MY AM ADVANTAGE

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Saturday, March 29, 2025

Here are some notes and tidbits from my March Madness notebook:.

SECOND SWEET 16 FOR DUSTY MAY: It was the second trip to the Sweet 16 in three years for UM Coach Dusty May. He took his 2023 Florida Atlantic team to the Final Four. He became the first Big 10 coach ever to win the Big 10 tourney this season as a first-year leader of any program. Michigan's turnaround to a 27-10 record and Big 10 tourney title followed a last-place regular season finish in last year's Big 10 standings at 3-17. The Wolverines tied for second place with Maryland this winter at 14-6. They were only 8-24 overall a year ago before Juwan Howard was fired, so the 27 victories marked a 19-game turnaround under May's leadership.  

ELITE EIGHT NUMBER 11: This marks the 11th Elite Eight of Hall of Fame Coach Izzo's career which includes 27 times in a row to make it to the big dance with an appearance in the NCAA tournament. It's the longest streak by an active coach and also the third-longest streak in NCAA history.

RECORDS: MSU improved to 30-6 overall on the season while Auburn went to 31-5. UM finished with a 27-10 record while Ole Miss finished its season at 24-12.

IT'S 1 VS. 2: The Spartans were the second seed in the South Regional while Auburn was one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA field. Houston, Florida and Duke were the other No. 1 seeds, and all three are still alive like Auburn is in the Elite Eight round.

SIMILAR CREDENTIALS: Like MSU which won the Big 10 regular season crown but lost in the Big 10 tournament Auburn won the SEC regular season title but lost in the SEC tournament. Florida won the SEC tourney.

MATCH-UPS FOR REGIONAL FINALS: While 1-2 seeds MSU and Auburn battle for the South Regional championship Sunday at 5:05 pm, top seeds Duke and Houston also face No. 2 seeds. Duke plays Alabama at 8:49 pm tonight for the East Regional title and Houston plays Tennessee at 2:05 pm Sunday for the Midwest Regional crown. Florida plays No. 3 Texas Tech at 6:09 pm today for the West Regional championship.

OTHER SCORES IN SEMIS: Among the other No. 1 seeds besides Auburn, Duke won 100-93 over Arizona and Houston won 87-71 over Maryland for decisive decisions but Florida had a barnburner with Purdue — winning a 62-60 thriller. The Vols of Tennessee avenged two earlier losses to Kentucky by winning 78-65 after losing regular season battles by 78-73 and 75-64, Texas Tech won a pulsating 85-83 barnburner over Arkansas and Alabama advanced by thumping BYU 113-88.

 TOM IZZO ON OLE MISS: "First of all, that team was the toughest, most physical defensive team that we've played in years. It reminded me of the old Gene Keady, Clem Haskins teams when I started in this profession. They did a good job. I didn't think we did a very good job. We got stymied a lot." 

DUSTY MAY ON AUBURN: "Congratulate Auburn and the job they did, especially in the last 8 or 10 minutes of the game. They played with an incredible amount of energy, enthusiasm, physicality, and knocked us off our spots. They were a load on the offensive glass. I think those extra possessions were the difference in the game."

VLADISLAV GOLDIN: His career journey under Coach May began at Florida Atlantic when transferring there from Texas Tech. The 7-foot-1 big man followed May to UM as a fifth-year graduate student. He said, "It’s been great. I love ... my decision that I came in and decided to play for this man. Obviously I can see I got better player than I were before. Probably more important for me is the emotions I got, the relationships I built. I wouldn’t change a thing."

JUST NOT THEIR NIGHT: "I mean, they played physical defense. The shots didn’t fall in. Sometimes it happens," Goldin told reporters after the game. "It feels even worse that it happened in this kind of game, but it is what it is." Golden was averaging nearly 17 points per contest but had only 10 against Auburn. He also grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds.

ONLY TWO OTHERS PLAYED WELL: Goldin's fellow transfer 7-footer, Danny Wolf, came up big but senior Nimari Burnett was the only Wolverine in double figures. Burnett had 10 points and 7 rebounds. Wolf grabbed 6 boards and pumped in 20 points.

GOLDIN ON PLAYING WITH WOLF: He told the media, "I loved every single minute I played with Danny. He’s obviously a great player. It’s been fun. We did something that not many people do, and we did something that me personally, I haven’t done before. I think I learned a lot playing by the side with him."

WOLF ON HIS YEAR AT UM: The transfer from Yale had this to say about this season's experience: "Yeah, playing at Michigan this year was the greatest honor of my lifetime. When Coach May and his staff kind of gave me the opportunity to come here and laid out a plan for Vlad and I, I questioned it at first, but they put so much trust in the two of us, and our teammates make us look way better than we are... First of all, when I left Yale, I didn’t know what my basketball future held. I knew I wanted to be at this level. Obviously in the back of my mind I’d grown up a big Michigan fan and sported a ton of Michigan clothes. After their Final Fours, all I wanted for my birthday was signed basketballs. I have so much respect and gratitude for my coaches for allowing me to come here. It was arguably the greatest year of my life, and I made so many amazing relationships. I met my brothers for life, and we had an unbelievable locker room. We stuck with each other through the ups and downs. It sucks to see it cut short, but yeah, this last year has been the greatest in my life. I have to thank the coaches and my teammates for that.

BURNETT ON MAY'S JOB:  The senior said, "Coming off of last year, Coach Dusty came in, like the guys said, with a plan to win and to get a group of guys together that were fit to win and eventually become brothers, and that’s exactly what we did. Coming off a tough year last year, especially the returners, me, Will, Jace, et cetera, the plan was to write the story and represent the Block M in the right way. This season was amazing. Not only did we build brothers and brotherhood, but we’re going to talk about this for the rest of our lives. It’s something we’re all going to remember. I’m grateful to be a part of this group, and I’m grateful to be a part of the University of Michigan as a whole."

DUSTY MAY ON HIS PLAYERS: "I want to give our guys a lot of credit too. We really, really grew as a group. This was an awesome team to be around every single day. It hurts when you don’t perform at your best for the last game and put yourself in position to win."

 JASE RICHARDSON: MSU's freshman sensation, son of a former MSU great who went on to play in the NBA, blamed his team's slow start on a lack of aggressiveness. He told reporters, "I  think for us in the first half, we weren't being as aggressive as we should have been. I feel like they were kind of just punking us in the beginning. We couldn't get to the paint. Shooting decent shots, but not great shots. I think (in the) second half it really opened up for us. We were being more aggressive, getting downhill and getting driving kicks. I felt like we were at our best in that second half."

 JADEN AKINS ON HIS BIG SHOT: With the game on the line with 1:20 left, Akins took off for a key driving bucket after a broken play to avoid disaster for the Spartans. He said, "We were in a play, it broke down, and I was at the top of the key, and I just tried to make a play on to be calm. I saw an opening, and I took it. Thankfully, I made the shot."  

HAVING FUN KEY FOR MSU: Richardson put it best for the key factor to success for his Spartans. He said, "For us, we always say we play better when we're having fun, but we know that you've got to come in with a mentality. We try to have as much fun as possible playing, but we've also got to be locked in because we've got to key into our defensive things, key into our offensive things, but we have to have as much fun as possible because that's when I feel like we're at our best."

NOT SATISFIED YET: Coach Izzo isn't happy yet though with this cast of Spartans. He told the media, "Elite 8s are great ... (but) we don't put up any banners for great 8s. We put up banners for championships and Final Fours and National Championships."

MY PREDICTIONS: MSU will shoot down a No. 1 seed and join a Final Four field with Tennessee and two other No. 1 seeds in Houston and Duke. Bet on it. Or maybe not. Remember I'm the guy who picked Michigan to beat Auburn on my radio show.

PS: Don't forget my Michigan pick looked pretty smart with the Wolverines sitting on an 11-point lead with just over 12 minutes to go in the game!

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Mike Killbreath is an award-winning newspaper sports columnist. He appears on Metro Flint News/Talk Radio via The Daily Gazette Sports Weekend Show Sundays from 6-8 pm, The Daily Gazette Sports Night Show weekdays at 6 pm and on The Morning Gazette Radio Show weekday mornings from 8 am until 9:30 am. He's an award-winning news columnist and investigative reporter who is the former long-time owner of the local Metro Flint area chain of 14 community newspapers. This fall will be his 50th year as a journalist. He also hosts a new weekly national TV show known as The American Crusaders on cable TV and various OTT TV live streaming platforms.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

ATLANTA (CCN) — Michigan and Michigan State won't play in an Elite Eight rematch.

The March Madness run ended Friday night (March 28, 2025) for the Wolverines when top-seeded Auburn erased an 11-point Michigan lead with just over 12 minutes remaining, turning on the gas with a 26-6 run en route to winning 78-65.

Auburn didn't get its first lead after halftime until under 10 minutes to go.

MSU's basketball team was down 12 points in the second half but roared back to beat Ole Miss in a 73-70 barnburner.

The Spartans trailed all the way until taking their first lead with 7:40 left.

It was a back-and-forth affair from there until MSU wrapped it up with pin-point free throw shooting in the final 26 seconds — led by Jaden Akins going 2-for-2 and Tre Holloman 4-for-4.

It capped a 13-for-14 shooting night from the charity stripe in the second half for MSU which was 19-for-22 for the game.

MSU trailed by as many as 10 points before halftime but battled back to trail only by two at the intermission, until slipping behind big again early in the second half when Auburn went on an 11-2 run to lead by 11 points at 48-39 with 12:15 remaining in the game. MSU had managed to tie it up twice in the early portion of the second half and an 8-0 MSU run in a span of 1:36 pulled the Spartans within 48-47 on a 3-point bomb by Richardson with 10:22 left.

Freshman Jase Richardson's 20-point night led the Spartans. He was 6-of-8 shooting from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and added 6 rebounds. Sophomore forward Coen Carr, making the first start of his career scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting while senior guard Akins added 13 points and junior guard Holloman added 10 points off the bench. Junior center Carson Cooper led MSU on the boards with 7 rebounds. Cooper contributed 6 points off the bench.

MSU Coach Tom Izzo said in the post-game press conference, "I love these guys because they kept grinding. They kept grinding. Getting close before half was very critical. At halftime we felt like we could drive the ball a little bit more. Tre drove it. These guys drove it. Jase made some big shots. Coen, a couple big blocks. And Jaden made a big 3 and then those free throws at the end. It's hard to believe that two days we're playing for a chance to do one of the all time great things in any basketball player's life, and that's play for a Final Four. I'm proud and happy for them. They've earned it. They deserved it. They did it."

UM Coach Dusty May had his Wolverines poised to advance to the Elite Eight with the big lead until the bubble burst on their Cinderella-style run. They lost their last three games of the Big 10 Conference regular season before catching fire. They raced to the Big 10 tournament title before winning their 1st Round and 2nd Round games in the NCAA tournament to reach the South Regional semifinals in Atlanta.

May told the national media afterward in UM's post-game press conference: "Well, number one, I credit them. They bought into a vision, and sometimes it’s hard to buy into something that’s not seen, that you can’t see. Also, they worked. They wanted to figure out solutions. They wanted to figure out the best way to do it, and it starts with just getting really quality people that are good at basketball and then figure out a way to make it work... (We) became a national story because of the unique skill sets, how well they worked together. But also, the other three guys on the court didn’t get as much credit as they deserve because they were the ones spacing, cutting, feeding the ball, whatever the case. Yeah, it was unique for us for those guys to get some really quality attention and press and give us another kind of, I guess, subculture or identity going forward."

While MSU used a second half spurt of energy to come from behind to win, UM experienced a collapse and surrendered 23 points off turnovers.

 Auburn went on a 12-0 run during a three-minute span to begin its 26-6 run to take its first lead of the second half at 51-48 with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Rubin Jones stopped the streak by the Tigers with a driving layup but three consecutive baskets built Auburn's lead to 9 points with 7:27 to go. It became 67-54 by 4:35 to go and UM never cut it to single digits again as the wolverines finished by missing 8-of-10 shots from there.

"Now my mind shifts to next season immediately," May said afterward. "What’s it going to look like? How do we replicate the best of this season? And how do we fix some things?"

Izzo had halftime adjustments Friday night and the MSU staff fixed its first half problems.

He told the national media this afterward about being down 10 points: "(I) Asked them what the hell they're doing. We went out dirty. We went out not doing a good job offensively. They hit slips. The real killer was the turnovers. We had turnovers, and they were kind of ridiculous turnovers, would you guys agree? They always agree with me after the fact, but we had turnovers. I think they had 9-2 points off turnovers. That was the difference in the game. We gave up a missed cutoff free throw. We gave up out of bounds plays. They're supposed to be a poor rebounding team, and they kicked our butts. They had 12 offensive rebounds to our 5. What you should do is give them a lot of credit, and yet give us a lot of credit for bouncing back in the second half."

Michigan State trailed the entire first half and didn't take its first lead until Cooper made two free throws with 7:50 to go to make it 51-50.

 Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla drilled a 3-pointer to tie it at 53-53 and nobody led by more than two points after that until the final minute when MSU used its free throws to seal the deal.

A thunderous dunk off a steal with 4:43 left gave MSU a 59-58 lead, but Padulla counered again by drilling another 3-pointer to put Ole Miss back on top.

MSU tied it again at 61-all when redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. sank a jump shot in the paint with 3:47 to go.

Akins drove to the middle of the lane with the shot clock winding down and hit a jumper with 1:27 left remaining to put MSU back on top at 65-63, and MSU didn't trail again after that one.

PHOTO CAPTION: Michigan players huddle for a pre-game pep talk from junior leader Will Tschetter.

BY ERIC THOMPSON

CCN Sports Writer

(CCN) — Here's our round-up of college baseball action around our state:

WESTERN MICHIGAN'S baseball team surprised Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Broncos blanked the Wolverines 6-0 in a non-conference match-up in front of a sparse crowd of only 494 mid-week fans at Ray Fisher Stadium inside the Wilpon Complex. 

WMU came into the game with only one victory all season. The Wolverines dropped to 11-9 overall.

MICHIGAN GETS BACK to Big 10 Conference action on Friday (March 21, 2025) with a 3-game weekend series in Lafayette, Indiana against Purdue. Losing two out of three at home last weekend dropped Michigan to 3-3 in Big 10 play so far.

Next up after this weekend for the Wolverines is a mid-week, non-conference battle against another Mid American Conference school on Tuesday when Eastern Michigan University visits Ann Arbor.

EMU FEATURES former Flint Powers Catholic star Fisher Hendershot who led the Chargers to last spring's state championship in Division 2. Hendershot has so far pitched 8 innings in 5 appearances for EMU with 9 strikeouts.

A 3-game series sweep last week in Kalamazoo over Western gave EMU a 5-1 start in the MAC. 

MICHIGAN STATE WON 8-5 Wednesday (March 19, 2025) over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in a non-conference battle in front of 850 fans at Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium in East Lansing.

MSU is now 14- 6 overall but only 1-3 in the Big 10. They go this weekend to State College for a 3-game series against Penn State.

BY ERIC THOMPSON

CCN Sports Writer

(CCN) — Here's our round-up of college baseball action around our state:

WESTERN MICHIGAN'S baseball team surprised Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Broncos blanked the Wolverines 6-0 in a non-conference match-up in front of a sparse crowd of only 494 mid-week fans at Ray Fisher Stadium inside the Wilpon Complex. 

WMU came into the game with only one victory all season. The Wolverines dropped to 11-9 overall.

MICHIGAN GETS BACK to Big 10 Conference action on Friday (March 21, 2025) with a 3-game weekend series in Lafayette, Indiana against Purdue. Losing two out of three at home last weekend dropped Michigan to 3-3 in Big 10 play so far.

Next up after this weekend for the Wolverines is a mid-week, non-conference battle against another Mid American Conference school on Tuesday when Eastern Michigan University visits Ann Arbor.

EMU FEATURES former Flint Powers Catholic star Fisher Hendershot who led the Chargers to last spring's state championship in Division 2. Hendershot has so far pitched 8 innings in 5 appearances for EMU with 9 strikeouts.

A 3-game series sweep last week in Kalamazoo over Western gave EMU a 5-1 start in the MAC. 

MICHIGAN STATE WON 8-5 Wednesday (March 19, 2025) over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in a non-conference battle in front of 850 fans at Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium in East Lansing.

MSU is now 14- 6 overall but only 1-3 in the Big 10. They go this weekend to State College for a 3-game series against Penn State.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — Tom Gores was the halftime guest during the last Detroit Pistons' game, and he updated fans about his group's bid to bring back a WNBA franchise to Little Caesars Arena n Downtown Detroit.

Gores said,  "We will do a good job with it. If we are allowed to get a team, we will do a really good job. We have a great city. We are committed. The community is amazing. … The WNBA runs a good process. We just have to rely on them to choose us." 

A formal expansion bid was submitted on Jan. 31.

 Gores has some notable partners in his group that  include some individuals involved with ownership of Detroit's other pro sports franchises.

They are Detroit Lions owner Sheila Hamp, Denise Ilitch of the Ilitch family that owns both the Detroit TIgers and Detroit Red Wings and Ethan Davidson who is  the son of former Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson.

Among the others listed by the Detroit News as equity stakeholders in the bid to obtain a WNBA team are Gretchen Davidson who is Ethan Davidson's wife,  General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Detroit Lions star quarterback Jarred Goff and his wife Christen, former Pistons' star and NBA Hall of Famer Grant Hill and his wife Tamia, NBA Hall of Famer Chris Webber of Detroit, Roger and Carin Ehrenberg, Ashley Crain and Larry Brinker Jr. 

The price tag for a WNBA franchise is $125 million.

Gores, a Michigan native from Genesee who became a billionaire as owner of Platinum Equity, bought the Pistons for $325 million after Bill Davidson died in 2009. Gretchen Davidson, daughter of former State Rep. Lee Gonzales, grew up in Flint Township.

 PHOTO CAPTION: PIctured above this story is Tom Gores who is making a bid to deliver a WNBA franchise for the City of Detroit.

BY GARY ANDERSON

CCN Sports Writer

EDMONTON (CCN) — The Detroit Red Wings rallied from two goals down to win 3-2 in an overtime shootout Thursday night (January 30, 202) over the defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers.

The road victory was not only significant because it came against last season's NHL Stanley Cup finalists, but also because it marked the fourth victory in a row for the streaking Red Wings.

The Oilers currently lead the Pacific Division with 68 points — third-best in the NHL behind only the Winnipeg Jets who have 75 points to lead the Central Division and the Washington Capitals who lead the Metropolitan Division with 74 points. The Carolina Hurricanes, who are runner-up behind the Capitals in their division, are tied with the Oilers at 68 points.

Captain Dylan Larkin scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season in the second period to tie the game at 2-2 and said afterward to the media: “It was a big win. It’s always a hard start in this building. We learned our lesson last year, I think we were down 2-0 after the first shift of the game. We came in the room down two, and we knew we had better. We knew we’d get our legs going from the travel day yesterday, and we did just that. From the second and third (periods) on, we played a pretty solid road hockey game.” 

Goalie Alex Lyon was brilliant in net for the Red Wings with a season-high 45 saves.

Coach Todd McLellan was singing the praises of his netminder to reporters after the game, saying,  “I thought Alex was obviously key to the victory. He faced a lot of shots, not all dangerous, but there were some succession-type shots that he had to be alert and get us some whistles when we broke down. That’s why the goalie wears the same color jersey as everybody else — he’s there to provide us that security, and he did that.” 

Lyon gave up an early goal when Edmonton capitalized on a power play as NHL scoring leader Leon Draisaitl drilled in his 36th goal of the season on a snap shot from the top of the right face-off circle. Lyon stopped Adam Henrique’s shot four minutes later but he couldn't control the puck and it bounded to Jeff Skinner who rifled it in for a 2-0 jump just 10:29 into the game.

Lyon told media members afterward:  “You obviously never want to give up a goal like that in the first (period) when you have a chance to cover it and kind of inflict harm on yourself. But maybe good motivation too and finding that next level to shut it down. That was my mindset — just try to give the guys a chance after that.” 

Larkin got the Red Wings even at 2-2 just 1:48  Michael Rasmussen got them on the board.

The two teams thereafter skated to a scoreless tie, including in the five-minute overtime session.

Larkin and Lucas Raymond tallied for Detroit in the shootout to win it.

Before the current four-game winning streak, Detroit earlier this month won seven in a row after General Manager Steve Yzerman fired Coach Derek LaLonde on the day after Christmas, and tabbed McLellan to go behind the bench.

They are 25-21-5 for 55 points and have pulled within two points of the final wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Tampa Bay Lighting and Columbus Blue Jackets have 57 points each to stand barely ahead of the Wings with 55 points and the Boston Bruins with 56 points.

McLellan's team continues its west coast road trip by going to Calgary tomorrow (Feb. 1, 2025) and to Vancouver on Sunday. They play the Flames Saturday at 10 pm and face the Canucks at 8 pm on Sunday. Both games will be broadcast on Fan Duel Sports Network's cable TV channel and on 97.1 FM The Ticket radio network.

 “I wouldn’t say it was the best start to the road trip, but we’ll take those two points for sure,” said Lyon to the media. “That’s such a good, dangerous team. Just got to enjoy it for a little bit then move on. We obviously got three more games coming up, so just got to stay on top of it.”

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Alex Jones who had a season-high 45 saves to spark the Detroit Red Wings to victory in Edmonton. 

BY ERIC THOMPSON

CCN Sports Writer

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND (CCN) — The Michigan State Spartans stayed even with the Michigan Wolverines in Big 10 basketball on junior guard Tre Holloman 3-pointer Wednesday night (Feb. 26, 2025) from past half court as time expired to beat Maryland 58-55.

The Spartans spoiled the night for the Terps who had a sellout crowd on hand to root for the upset. MSU is No.  8 in the latest poll while Maryland came into the showdown with a No. 18 national ranking with a 21-6 record overall on the season.

MSU, now 23-5 overall and 14-3 in the Big 10, have won four in a row and vie of their last six, including winning at Ann Arbor over Michigan last week to tie for the Wolverines for the top spot.

MSU hosts Wisconsin Sunday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing before going to Iowa on Thursday, and then finishing up at home against the arch rival Wolverines. 

UM hosts Rutgers tonight(Feb. 27, 2025), Illinois on Sunday and then Maryland on Wednesday night before closing out Big 10 regular season play next Sunday at noon from the Breslin Center.

Freshman Jason Richardson scored 15 points and had a career-high 8 rebounds to lead the Spartans with a near double-double against Maryland.

 Hero Holloman finished with 8 points while senior center Szymon Zapala had 7 points and 6 rebounds.

TORONTO (CCN) — Malik Beasley scored 20 points to lead a balanced attack Friday night (Nov. 15, 2024) as the Detroit Pistons beat the Toronto Raptors 99-95 after losing two nights earlier in an overtime heartbreaker at Milwaukee.

It was not only Detroit's second victory in two games but its third in the last five since a one-point loss to the Charlotte Hornets. The other defeat during the streak was a close one, too (a 101-99 affair to the Atlanta Hawks).

It could have been three in a row and 4-of-5 if not for Ken Holland II missing two free throws with one second left in regulation in a 111-111 game at Milwaukee when the Bucks went on to win in OT.

Coming off a 123-121 victory over the Miami Heat, Detroit also blew an early 18-point lead in Milwaukee and led 70-52 early in the 3rd quarter but the Bucks went on a 33-14 run to take their first lead of the night going into the final quarter

The Pistons are now 6-8 on the season and moved into the playoff picture with the No. 7 seed. The top 8 in each conference qualify. The Pistons are now 1/2 game behind the Haks and Heat for the No. 5 position.

Cade Cunningham, who led Detroit with 35 points in the losing cause at Milwaukee, scored 15 points against the Raptors with 10 assists.

Tobias Haris added 11 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit, Jaden Ivey put up 14 points, Jalen Duren 12 points, Holland 10 points and Wendell Moore Jr. 8 points.

Beasley's 20-point night at Toronto followed his  26-point outburst two nights earlier in Milwaukke against his former teammates.

The Pistons will be back in action on Sunday (Nov. 17, 2024) in Washington D.C. against the Wizzrd.  Tip-off is 6 pm with the telecast on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit. The radio broadcast will be on  
ALT Detroit (WDZH 98.7 FM).

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Malik Beasley who scored 20 points to lead a balanced attack for the Detroit Pistons in their victory at Toronto.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

ANN ARBOR (CCN) — New Coach Dusty May will be seeing turnovers in his nightmares after the Michigan Wolverines coughed up the ball an 

 unfathomable 21 times Friday night (Nov. 15, 2024) at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.

Danny Wolf led the way with 14 points and 14 rebounds for his second double-double in three games for the Wolverines who went to 2-1 on the young season in college basketball with a 76-64 triumph over TCU.

They had to overcome a rash of turnovers — 16 in the first half alone.

"We were playing a little too fast” May said to reporters afterward. “Each team presents a new challenge, whether it’s zone or no middle defense or whatever the case. We’re a bigger, less playmaking team off the bounce and when you drive, they collapse. So you have to have great off-ball movement. You have to have ball fakes... We were over-penetrating. We probably stressed not turning the ball over too much, probably talked about it and told them what not to do too much this week instead of focusing on what we wanted to do to beat their defense. But we were so consumed with focusing on ourselves. We’ll definitely spend some more time on the details as far as the turnovers, but it’s part of the growth process for us.”

UM jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and also had leads of 21-15 with 7:56 to go in the first half and 32-23 with 3:41 to go.

Every time, UM's offense went into turnover mode to let TCU back in the game.

After starting off 3-for-3 from the field, UM committed six straight turnovers for 8 points by TCU to take the lead at 10-9. Roddy Gayle Jr. made a layup with 13:36 left before halftime to give the Wolverines the lead again at 11-10, and they never trailed again. They ran the margin to as many as 12 points, and TCU got as close as two points in the second half before UM pulled away.

A 6-0 run by TCU off turnovers cut the margin to 34-31 at halftime.

UM built a 46-38 margin in the first 5 minutes of the second half, then made it 51-40 with 13:57 to go on a 4-of-5 shooting streak.

The visiting Horned Frogs used a 5-0 run to get within 54-50 with 10:34 left and scoring on three straight trips down the floor narrowed it to a mere two points with under 7 minutes to go.

Then came UM's defensive pressure. The Wolverines held TCU to 1-for-8 shooting during a stretch that lasted just over two minutes, and pulled ahead again by building its biggest lead of the night at the final buzzer.

Freshman Sam Walters and junior transfer Tre Donaldson added 10 points and 14 points, respectively, for UM. Fifth-year senior Nimari Burnett, UM's only returning starter who played in all 32 games a year ago, had his best game so far of the 2024-25 campaign by bagging a team-high 16 points to go with snaring 6 rebounds.

But Wolf was the key man. The 7-foot big man improved his early averages to 12.3 points per game and  9.7 rebounds per game with Friday's double-double.

The junior transfer from Yale did commit 4 turnovers in a continuing pattern and didn't like it, saying, “Yeah, personally, obviously (I’ve had) a few games with a lot of turnovers, I think it’s just something where coach May just tells me to slow the game down and let it come to me more,” Wolf said. “I think that a few of turnovers today were travels, the ones where it’s just bad passes and knowing the scout a little bit better, it’s something we’re going to continue to work on. If we don’t turn the ball over, our chances of winning go up significantly. That’s something that coach is going to preach and something we’re going to keep working at. It’s going to come with time.”

One of 11 newcomers to this year's UM roster, Wolf  led Yale to the Ivy League championship a year ago. He was MVP in the tournament when Yale earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and he was an all-Ivy League first team selection.

Wolf averaged 14.1 points per game last season as a sophomore with 24 double-figure games in 31 starts, including 20-point games 8 times. He also grabbed an average of 6.7 rebounds per game.

UM NOTEBOOK:

BALANCED ATTACK: Wolf scoring at a 12.3 points per game clip is part of a balanced offensive attack. Donaldson, also a junior transfer, is UM's top scorer so far at 13.3 points per game. Walters and Burnett are averaging 9.7 points per contest. Fifth starter Gayle, a junior transfer from Ohio State, checks in with a 10.7 average. L.J. Cason has an 8-point average off the bench and Will Tschetter has a 6.3 average off the bench.

PROVEN WINNERS: Along with Wolf leading Yale to the Ivy League title last season when making the NCAA Tournament, UM has plenty of winning pedigree in its lineup. Donaldson helped Auburn make two straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and was on the SEC Tournament championship club last year. Burnett helped Alabama to a Sweet 16 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament and he was on SEC championship teams in 2021 and 2023 before transferring to UM last season. Tschetter was on UM's Sweet 16 team in 2022. Grad student Vladislav Golden, UM's 7-footer as the second half of the twin towers duo with Wolf, was part of the winning program under Coach May at Florida Atlantic. May who was 126-69 there and led the Owls to the Conference USA title in 2023 when they reached the NCAA Tournament Final Four for the first time in school history, 

UM SHARP FROM FIELD: UM shot 50 percent (26-of-52)from the field against TCU.

WORK NEEDED ON FREE THROWS: UM shot only 65 percent (15-of-23) from the free throw lines against TCU.

WILL UM STAY AT FULL SPEED? Coach May said: “From Day 1, we’ve tried to play at such a fast pace. We are encouraging them to play a lot faster than they’ve ever played. The decisions are quicker, we’re seeing bigger bodies. We’re not going to panic, we’re simply going to tighten up a little bit and tighten up a little bit, but there are some themes. We do feel confident that we’ll look back at the end of the year and we’ll have a significant improvement from where we are now.”

UP NEXT: UM will remain in Ann Arbor for game two of its three-game homestand on Monday (Nov. 18) against Miami (Ohio) at Crisler Center. The game will tip off at 6 p.m. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. UM hosts Tarleton State on Thursday at 8:30 pm. The game will also be on the Big Ten Network.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

EAST LANSING (CCN) — The Michigan State Spartans used a late 18-0 run to overcome a spirited challenge by non-conference college hoops rival Bowling Green Saturday night (Nov. 16, 2024) at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

Coach Tom Izzo's Spartans won 86-72 but MSU trailed by 12 points (40-28) late in the first half. The Spartans rallied to tie it at 43-43 by the halftime intermission and they built a 50-45 lead 2:47 into the second half. A 14-2 run put Bowling Green back in front at 64-56 with 10:53 left.

Back-to-back dunks by sophomore Coen Carr capped a 10-0 run by the Spartans over a 1:32 span to go back ahead 66-64. The Falcons took a lead again at 70-68 and extended it to 72-68.

Junior Carson Cooper's slam dunk and a 7-point surge by Carr gave the Spartans the lead for good to begin an 18-point run. A free throw by Carr gave MSU a 73-72 lead, followed by a tip-in dunk by Carr and a 3-point bomb by senior Jaden Akins.

Before the closing 18-point flurry, Bowling Green's pesky Falcons just wouldn't go away, and it should have been no surprise to the 14,797 fans. Bowling Green was playing on behalf of the entire Mid-American Conference 's pride in East Lansing against a perennial college basketball power from the bigger Big 10 Conference.

It was also a homecoming for former MSU star Lourawls "Tum Tum" Nairn Jr. who is now the associate head coach for Bowling Green.

When asked how Tum Tum Nairn being on the opposite bench impacted his team's play, Coach Izzo told the media in his post-game press conference: "I don't know, Tum didn't make many shots, they made them all. But it is different. It's hard enough to coach against your former assistants, but it's even harder to coach against your former players. I've only done it twice, but only one of them was a 4-year guy and that's Tum. Of course, at Butler, MoJo (Maurice Joseph) was the other one, but he was only here for two years."

Bowling Green Head Coach Todd Simon said: "(It was a) good, fun college basketball game ... anytime you get an opportunity to play a program the caliber of Michigan State, it's a big deal for us. I'm grateful to Coach Izzo to give us the game and bring us back close to home for Tum ... it was a good experience. They're tough and it really helped our team development. We are hopeful for some leaps from this game that we can grow on."

Akins liked  Izzo and Tum Tum being close to make the game more competitive, saying, "He knows all of our plays and was calling some of our plays out, so he knows what we do but we still have to execute... No, I was watching him a little bit, but I wasn't talking to him too much. I was just watching when he was talking to his players, when we were playing defense or when I was over there on that side of the court."

Akins led MSU with his first career double-double. He scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Akins also passed out 6 assists and made a couple of steals as MSU improved to 3-1 on the young season. MSU also reached the midway mark of its 8-game non-conference schedule to prepare for the Big 10 opener on Dec. 4 at Minnesota. The Spartans also rebounded from their 77-69 loss earlier in the week to No. 1 Kansas.

Akins said his teammates had to keep their energy focused on preventing a letdown, saying, "You get up for a game like Kansas, or the No. 1 team in the country, and then you come back and play, and you can't think 'Oh, everybody just comes in and we win the game easily.' We saw what they were capable of. They have some good players over there, so we knew it wasn't going to be just the easy game."

The senior from Farmington topped a parade of seven Spartans to reach double figures in the scoring column. Cooper and senior Frankie Fidler added 12 points each, Carr and junior Tre Holloman tallied 11 each and sophomore Jeremy Fears Jr. and junior Jaxon Kohler contributed 10 each.

. 

Izzo liked the balance, saying, "I said that we are strength by numbers, and ironically the only guy that did not score tonight was Jase (Richrson). He is averaging 11-12 points a game. But he didn't get any shots either. I don't know if we can keep it going, but it sure is nice to know that we have different guys that can score it in different ways. We got to just keep riding that horse until a couple guys break out and start really making shots and then we will go from there."

Richardson is the 6-3 freshman from Denver who is the son of MSU great Jason Richardson who made it to the NBA after playing for Izzo.

On the offensive balance, Akins said, "We just go on strength and numbers really, starters come off, bench comes in and provides instant offense and instant points. So, I feel like that just makes our team really dangerous. We have to continue to be like this."

Cooper added: "I think our bench points have been over 30 or something, the last four games. So, our bench has been able to come and contribute a lot, and I just heard Jaden say it, 'strength in numbers,' is another mantra that we have been going by. It's really nice to see everyone kind of step in and have a part in a big win."

Coen said, "Just having a lot of guys that bring the same energy, and that play hard on defense, because everybody comes in and there's no drop off. Everybody comes in and does their job. It's like we have a team full of starters. Just having that can definitely take a toll on teams."

On his energetic big tip-in dunk in the clutch to help fire up the Sparans to pull away and never look back, Coen said, "A lot, I don't feel like my dunks are worth two points, I feel it's worth more than that. I feel it's worth two points and it is worth helping getting us a stop on defense. The other team not knowing what they're calling on offense because the gym's screaming so loud, so I just feel like my dunks do a lot with that."

MSU NOTEBOOK:

KEY STATS: Bowling Green shot 54.8 percent from the floor in the first half (17-of-31) but went 32.3 percent from the floor in the second half (10-of-31). MSU shot 45.8 percent from the floor for the night (27-of-59) while hitting 59 percent of its two-point shots (23-of-39).

ADVANTAGE ON THE GLASS: MSU out-rebounded Bowling Green 42-28, including 25-14 in the second half. MSU is now 3-0 on the year when controlling the boards, losing when out-rebounded by Kansas.

BIG EDGE ON BENCH POINTS: MSU's bench played a key factor, too, by out-scoring Bowling Green's reserves 37-6.

ALL-TIME NUMBERS: MSU has an all-time record of 12-3 against Bowling Green, including 6 victories in a row. Izzo is 5-0 all time against the MAC school two hours south of East Lansing. 

MR. 700 CLUB: Izzo won his 710th career game. He's now 710-296.

SCORING 80 AGAIN: MSU has reached 80 poits in all three of its victories.

DOUBLE FIGURES PARADE: MSU's seven players in double figures marked the first time that's happened since Dec. 13, 2020 when beating Oakland University.

ANOTHER FEAT FOR AKINS: Along with his first career double-double, Akins also had a career-best mark with his 6 assists.

CAREER HIGH FOR COOPER: His 12 points set a new career-high. He hit a career-best 4 field goals and tied his career best with 4 free throws.

FREE THROW MAGIC: Fielder had at least 10 free throws in a game for the 14th time in his career. He connected on 10-of-10 to become just the third MSU player in the last 10 years to do so. The others were Adreian Payne against Delaware on March 20, 2014 and Tyson Walker against Indiana State on Dec. 30, 2023.

UP NEXT: MSU continues a two-game homestand, hosting Samford on Tuesday (Nov. 19 , 2024) at the Breslin Center. Game time is 8 pm and it will be televised on the Peacock Network.

ANN ARBOR (CCN) — University of Michigan officials announced today (Oct. 3, 2024) that a special event will be held to honor one of its long-time administrators — Greg Harden.

Harden, know as the "mental" coach to many hundreds of UM athletes over the past five decades, passed away in mid-September.

UM's 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard, now a college football analyst for ESPN, credited Harden with helping him win college football's top prize for individual players. "I don't win the Heisman if not for him" he said on an episode of ESPN's College Game Day when the death was announced, calling Harden a "mentor" and "long-time close friend."

Bob Bowman, coach to UM's Michael Phelps,  credited Harden with helping Phelps take his career to the next level when becoming the most decorated male swimmer in Olympic history.

Family, friends, UM staff, UM students and former athletes impacted by Harden are invited to attend “A Celebration of Life” for the long-time UM on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 11 a.m.

The memorial service and celebration will be held at Crisler Center on UM's campus.

Individuals can claim digital tickets at no cost for the event, beginning next week. Former UM student athletes and staff will have access to sign up on Monday (Oct. 7, 2024). Members of the public will be able to claim tickets on Wednesday (Oct. 9, 2024).

The event will include speakers from different eras of Harden’s life.

 A tribute to him on UM's website noted how Harden once  described his work in the following manner: "My real obsession is to convince an individual that they must determine for themselves what sort of man, what sort of woman they want to be. The goal is to make people experts on themselves."

He worked with hundreds of UM student-athletes during his career, including Desmond Howard, J.J. McCarthy, Tom Brady, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard and Olympians Emily Brunemann and Jeff Porter, as well as Michael Phelps.

Harden specialized as a mental coach for athletes, coaches, university personnel, executives and others on the world's biggest stages. That he maintained close personal relationships with so many, even decades after their competitive or working days had ended, reflects the enormous impact of his work on their performance and lives.

Harden was instrumental in the design and implementation of student-athlete and staff development strategies. His collaborative style and efforts helped to strengthen the athletic department's connection with the larger university community. He started his affiliation with the UM Athletic Department in 1986 when Hall of Fame football coach Bo Schembechler hired Harden as a staff consultant and student-athlete personal development program counselor.

Harden later became President of Power One Performance, Inc. providing performance coaching to corporate executives, professional athletes and community leaders.

He was President of Unlimited Access Educational Services — a non-profit organization. Harden has also served as Senior Vice President of Associated Consultation and Training, Inc.  and Executive Director of Leaders in Prevention.

A Detroit native and graduate of Southwestern High School, Harden received both his Bachelor of General Studies and Master's Degree in social work from UM. He published his first book in 2023 debuted at No. 1 on all of Amazon and became a bestseller on the New York Times list. — Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive.

DETROIT (CCN) — Thursday's dramatic comeback victory by the Detroit TIgers, coupled with the Minnesota Twins losing in extra innings later in the evening, reduced the magic number to one. The TIgers wasted no time clinching a spot in the American League playoffs by then promptly beating the Chicago White Sox 4-1 on Friday night.

It was the fifth victory in a row for the Tigers as they won for the ninth time in the last 10 games. They're 33-11 over their last 44 games for the best record in all of baseball.

They were once 10 games below the .500 mark in August and 10 games out of the wild card race.

Down 3-0 in Thursday's matinee, Detroit rallied to win 4-3 for its most dramatic comeback since July when coming back from five runs down to beat the Dodgers before the All Star Game  break.

A sellout crowd of 44,435 fans showed up Friday night to watch history. The Tigers, who had not had a winning season in seven years made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years 

The Tigers erased a 2-1 deficit Friday night with two runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to win it.

Riley Greene's RBI single and Matt Vierling's RBI double led Detroit's offense while four pitchers combined on a 3-hitter with Brant Hurter going to 6-1 on the season with 4 innings of work to get the victory.

(CCN) — Two long-time high school football coaches in Michigan have been placed on administrative leave and will miss Friday night's (Sept. 27, 2024) varsity games.

Carrollton High School's new varsity football coach has been placed on administrative leave. Multiple media reports say David Schneider is accused of throwing a pen at a student-athlete.

 New Baltimore Anchor Bay school district officials say its football coach, Mike Giannone, has been placed on administrative leave there, pending an investigation. Parents told CBS Detroit TV 62 that they have not been notified about why Giannone was placed on leave.

Giannone left his previous head coaching job at Warren De La Salle in 2019 after several players were accused of hazing younger students.  He won two state championships in three seasons at De La Salle and immediately landed the job at Anchor Bay after he left the De La Salle program. He previously led Macomb Dakota to  15 straight state playoff appearances and consecutive Division 1 state titles in 2006 and 2007. He was 191-64 in 22 years as a head coach until taking thejob at Anchor Bay where he's 18-21.

Carrollton Schools Superintendent Tiffany Peterson confirmed for other media that Schneider is on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation. Carrollton Police Chief Chris Kellet confirms his office has begun an investigation and multiple media reports say interviews will be scheduled soon.

Schneider had 31 years of coaching experience before leaving his teacher position to take a job in Florida as a fishing boat captain in 2013. He took the Carrolton job last spring to get back into coaching after an 11-year run out of the game.  Schneider graduated in 1983 from Cheboygan High and starred there to make the football team at Olivet College . He was a prep head coach at Atlanta in 2008 and 2009 with a 6-12 record and then went to Lincoln Alcona where he had records of 4-5, 5-4, 6-3 and 10-1. 

Anchor Bay takes a 2-2 record into Friday's contest at home against Romeo without Coach Giannone. 

Carrolton is going to Saginaw Novel Catholic on Friday in search of its first victory of the season. The Cavaliers are 0-4. 

 DETROIT (CCN) — Tarik Skubal pitched 7 innings of 2-hit ball to lead the Detroit Tigers in a matinee game at Comerica Park Tuesday (Sept. 24, 2024) as they beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1.

Skubal made a strong case to win the Cy Young Award in the American League by winning his 18th game of the season. He blanked the Rays for 7 innings to improve his AL-best earned run average to 2.39. Skubal also leads all of baseball with 223 strikeouts.

Skubal struck out 7 batters in Tuesday's matinee victory at Comercia Park. Beau Brieske came on to get the save with two innings of work. He allowed a 9th inning home run before settling down to end it for Manager A.J. Hinch's Tigers.

They moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins in the American League wild card playoff race. It became a two-game lead later when the Twins were beaten 4-1 in Miami by the Marlins in a Tuesday night game.

The Kansas City Royals won 1-0 over the Royals to pull back even with the Tigers for the No. 2 wild card spot in the AL with five games to go.

Detroit plays at 6:40 pm tonight against the Rays and close out a three-game series on Thursday at Comerica Park at 1:10 pm. The Tigers then close out the season at home against the Chicago White Sox who have the worst team in baseball.

 Wenceel Perez ripped a two-run double in the bottom of the 5th inning to give Detroit  its lead.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Tarek Skubal who won his 18th game of the season Tuesday at Comerica park by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1.

CONNECTICUT  (CCN) — Indiana Fever fans remain in an uproar after rookie star Caitlin Clark was poked in the eye early in Game 1 of their best-of-three playoff series and the Connecticut Sun went on to win 93-69 against an obviously half speed Clark who was sporting a big black eye by halftime.

The Fever and Sun hook up in Game 2 tonight at    MohegaMohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville 

The game will be televised at 7:30 pm on ESPN.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Catilin Clark who was poked in the eye early in Game 1 of Indiana's playoff game with the Connecticut Sun.

MIAMI (CCN) — Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball history to join the 50-50 club in home runs and stolen bases in the same season with one of the greatest individual feats ever.

Ohtani powered the Los Angeles Dodgers to a West Division clinching victory over the Miami Marlins by blasting three home runs, driving in 10 runs and swiping a pair of bases.

He now has 51 home runs and 51 stolen bases.

DETROIT (CCN) — Tarik Skubal made what may have been his last start at Comerica Park a memorable one by turning in 7 strong innings of work on the mound with 8 strikeouts as the Detroit Tigers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins 7-2.

Skubal's gem came amid rumors flying about a possible trade as baseball's trading deadline approaches on Tuesday.

Skubal allowed three hits and trailed 2-0 after giving up a 1st inning home run, but he surrendered just two hits the rest of the way while shutting out the Twins until leaving with a 3-2 lead after the 7th inning.

Skubal was locked in a pitching duel with Twins' ace Joe Ryan until the 6th inning when Colt Keith's RBI triple in the bottom of the 6th tied it after Mark Veiling opened with a lead-off single, and Keith then scored the go-ahead run off a RBI sacrifice fly by Mark Canha.  

Keith and Javier Báez then drilled two-run homers in the bottom of the 7th inning to offer insurance runs for the Tigers.

It was the third homer in three days for Báez. (See Related Story at right if you are reading on a lagtop or PC, or scroll down if you are reading on a mobile device)

Keith's homer was his 11th of the season — tying  Jake Wood and Nick Castellanos for most by a rookie in Tigers' history.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Tarik Skubal who went to 12-3 with a strong 7-inning outing for the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

DETROIT (CCN) — Javier Báez had hit only one home run all season but his two-run blast in the 7th inning Saturday (July 28, 2024) in front of more than 35,000 fans at Comerica Park in Detroit marked his third in three days.

Báez drilled a three-run blast in the 2nd inning propel the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 victory over the American League's Central Division leaders Thursday night (July 25, 2024) in Cleveland.

Báez, who was hitting a lowly .177 going into the Cleveland game, ripped another homer to start a homestand Friday night against the Minnesota Twins before adding the 7th inning blast on Saturday as the Tigers rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to beat the Twins 7-2.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is   Javier Báez who has three home runs n the last three games for the Detroit Tigers.

 COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.  (CCN) — Former Detroit Tigers Manager Jim Leyland offered an emotional speech Sunday (July 21, 2024) when inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

“My contributions to our beautiful pastime pale in comparison to the joy it has brought to my life, from the heart of a little boy to the soul of an old man,” Leyland said.

He was a former Double-A ball back-up catcher who went on to spend 22 years as a big league manger. He won a World Series championship with the Miami Marlins, made it to the World Series two other times in Detroit and won six division titles with the Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Leyland was honored three times as Manager of the Year.

 Inducted Sunday with Leyland were Todd Helton, Adrian Beltré and Joe Mauer.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is former Detroit Tigers' Manager Jim Leyland.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — Boxer Claressa Shields will step up to the heavyweight division on Saturday night (July 27, 2024) at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

She announced via her Facebook page that all floor seats are sold out for the big title fight.

Tickets start at $25 and range all the way to $750.

The two-time Olympic champion from Flint is the reigning WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO Middleweight World Champion and is the only women’s boxer in history to hold undisputed world titles in two divisions. She's also s is also a professional mixed martial artist in the Professional Fighters League.

Shields defended her middleweight belts by scoring a unanimous 10-round decision over Maricela Cornejo in June 2023 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The wildly successful event was the first boxing match ever held there.

“The Queen of Boxing is back! I’m so excited to return to the ring, especially after my MMA victory in February.” Shields said. “I’m excited to bring another entertaining fight to Little Caesars Arena. Last time 12,000 fans filled the arena, and this time we’re going to lift the roof off the building! This is a significant and unique fight where I am moving up two weight classes against a very tough champion in my quest to become World Champion in my fourth weight division. It’s an exciting time for women’s sports, and I thank DAZN for providing a global platform for women’s boxing. I plan to do what I do best: bring that GWOAT energy and continue putting women’s boxing on the map.”

She held a big party in Flint on Sunday at her old stomping grounds of Berston Field House on Saginaw Street.

"We’re taking over the block! I want all my friends, family, and supporters to join me in Flint for my official send-off to fight week," she had posted on social media when inviting Flint friends to join her.

 Shields will fight Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse. The 29-year-old from Canada is WBC World Champion in the Heavyweight division and 8-0 for her pro career. Shields is 14-0 since becoming a pro boxer after winning two Olympic gold medals.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is boxer Claressa Shields who is fighting for the heavyweight championship on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.  

DETROIT (CCN) — The Detroit Red Wings re-signed former first round draft choice Joe Veleno to a two-year contract for $2.275 million per season.

Veleno, 24, skated in 80 games with the Red Wings during the 2023-24 season as a centerman and set career highs in goals (12), assists (16), points (28), power play goals (3), shots (86) and shooting percentage (14.0%). The 6-foot-1, 201-pound forward spent the entire 2022-23 campaign in Detroit as well and finished with 20 points (9-11-20) and only 30 penalty minutes.

Selected by the Red Wings in the first round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft with the 30th overall pick, Veleno has totaled 64 points (30-34-64) and 81 penalty minutes in 232 NHL games since 2020-21. He also collected 36 points (18-18-36) and 26 penalty minutes in 69 games with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins from 2019-2022. Additionally, Veleno began the 2020-21 season with the Malmo Redhawks in the Swedish Hockey League, notching 20 points (11-9-20) and 20 penalty minutes in 46 games before returning to North America following the conclusion of the SHL season.

Prior to turning professional, Veleno played four seasons with the Saint John Sea Dogs and Drummondville Voltigeurs in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League from 2015-19, racking up 266 points (90-176-266), a plus-82 rating and 106 penalty minutes in 230 games, along with 46 points (27-19-46) and 34 penalty minutes in 61 postseason matchups. 

In the 2018-19 season, Veleno was selected to the QMJHL First All-Star Team after ranking fourth in the league with 104 points (42-62-104) in 59 regular-season games with Drummondville.

 Veleno helped Saint John win a QMJHL title in 2017 when he had 3 goals and 8 assists for 14 points in the playoffs after scoring 13 goals and 27 assists for 40 points in regular season play.

 A native of Kirkland, Quebec, Veleno became the first Quebec-born prospect to be granted exceptional player status by Hockey Canada in 2015. On the international stage, Veleno won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, tallying five points (2-3-5) in five games. He also represented his country at back-to-back IIHF World Junior Championships in 2019 and 2020, earning a gold medal at the 2020 tournament. Additionally, Veleno dished out three assists in four appearances at the 2018 IIHF World Under-18 Championship and captained Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Joe Veleno who has re-signed with the Detroit Red Wings for two seasons.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (CCN) — The Detroit Tigers took a high school player with their first pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. They took shortstop Bryce Rainer from Hollywood, California with the 11th selection overall.

Rainer is also a top pitching prospect — maybe the top one in the Class of 2024.

He led Harvard-Westlake to its second CIF Southern Section Division I title in school history as a freshman when going 9-0 with 74 strikeouts and a 1.46 ERA in 55 2/3 innings. He also hit .391 at the plate to take home the Max Preps National Freshman of the Year award.

Rainer focused on playing shortstop afterward when catching the eye of MLB scouts.

The left hitter finished his senior season last month with a .505 batting average.

Current Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who was also drafted out of high school from Harvard-Westlake, told reporters in the days leading up to the MLB Draft that he sees Rainer making the big leagues in four or five years.

"I think Bryce is more than capable of being a top-five pick and a kid that goes to the big leagues in the next four or five years,” Crow-Armstrong had told reporters earlier in the week.

"And he’s got the attitude for it, he added. "Now, it’s just his turn to kind of find his way in the pro ball setting and get beat up a little bit, but then have the opportunity to show everybody who Bryce Rainer is. He’s really, really, really talented. Better than me at that age. Not even close. Not defensively, but he can hit, and if he wanted to go try the two-way thing, I think he’d have a good chance of doing that. Talent-wise, he’s got it, for sure."

The Tigers have a history with Harvard-Westlake High School, too. They took Brennan Boesch in the 3rd round of the 2006 MLB Draft. He went there, too, before playing college ball at Cal and making it to the big leagues with the Tigers.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is shortstop Bryce Rainer who was the first pick by the Detroit Tigers on Sunday in the 2024 MLB Draft. Rainer hit .505 last season in high school ball and is also a pitching prospect.

(CCN) — C.J. Weins is headed to Detroit's organization after he was obtained in a trade with the Boston Red Sox.

Weins is a 24-year-old, right-handed pitcher who was a 6th round draft choice of the Red Sox out of Western Kentucky in 2023.

In 20 games this season for Salem in single-A ball, Weins had a 4.62 earned run average in 25 1/3 innings of work. He is 0-2 with 3 saves.

He has been assigned to Detroit's single-A team in Lakeland known as the Flying TIgers.

The Tigers gave up relief pitcher Trey Wingenter to get Weins in the deal.

Wingenter pitched in spring training for the Tigers but has been at Triple-A Toledo all season. He has a sparkling 13.2 strikeouts per 9 innings in 26 relief appearances for the Mud Hens in 2024. He's 4-4 with a 3.31 ERA. Wingenter was a 17th round selection of the San Diego Padres in the 2015 MLB Draft. He has 33 saves in his 10-year minor league career that began with six seasons in the Padres' organization.

Wingenter missed missed almost all of 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to Tommy John surgery. He signed with the Tigers in 2023 and made it to the big leagues with them during his first season in their organization when splitting his time between Detroit and Toledo in Triple-A.

The trade comes as the Red Sox are 7 1/2 games ahead of the Tigers in the race for the final wild card playoff spot in the American League.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is C.J. Weins who was obtained by the Detroit Tigers in a trade with the Boston Red Sox. 

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — The weekend magic continued Sunday (July 14, 2024) for the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. They used a rally in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second day in a row.

Down 3-1, Sunday's comeback began with a lead-off triple in the bottom of the 9th by Zack McKinstry.  "It was a curveball up in the zone and I was able to get a barrel to it," the ex-Central Michigan star told media members afterward. "I saw it going toward the line and I was like, 'Stay fair, stay fair.' Then it hit the ground and I was like, 'Oh yeah, let's go,' and I turned on the burners." 

An RBI single by rookie pinch hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy tied it at 3-3, before back-to-back bunts were botched by the Dodgers. An errant throw over their third baseman's head into left field resulted in Malloy trotting in with the walk-off winning run.

Malloy and Ryan Vilade were both safe when the Dodgers booted a bunt by Vilade. Then Wenceel Perez dropped another bunt to try to move Malloy to third when the bad throw came by L.A.

Vilade, recently called up from Triple-A Toledo, was 2-for-3 on the day besides the sacrifice bunt.

Detroit's come-from-behind rally on Saturday to beat the Dodgers 11-9 came after they were down by 5 runs going into the bottom of the 9th. They tied it at 9-9 on Colt Keith's fifth home run in the last 10 games, then won it in the bottom of the 10th on the first big league homer by Gio Urshela.

The TIgers also treated their fans to an exciting game on Friday night when a sellout crowd of 42,060 fans packed Comerica Park, and were disappointed when superstar slugger Shohei Ohtani's RBI double in the 9th gave the Dodgers a 4-3 victory.

Another sellout crowd watched Detroit's dramatic rally on Saturday before more than 35,000 turned out on Sunday.

The Tigers climbed to 24,390 fans per game with the big crowds this weekend to move up to No. 21 in MLB attendance average. They went into the weekend at just over 20,000 fans per game to rank next to last in the entire MLB  — ahead of only the Miami Marlins.

Sunday marked the 8th time in the last 10 games that the Tigers won. Taking 2-out-of-3 over the National League's West Division leading Dodgers at Comerica Park followed taking 3-out-of-4 from the American League's Central Division leading Cleveland Guardians in Detroit. They started their hot streak with a 3-game sweep last weekend over the Reds in Cincinnati.

The Tigers got a great bullpen performance on Sunday after starter Beau Bridges surrendered all 3 runs by the Dodgers in the first inning.

Five Tigers combined to toss shut-out ball the rest of the way — highlighted by Kenta Maeda going 3 2/3 innings and giving up only one hit.

The Tigers are now 47-50 going into the break for Tuesday's All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas.

The Tigers are 12 games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central and within 5 games of the third-place Royals and 7 1/2 behind the second-place Twins.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Zack McKinstry who ripped a lead-off triple in the bottom of the 9th inning to begin Detroit's rally to win again in come-from-behind fashion via a walk-off winner.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — Gio Urshela hit his first big league home run in dramatic fashion with a walk-off blast to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-9 in front of a sellout crowd Saturday (July 13, 2024) at Comerica Park.

It came in the bottom of the 10th inning after the Tigers rallied from a 9-4 deficit to tie the game at 9-9 on a two-run homer by rookie Colt Keith in the bottom of the 9th.

The sellout crowd was the second in a row for the Tigers who blew a 3-2 lead to lose 4-3 on Friday night in front of 42,060 fans. 

Manager A.J. Hinch was bubbling with excitement after the game when meeting with reporters. He said, “I don't know how to appropriately comment on that game. It's an amazing feeling to see the guys happy — what a comeback on both sides of the ball.”

The Dodgers, who lead the National League's West Division, were 48-0 when leading this season after 8 innings. “That’s pretty cool,” CMU grad Zach McKinstry of the Tigers said to the media afterward. “Now (48) and one,” he added.

Keith, who drilled his 5th homer in 10 games, told reporters there is simply "no quit" in the Tigers. "We never gave up," he said. "Even (when) falling down 9-4, I feel like there was no change, no falter there. Everyone was going in, trying to have a good at-bat."

The Tigers started the bottom of the 9th with consecutive hits by Wenceel Pérez, Justyn-Henry Malloy and Matt Vierling. Pérez and Malloy had back-to-back singles before Vierling delivered a two-run double to get the Tigers within 9-6. 

 Riley Greene grounded out and Jake Rogers struck out to put the Tigers down to their final out.

Carson Kelly kept them alive with an RBI single to make it 9-7 before 22-year-old rookie Keith ripped a first-pitch, up-and-in cutter to the right field seats to tie it at 9-9.

Keith also knocked in 3 runs in the 2nd inning when belting a double. He was 3-for-4 in his 4 RBI day at the plate to raise his batting average to .253 after a slow start this season. The homer was his 9th of the year.

Rookie Keith also shined in the field at second base when turning an inning-ending doubleplay to strand the bases loaded in the top of the 10th.

 Shohei Ohtani scored three times for the Dodgers and belted his 29th home run to become the first Japanese-born player in MLB history to reach the 200 plateau for his career.

He scored for the third time in the 8th inning on Freddie Freeman's RBI sacrifice fly to put the Dodgers ahead 9-4 after a lead-off walk. He stole second base (his 23rd steal of the year) and moved up to third on a single by Teoscar Hernandez.

Ohtani also had a single and a triple to come up .only a double shy of hitting for the cycle.

The Dodgers slipped to 7 games ahead of the San Diego Padres in the NL West standings.

 The Tigers improved their record to 46-50 with one more contest until the All-Star Game break. That one will come Sunday at 1 pm in the rubber game of the 3-game series with L.A. The game will be on Bally Sports TV and the radio broadcast will originate from 97.1 FM The Ticket. The 13 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the American League's Central Division.

The Tigers took 3-out-of-4 from Cleveland to start their homestand at Comerica Park after a 3-game sweep over the Reds in Cincinnati.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Saturday's hero  Gio Urshela. His two-run homer won it for the Detroit Tigers in front of a sellout crowd Saturday at Comerica Park in walk-off fashion.

 ARLINGTON, TEXAS (CCN) — Cam Collier of the Cincinnati Reds' organization blasted a 409-foot home run to win the MVP award at the 25th annual MLB Futures Game as All-Star Week continued at Arlington's Globe Life Field which is the home of the Texas Rangers.

Collier led the National League prospects to a 6-1 victory over the American League prospects in the annual showcase of the top young players in minor league baseball.

The Detroit Tigers were represented by two of their top prospects in the minors — Single-A outfielder Max Clark and Double-A infielder Hao-Yu Lee. They were a combined 1-for-5 with Clark getting the lone hit on a line drive single.

Clark, who was the No. 3 overall pick in last year’s MLB draft.by the Tigers, is hitting .279 this season with the Lakeland Flying Tigers. He has 6 home runs and an impressive 25 stolen bases. 

The MLB Draft starts on Sunday, followed by the Home Run Derby on Monday and the All-Star Game on Tuesday.