New York Post - USA (2020-12-01)

New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020

nypost.com

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TOP PLAY

By GreG Peterson

Year in and year out, Kentucky brings in

talented freshman, but a lot of coach John

Calipari’s best teams have had a few

returning pieces. That’s not the case for this

unit as it tries to bounce back from Sunday’s

loss to Richmond in a hookup with Kansas

on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Kansas already has a loss this season, but

that came to the top-ranked team in the

country, Gonzaga, and the Jayhawks offense

is averaging 92 points per game. After

making 44.4 percent of his 3-point shots last

season, sophomore Christian Braun has

been even better in a larger role,

accumulating 38 points while making seven

of his 11 3-point shots thus far.

That’s almost double the 3-point shots

that Kentucky’s entire team has made this

season as the Wildcats have gone 6-for-26,

including 0–for-10 vs. Richmond. Kentucky

will look to control things on the boards to

make up for its outside shooting shortfalls.

Isaiah Jackson has provided a lot of

cleanup on the glass in his first two career

college games with nine rebounds per

game, while Wake Forest transfer Oliver

Sarr has chipped in 12.5 points and seven

rebounds per game with the pair

combining for 3.5 blocks per game.

Kentucky’s backcourt issues also extend

to taking care of the ball with the team

averaging 18 turnovers per game. With the

Kansas trio of Ochai Agbaji, Marcus

Garrett and Braun combining for 5.5 steals

per game, it should lead to fast-break

opportunities for the Jayhawks.

While Kentucky’s freshmen get so much

hype, Kansas’ five-star recruit Bryce

Thompson has given the team 9.5 ppg.

While that’s not quite Brandon Boston of

Kentucky’s team-best 17.5 points and 8.5

rebounds per game, the experience that

surrounds Thompson will be the difference

in Kansas pulling out the win and cover.

THE PLAY: Kansas, -4.

Greg Peterson handicaps college

basketball for VSiN.com, The Sports Betting

Network.

After upset loss, Kentucky

is looking at losing streak

TOP PLAY

HOOPS: ’Zags, Baylor stay on top

The first AP men’s college basketball

poll of the regular season remained steady

at the top. Gonzaga and Baylor remained

Nos. 1-2 but were the only teams to hold

their places from the preseason poll.

Villanova fell nine places to No. 12 after

losing to Virginia Tech, which moved into

the poll at No. 16. Virginia also took a big

tumble after losing to San Francisco, drop-

ping 11 spots to No. 15.

In Asheville, N.C., Race Thompson^

set career highs with 22 points and 13 re-

bounds, Al Durham added 19 points, and

Indiana beat Providence 79-58 in the Maui

Invitational.

In Cincinnati, Zach Freemantle had

a career-high 24 points and 12 rebounds,

and Nate Johnson hit a go-ahead

3-pointer with 1:48 left in overtime to help

Xavier beat Eastern Kentucky 99-96.

In Hempstead, Tareq Coburn had 21

points as Hofstra beat Fairleigh Dickinson

73-58.

In Asheville, N.C., freshman RJ Davis

scored 16 points to help UNC beat UNLV

78-51 in the Maui Invitational.

FOOTBALL: 49ers to play in Arizona

The San Francisco 49ers will play two

home games in Arizona after new corona-

virus regulations put in place by officials

in Northern California forced the team to

find a temporary new home.

The 49ers (5-6) will host the Bills next

Monday night and Washington on Dec. 13

at State Farm Stadium, home of the Cardi-

nals, because they won’t be able to prac-

tice or play games in their home in Santa

Clara County for three weeks.

Texans wide receiver Will Fuller and

cornerback Bradley Roby were each sus-

pended six games for violating the NFL’s

policy on performance-enhancing sub-

stances. Fuller said the violation was a re-

sult of taking prescribed medication not

permitted under the policy.

Minnesota announced it has called off

this weekend’s game against No. 16 North-

western, the second straight cancellation

for the Gophers due to a spike in COV-

ID-19 cases within the program.

Alabama coach Nick Saban expects to

be back on the sidelines Saturday at LSU after

testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

MLB: New league made for prospects

MLB is creating a minor league for top eli-

gible prospects leading to the summer draft.

The wood-bat MLB Draft League is launch-

ing with five teams and could add a sixth,

MLB said. Teams will play a 68-game regular

season that includes an All-Star break coin-

ciding with the draft in early July.

The Trenton Thunder, the Yankees’ former

Double-A affiliate, announced it would be

one of the teams in the wood-bat league.

MLB also announced that the eight-team Pi-

oneer League will lose its affiliated status and

become an independent “Partner League.”

The Royals agreed to a two-year deal

with pitcher Mike Minor and finalized a

$1.75 million, one-year contract with out-

fielder Michael Taylor as they work to

piece together a roster.

NBA: OKC backs off fan plan

After initially planning for a limited num-

ber of fans to be in attendance for home

games, the Thunder are reversing course and

will open the season with the arena empty.

SportS ShortS

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TheLine

College Football

Thursday

Favorite Current (O/U) Underdog

La. Tech 3.5 (65) NO. TEXAS

Air Force 10.5 (50.5) UTAH ST.

Friday

APP. ST. 3.5 (53.5) La. Laf.

Boise St. 26 (60.5) UNLV

Saturday

NC STATE 7.5 (61.5) Ga. Tech

GEORlGIA 33.5 (53.5) Vandy

Clemson 22 (66.5) VA. TECH

VIRGINIA 6 (54.5) Bost. Coll.

KENTUCKY 12 (49) S. Carolina

Miami 15.5 (62.5) DUKE

CO. CAROLINA 7 (57) Liberty

MICHIGAN 4 (58.5) Maryland

Ohio St. 22 (59.5) MICH. ST.

PURDUE 2 (61) Nebraska

Penn St. 10 (57.5) RUTGERS

GEORGIA

SO. 1 (42.5) Fla. Atl.

AKRON 2.5 (57.5) Bow. Green

C. MICH. 1 (61.5) Ball St.

Kent St. 3.5 (67.5) MIAMI (O.)

Buffalo 12.5 (57.5) OHIO

W. MICH. 14 (65.5) E. Mich.

UNC-CHAR. 8 (56.5) Fla. Int’l

MARSHALL23.5 (45.5) Rice

Florida 17 (61.5)TENNESSEE

UTAH 10 (52.5) Oregon St.

Colorado 6.5 (58.5) ARIZONA

ARIZONA ST. 4 (56.5) Ucla

NOTRE DAME33.5 (52.5) Syracuse

WASHINGTON11 (50.5) Stanford

NEVADA. 7.5 (57.5) Fresno St.

Oregon 9 (58.5) CALIFORNIA

Okla. St. 2.5 (51.5) TCU

IOWA ST. 7 (50.5) W. Virginia

WISCONSIN14 (50.5) Indiana

TEXAS TECH27.5 (64) Kansas

Toledo 9.5 (58.5) NO. ILLI-NOIS

OKLAHOMA23 (62.5) Baylor

Texas A&M 7 (48.5) AUBURN

Texas 9.5 (51.5)KANSAS ST.

Iowa 13 (50.5) ILLINOIS

SAN JOSE ST. 6 (55.5) Hawaii

Wyoming 16.5 (52.5)NEW MEXICO

SAN DIEGO ST. 8.5 (47) Colo. St.

TULANE 1.5 (62.5) Memphis

Tulsa 11 (52.5) NAVY

Troy 4.5 (53.5)S. ALABAMA

ARKANSAS ST.21 (68.5) La.-Monroe

Alabama 28.5 (67.5) LSU

NO. CAROLINA48.5 (70.5)W. Carolina

Sunday

Uab OFF MID. TENN.

USC OFF Wash. St.

College Basketball

Tuesday

Favorite Line Underdog

Texas-a OFF Indiana

N. Carolina-a OFF Stanford

Providence-a OFF Davidson

Unlv-a OFF Alabama

Byu-c 2 Usc

PURDUE 21 Oakland

UNC-

GREEN.^16

Prairie

View A&M

VIRGINIA 21.5 St. Francis (Pa.)

WISCONSIN 24.5 Green Bay

CREIGHTON 19.5 Omaha

VILLANOVA 24.5 Hartford

G’TOWN 10 Navy

LOUISVILLE 5 W. Kent.

TOLEDO 9.5 Cleve. St.

Valparaiso 2 UIC

MARQUETTE 4 Okla. St.

DUKE 4 Mich. St.

Sac. Heart OFF STONY BROOK

MARYLAND 18 Towson

FLA. INT’L 4 C. Michigan

GEO. WASH. 10.5 Hampton

NEBRASKA 12 So. Dakota

Kansas-b 4 Kentucky

St. Mary’s 12.5 Nicholls St.

a-Asheville, NC

b-Indianapolis

c-Uncasviile, Conn.

Home team in CAPS

T

NFL Week 12

Wednesday

Favorite PTS (O/U) Underdog

STEELERS 10.5 (40.5) Ravens

NFL Week 13

Sunday

SEAHAWKS 10 (48.5) Giants

Raiders 7.5 (46.5) JETS

Dolphins 11.5 (42.5) BENGALS

TITANS 4.5 (54.5) Browns

BEARS 3.5 (44.5) Lions

Colts 2.5 (53.5) TEXANS

VIKINGS 9.5 (51.5) Jaguars

Saints 3.5 (46.5) FALCONS

Rams 3 (48.5) CARDINALS

CHARGERS 1 (48.5) Patriots

PACKERS 8 (49) Eagles

CHIEFS 13.5 (49.5) Broncos

Monday

STEELERS 10 (44) Washington

+Bills 2.5 (48) 49ERS

Tuesday

RAVENS 10 (44.5) Cowboys

+ in Glendale, Ariz.

Home team in CAPS

COLLEGEFOOTBALL

COLLEGE

FOOTBALL

Favoritestowin

2020-21national

championship

TEAM ODDS

Alabama +125

Clemson 5/2

Ohio State 11/2

Notre Dame 7/1

Florida 12/1

Texas A&M 20/1

Cincinnati 50/1

Northwestern 80/1

Georgia 100/1

Oklahoma 100/1

BYU 100/1

Iowa State 150/1

Indiana 150/1

Miami (Fla.) 250/1

Coastal Carolina 250/1

Favoritestowin2020

HeismanTrophy

PLAYER ODDS

Kyle Trask -125

Justin Fields 3/1

Mac Jones 3/1

Trevor Lawrence 14/1

Zach Wilson 25/1

DeVonta Smith 65/1

Najee Harris 80/1

D’Eriq King 100/1

Ian Book 100/1

Spencer Rattler 200/1

Kellen Mond 200/1