scratching the surface of what we can be.’

    Christian Anderson was a last-minute scratch for the loss to Kansas due to a reported illness. The sophomore guard ranks second on the Red Raiders in scoring at 19.6 points per game and leads the Big 12 in assists at 7.5 per contest. He shoots 43.6% from 3-point range and connects on 3.4 shots from beyond the arc per game.

    Texas Tech thought there still was a possibility he could get ready to play against the Jayhawks by halftime.

    ‘Before the game we didn’t have any idea it was an option (he wouldn’t play),’ McCasland said. ‘In warmups we were told he was being held out for now. But I fully anticipated him playing. As he got closer to being out there, I was told we were trying to warm him up during the intros to see if we could get him ready to play.’

    Even as the teams took the court after halftime, Texas Tech thought it could get Anderson back. Without him in the lineup, the Red Raiders surrendered a 10-point lead in the last eight minutes.

    ‘We don’t have time to think about anything other than we need to beat West Virginia on Sunday,’ McCasland said. ‘Staying in the Big 12 (race) is about being resilient, and we need to get better. Our guys are tough and care a lot about this team even though they are all hurt.’

    West Virginia (15-8, 6-4 Big 12) is coming off a 59-54 road win over Cincinnati on Thursday, but it could use a victory over Texas Tech as a resume-builder. The Mountaineers are 2-5 in Quad 1 games and 1-3 in Quad 2 games. That makes Sunday tilt in Morgantown, where they are 13-1, even more important.

    ‘We have a little momentum and need to go back home and take care of business there,’ said West Virginia’s leading scorer, Honor Huff, who puts up 15.8 points per game.

    ‘We don’t try to look ahead or hear the outside noise as to what can happen if you win this game or lose that game. We have to take care of every game that comes on our schedule.’

    Even though the Mountaineers trailed the Bearcats by as many as 14 points in the second half, they rode a familiar formula to victory: Muddy things up on defense and wait for Huff to get hot from beyond the arc. Huff scored 14 straight Mountaineers points to put his team up 42-40, and the West Virginia defense held Cincinnati to 36.4% shooting from the field and 30.4% on 3-point attempts.

    ‘For us it always starts on the defensive end of the floor,’ West Virginia coach Ross Hodge said. ‘Can you defend and can you rebound? In the last couple games, we’ve gotten some good offensive looks and are struggling a bit on that end of the floor. But I tell these guys all the time, let’s beat someone 52-48 then if that’s what it takes. It takes what it takes.’

    –Field Level Media

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  • Grizzlies star G Ja Morant to return vs. Magic in London

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

    Memphis Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant is available to return from a six-game absence in Sunday’s game against the Orlando Magic in London.

    The subject of trade rumors, Morant has been sidelined since Jan. 2 with a right calf contusion.

    Morant’s contract — a five-year, $197 million deal — expires after the 2027-28 season. He’s eligible for a three-year, $178 million extension next summer.

    Without signing him to an extension, any team taking on Morant at the February trade deadline would owe him the balance of his existing deal: the remainder of his $39.4 million salary for the current season, $42.2 million next season and $44.9 million for 2027-28.

    The No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 draft, Morant is playing fewer minutes this season, averaging a career-low 28.3 to go with 19 points and 7.6 assists per game.

    Morant, 26, has career averages of 22.4 points, 7.4 assists, 4.6 rebounds and one steal per game.

    –Field Level Media

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  • UCF explores newfound depth with slumping VMI on deck

    (Photo credit: Nadia Zomorodian/News-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

    UCF coach Johnny Dawkins might have found something in Tuesday’s comeback win over Quinnipiac — a go-to big man.

    Dawkins and his Knights will search for their sixth straight win when they host VMI on Saturday afternoon in Orlando, Fla.

    The Knights (6-1) trailed Quinnipiac 60-50 in the second half before reserve Jeremy Foumena lit a fire, sending the home side on an extended 34-10 scoring tear through the Bobcats’ defense that put the game away.

    On a career night, the 6-foot-11 Foumena, a Montreal native who had just 17 points all season, stood out.

    He poured in a career-high 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting by dominating around the rim with his teammates feeding him while UCF committed a season-low 10 turnovers.

    A junior center, Foumena played sparingly in his lone season at his most recent stop at Mississippi State when he saw action in just nine games. He started his career at Rhode Island.

    ‘I’m a kid that stayed the course,’ said Foumena, who grabbed seven rebounds. ‘In the second half, we knew we had to go deep. … We just came out strong.’

    Point guard Themus Fulks handed out a career-high 13 assists, nearly double his average of 7.7 per game, while John Bol notched a career-high 13 points with six rebounds.

    A UCF win Saturday would equal the best start under Dawkins with the 2016-17 team that went 24-12 and advanced to the NIT semifinals.

    The Keydets (3-6) will finish a four-game road swing through Florida and will be looking for better play.

    VMI has dropped five straight games since notching its last win in a 106-54 pounding of Virginia-Lynchburg on Nov. 12.

    ‘I told the guys there’s usually a game every season that you have to wash away,’ Keydets coach Andrew Wilson said after an 87-54 loss to Richmond last week before leaving on the current road trip. ‘… We’ve got a tough journey ahead of us.’

    He was right.

    The Southern Conference school fell 81-48 to Bowling Green at the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Wednesday, making just 10 of 50 shots (20%). Only one player, Linus Holmstrom, hit double figures with 11 points, as VMI lost for the third time in the Sunshine State after losses to Stetson and Buffalo.

    TJ Johnson leads the squad at 20.1 points per game, while Walker Andrews scores 11.3 and Mario Tatum Jr. adds 10.8.

    –Field Level Media

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  • No. 22 Auburn to face tougher test with Oregon at Players Era opener

    (Photo credit: John Reed-Imagn Images)

    Auburn men’s basketball is just two points away from being undefeated, with their only loss this season coming on Nov. 16, a 73-72 defeat to then-No. 1 Houston.

    Beyond that, No. 22 Auburn (4-1) has feasted on small schools in its four wins. That won’t be the case Monday night at Michelob Ultra Arena near Las Vegas, when the Tigers face Oregon in both teams’ first game of the second annual Players Era men’s tournament.

    Auburn won’t have leading scorer and rebounder Keyshawn Hall in the lineup against the Ducks. Hall, who is averaging 23.3 points and 11 rebounds per game, suffered a lateral foot sprain late in the second half of the Tigers’ loss to Houston. He missed the team’s 112-66 win over Jackson State on Nov. 19.

    The 6-foot-7 transfer from UCF won’t be rushed back, Auburn head coach Steven Pearl told AL.com last week.

    ‘I mean, with him out, just got to step up. It’s the next guy up mentality and we’re trying to win it all,’ Auburn’s Elyjah Freeman said. ‘All that matters is trying to win and stopping them from scoring.’

    Freeman is among six Tigers’ regular players who average double figures in scoring per game. Auburn is averaging 93.4 points per game while shooting 50.2% from the field this season.

    Both teams will play back-to-back games this week, and potentially a third game in three days if they reach the Players Era third-place or championship game on Wednesday, Nov. 26.

    Oregon (4-0) is the defending Players Era tournament champion. The Ducks won the inaugural edition last year with wins over Texas A&M, San Diego State and an 83-81 upset of then-No. 9 Alabama.

    Oregon took home the $1.5 million in NIL money awarded to the tournament’s first-place team.

    The Ducks haven’t played since last Monday, Nov. 17, an 87-75 win over Oregon State. They are 28-9 in games played in Las Vegas under head coach Dana Altman, with 23 wins from the former Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament, last played in March of 2024.

    Oregon is led by center Nate Bittle, whose late put-back dunk with five seconds to play against Alabama in the Players Era championship game last year gave the Ducks the win.

    This year, Bittle is averaging 18.8 points and 9.8 rebounds to lead the Ducks. The focal point of opposing defenses, Bittle has two 20-point games this season and a pair of double-doubles.

    Oregon also has two other experienced players in their third seasons in the program. Point guard Jackson Shelstad has scored 22 points in each of the Ducks’ last two games, and forward Kwame Evans Jr. had a career-high 14 rebounds and made 10 of 14 free throws against Oregon State.

    ‘That’s what you expect from experience — guys that have played for you,’ Altman told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. ‘They’ve been in big games. They’ve been in NCAA tournaments.’

    The Ducks have not shot the ball well overall to start the season, at 40.4%, but are holding opponents to a 38.3% from the field.

    –Field Level Media

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  • Florida State brings defensive ‘urgency’ into Georgia Southern tilt

    (Photo credit: Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

    Luke Loucks made it clear he was bringing a fast tempo and a bunch of 3-point shooting to the Florida State basketball team.

    The defensive chaos the Seminoles have created early in his coaching tenure is a bit more of a surprise.

    Florida State forced 26 turnovers in Tuesday’s 87-73 win over UT Martin and will look to carry that success over into Friday’s game against Georgia Southern in Tallahassee, Fla.

    The Seminoles (3-1) had 19 steals in the win over the Skyhawks. It was their most in a game since 1996 and one off the program record, with five different players recording three-plus steals.

    Through four games, Florida State is averaging 20.5 forced turnovers per game (tied for fourth nationally) and 12 steals per game (tied for 12th nationally).

    ‘We have some good defenders that are aggressive. Sometimes I’ve just got to get out of their way,’ Loucks said. ‘… You could tell the urgency our guys were playing with defensively really helped force a lot of those turnovers. That’s the way we’re going to play.’

    Freshman Cam Miles scored a team-high 17 points Tuesday. He’s the fourth different Seminole to lead the team in scoring through four games this season.

    The game at Florida State presents a second opportunity this week for Georgia Southern (3-2) to defeat an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent.

    The Eagles nearly pulled off a win in the first chance Tuesday night, falling 68-66 at Georgia Tech. Georgia Southern led by 11 points in the first half and trailed by just two points with six seconds left when Nakavieon White got the ball knocked away while driving for the would-be tying basket.

    ‘We obviously saw space. Their guy made a play,’ Georgia Southern coach Charlie Henry said of the final play vs. Georgia Tech.

    Alden Applewhite posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. The forward is averaging 13.3 points per game and shooting a team-high 46.7% from 3-point range.

    Georgia Southern forced 22 turnovers against Georgia Tech and is averaging 16.8 forced turnovers per game. However, the Seminoles are turning it over just 9.8 times per game.

    –Field Level Media

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  • SMU brings loaded backcourt to Tarleton State opener

    (Photo credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images)

    Andy Enfield will lean on a veteran backcourt that should rank among the nation’s best as he begins his second season at SMU.

    Enfield will lead the Mustangs into a season-opening encounter against defensive-minded Tarleton State on Monday in Dallas.

    The Mustangs (24-11, 13-7 ACC) bring back guards Boopie Miller and B.J. Edwards. The former is a preseason second team all-ACC pick who averaged 13.2 points, 5.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game, while the latter garnered ACC All-Defensive Team honors while also averaging 9.9 points and 3.7 assists.

    ‘Boogie and B.J. have been playing extremely well,’ Enfield told the team’s website. ‘We’ll rely on those guys for leadership and consistency because, as you know, when half your team is freshmen, freshmen are a little inconsistent at times. Our senior guards have to carry us.’

    SMU added five true freshmen to its roster along with two redshirt freshmen. Three transfers, led by 6-foot-5 senior guard Jaron Pierre Jr. from Jacksonville State and 6-9 forward Sam Walters from Michigan, also joined the squad.

    Pierre makes SMU’s backcourt even more dynamic after averaging 21.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists last season. The nation’s No. 4 scorer last year produced a team-high 22 points, including 3 of 6 on 3-point attempts, in the Mustangs’ 86-71 exhibition victory over Oklahoma State on Oct. 25.

    Miller finished with 20 points and eight assists and was 3-for-4 behind the arc.

    Tarleton State, coming off an injury-plagued 12-20 season and sixth-place finish in the WAC, ranked second in the nation in forcing turnovers (16.66 per game) and 11th in steals (9.4). The Texans welcome 12 newcomers to the program, including seven transfers.

    ‘This should be our best team that we’ve had at Tarleton State,’ said head coach Billy Gillispie, who has forged a 78-74 record over five seasons with the program based in Stephenville, Texas.

    ‘You never know about injuries. Hopefully what happened last year doesn’t happen again.’

    The Texans were down to five healthy scholarship players at times last season.

    Chris Mpaka, a senior forward who ranked third in the WAC in blocks (51) and 13th in rebounds (5.3 rpg), is the team’s top returnee.

    He has been joined by a pair of highly touted transfer guards in Cam McDowell, who averaged 27.3 ppg at Northwest Oklahoma State, and junior Dior Johnson, who originally signed with Pittsburgh and was ranked No. 35 in ESPN’s Top 100 as a prep. He averaged 2.9 points in limited minutes for UCF last year.

    –Field Level Media

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  • Well-rounded Bulls leaning on each other as Hawks pay a visit

    (Photo credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images)

    Pushing the ball and defending the length of the floor has been the mantra of Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan for some time.

    It is a small sample size, but the newest edition of the Bulls has proven to be a quick study to the strategy. Chicago has produced a pair of season-opening victories and is out to continue its early run against the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Monday.

    Seven Bulls players finished in double figures in scoring during Saturday’s 110-98 win at Orlando. The group effort is an ideal byproduct of sharing the ball after fighting to get it back on the defensive end.

    ‘Our depth is something we will have to lean on all year, especially with the style of play that we have,’ Chicago guard Tre Jones said. ‘We play extremely fast, especially when we are playing physical like we are (now). We are going to have to lean on everybody. We have a couple of guys down right now, so it is a next-man-up mentality.

    ‘We continue to lean on each other.’

    Jones is benefiting from increased early-season minutes as guard Coby White (right calf strain) recovers from a preseason injury. The absence of Bulls reserve center Zach Collins (left wrist fracture) has opened opportunities in the frontcourt.

    Usual suspects Nikola Vucevic and Josh Giddey have provided steady scoring, with both averaging at least 20 points through two games. Vucevic is adding 11.0 rebounds per game.

    Atlanta knows the impact of being short-handed to start the season. Kristaps Porzingis (flu-like symptoms), Zaccharie Risacher (right ankle sprain) and Jalen Johnson (right ankle sprain) each missed Saturday’s 117-100 home loss to the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

    Monday’s game marks the beginning of a four-game road trip for the Hawks, who won at Orlando on Friday around a pair of double-digit home defeats.

    Six Hawks players scored in double figures Saturday, led by Nickeil Alexander-Walker (17 points) and Trae Young (15). Young is optimistic that the team’s consistency will grow alongside the comfort level of a youthful rotation.

    ‘I think the positive experience some of these guys got to get with each other, and Mo (Gueye) gets more minutes and starting,’ Young said. ‘I mean, Asa (Newell) coming out there still playing in his second real (NBA) game.

    ‘I think really without those (rotation) guys, it’s hard to really judge us. But at the same time, we got games to play. It doesn’t matter and nobody cares. So, we got to keep playing.’

    Vucevic has posted a double-double in seven of his past 10 games against the Hawks.

    Atlanta has won two straight versus Chicago, but the Bulls hold a 141-122 edge in the all-time series.

    Staying physical under the boards will be key, Donovan stressed. Entering NBA play on Sunday, the Bulls ranked third in the NBA with 104.5 points allowed per game.

    ‘We’re competing, we’re putting our bodies in play,’ he said. ‘We’re trying to get on the glass and rebound.’

    –Field Level Media

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