Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Tuesday, November 12.

NCAA BASKETBALL

The Champions Classic did not disappoint. Here’s what happened in the two marquee games of the day:

• Bill Self is now the winningest coach in Kansas history. Self’s Jayhawks won comfortably against Tom Izzo and Michigan State, taking down the Spartans 77-69. Fifth-year senior Hunter Dickinson led the way with a 28-point double-double.

• Game two was a heavyweight fight between (6) Duke and (19) Kentucky. Duke’s star freshman Cooper Flagg was marvelous with 26 points and and 12 rebounds, but Flagg committed two costly turnovers in the final 15 seconds of the game. The Wildcats made five of their six free throws in the final moments of the game, and beat the Blue Devils 77-72. Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr led Kentucky with 17 points.

• Let’s take a moment to acknowledge head coach Mark Pope in his first season at Kentucky. The former Kentucky center signed on to coach a team that had no players, for a fanbase with some of the nation’s highest expectations of winning. Three games into the season, Pope’s done a spectacular job. Every Kentucky player who saw the floor in the win over Duke was a transfer from a different school, and yet they played an impressive brand of basketball headlined by toughness and teamwork. You can read more about Pope in this really impressive profile published yesterday at the Athletic.

There weren’t many must-see games in the women’s game yesterday, but I do think it’s worth shouting out the performance of (3) USC. The Trojans beat CSU Northridge 124-39!

NBA

Brightly-colored courts and stakes that no one is quite sure how much to care about.. that means only one thing! The NBA Cup has begun. In case you missed it, I’ve got the highlights for you:

• Joel Embiid struggled mightily in his first game of the season, scoring just 13 points on 11 shots. 76ers teammate Paul George had a stellar performance with seven threes, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Knicks. New York beat Philly 111-99.

• The surprise result of the night came in Boston. Jalen Johnson had a triple-double and Dyson Daniels scored 28 points as the Atlanta Hawks upset the Celtics 117-116.

• And the surprise ending of the night was in Detroit. Tyler Herro made six threes in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter to bring the Miami Heat back and send the game to overtime. With one second left in OT, Cade Cunningham connected with Jalen Duren on a beautiful alley-oop to tie the game. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called a timeout to go over the gameplan… but he didn’t have any timeouts remaining. A technical foul was called, the Pistons made the ensuing free throws, and Detroit secured a victory over Miami 123-121.

• Klay Thompson made his return to the Bay Area last night– from the pregame ceremony to the on-court action, it all lived up to the hype. Klay made six threes and dropped 22 points for the visiting Mavericks, but it was his former Splash Brother teammate who stole the show. Steph Curry dished out nine assists and scored 37 points, including 10 in a row in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. An emotional evening was celebrated with a fantastic basketball game and punctuated with an classic performance by the greatest shooter of all-time. Golden State beat Dallas 120-117… as always, it’s worth watching Steph do his thing:

NHL

I feel like every few days, the top results from the NHL just repeat themselves:

• Connor McDavid found Leon Draisaitl for the game-winning overtime goal and the Edmonton Oilers beat the New York Islanders 4-3. McDavid is now at 999 career points.

• Winnipeg won again! The Jets went on the road and beat the New York Rangers 6-3. Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor each scored two goals as the best team in hockey kept their win streak going.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

The San Francisco 49ers have signed standout defensive back Deommodore Lenoir to a five-year, $92 million contract extension. A well-earned deal for the former fifth round pick.

Washington has acquired forward Lars Eller from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for draft picks. Pittsburgh has really struggled to begin the season– this could be the first of many salary-shedding moves at the beginning of a rebuild.

Some baseball news today– the winners of the Silver Sluggers were announced, headlined by three Los Angeles Dodgers. Jose Altuve (AL second base) and Mookie Betts (NL utility) were each recognized for the seventh time in their careers, the most among active players. And in Tampa Bay, it was announced that Tropicana Field would not be repaired until the beginning of the 2026 season. The timeline raises the question of whether repairs are truly worth it, as a new Rays stadium is planned to be open by 2028.

The Big 10 is feeling pretty good after the most recent edition of the College Football Playoff rankings. Four of the top five teams come from the conference, including number one Oregon. As for the rest of the top 25, the Remix predictions from yesterday were (once again) fairly accurate. Only Tulane at 25 (instead of Arizona State) was ranked by the committee and not part of our list, and 11 of the 12 teams in the bracket were correct, too (Miami was ranked ahead of SMU). Plenty of football still to be played!

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NBA: Another busy day in the Association! But these two games stand out above the rest:

• Cavaliers @ 76ers, 7:30 PM

• Grizzlies @ Lakers, 10 PM on ESPN

NHL: Here are the matchups you can see on national TV this fine Wednesday in the National Hockey League:

• Red Wings @ Penguins, 7:30 PM on TNT/Max

• Kings @ Avalanche, 10 PM on TNT/Max

And that’s a Remix. Have a great day!