Sports News-December 20, 2012
ESPN Radio now at 105.9 WJAG-FM & 780 WJAG-AM Mon-Fri at 5:00 PM; Sat & Sun at 4:00!
With one quarterback change, the New York Jets may have affected the future of two quarterbacks in Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow. The Jets will explore all options with Sanchez, including a trade, and the team plans to part ways with Tebow after the season, according to ESPN. It would be difficult to trade Sanchez because of an $8.25 million guarantee in 2013 in his contract. However, the Jets, who benched Sanchez this week in favor of the unproven Greg McElroy, are taking an open-minded approach and may be willing to start over at quarterback. Meanwhile, a clearly miffed Tebow, no longer masking his season-long frustration, left no doubt he's unhappy with his role. He will seek to play elsewhere next season, and the Jets appear willing to accommodate his wishes.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were responsible for 68% of Oklahoma's points last night, sending the Thunder to their twelfth straight win. Durant poured in a season-high 41 points on 14-23 shooting and had 13 rebounds as the Thunder topped the Hawks 100-92 in Atlanta. Westbrook added 27 points and eleven rebounds while helping the Thunder improve to a NBA's best 21-4. The winning streak matches the longest for the franchise since 1996, when it had a 14-game winning streak as the Seattle SuperSonics.
The Los Angeles Clippers ran their winning streak to a franchise record-tying eleven games with an easy win over New Orleans, which dropped its ninth in a row. The Clippers are 19-6 after Blake Griffin scored 18 points and Jamal Crawford added 17 in a 93-77 win over the Hornets. Chris Paul had twelve assists to surpass 5,000 for his career as the Clippers matched the club-record winning streak set by the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves.
Avery Dingman's played the best game of his career in 17th ranked Creighton's 71-54 victory over Tulsa last night. He set personal highs with 21 points, five three-pointers, three steals and 23 minutes. Teammate Gregory Echenique added 15 points and eight rebounds. Doug McDermott overcame a slow start to score 16 points as the Bluejays improved to 11-1 winning their fifth game in a row. The Golden Hurricanes drop to 6-5 after committing 25 turnovers and shooting only 38% from the field. Heavy snow in eastern Nebraska held the crowd to about 6,000 of the 15,100 that paid.
Josh Jones of the Creighton men’s basketball team has been released from an Omaha hospital after undergoing a nine-hour surgery to correct the problem that caused his heart rate to accelerate before a game two weeks ago. A surgeon Tuesday threaded wires into Jones' heart, using radio frequency energy to locate and fix the cause of the atrial flutter that caused Jones to faint before a Dec. 6 game at Nebraska. Jones will have another operation in January to see if the first one worked. Jones was released from the hospital about 12:00 yesterday, and Coach Greg McDermott said the player was in good spirits. Jones will have a follow-up exam today. Jones had an infected heart valve in high school. It hasn't been decided when or if he'll play basketball again.
The Husker volleyball team landed a big transfer. Tennessee's Kelsey Robinson announced she would transfer to Nebraska this offseason according to the Lincoln Journal Star. The 6’2 outside hitter has spent the past three seasons with the Volunteers and instantly injects experienced talent into a program that lost six of 14 players after the 2012 season came to a close. The Huskers graduated five seniors, and libero Lara Dykstra informed Head coach John Cook of her decision to transfer to a school that has a beach volleyball program. The six scholarship freshmen expected to join the team next season should help, and now Nebraska has added a player in Robinson who has the potential to make a significant impact. Not only does Robinson give the Huskers another veteran to a team that would have had only two seniors and no juniors, she plays a position where Nebraska loses All-Americans Gina Mancuso and Hannah Werth. Robinson plans to enroll at UNL in January, and would be eligible to play next season with one year of eligibility remaining. A three-year starter at Tennessee, Robinson comes to Lincoln with an impressive resume as she was the SEC player of the year in 2011 as a sophomore.
Nebraska offensive coordinator Tim Beck is worried. The Cornhuskers lost by 39 points to Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game. Beck says if they don't get over it, "it's going to get ugly" when they play Georgia in the Capital One Bowl. The BCS 16th ranked Huskers are ten-point underdogs against the Bulldogs. The challenge for Nebraska coach Bo Pelini and his assistants between now and Jan. 1 is to make sure the players have moved on from the 70-31 pounding by Wisconsin. The 10-3 Huskers are preparing in earnest for 11-2 seventh ranked Georgia after having short workouts last week. The players will be dismissed for Christmas on Thursday. They'll return to Lincoln next Wednesday and travel that afternoon to Orlando, Fla.
The Wayne State athletic department has announced that the January 1st home men’s basketball game between Wayne State and Grace University has been moved up one day to December 31st and will now be played at 1:30 at Rice Auditorium. The game will now be part of a doubleheader on New Year’s Eve afternoon at Rice Auditorium as the Wildcat women will play host to Chadron State in a 4:00 contest on December 31st. The Junior Cats Youth Basketball Clinic scheduled for January 1st from 9:00-11:30 A.M. will go on as scheduled in Rice Auditorium for boys and girls in grades K-6.
Local Schedule: Osmond at LHNE (WR Dual-7:00); Oral Roberts at Nebraska (WBB-7:05).
Friday Night: The Lutheran High Northeast girls & boys basketball teams are on the road at Homer for a doubleheader starting with the girls game at 6:15. Pregame coverage at approximately 5:55 on 106 KIX & 106KIX.com.
Saturday Morning: Sportstalk on 106 KIX & 106KIX.com from 9:00-10:00 AM from Hy-Vee East. Get the lowdown with the coaches.
Local Scores: (17) Creighton 71 Tulsa 54 (MBB); NECC at Iowa Central CC (MBB-Ppd. To Jan 13-1:00).
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final New York 100 Brooklyn 86
Final Toronto 97 Detroit 91
Final Indiana 104 Utah 84
Final Orlando 90 Washington 83
Final Boston 103 Cleveland 91
Final Oklahoma City 100 Atlanta 92
Final Houston 125 Philadelphia 103
Final Phoenix 121 Charlotte 104
Final Memphis 90 Milwaukee 80
Final Sacramento 131 Golden State 127
Final L-A Clippers 93 New Orleans 77
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final ( 1) Duke 88 Cornell 47
Final ( 5) Louisville 79 FIU 55
Final ( 6) Indiana 93 Mount St. Mary's 54
Final ( 8) Florida 82 SE Louisiana 43
Final (11) Cincinnati 60 Xavier 45
Final (14) Gonzaga 74 Campbell 52
Final (16) New Mexico 68 New Mexico St. 63
Final (17) Creighton 71 Tulsa 54
Final (21) UNLV 73 N. Iowa 59
Final (22) Notre Dame 85 Kennesaw St. 57
Final Texas 85 (23) North Carolina 67
Final (24) Oklahoma St. 69 Texas-Arlington 44
TOP-25 WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final ( 1) Stanford 53 (21) South Carolina 49
Final ( 2) UConn 97 Oakland 25
Final ( 5) Notre Dame 100 Alabama A&M 39
Final ( 6) Georgia 72 TCU 59
Final (17) North Carolina 76 East Carolina 67
Final (22) Texas A&M 83 Kansas St. 60
Final (23) Florida St. 94 Mercer 42
On Air
Weekend Programming
12am - 12pm
2pm - 12am
Star Athlete of the Week
Tyler Pflueger
of the Lutheran High Northeast Wrestling Team
Sponsored by Spracklen Physical Therapy of Norfolk