Archives: Previews

When Micah Shrewsberry took over the Notre Dame program from longtime coach Mike Brey in March, he needed to find a lot of new players to fill the roster. Point guard Markus Burton wasn’t one of them. Burton, who earned Indiana’s 2023 Mr. Basketball award, stuck with the commitment he made to Brey in July 2022. He paid immediate dividends by delivering the highest-scoring freshman debut in Irish history with his 29-point effort Monday against

The season debut for No. 8 Creighton was a walk in the park. The Bluejays anticipate receiving more resistance on Saturday afternoon when they face North Dakota State at Omaha, Neb. Creighton rolled to an easy 105-54 victory over Florida A&M in Tuesday’s opener. The Bluejays owned a massive 53-21 edge on the boards. Trey Alexander scored 20 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner recorded his 200th career blocked shot. Only Benoit Benjamin (411 in three seasons

During the current run of excellence that has resulted in Houston being the nation’s second-winningest program since 2017-18, the Cougars have built and sustained a reputation for defensive might. In their season opener against UL Monroe on Monday, the seventh-ranked Cougars fashioned an 84-31 victory. The effort matched the third-fewest points yielded in Houston history and the fewest since the Cougars defeated Texas A&M 38-29 on Dec. 8, 1951. The defensive performance was as familiar

No. 6 UConn may already have found its replacement for Adama Sanogo. Now on a two-way deal with the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, Sanogo was the Huskies’ leading scorer from a season ago. He averaged 17.2 points per game, playing an instrumental role in bringing another national championship to the Storrs, Conn., school. Luckily for UConn, Samson Johnson could be emerging as Sanogo’s successor. Johnson, a 6-foot-10 junior forward, showed plenty of potential in the Huskies’

At the outset of a minimum two-week stretch without their leading scorer, the Miami Heat might need to get creative beginning Saturday at the Atlanta Hawks. Tyler Herro sustained a Grade 2 ankle sprain, sustained when he landed on the foot of Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. during the first quarter of Wednesday’s 108-102 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Without Herro’s 22.9 points per game, where will coach Erik Spoelstra find his offense? Naturally, Bam Adebayo

The Vegas Golden Knights will try to snap their first losing streak of the season on Friday night when they face the San Jose Sharks in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights, tied with the Boston Bruins for the most points in the NHL with 23 thanks to a season-opening 12-game point streak, come in off back-to-back regulation losses on the road against the Anaheim Ducks (4-2 on Sunday) and at home against the Los Angeles

Both the Buffalo Sabres and Minnesota Wild are off to middling starts, with each team looking for something positive to build on. Each tries to rebound from its latest setback when they meet on Friday night in Buffalo. Buffalo went 3-5-0 before finally winning back-to-back games on Oct. 29 and Nov. 1. That began the Sabres’ current 3-1-1 stretch, which most recently featured a 3-2 overtime loss at Carolina on Tuesday. Twice the Sabres erased

Cal won a game of NCAA roulette on Thursday and immediately became a better team. The Golden Bears found out that Texas Tech transfer Jaylon Tyson won his eligibility appeal and will be able to play, starting Friday night when they host Pacific in Berkeley, Calif. The 6-foot-7 Tyson averaged 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Red Raiders last season, connecting on 40.2 percent of his 3-point shots. He will offer another weapon to

UCLA continues a three-game homestand to open the season when it faces Lafayette on Friday in Los Angeles. The Bruins (1-0) opened their campaign on Monday with a 75-44 blowout of Saint Francis (Pa.) behind 28 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots from Adem Bona. The big man was key to UCLA putting up a dominant 48-12 advantage on points in the paint. Bona’s four blocks also contributed to a stingy defensive effort; the

The Utah and UC Riverside men’s basketball teams face each other Friday night in Salt Lake City in hopes of picking up their second win during the first week of the season. The Runnin’ Utes (1-0) cruised to a 101-66 home win over Eastern Washington on Monday in their opener, while the Highlanders (1-0) pulled away from UC Merced for a 76-69 home victory on Tuesday in their season debut. “I think it’s always good