Keaton Wagler made a program-record nine 3s and erupted for 46 points, double his previous single-game high and the most ever by an Illinois freshman, while leading the No. 11 Fighting Illini to an 88-82 victory over No. 4 Purdue on Saturday.
A quartet of 3s, bookended by big man Zvonimir Ivisic, helped the Fighting Illini tip the scale in the final minutes on the road.
Illinois (17-3, 8-1 Big Ten) made 18-of-38 attempts from deep, or 47.4%. The Fighting Illini were down by as many as 11 points in the first half and were without third-leading scorer Kylan Boswell — the senior is currently sidelined with a hand injury — but they’ve now won nine games in a row. Purdue (17-3, 7-2) had a streak of that kind before this week.
The Boilermakers have since dropped back-to-back games: first a nail-biter at UCLA on Tuesday and then a back-and-forth heavyweight match with Illinois on Saturday.
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Senior point guard Braden Smith stepped up with a team-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting to go along with 12 assists. After Illinois’ barrage of triples, Smith drilled a 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining to pull Purdue within two.
Wagler, though, answered by floating in a shot that restored the Illini’s two-possession lead. While Smith used a crossover to set up a 3 that drew an Andrej Stojakovic foul, he made only two of the three ensuing free throws.
That invited Illinois to ice the game at the line, starting with Wagler, who capped his prolific performance with a pair of makes at the charity stripe.
Just a three-star recruit and the No. 179 overall prospect in the 2025 class, according to Rivals, Wagler has already earned three Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
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Another is likely on its way to Champaign, Illinois.
The Shawnee, Kansas, native wasn’t the only freshman to go off Saturday. In fact, per CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, for the first time since March 6, 1997, two freshmen scored 40-plus points on the same day.
In addition to Wagler, Kingston Flemings accomplished the feat for No. 6 Houston, piling up 42 points in a 90-86 loss at No. 12 Texas Tech.
Novak Djokovic came a few inches from repeating some unfortunate Grand Slam history at the Australian Open.
Facing the unseeded Botic van de Zandschulp on Saturday, Djokovic won a point in the second set when his opponent left the ball long in a rally. The 10-time Australian Open champion was still frustrated enough to smash the ball to the side.
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Replay showed he came with in inches of striking a ball girl crouching by the net.
“I apologize for that. That was not necessary, in the heat of the moment. Yeah, I was lucky there and I’m sorry for causing any distress to the ball kid or anybody.”
“Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball within the precincts of the tournament site except in the reasonable pursuit of a point during a match (including warm-up). Violation of this Section shall subject a player to fine up to $50,000 for each violation. In addition, if such violation occurs during a match (including the warm-up) the player shall be penalised in accordance with the Point Penalty Schedule (where a player receives a warning, then a point penalty, then a game penalty).
“The Referee in consultation with the Grand Slam Supervisor may declare a default for either a single violation of this Code or pursuant to the Point Penalty Schedule.
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Because he avoided a default, Djokovic was able to keep playing and notch an unprecedented 400th career win in a Grand Slam. Roger Federer has the next-most at 369 and only eight men (Djokovic, Federer, Rafael Nadal, Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras, Andy Murray) have notched even 200.
Djokovic advanced to face No. 16 seed Jakub Menšík in the fourth round. Should he win there, he will face either No. 5 Lorenzo Musetti or No. 9 Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinal, with No. 2 seed and BetMGM tournament favorite Jannik Sinner on track for his side of the semifinals.
Over 200 of the world’s best drivers have assembled at the Daytona International Speedway this weekend for the 24-hour endurance race known as the Rolex 24. The 64th annual iteration of the Rolex 24 will run on Saturday, Jan. 24, and Sunday, Jan. 25, and you can watch the whole thing live, complete with 24 hours of rotating commentators offering play-by-play analysis.
Comprehensive coverage of all 24 hours of this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway will be streaming on Peacock, and you can catch the first hour on Saturday and the last two hours on Sunday on NBC. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the 2026 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
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How to watch the 2026 Rolex 24 at Daytona:
Dates: Jan. 24-25
Time (on NBC): 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. ET (Saturday) and 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. (Sunday)
Time (on Peacock): 1:30 p.m. Saturday through 2 p.m. Sunday
The 64th Rolex 24 at Daytona race is a 24-hour race; NBC will be providing coverage of the start and finish of the race, with broadcasts from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday and 12 – 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. Peacock will be streaming flag-to-flag coverage of the entire 24-hour race starting at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
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Where to stream the Rolex 24 at Daytona:
Coverage of the first hour and final two hours of the Rolex 24 at Daytona race can be streamed on NBC with a subscription to platforms like DirecTV, or you can watch the entire 24-hour race on Peacock. Peacock will also be streaming the the Michelin Pilot Challenge Race on Friday, live from Daytona.
For $17 monthly you can upgrade to an ad-free subscription which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline.
Rolex 24 at Daytona weekend TV schedule:
All times Eastern
January 23: BMW M Endurance Michelin Pilot Challenge, 1:45 p.m. (Peacock)
January 24: Rolex 24 At Daytona, 1:30 p.m. (NBC, Peacock)
January 24-25: Rolex 24 At Daytona, 2:30 p.m.-12 p.m. (Sunday) (Peacock)
January 25: Rolex 24 At Daytona, 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. (NBC, Peacock)
Who is competing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona?
In all, more than 200 drivers are expected to compete at this year’s Rolex 24 race. Among the drivers you can expect to see this year are: reigning Indianapolis 500 winner and four-time INDYCAR champion Alex Palou, NASCAR Cup Series drivers A.J. Allmendinger and Connor Zilisch, two-time Rolex 24 winner Felipe Nasr, and Marcus Ericsson, Kyle Kirkwood, Scott Dixon and Tom Blomqvist. Here’s a look at who’s competing.
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Other ways to watch the Rolex 24 without cable this year:
Heading into Week 18, Aaron Rodgers was nothing if not pragmatically optimistic.
The days on his Pittsburgh Steelers contract were dwindling. The future of head coach Mike Tomlin was a subject of public debate. And the franchise he quarterbacked was cornered into a de facto playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens in the regular-season finale. Any direction you looked, there was something finite hanging in the balance. But in what registered as at least a mild surprise, Rodgers spoke to reporters like a man who didn’t see a definitive near-term conclusion to his football career … so long as he didn’t want it to end.
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“I’m thinking about this week, but obviously I’m 42 years old and I’m on a one-year deal, so you know what the situation is,” Rodgers told reporters. “Whenever the season ends, I’ll be a free agent. So that’ll give me a lot of options if I still want to play.”
Rodgers gave a slight shrug and chuckled.
“Not alot of options, but — there will be options I would think. Maybe one or two if I decide I still want to play.”
He then punctuated the thought by opening the door to a return.
“I’ve enjoyed this experience,” Rodgers said. “Everybody in Pittsburgh has been fantastic to me on and off the field. It’s really what I was hoping for, for this experience. It’s been even better than I was hoping.”
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A few days later, the Steelers would beat the Ravens and make the postseason, before getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs against the Houston Texans. All in all, it culminated in a season that felt like Rodgers, Tomlin and the Steelers squeezed about as much as they could have expected.
Then Tomlin left, via a resignation that felt like a surprise to ownership. And maybe to Rodgers, too, given that any thought of his return seemed so strongly bound to whether Tomlin would continue to guide Pittsburgh. When that changed, logical speculation — and that’s all we’ve been left with thus far on the Rodgers front — was that a new head coach would mean a new quarterback. Whatever options were on the table for Rodgers, they appeared to have shrunk by one.
Then came Saturday, when the Steelers went against their historical hiring template and locked in 62-year-old Mike McCarthy, a candidate who can fit more than one forward-looking ideology. On one hand, McCarthy is a seasoned veteran coach who can come in and try to energize an aging roster that is still very much built to win now. On the other, he could be tasked with developing the franchise’s next young quarterback. Without a bridge starter currently on the roster, it will be difficult for McCarthy to achieve both of those responsibilities.
Aaron Rodgers said he’s enjoyed his time in Pittsburgh, but would a potential reunion with coach Mike McCarthy entice him to return in 2026? (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
(Perry Knotts via Getty Images)
Unless, of course, McCarthy can find a veteran who knows his system and can come in and help with both tasks. Maybe a quarterback who McCarthy previously helped develop into a star? One who already has spent a season in the Pittsburgh quarterback room with 24-year-old Will Howard, who showed promise in limited reps during his rookie preseason and has the support of the front office as a prospect worth some continued development?
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That sounds like a fit for Rodgers. And perhaps the renewal of a 2026 option that appeared to be extinguished when Tomlin resigned.
Of course, that doesn’t mean McCarthy was hired with any kind of specificity of luring Rodgers back for another season. While some of Pittsburgh’s players gave Rodgers high marks as a teammate in their exit interviews, the work to find the next long-term starting option is clearly near the top of the priorities for ownership and general manager Omar Khan. And that wouldn’t have changed even if Tomlin had remained. One way or another, 2026 was always going to be geared toward either figuring out if the next young quarterback is already on the roster (in the form of Howard) or if the Steelers liked any of their draft, trade or free-agency options.
McCarthy’s arrival won’t change that mindset. The real factors of change at the quarterback spot will instead be pressed against the options Pittsburgh has available. If McCarthy is a head coach Rodgers will play for, it gives Pittsburgh at least one more year of a bridge starter to either weigh Howard as a prospect, or find someone in the 2026 draft who is worthy of being selected and then groomed. And there’s certainly some deep-value intrigue over the coming draft class of quarterbacks.
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The Steelers won’t have a shot at Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and their first-round draft pick at No. 21 overall might not be high enough to land Alabama’s Ty Simpson, either. But after that tandem, there are some interesting quarterbacks who could be seen as worthwhile projects with upside. Mississippi’s Trinidad Chambliss (if he can’t force another year of NCAA eligibility) will draw a significant amount of study from NFL teams. As will a quartet of others who were previously considered to be first-round picks — and potentially very high first-round picks — until hitting stumbles in their final seasons: LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Miami’s Carson Beck, Penn State’s Drew Allar and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, among others.
For now — and we’ve yet to go through the draft-sifting process, so take this with a grain of salt — only Mendoza cuts the figure as a Day 1 rookie starter. Simpson could round into that kind of prospect, or one who has a shot to earn a starting job during his rookie season. The rest? Most personnel opinions appear to be placing them on a developmental track to possibly get a shot with a year or more of work from further down the depth chart.
If any of those players are in the Steelers’ future, McCarthy’s hiring makes a lot of sense given his history with helping quarterbacks grow into starters. And it also makes sense that Rodgers would be a fit, so long as he continues to be in a year-to-year contract mindset and actually wants to play for McCarthy again.
In that latter vein, both McCarthy and Rodgers have said very nice things about each other in the least few years, each gaining the perspective of working with new people and in new places. Those familiar with the pair have told Yahoo Sports in recent months that the rekindled admiration is real, with both having come to terms with their own mistakes and frustrations that ultimately played a part in McCarthy getting fired late in the 2018 season after coaching the Green Bay Packers for nearly 13 years.
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But burying the hatchet in the NFL guarantees nothing. Even if Rodgers wants to play again and McCarthy would like to have him in 2026, the veteran quarterback doesn’t know what the rest of the league landscape will look like in even a few weeks. There’s a chance the Los Angeles Rams win a Super Bowl and Matthew Stafford decides to pull a John Elway and retire. Should that happen, the Rams will still be very much in the middle of a Super Bowl window and not have an obvious starting quarterback on the roster. And then there is the Minnesota Vikings, a team Rodgers was very interested in playing for last offseason. They are looking for someone to come in and compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting job next season.
Add the Steelers to that mix, and you have exactly what Rodgers was talking about when he focused his gaze on 2026. Not a lot of options — but certainly some interesting ones.
When people talk about how the 2026 NBA Draft class is shaping up to be something more than special, this is the kind of stuff they’re talking about.
Saturday saw three different freshman finish with more than 40 points: No. 13 BYU’s AJ Dybantsa with 43 against Utah; No. 6 Houston’s Kingston Flemings with 42 points against No. 12 Texas Tech; and No. 11 Illinois’ Keaton Wagler with 46 against No. 4 Purdue. All three performances set a new freshman scoring record for their program.
It’s a day that could very well be unprecedented. Per ESPN, it’s the first time in at least 20 years that three freshmen each scored 40 points or more on the same day.
Oh, and No. 5 Duke’s Cameron Boozer posted 32 points and No. 20 Arkansas’ Darius Acuff posted 31. So that’s also five freshmen with at least 30 points on Saturday.
Each of the five above players have been projected by various outlets as lottery picks for the 2026 NBA Draft, with Dybantsa and Boozer standing out as potential candidates for the first overall pick. Their main competition, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, was out with an ankle injury Saturday.
A.J. Dybantsa has been as advertised this season, as has one of the most loaded freshman classes in the history of basketball. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
There are plenty more star freshman prospects in college basketball this season, including No. 22 UNC’s Caleb Wilson, who posted a ho-hum 20 points in a win over No. 14 Virginia.
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It’s becoming quite clear that even with a lottery preventing any team from guaranteeing itself a top-four pick, being at the top of the odds could still offer a franchise-changing result. For example, the Washington Wizards, owners of the NBA’s worst record at 10-34, currently have a 14% chance to pick first, 13.4% for second, 12.7% for third, 12% for fourth and 47.9% for fifth, and can’t pick lower than that.
That gives them better than 50% odds for one of Dybantsa, Boozer, Peterson or Wilson, with plenty of fallback options at fifth.
Craig Kimbrel, a reliever with an all-time résumé, is joining the New York Mets after a rough couple of years.
The 16-year veteran has agreed to a minor league deal (with a spring training invite) with the Mets, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. If he makes an appearance with the team during the regular season, it will be the 10th MLB team he suits up for.
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Kimbrel has a career 2.58 ERA and is fifth on the all-time saves list with 440 (second among active players, behind Kenley Jansen’s 276). It’s been years since his prime, though, and the past couple seasons have been particularly turbulent.
He posted a brutal 5.33 ERA for the Baltimore Orioles in 2024, then began 2025 with a return to the Atlanta Braves. He was designated for assignment in June, after 18 minor-league appearances and one inning with the the big-league club. He landed days later with the Texas Rangers and made 24 Triple-A appearances, but was released in August without an MLB promotion.
Craig Kimbrel has a new team. Again. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
(Tim Warner via Getty Images)
Kimbrel then joined the Houston Astros, who were desperate for bullpen help and ultimately used him in 13 games, but missed the playoffs. A 12-inning season with a 2.25 ERA doesn’t sound too bad on the surface, but MLB collectively made it clear that Kimbrel isn’t valued anywhere near what he once was. He has played for seven different teams in the past five seasons, not counting the Rangers.
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Now, he can potentially join a Mets bullpen currently going through an overhaul. The club lost All-Star closer Edwin Díaz to the Los Angeles Dodgers in free agency, but responded by signing Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to deals totaling $71 million.
It’s been an active offseason for New York beyond that, with additional free-agent deals for infielders Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco and trades for starting pitcher Freddy Peralta, second baseman Marcus Semien and outfielder Luis Robert Jr.
With those additions, the Mets will be looking for their first NL East title since 2015. BetMGM currently has them as division favorites at +175, just ahead of the reigning division champ Philadelphia Phillies at +180. Overall, they have the fourth-best World Series odds at +1300, behind the Dodgers (+225), New York Yankees (+1000) and Seattle Mariners (+1200).
LeBron James finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists on 8-for-16 shooting on a relatively quiet night for the future Hall of Famer. Rui Hachimura finished with 17 points off the bench, including a number of key late fourth-quarter buckets. Starters Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart combined for 26 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.
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“Everybody had a great game,” Dončić said about the team’s 26 assists on 40 made field goals. “The ball was shared.”
Coming into Saturday night, though, the biggest talking point was the return of Dončić to the place he called home for seven seasons. There were no tears from Dončić this time, nor was there a tribute video or standing ovation from the American Airlines Center crowd, but Dončić’s importance to that arena, the Mavericks and city of Dallas as a whole will never be diminished.
“The significance of this will probably be there for the rest of his career,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick told reporters before the game. “This is where it started for him, made his first Finals appearance, where he was drafted.”
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“It’s always going to be emotional,” Dončić added. “I really appreciate how they cheered for me when I was introduced and that is always going to be a special place for me. I was here for seven years.”
After a slow start which saw the Lakers miss seven of their first 10 shots, with minimal ball movement against a Mavericks defense intent on slowing Dončić down, the Slovenian superstar responded aggressively to Dallas’ array of coverages, scoring 12 points and guiding Los Angeles to a nine-point lead after the opening frame.
Los Angeles opted for a 2-3 zone against a Dallas team ranked in the bottom five in every 3-point shooting category, aiming to keep its opponent closer to the rim to prevent downhill drives. The Mavericks, despite their shooting troubles, opened the second half on a furious 16-0 run to take the lead — and stretched it to 15 at one point — but could not hold on, with the Lakers roaring back in the fourth on a 25-5 run.
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Los Angeles avoided a two-game skid on the third stop of its eight-game road trip, and will travel to Chicago next.
“The intent to play the right way was there throughout the game,” Redick said. “Some errors, I would say, but basketball is an imperfect game and there will be errors. Our team stayed with our intent to play the right way.”
Max Christie led a balanced Dallas scoring attack with 24 points, with Cooper Flagg, Naji Marshall and Brandon Williams also finishing in double-digits. But in the end it was Luka’s night.
“I always want to win no matter what,” Dončić said. “But this one obviously is a little different.”
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The Lakers, who have been battling inconsistency and injuries lately, are desperately seeking some rhythm. Since a Jan. 6 win over the Pelicans, Los Angeles has lost six out of its last 10 games, ranking just 18th in offensive efficiency and 22nd in defensive efficiency, according to Cleaning the Glass. It is also without star guard Austin Reaves, who has been out since late December with a left calf strain. In his absence, the Lakers have turned to veteran guard Smart — in addition to the insertion of sharpshooter LaRavia into the starting lineup. Reaves is expected to rejoin the team over the next 10 days, according to Redick.
For Dončić, who has essentially shouldered the entire Lakers offense, the anticipated return of Reaves will be met with open arms. Dončić, who currently leads the NBA in scoring with 33.4 points per game, is also leading the team in assists (8.7) and is second in rebounds (7.8). According to Stathead, there have been only four players in NBA history who have averaged at least 30 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds in a season: Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, Russell Westbrook and Dončić. Despite Los Angeles’ recent struggles, the team is still a top-10 halfcourt offense and is 5.4 points per 100 possessions better with Dončić on the floor.
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Even with the win, the Lakers’ need for reinforcements is becoming clearer by the day with the trade deadline less than two weeks away, especially if Los Angeles wants to remain competitive in the Western Conference. The Lakers (27-17) are now tied in the win column with the Houston Rockets, who sit in fourth place. The team could benefit from an upgrade on the wings, adding size and two-way ability to a team lacking quality depth right now.
Ohio State is expected to hire Arthur Smith as its next offensive coordinator, according to multiplereports Saturday, meaning that the Buckeyes are poised to have former NFL head coaches coordinating their offense and defense in 2026.
Smith, who received NFL head-coaching and OC interest this cycle, spent the past two seasons as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ OC and the three seasons before that as the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach.
At Ohio State, Smith will replace Brian Hartline and inherit a star-studded Buckeyes offense that features a Heisman finalist at quarterback in Julian Sayin and an All-American at receiver in Jeremiah Smith.
Ryan Day is going back to the NFL well, which brought him defensive coordinator Matt Patricia last offseason. Initially, that hire was scrutinized heavily. But Patricia, who won three Super Bowls as a New England Patriots assistant before his failed Detroit Lions head-coaching stint, made the most of a talent-laden Buckeyes defense that allowed a mere 9.3 points per game this season, the fewest of any FBS team.
In his first season as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia’s unit allowed the fewest points per game of any FBS team. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Patricia hadn’t worked in college football since 2003, when he was a graduate assistant at Syracuse. Similarly, Smith hasn’t had a non-NFL job since 2010. At the time, he was a defensive intern/administrative assistant at Ole Miss, where he primarily worked with the team’s linebackers.
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The following year, Smith began his long climb up the Tennessee Titans’ coaching ladder. He stuck with the Titans from 2011-20, starting as a defensive quality control coach and eventually coordinating the Titans’ offense during the 2019-20 campaigns. Smith got the most out of quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who threw a career-high 33 touchdowns against just seven interceptions in 2020. That season, running back Derrick Henry rushed for 2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns, as the Titans averaged the fourth-most points per game (30.7) and the second-most rushing yards (168.1) in the NFL.
While Smith led the Falcons from 2021-23, though, they never had a top-10 offense. And they didn’t come close in Smith’s first or third seasons at the helm. Atlanta went 7-10 each year he was head coach.
Tomlin hired Smith ahead of the 2024 season. The bar was low when Smith took over the Steelers’ offense, and he raised it for two seasons while the franchise’s revolving door at quarterback continued to swing, with the trio of Justin Fields, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers starting all but one game.
Pittsburgh ranked 11th in the NFL with 127.4 rushing yards per game last season. This time around, however, the Steelers dropped to 26th with 103.3 yards per game on the ground. That said, they found something with Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell down the stretch, averaging 149 rushing yards per game over the final four regular-season games, as they took the AFC North crown and returned to the postseason.
But Smith has been criticized over the years for not prioritizing specific playmakers on his teams. There were moments in Falcons games when running back Bijan Robinson was inexplicably absent. And during this Steelers season, tight end Pat Freiermuth’s limited targets became a talking point.
Smith will have plenty of offensive weapons at his disposal in Columbus. He’ll have to press the right buttons at the right moments, although that’s much easier said than done.
Kevin Huerter’s 3-pointer with one second remaining gave the Chicago Bulls a 114-111 win over the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.
The Bulls earned their win over the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference on a night where a celebration was already scheduled with the retirement of Derrick Rose’s jersey at Chicago’s United Center.
Outscoring the Bulls 30-22 in the second quarter, the Celtics took a 58-52 lead at halftime. However, Chicago rallied to go on top 73-72 on an Isaac Okoro layup midway through the third quarter. Boston briefly regained the lead on an Anfernee Simons 3-pointer, but the Bulls then went on a 16-8 run to close out the frame.
Chicago maintained its lead through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter until the Celtics went back on top 100-99 on a layup by Jordan Walsh. The two teams then traded the lead on 3s from Boston’s Derrick White and the Bulls’ Patrick Williams before Chicago again built a four-point margin with 5:29 remaining in regulation.
Both teams had difficulty generating offense during the next five minutes, but Jaylen Brown broke through for two baskets in a two-minute stretch to tie the score at 111-111 with 14.2 seconds left in the game.
Out of a timeout, the Bulls worked the ball around the left side of the arc from Josh Giddey to Coby White, who then passed to Huerter in the corner for the game-winner. The Celtics could not get a shot in the final second of the game.
Chicago is on the fringes of playoff contention, tied for the No. 8 seed in the East at 23-22. The Bulls have won four consecutive games and six of their past eight. Boston (28-17) lost the second end of back-to-back games after defeating the Brooklyn Nets in double overtime on Friday night.
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Derrick Rose’s stellar Bulls career honored
Rose’s retirement ceremony was highlighted by a video message from Michael Jordan. The 15-year NBA veteran joined Jordan as one of the five players to have their number retired in franchise history.
The others to have their jersey raised to the rafters are Scottie Pippen, Jerry Sloan and Bob Love. Celtics legend and Hall of Famer Bill Russell also had his No. 6 retired across the NBA.
A Chicago native, Rose was the No. 1 overall pick by the Bulls in the 2008 NBA Draft and played seven years for the organization. He won Rookie of the Year honors and was named MVP for the 2010-11 season, just his third in the league. The Bulls went 62-20 that season, tied for the third-best record in team history and the only Bulls club to win 60 games without Jordan.
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At 22, Rose is the youngest player to ever win MVP. Only 15 other players have won Rookie of the Year and MVP honors during their NBA careers.
Jay Vine overcame an Australian problem to win Australia’s biggest cycling race.
With about 96 kilometers to go in the final stage of the Tour Down Under, the Australian cyclist and his teammate Mikkel Bjerg crashed into a kangaroo that had run into the peloton, an incident that also took out three other riders. Vine was able to continue racing, but Bjerg had to retire.
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The crash left Vine behind the pack and forced him to catch up after exchanging bikes with teammate Ivo Oliveira. Vine worked his way back into position to notch his second Tour Down Under title.
Here’s how it all played out:
Vine recapped the crash in his post-race interview:
“Everyone asks me ‘What’s the most dangerous thing in Australia?’ and I always tell them it’s kangaroos, because they wait and they hide in the bushes until you can’t stop, and then they jump out in front of you. Point proven today.
“Two of them blasted through the peloton as we were probably doing 50km an hour. One of them stopped and went left, right, left, right, left, right and I ended up hitting its backside as it was a flailing around on the ground. It’s one of those things, bad luck, but luckily I’m OK.”
Vine entered the final stage with a significant lead of 1:03, but it had already been a tough race for his UAE Team Emirates team. The seven-man team lost two riders, Jhonatan Narváez and Vegard Stake Laengen, to separate crashes in the previous stage.
UAE announced Saturday that Narváez had been hospitalized with several stable thoracic vertebrae compression fractures, while Laengen had also been taken to the hospital with a suspected rib injury. Narváez would have entered the final stage in second place if healthy.
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That left UAE with only five cyclists for the stage, and that number was down to three by the end with Bjerg felled by the kangaroo and Juan Sebastián Molano also having to pull out.
Vine was relieved those bad breaks didn’t prevent the win:
“This year, we started off really positive and we just had more and more bad luck as the race went on. Today was never going to be easy and I’ve been saying all week it’s not over until it’s over, but geez it’s definitely proven to be never over until its over in this race for us.”
Meanwhile, FloBikes reports the kangaroo appeared to be OK, though it seemed shaken up and frightened as the cyclists attempted to pass it.
