NCAAMBB – Men’s College Basketball
Last Night
Rutgers 67, Michigan State 37
Rutgers 67, Michigan State 37 – Rutgers staggers Michigan State 67-37, 1st win over Spartans
Myles Johnson scored 13 points with 14 rebounds and five blocked shots and Rutgers staggered Michigan State 67-37, allowing the fewest points ever since joining the Big Ten and defeating the Spartans for the first time. The Spartans were coming off a 20-day pause after a series of positive COVID-19 tests among players and staff, and may have been caught flat-footed as Rutgers opened the game on a 15-0 run. It took 32 minutes before Johnson was the first player to reach double-figure scoring, eventually joined by Geo Baker with 11 points and five steals and Jacob Young with 10 points. No Michigan State player scored more than seven.
Saturday
Western Michigan at Miami (OH), 2:00 p.m.
Central Michigan at Kent State, 4:00 p.m.
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh, 8:00 p.m.
Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois, PPD
Indiana at (4) Michigan, PPD
Sunday
Michigan State at (13) Ohio State, 1:00 p.m.Superhits 103.7 Cosy-FM 12:00
NBA – National Basketball Association
Last Night
Detroit Pistons 107, Los Angeles Lakers 92
Pistons 107, Lakers 92 – With Davis out, Lakers fall to Pistons 107-92
Blake Griffin scored 23 points and the Detroit Pistons took advantage of Anthony Davis’ absence in a 107-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James had 22 points and 10 assists, but only two of those points came after halftime. The defending champions have lost back-to-back games, the first losing streak of any kind for the Lakers since before last year’s playoffs. Davis was out with a right quad contusion. Detroit led by one before Griffin’s 3-pointer with 6:54 remaining started a 16-0 run. The Lakers went nearly seven minutes without scoring.
Tonight
Indiana at Charlotte, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday
Portland at Chicago, 8:00 p.m.
Detroit at Golden State, 10:00 p.m.
Sunday
Philadelphia at Indiana, 7:00 p.m.
NHL – National Hockey League
Last Night
Dallas Stars 7, Detroit Red Wings 3
Stars 7, Red Wings 3 – Dallas Stars beat Red Wings 7-3 to improve to 4-0 on season
Joe Pavelski scored his fourth goal of the season, Jake Oettinger stopped 20 shots in his first NHL start and the Dallas Stars beat Detroit 7-3. Dallas went undefeated in its season-opening four-game homestand. Denis Gurianov had a goal and two assists while Ty Dellandrea had his first NHL goal and first assist. Those points for Dellandrea came in the final 5:08 when Dallas stretched out a one-goal lead. Seven Stars scored. The defending Western Conference champion Stars last season didn’t win until their fourth game during a 1-7-1 start.
Tonight
Columbus at Chicago, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday
Florida at Detroit, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday
Florida at Detroit, 5:00 p.m.
Columbus at Chicago, 7:00 p.m.
NHL – D Madison Bowey agrees to 2-year contract with Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks have agreed to a two-year contract with defenseman Madison Bowey. Bowey’s contract has a $725,000 salary cap hit. The first season is a two-way deal and it transitions to a one-way deal for the 2021-22 season. The 25-year-old Bowey set career highs with three goals and 14 assists in 53 games for Detroit last season.
NCAAWBB – Women’s College Basketball
Last Night
(7) Maryland 92, Michigan State 52
(7) Maryland 92, Michigan State 52 – No. 7 Maryland women hammer Michigan State 92-52
Diamond Miller and Ashley Owusu each scored 20 points and No. 7 Maryland breezed past Michigan State 92-52 to provide coach Brenda Frese her 498th victory with the Terrapins. Maryland took control with a 17-0 run in the first quarter, led by 20 at halftime and coasted to the finish. Frese moved within one win of matching the program record held by Hall of Fame coach Chris Weller, whom Frese replaced in 2002. Nia Clouden scored 15 for Michigan State. The Spartans shot 34%, were outrebounded 39-27 and committed 24 turnovers.
NFL – Lions hire Aubrey Pleasant to new coaching staff
The Detroit Lions hired Aubrey Pleasant to be the team’s pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach. The team announced the move Thursday. Pleasant joins new coach Dan Campbell’s staff. Pleasant is coming off a four-year run as cornerbacks coach for the Los Angeles Rams. He has also worked as a coaching intern with the Cleveland Browns and an assistant for Washington. Pleasant is a native of Flint and coached at Grand Blanc High School in 2010. He also worked for the University of Michigan after that.
NFL – Chicago Bears hire Chris Rumph as defensive line coach
The Chicago Bears have hired Chris Rumph as defensive line coach after he coached the Houston Texans’ outside linebackers this past season. Rumph has 20 years of coaching experience, mostly at the college level. His college coaching career includes stops at South Carolina State, Memphis, Clemson, Alabama, Texas, Florida and Tennessee. Alabama won the BCS national championship in 2011 and 2012 while Rumph was the Crimson Tide’s defensive line coach. Rumph made his NFL coaching debut with the Texans.
NFL – QB Watson requests trade as Texans hire new coach
Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson has requested a trade, according to a person familiar with the move. Watson has a no-trade clause in his four-year, $156 million contract, so he could have some control over where he might be dealt. The same source who told The AP about the trade request said Watson made the ask before David Culley was hired as head coach on Wednesday. The Texans don’t want to part with the talented 25-year-old who led the NFL in yards passing this season. Watson has been unhappy with the direction of the team for some time. Sports Illustrated reported weeks ago that Watson was upset the team didn’t initially request to interview Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy for its coaching vacancy.
NFL – Tampa’s mayor issues outdoor mask order for Super Bowl
Anyone visiting Tampa’s popular outdoor destinations for the Super Bowl will be required to wear a mask to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor signed an executive order Wednesday saying masks must be worn outside while downtown, in neighborhoods around Raymond James Stadium and in other tourist hotspots. The order says those who are not wearing a mask can be cited with a “nominal civil infraction” that carries a penalty up to a $500 fine. It will remain in place until Feb. 13 — nearly a week after the Super Bowl ends.
NCAAFB – Michigan State promotes Tillman to cornerbacks coach
Michigan State’s Travares Tillman has been promoted to cornerbacks coach. The school announced the move Thursday. Tillman joined coach Mel Tucker’s staff last season as a senior defensive assistant. Harlon Barnett will transition from cornerbacks to secondary coach. Tillman came to Michigan State with Tucker after spending one season as a defensive backs coach at Colorado in 2019. He previously was at Georgia for three seasons and worked with Tucker there as well.
MLB – RHP Kohl Stewart agrees to 1-year contract with Chicago Cubs
Right-hander Kohl Stewart has agreed to a one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs after he opted out of last season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Stewart last pitched in the majors in 2019, going 2-2 with a 6.39 ERA in nine appearances with Minnesota. The 26-year-old Stewart signed with Baltimore in December 2019, but never played for the Orioles. Stewart’s deal with Chicago is worth $700,000 while he is in the majors and $150,000 in the minors.
Golf – PGA – Reed, Noren share Farmers lead
Patrick Reed and Alex Noren share the first-round lead in the PGA’s Farmers Insurance Open. Reed and Noren each opened with 64’s that put them one ahead of Scott Scheffler. Gary Woodland, Ryan Palmer, and K.J. Choi are among 12 players at minus-6.
Tennis – Serena takes daughter to zoo before 1st match in Australia
Serena Williams was preparing to play Naomi Osaka at an Adelaide exhibition tournament but she decided that a trip to the zoo with her daughter was the first thing she wanted to do after leaving quarantine. Williams says she’s been crossing off the 14 days of COVID-19 pandemic-enforced quarantine on a calendar, having spent the time with her three-year-old daughter Olympia. In the the first day match of the exhibition tournament, top-ranked Novak Djokovic was scheduled to play emerging Italian talent Jannick Sinner.
MLS – MLS players present proposal in hopes of avoiding lockout
The Major League Soccer Players Association has proposed extending the current collective bargaining agreement with the league through the 2026 season. The proposal came Thursday as the league and the union faced a midnight deadline after MLS invoked a clause to reopen negotiation over the CBA, citing ongoing uncertainty surrounding the pandemic. The union says it hopes to avoid a lockout.
Olympics – Fans or no fans? Tokyo Olympic organizers still mum
One of the biggest unanswered questions about the Tokyo Olympics deals with fans. Will there be any from abroad? And will fans of any sort be allowed in outdoor stadiums or smaller indoor arenas? Organizing committee President Yoshiro Mori says “no spectators is one of the options.” The International Olympic Committee and Tokyo organizers will roll out their “Playbook” next week. The detailed plan about how to hold the games during a pandemic will set down strict rules for thousands of athletes arriving in Japan. The Nikkan Sports newspaper reports that organizers are expected to announce “soon” that fans from abroad will not be allowed to attend.
Olympics – Finnish Arctic town bids for 2032 Olympics in climate move
A tiny town in Finland’s Arctic Lapland region is bidding to host the 2032 Summer Olympics in a tongue-in-cheek awareness-building campaign with serious undertones to draw attention to the effects of global warming. Salla, the self-proclaimed coldest place in Lapland located just north of the Arctic Circle, launched the international “Salla 2032 Summer Games Candidate City” campaign earlier this week complete with a news conference and a promotional video on YouTube. Salla Mayor Erkki Parkkinen told Finnish media that the campaign aims to draw attention to the consequences of climate change, describing 2032 as a turning point after which Salla and other Arctic places will “cease to exist as we know them” with the melting of ice and snow amid ever-warmer winters.
MHSAA – Michigan debates lifting ban on high school contact sports
The fight over whether to allow youth contact sports to resume took center court Thursday in Lansing as Michigan lawmakers heard testimony from educators, parents and students wanting to get back to competition. Even though a ban on indoor dining ends Feb. 1, youth contact sports, including winter high school seasons in basketball, hockey, wrestling and competitive cheer, remain off-limits because of the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declined on Monday during a news conference to set a date for the sports to resume. The state Senate and House held committee meetings Thursday to allow those affected by the prohibition to testify about their desire for winter sports to resume.
