3/6/24 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Tuesday
5 March 2024 Sports
Damian Lillard scored 41 points and the Milwaukee Bucks overcame the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo to rally past the Los Angeles Clippers 113-106 on Monday night for their sixth straight victory.
Antetokounmpo missed his third game of the season as he deals with left Achilles tendinitis. The only other times he sat out were a Nov. 15 win at Toronto with a strained right calf and a Jan. 17 loss at Cleveland with a bruised right shoulder.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers said before the game that the Achilles issue had been “on and off for the last two or three games.”
Milwaukee is hot enough right now to win even without its two-time MVP.
The Bucks are unbeaten since the All-Star break as they get ready to begin a four-game trip to California that starts Wednesday at Golden State and includes a rematch with the Clippers on Sunday.
Bobby Portis scored 14 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and finished with a season-high 16 rebounds. Patrick Beverley added 12 points and sparked the winning rally.
James Harden and Paul George scored 29 points each for the Clippers. Kawhi Leonard added 16 points.
After trailing by 13 in the final minute of the third quarter, the Bucks scored 10 straight points to get back within striking distance. They finally tied the game at 96 on Beverley’s 3-pointer with 4:33 left.
The Bucks begin a four-game trip Wednesday at Golden State.
After being off Monday the Milwaukee Brewers are back in action this afternoon, playing the San Francisco Giants.
Marquette guard Tyler Kolek will miss at least the final two games of the regular season as the 2022-23 Big East player of the year recovers from an oblique injury.
The abdominal injury already caused Kolek to miss Marquette’s 89-75 loss at Creighton on Saturday. Marquette (22-6, 13-4 Big East) was ranked fifth and Creighton 12th at the time.
Marquette announced Monday that Kolek won’t play Wednesday against No. 1 UConn and Saturday at Xavier. He’ll be re-evaluated before the start of next week’s Big East Tournament in New York.
Kolek hurt his oblique during a 91-69 victory over Providence on Wednesday. He told coach Shaka Smart that he made a pass, twisted his body and felt it. He left the game early in the second half, returned briefly and then left again for good.
Kolek was named an Associated Press All-America third-team selection last season as he led Marquette to the Big East regular-season and tournament titles. He hurt his thumb in the first round of the NCAA Tournament that season and played through it as Marquette fell to Michigan State in the round of 32.
He was named an AP-All-America preseason selection this season. He leads all Division I players with 7.6 assists per game and averages 15 points and 4.7 rebounds.
Green Bay’s Sundance Wicks was named the Horizon League men’s basketball Coach of the Year after leading the Phoenix to a historic turnaround in year one.
Wicks took over a program that finished 2022-23 with a 3-29 record and was one of the worst teams in the NCAA statistically. A year later the Phoenix are set to host a Horizon League quarterfinal contest this week after a third place finish in the conference with a 18-13 record overall.
The 18-win mark is third most by a Phoenix head coach in their first year with the program, and most by a Green Bay squad since the 2016-17 season.
Wicks is the second Green Bay coach to ever receive the Horizon League honor. Joining former coach Brian Wardle, who accomplished the feat in 2013-14.
Of course the players have a big role in that turnaround, and three of them were also honored by the conference.
Star guard Noah Reynolds was named Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and first team All-Horizon League. The Wyoming transfer averaged 21.4 points and 4.4 assists in conference games this season. Finishing second in each statistical category.
David Douglas Jr. was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Year. Green Bay’s second leading scorer finished with 8.7 points per game and had double figures in 11 of 27 contests this season.
Douglas was also named to the Horizon League All-Freshman first team along with fellow Phoenix Marcus Hall.
Eagles star center Jason Kelce, one of the key leaders for a team that has made six postseason appearances and two Super Bowl trips over the past seven seasons, announced his retirement with a tear-filled speech Monday, closing the book on a Hall of Fame-worthy career.
“I’ve been asked many times why did I choose football — what drew me to the game — and I never have an answer that gets it right,” Kelce said during a speech that he had to stop many times as he was overtaken by emotion. “The best way I could explain it is what draws you to your favorite song … your favorite book. It’s what it makes you feel. The seriousness of it. The intensity of it.
A sixth-round draft selection in 2011, Kelce, 36, played his entire 13-year career with the Eagles. He was selected to seven Pro Bowls in 13 seasons and was named first-team All-Pro for the sixth time in 2023 — proof that he played at an elite level up to his final snap.
Since the 1970 merger, he is the only center who has won a Super Bowl and earned first-team All-Pro honors six times.
Kelce had contemplated retirement at various points over the last several years, but it became clear that things would be different this time around when, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, he told teammates his playing days were over following the wild card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January.
Kelce is the fifth center in NFL history with at least six All-Pro selections. The other four — Jim Otto, Bulldog Turner, Dermontti Dawson and Jim Ringo — are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Kelce’s was selected in the sixth round of the 2011 draft..
Star wide receiver Mike Evans won’t test the free-agent market after all.
The Buccaneers and Evans have agreed to a two-year, $52 million contract to keep the star wideout in Tampa Bay, NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo reported on Good Morning Football on Monday, per sources informed of the situation.
Ensuring Evans didn’t reach the open market, where he could have been wooed by the highest bidder, is a big coup for Bucs general manager Jason Licht and his quest to keep much of the NFC South champions’ roster together in 2024.
Aging hasn’t slowed the 30-year old Evans down, as he still finds ways to get open and can win at every level. The $26 million-per-year average places Evans fourth among all receivers and underscores the Bucs’ belief he’ll remain one of the top pass catchers in the entire NFL. It marks a nearly $10 million-per-year leap from the five-year, $82.5 million extension Evans signed in 2018 that he played out.
The Russell Wilson era in Denver is over after just two seasons.
The Broncos informed the veteran quarterback on Monday that they will release him after the start of the new league year on March 13.
“On behalf of the Broncos, we thank Russell for his contributions and dedication to our team and community while wishing him the best as he continues his career,” general manager George Paton and coach Sean Payton said in a joint statement.
“As we move forward, we are focused on building the strongest team possible for the 2024 season and beyond. We are excited to improve this offseason and will have the flexibility to get better through the draft and free agency.”
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport first reported the news. As a result of parting ways with the highly paid signal-caller, Denver will eat $39 million but avoid a $37 million guaranteed trigger for the 2025 season that would have taken effect this month. Still, the Broncos will take on $85 million in total dead salary cap over the next two years by releasing Wilson, which will be the largest dead cap hit in NFL history.
Austin Eckroat won the rain-delayed Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches on Monday. Eckroat shot finished his final round with a 67 , 17-under to finish at 267, three strokes ahead of Eric Van Rooyen and Min Woo Lee. It was his first PGA Tour victory and he takes home the first place prize of $1,620,000.
The Wisconsin Herd, NBA G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks, acquired Aleem Ford and the Cleveland Charge’s 2024 2nd-round pick from the Charge in exchange for the returning player rights to Lindell Wigginton and a 1st round pick via the Grand Rapids Gold in the 2024 NBA G League Draft.
Ford, a 6-8, 220-pound forward played three years in the NBA G League and two years internationally. The 26-year-old began his professional career with the Leones de Ponce in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional league in Puerto Rico. During the 2021-22 season, Ford joined the Lakeland Magic (now the Osceola Magic) and appeared in 43 games averaging 11.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists. On Dec.17, he signed a 10-day contract with the Orlando Magic and appeared in five games. Ford rejoined the Lakeland Magic for the remainder of the 2021-22 and the 2022-23 season before joining the Cleveland Charge for the 2023-24 season. With the Charge, he averaged 11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 36 games.
Aleem Ford played college basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Over four years with the Badgers, Ford averaged 6.6 points and 3.3 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game.
In the AP top 25 rankings, Houston is number one, followed by UCon, Purdue, Tennessee and Arizona to round out the top five. Iowa State was ranked 6th, followed by North Carolina, Marquette, Duke and Creighton.
Baylor was ranked 11th, followed by Illinois, Auburn, Kansas, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, Washington State, Gonzaga and BYU in 20th. San Diego State was ranked 21st, followed by Utah State, Saint Mary’s, South Florida and Dayton came in at number 25.
Stanford and Iowa umped up behind top-ranked South Carolina in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll as the top 10 got a shuffle on the eve of conference tournaments, and Fairfield cracked the rankings for the first time in school history.
Stanford moved back up to No. 2 after a weekend sweep of Oregon State and Oregon. Iowa knocked off then-No. 2 Ohio State on Sunday behind Caitlin Clark, who became the NCAA Division I scoring leader during the game. The Big Ten champion Buckeyes fell to fourth.
Southern California was fifth, its highest ranking since 1994 when the team was fourth. Texas dropped three spots to sixth.
UCLA, LSU and UConn were next. N.C. State moved up two places to 10th, passing ACC regular-season champion Virginia Tech, which fell six places to 11th.
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