Preview Page 730 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Pacers close out calendar in clash with visiting Bucks
Coming off back-to-back games against the reigning champion Boston Celtics, the Indiana Pacers welcome in the visiting Milwaukee Bucks for an afternoon battle on New Year's Eve.,After Boston dominated the front end 142-105, Indiana bounced back and won 123-114 at TD Garden on Sunday night.,Tyrese Ha...

Celtics seek better defensive effort vs. reeling Raptors
The Toronto Raptors will attempt to end a 10-game losing streak when they visit the Boston Celtics on Tuesday afternoon.,Among Eastern Conference teams only Washington has a worse record than Toronto, which is 1-14 in road games this season. The Raptors committed a season-high 31 turnovers in Sunday...

Notre Dame looks to extend winning trend vs. Georgia Tech
Notre Dame and Georgia Tech will try to carry over momentum from nonconference blowout wins when they return to Atlantic Coast Conference competition on Tuesday in Atlanta.,Notre Dame (7-5, 1-0 ACC) is coming off a 91-62 victory over Le Moyne on Dec. 22. Georgia Tech (6-7, 0-2) routed Alabama A&M 92...

Veteran trio leads UCF into Texas Tech for Big 12 opener
UCF and host Texas Tech launch league play on Tuesday in a matchup of teams off to strong starts and looking to carve out a spot among the upper echelon in the rugged Big 12 Conference.,The Knights (9-2) play their first true road game of the season in what has become one of the league's toughest ve...

Seton Hall, Xavier both desperately seeking success
Xavier and Seton Hall are two of four winless teams in Big East Conference action. One of them will finally get a win on the board when the Pirates visit the Musketeers on Tuesday in Cincinnati.,Xavier (8-5, 0-2 Big East) has been sliding ever since opening the season 6-0. Its current three-game ski...

Utah makes Big 12 debut at No. 25 Baylor
Utah will play its first-ever Big 12 Conference game when it visits No. 25 Baylor on Tuesday in Waco, Texas.,Despite that -- and the fact the Utes (8-3) and Bears (8-3) haven't met since 1960 -- there will be a bit of familiarity between the two programs. Utah relies on two ex-Baylor athletes in poi...

Syracuse still chasing signature win as Wake Forest visits
Syracuse coach Adrian Autry has certain expectations for his players and his program, but the team has not reached that bar through the first two months of the season.,The second-year coach hopes the Orange can deliver a more complete effort Tuesday when Syracuse concludes the calendar year against ...

No. 7 Kansas opens Big 12 play against stout West Virginia
Two teams that seem to have found their stride match up Tuesday in Lawrence, Kan., as Big 12 Conference play begins for visiting West Virginia and No. 7 Kansas.,West Virginia (9-2) has won five straight games heading into conference season. The last four wins were by double digits. They've won both ...

No. 10 Kentucky looking to vent frustrations vs. Brown
Kentucky returns to the court 10 days after being thrashed by Ohio State in a beating coach Mark Pope termed "the worst ever.",The No. 10 Wildcats (10-2) will look to take out their frustrations on an Ivy League opponent when they entertain Brown (7-4) on Tuesday in Lexington, Ky.,Kentucky was sound...

Balanced NC State takes aim at Virginia's stingy defense
Things looked a lot different the last time North Carolina State and Virginia squared off.,The Wolfpack were led by a core that included DJ Horne, DJ Burns and Casey Morsell, while the Cavaliers took the court for renowned head coach Tony Bennett.,NC State prevailed in that tense Atlantic Coast Conf...

Maple Leafs host Islanders in home-and-home set
The New York Islanders will have something to prove to their coach when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday afternoon.,Islanders coach Patrick Roy criticized his team's effort in a 3-2 road loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday following a 6-3 home win over the Penguins the day before....

Capitals look to avenge last week's loss to Bruins
The Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals look to kick off New Year's Eve with a win as they meet for the second time in eight days on Tuesday afternoon in the nation's capital.,Both teams have won six of their last 10 games, with the Bruins riding a three-goal third period to a 4-1 home win over th...

Nebraska looks to stay hot vs. Southern on heels of Diamond Head Classic title
Nebraska looks to stretch its season-long winning streak to five games when it hosts Southern on Monday night in Lincoln.,The streak began after Michigan State crushed the Cornhuskers 89-52 in Nebraska's Big Ten opener on Dec. 7.,Nebraska started the winning streak with an 85-68 home victory over In...

Kings hope to find answers in meeting with Mavs
The Sacramento Kings look to halt a season-worst six-game losing streak when they host the short-handed Dallas Mavericks on Monday night.,The first five losses of the skid were under Mike Brown, who was fired on Friday in an unconventional manner. Assistant Doug Christie was named interim coach and ...

Vanderbilt faces lowly New Orleans in final tuneup for SEC
Vanderbilt aims to conclude its nonconference schedule with a sixth straight win when it hosts New Orleans on Monday in Nashville, Tenn.,Since losing to Drake 81-70 in the Charleston Classic title game on Nov. 24, the Commodores (11-1) have jumped to 37th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking. T...

Missouri aims to cap perfect nonconference home slate vs. Alabama State
Missouri will try to finish its nonconference home schedule unbeaten when it hosts Alabama State on Monday night in Columbia, Mo.,The Tigers (10-2) have won all 10 games on their home court so far, with their only losses coming at Memphis, 83-75, in the season opener and against Illinois, 80-77, in ...

Contrast of styles as Arizona, TCU square off in Big 12 opener
Arizona and TCU go into Monday's Big 12 opener at Tucson, Ariz., with the Wildcats looking to score at a fast pace and the Horned Frogs wanting to shut them down after allowing only one opponent to reach 80 points through their first 11 games.,In that game -- an 83-74 loss to Vanderbilt in Fort Wort...

Century-old series resumes as South Carolina hosts Presbyterian
South Carolina has won six straight games, and one of the catalysts has been the improved free-throw shooting of Nick Pringle.,When South Carolina (9-3) faces Presbyterian (7-7) in the final nonconference game for both teams on Monday in Columbia, S.C., the Gamecocks won't have to hold their breath ...

76ers look for season-best 4th straight win vs. Blazers
The Philadelphia 76ers will continue a Western Conference swing with a meeting with the host Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night as they attempt to keep finding their form. ,After a slow start to the campaign, the Sixers are on a season-best three-game winning streak that includes a 114-111 victo...

Kenny Atkinson's hot-shooting Cavs take on middling Warriors
Former Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson returns to San Francisco on Monday, leading the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers, owners of the NBA's best record, into a showdown with the host Warriors.,Atkinson, in his first season at the helm for Cleveland, spent three seasons working alongside Golden Sta...