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The College Football Playoff quarterfinal in New Orleans has been postponed a day after a truck plowed into a New Year’s crowd about a mile away from the site of the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame. Fifteen people were killed in the attack early Wednesday in the French Quarter. The game originally was scheduled for Wednesday night at the 70,000-seat Superdome. Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley says all parties agreed that it was in the best interest of public safety to push back the game. It's now set for 3 p.m. this afternoon. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry says he'll attend the Sugar Bowl and is confident the area in and around the stadium will be safe.
Texas avoided the first big upset of the College Football Playoff, hitting a fourth-and-long touchdown pass to keep the game going and beating Arizona State 39-31 in double overtime when an interception by Andrew Mukuba finally ended a Peach Bowl quarterfinal classic. The teams traded touchdowns on their first overtime possessions, and Quinn Ewers put Texas ahead with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Gunnar Helm, followed by a 2-point conversion pass to Matthew Golden. The fourth-ranked Longhorns finally put No. 10 Arizona State away when Mukuba picked off Sam Leavitt’s pass at the 3 to end the game. The Sun Devils were two-touchdown underdogs. Texas moves on to face Ohio State in the semifinals at the Cotton Bowl.
The Peach Bowl referee declined to call a targeting penalty late in the fourth quarter for a helmet-to-helmet hit by Texas safety Michael Taaffe that could’ve given Arizona State a chance to kick a winning field goal in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. The fourth-ranked Longhorns went on to beat the No. 10 Arizona State 39-31 in double overtime. The big hit by Taaffe came after Texas missed a field goal attempt with 1:39 remaining that left the game tied at 24-all. It led to a punt by Arizona State.
No. 6 Ohio State roared into the College Football Playoff semifinals with a 41-21 victory over No. 1 Oregon in the 111th Rose Bowl. Jeremiah Smith caught two of Will Howard’s three long touchdown passes while Ohio State went ahead 34-0 in a sensational first half. Howard passed for 319 yards, Emeka Egbuka also caught a long TD pass and TreVeyon Henderson made a 66-yard touchdown run in a redemptive Rose Bowl for the Buckeyes, who emphatically blew out the CFP's No. 1 seed. Ohio State is headed to the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10 to face No. 4 Texas for a berth in the national title game.
The cliche of one game at a time can be found all across the sports world. Penn State coach James Franklin has gotten his players to buy into it wholeheartedly, pushing the program to new heights. The fifth-ranked Nittany Lions opened their first College Football Playoff berth with a blowout win over SMU and took down No. 8 Boise State 31-14 in the New Year's Eve Fiesta Bowl. Penn State moves on to the Orange Bowl to face the winner of No. 2 Georgia and No. 3 Notre Dame. The Nittany Lions have done it with one of the nation's best defenses and a balanced offense.
Cam Skattebo’s do-it-all offensive show wasn’t enough to save Arizona State from a stretch of fourth-down failures against Texas. Led by Skattebo, Arizona State compiled big advantages in rushing yards, total yards and time of possession. The three fourth-down stops kept the Sun Devils from taking full advantage of their statistical edges in their 39-31 College Football Playoff quarterfinal double-overtime loss to Texas in the Peach Bowl. Skattebo was named offensive MVP after having 30 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns, eight catches for 99 yards and one pass for a 42-yard TD.
Oregon withstood many challenges en route to being the only unbeaten team and the top seed in the College Football Playoff. However, Ohio State’s opening flurry on offense and defense in the first half was too much to overcome as the Big Ten champions saw its hopes of a first national championship dashed with a 41-21 loss in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday. Defensively, Oregon gave up scores on six of Ohio State’s first seven drives. Offensively, the Ducks got into Buckeyes’ territory only once on its first six drives and had four three-and-outs before reaching the end zone the seventh time they had the ball.
NBA
Karl-Anthony Towns had 31 points and 21 rebounds, Josh Hart notched his second straight triple-double and the New York Knicks won their ninth straight game, beating the Utah Jazz 119-103 despite playing without leading scorer Jalen Brunson. Hart finished with 15 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists to become the first Knicks player since Michael Ray Richardson in 1981 with consecutive triple-doubles. Hart has four this season and became the fourth player to have 10 triple-doubles with the Knicks. Mikal Bridges scored 27 points and OG Anunoby had 22 for the Knicks. Brunson missed the game with right calf tightness, with Cam Payne replacing him and finishing with eight points and nine assists.
Scottie Barnes had 33 points and 13 rebounds, Immanuel Quickley returned to the lineup with 21 points and a season-high 15 assists and the Toronto Raptors snapped an 11-game losing streak by beating the Brooklyn Nets 130-113. Gradey Dick scored 22 points and Ochai Agbaji added 14 as Toronto won for the first time since a home win over Indiana on Dec. 3. Cam Johnson scored 24 points and D’Angelo Russell had 22 in his return to Brooklyn but the Nets lost their third straight and 11th of 14.
De’Aaron Fox scored 35 points and the Sacramento Kings closed with a 15-0 run to rally past the Philadelphia 76ers 113-107. Malik Monk added 20 points and six assists for the Kings, who won their second consecutive home game under interim coach Doug Christie after Mike Brown was fired last week. Domantas Sabonis had 17 points, 21 rebounds and seven assists. DeMar DeRozan scored 18. Paul George had 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the 76ers, who had won four in a row. Tyrese Maxey added 27 points, six assists and four steals.
Jordan Poole scored 30 points to continue his strongest stretch in Washington uniform as the Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls 125-107. Poole — who joined Washington from Golden State prior to the 2023-24 season — made six 3-pointers and topped 25 points for a fifth straight game, the first such stretch of his career. Rookie Alex Sarr added 11 points and 10 rebounds as one of seven players in double figures to help the last-place Wizards to their largest win of the season. Zach LaVine scored 32 points for the Bulls after he sat out Monday’s win in Charlotte with toe soreness.
Detroit guard Jaden Ivey sustained what appeared to be a severe injury to his lower left leg in the fourth quarter of Detroit’s victory over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. Orlando’s Cole Anthony slipped and fell as he and Ivey went for the ball. Anthony’s momentum carried him into Ivey’s planted leg, knocking Ivey to the floor. The 22-year-old was in obvious distress as he grabbed for his shin. Members of the training staff held up towels to block the crowd’s view of the injury and players from both teams formed a circle around him. After a lengthy delay, he was loaded onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the arena with a towel covering the injury.
Tyler Herro scored 32 points, Bam Adebayo flirted with a triple-double and the Miami Heat beat the New Orleans Pelicans 119-108. Adebayo finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists for Miami, which got 17 from Duncan Robinson. Trey Murphy III scored 34 for the Pelicans, who played on the same day that at least 15 people were killed in New Orleans when a truck drove into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street in an attack that President Joe Biden described as “despicable.”
Alperen Sengun had 23 points, Jalen Green added 22 and the Houston Rockets built a big lead early in the second half and sailed to a 110-99 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Dillon Brooks had 19 points and Cam Whitmore added 18 to help the Rockets get back on track after dropping two straight. Quentin Grimes led the Mavericks with 17 points. The Mavericks led by four midway through the second quarter before Houston used a 21-8 run to take a 61-52 lead into halftime. Green made eight points in that stretch and Whitmore added two 3-pointers. The Rockets then opened the second half with an 11-4 spurt that pushed it to 72-56 with nine minutes left in the third.
Nikola Jokic had 23 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists in leading the Denver Nuggets to a 139-120 win over Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks. Jokic nearly notched a triple-double in the first half, finishing an assist shy. He secured his 144th career triple-double early in the third quarter. Jamal Murray scored 21 points, while Russell Westbrook added 16 to go with 11 assists as the Nuggets won their third straight game. It started a busy 17-game month on the right note for Denver. The Nuggets finished a perfect 21 of 21 from the free throw line. Young had 30 points and nine assists for the Hawks.
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Andre Lee scored his first NHL goal, Darcy Kuemper recorded his second shutout of the season and the Los Angeles Kings beat the New Jersey Devils 3-0 for their third straight win. Quinton Byfield also scored for the Kings, and Adrian Kempe scored into an empty net with 4:25 to play. Kuemper made 32 saves for his 33rd career shutout. Jake Allen stopped 21 shots for New Jersey, which has lost three straight in regulation for the first time this season at the midpoint of its six-game road swing.
NFL
Saquon Barkley will sit out the Philadelphia Eagles final regular-season game Sunday, denying the running back his chance at breaking Eric Dickerson’s NFL single-season rushing record. Barkley will finish the season with 2,005 yards rushing, just 101 yards shy of breaking Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards set with the Los Angeles Rams in 1984. The Eagles clinched the NFC East and the No. 2 seed in the conference, leaving little to play for in Sunday’s home game against the New York Giants. Barkley also set the Eagles record for yards rushing in a single season and set a season franchise record for scrimmage yards.
OLYMPICS
Mikaela Shiffrin is back in the gym and says she's aiming to be on snow “in the next week or so.” The American skiing star suffered a deep puncture wound in her hip when she crashed in a giant slalom run on Nov. 30 in Killington, Vermont. Shiffrin underwent abdominal surgery in mid-December. She says she's “making progress" and “can move and sweat and use my body.” Shiffrin adds that “this next phase of recovery is all about getting my strength and conditioning back as much as possible.” It's unclear when Shiffrin will return to competition.
Ágnes Keleti, a Holocaust survivor and the oldest living Olympic medal winner, has died at age 103. Hungary's state news agency says Keleti died Thursday morning in Budapest. She was hospitalized in critical condition with pneumonia on Dec. 25. She won a total of 10 Olympic medals in gymnastics, including five golds, for Hungary in 1952 and 1956. She overcame the loss of her father and several relatives in the Holocaust to become one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes. Forced off her gymnastics team in 1941 because of her Jewish ancestry, Keleti went into hiding in the Hungarian countryside, where she survived the Holocaust by assuming a false identity and working as a maid.
It was a decision that robbed hundreds of athletes of their once-in-a-lifetime chance at Olympic glory. For more than four decades, that decision weighed heavily on the man who made it — Jimmy Carter. Carter’s passing has unearthed memories from his presidency that ran from 1977-81. Somewhere between his greatest foreign-policy success and his greatest failure sits the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Carter called for that boycott to illustrate America’s disdain for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets stayed in Afghanistan for another nine years and retaliated by boycotting the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Carter later came to admit that the boycott had been ineffective. He told wrestler Jeff Blatnick ‘That was a bad decision.’
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UConn 81 DePaul 68
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UConn 77 Marquette 45
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