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"Sports Quote of the Day"

"I'm not trying to tell anyone not to watch TV, but if you've ever spent a long winter afternoon playing shinny with the whole neighborhood, or a summer playing softball with anyone who shows up at a diamond, you will know that kids who don't have a chance to organize themselves and solve their own problems and feel the exhilaration of sport for it's own sake are missing out on something irreplaceable." ~ Bobby Orr, Former NHL Hockey Player  

Trending: Crawford pitches sixth shutout as Blackhawks top Senators. (See the hockey section for Blackhawks updates).

Trending: Cutler's efforts not enough as Bears close season with home loss. to Lions. (See the football section for Bears updates).

Trending: Jimmy Butler drops record 40 points in second half to fuel Bulls comeback. (See the basketball section for Bulls updates). 

Trending: Awful CFP semifinal ratings show sport still lacks common sense. (See the college football section for details).

NFL Scoreboard, Sunday, 01/03/2016.

New York Jets 17

Buffalo Bills 22

New England Patriots 10

Miami Dolphins 20

New Orleans Saints 20

Atlanta Falcons 17

Baltimore Ravens 16

Cincinnati Bengals 24

Pittsburgh Steelers 28

Cleveland Browns 12

Jacksonville Jaguars 6

Houston Texans 30

Tennessee Titans 24

Indianapolis Colts 30

Washington Redskins 34

Dallas Cowboys 23

Philadelphia Eagles 35

New York Giants 30

Detroit Lions 24

Chicago Bears 20

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10

Carolina Panthers 38

Oakland Raiders 17

Kansas City Chiefs 23

San Diego Chargers 20

Denver Broncos 27

Seattle Seahawks 36

Arizona Cardinals 6

St. Louis Rams 16

San Francisco 49ers 19

Minnesota Vikings 20

Green Bay Packers 13

Red denotes winning team

Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Cutler's efforts not enough as Bears close season with home loss. to Lions.

By Tony Andracki

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

It's clear what one of the Bears' top goals will be next season: Win at home.

The Bears finished the 2015 regular season with a 24-20 loss to the Detroit Lions, ensuring a 1-7 finish at Soldier Field in John Fox's first year as head coach.

The Bears (6-10) were playing catch-up all day as Matthew Stafford and the Lions (7-9) marched downfield on the game's opening drive for a touchdown.

Slow starts have plagued the Bears all season and Week 17 was no different. They did not get on the scoreboard until the middle of the third quarter, when Robbie Gould connected on a 49-yard field goal.

The Bears looked as if they were going to have a chance to pick up a score on their first drive of the game, too, but Jay Cutler's pass in the end zone tipped off Cameron Meredith's hands and into the waiting arms of Lions safety James Ihedigbo.

Cutler also threw an interception right before halftime when his arm was hit, setting up a 59-yard field goal from Lions kicker Matt Prater as time expired in the first half.

The Bears' hopes were dashed on Cutler's final interception on the first play out of the two-minute warning when he was hit by Lions defensive end Ezekiel Ansah and the ball floated into the hands of Detroit safety Glover Quin.

The Lions picked up a first down on the ensuing drive before settling into victory formation and winding down the clock.

Working without his top five receiving options (Alshon Jeffery, Eddie Royal, Marquess Wilson, Zach Miller and Martellus Bennett), Cutler played some inspired football despite the three interceptions, executing the game plan rather well in what may be offensive coordinator Adam Gase's last game in Chicago.

Cutler worked with Marc Mariani (6 catches, 80 yards), Josh Bellamy (3 rec, 49 yds, TD), Deonte Thompson (1 rec, 45 yds) and third-string tight end Rob Housler (2 rec, 18 yds) while also utilizing Matt Forte out of the backfield.

Forte scored on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Cutler, making for a nice moment in what is likely the star running back's final game with the Bears. Forte shared a touching minute with the Soldier Field faithful, who gave the veteran a standing ovation after crossing the goal line.

Forte also finished with 76 yards rushing on 17 carries plus 34 yards on three catches.

Cutler ended his day with 245 passing yards to go with the two touchdowns and three interceptions and a rating of 97.5.

View from the Moon: Four main takeaways from Bears' 6-10 season.

By John Mullin

One of the Bears’ objectives going into Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions was to avoid the personal ignominy of a 10-loss season, along with the embarrassment of going a franchise-low 1-7 at home in one season. Those didn’t happen as the Bears couldn’t make fourth-quarter plays on offense or defense in a 24-20 final fall-down.

“I’m very disappointed in our record,” said linebacker Pernell McPhee, summing up the mood of an organization. “What I gave this year wasn’t enough so I’ve got to work harder to get guys to be with each other, play with each other and make more plays.”

The final score of Sunday’s wrap-up was only marginally more important that that of a fourth preseason game “Today was pretty much a microcosm of our season,” said coach John Fox.

The Bears were playing to win but with virtually nothing on the line and therefore relegating the game to also-ran status and not really a worthwhile measuring standard for much of anything. Usually the point is to assess what the course and outcome of a game means. But it is time instead to pull the camera back and see broader perspectives on the season as a whole.

The 2015 season overall was very much one of note, for multiple reasons, and in this order:

Ryan Pace: Pace kept a very low profile throughout the season and his hiring may not have registered on many analysts’ meters because of his youth and first-timer status. But the linchpin of what the Bears need to become lies in the draft and Pace directed a draft that netted starters Eddie Goldman, Jeremy Langford and Adrian Amos already, plus Hroniss Grasu when he adds NFL strength, and Kevin White for next year.

Pace points to the preferred philosophy of placing personnel heads from the pro-scouting side at the GM level with their precise knowledge of what an NFL player needs to be. Additionally, whether or not Fox was Pace’s first choice to replace Marc Trestman is less important than Pace accomplishing the task of bringing in the first Bears head coach with prior NFL head-coaching experience since George Halas, and Papa Bear was just re-hiring himself.

John Fox: The Bears needed a radical overhaul of the entire coaching staff and Fox accomplished that by securing a stellar stable of assistants with quality NFL experience.

More important, Fox re-established the necessary primacy of the head-coaching position and reshaped the persona of the entire locker room. Injuries and mistakes bordering at times on the flukish (Robbie Gould’s missed field goal vs. San Francisco, Antrel Rolle’s missed interception in Minnesota). But the change within the team and organization was palpable. And desperately needed. And it happened.

“Being a starter on both teams - last year and this year - I can tell you that it's a different team this time around,” said tackle Kyle Long. “Although the record doesn't reflect that, I've said that a million times. I'd go to fight with this group any day of the week. I know they'll continue to bring in guys that you want to play next to and for. We played teams tough. We're not going to lay down. We're going to run the ball. You're going to feel us and by the end of the day, you're going to know that you played the Chicago Bears. We're not where we want to be, but I'm not going to be finished here until we're a very, very good football team. And I intend to be a part of it and I intend to try to be at the forefront of it."

Jay Cutler: Much of the late-season attention around the Chicago offense has centered on the coaching fate of coordinator Adam Gase. But the bigger story began in training camp, even before that, really, when Cutler quietly went practice after practice after practice after practice without throwing an interception even in a drill.

He threw three on Sunday but ultimately Cutler went 12 straight games (14 overall) without throwing two interceptions in a game, the only NFL quarterback who’d started 10 games without a two-pick game. For sake of perspective, the longest stretch of sub-2-INT games in Cutler’s Bears career before this season was six games, for his entire career, seven games (2008).

Cutler’s emergence as a stabilizing factor in the offense, eliminating turnovers and mastering ball-control concepts, was the single biggest positive from the Bears’ 2015 season on offense. The inconsistencies and lack of big-play effectiveness from the receiver group made Cutler’s season even more impressive, needing to adjust to myriad receiver combinations and talents and rarely having his full firepower available.

And he did the adjusting with a certain equanimity that was seldom part of his game or persona earlier in his career when he had substandard receivers with which to work.

The reservations expressed about Cutler by Pace and the coaching staff may have motivated Cutler in basically a show-us season. And he showed them, posting passer ratings of 88.4 or better in 12 of his 15 games, contributing to a career-best 92.3 passer rating.

“I think he had a good season,” Fox said. “I’m excited about working with him moving forward.”

Matt Forte: Forte represents nothing short of a fork in the Bears’ road. Are they massively rebuilding, or are they in fact a win-now team? This is about more than just the second-greatest running back in franchise history.

Because if they are thinking win-now – which they should be, with Jay Cutler in his true prime and John Fox absolutely not interested in a long makeover job when he took this one – then finding a way to keep Matt Forte is both a statement and good football. Forte finished Sunday with 20 touches for 99 yards (76 rushing, 23 receiving, one touchdown), the kind of numbers that would interest a Bill Belichick or Bruce Arians or Pete Carroll, someone with a team on the brink of and thinking championships.

That should include the Bears, at the least for the “thinking” part. While the refrain, “Yeah, I knew they’d be a six-win team” is easy and popular, it’s also laughable. Because this was a six-win team that was finishing the season with, among other things, all three of its projected starting wide receivers down (Alshon Jeffery and Kevin White all the way on IR) and a defensive line that played the final game with exactly one player (Will Sutton) who was with the team in training camp. One. All those defensive guys that didn’t fit a 3-4? Like Willie Young (6.5 sacks) and like Lamarr Houston (7 sacks) playing basically the second half of the season? You saw this as a 6-10 team? Really? Then I want you picking my stocks and bonds for me.

“Hang with us,” Fox said among his closing remarks. “We’re going to get there. There will be way better days to come.”

Facing uncertain future, Bears pay tribute to 'legend' that is Matt Forte.

By Tony Andracki

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

As the final whistle blew and the Bears and Lions converged at the center of Soldier Field, only one player took off in the opposite direction.

Matt Forte jogged toward the south end zone to briefly thank fans for all their support over the years.

Forte - being the class act that he is - still made sure he had enough time to hustle back to the middle of the field to slap hands with his opponents.

Facing an uncertain future, Forte knows this might have been his last game with the Bears.

"I was just kind of thanking the fans," Forte said after the Bears' 24-20 loss. "I wasn't able to get everybody, but I was able to slap a few hands and say 'thank you' or whatever just because if it this was the last game that I play in Soldier Field, I didn't want to leave without showing the fans that I appreciate them in person."

Forte said it was just another day of football for him and refused to acknowledge that his fourth-quarter touchdown carried any special significance.

But the eight-year veteran also admitted he spent some time just taking in the surroundings as he walked back to the huddle or stood on the sidelines.

If this is the end, the Bears sent Forte out right, despite the loss. They handed him 17 carries - his highest workload since Week 13 - and targeted him three times in the passing game.

In the locker room after the contest, Bears players and coaches gushed about Forte with a slew of overwhelming and emotional responses:

Jay Cutler

"It will be sad if we lose him. He's been here my entire career - an unbelievable teammate, unbelievable friend, a true professional in every sense of the word, on and off the field. It would be weird not having him, that's for sure. He gave a lot to this team and this city and he's still got some stuff left in the tank."

John Fox

"I appreciate him and have great respect for him and everything he gave us this season. ... He is a pro. I think he's been that for a long time before I got here. I got to witness it day-in and day-out, good times and bad times. He was a captain and he led a young group. I think a big part of their improvement was Matt Forte."

Kyle Long

"It's incredible. I was thinking about it as he was walking off the field as he was surrounded by people, 'I'm going to tell my kids about this guy; I'm going to tell my grandkids about this guy,' if they don't already know because he's going to be everywhere. He's a legend. He's somebody who should be in the same conversation with the greats. He's the best player I've ever played with."

Marc Mariani

"He's a legend, to me. I love him, man. As amazing of a football player he is, he's an even better guy. Anybody that's been around him for any amount of time can tell you that. To be able to suit up next to that guy and battle with him and just go to war with him every week, that was an honor for me. He's such a stud. I don't know if this is his last game as a Bear, but if it was, man, he's put on a show for a lot of years and it was nothing but an honor to play with him for a year-and-a-half."

Jeremy Langford

"It's hard to explain how much I've learned from him. I've learned a lot on how to be a professional, how to compete every game - in it or not - and how to finish, just like he did [Sunday]. I think he had a great game. I just wish the results were different. It felt good seeing [him get in the end zone], especially for us as a team, since it's been hard for us to score down in the red zone. To see him score really just put us in a position to win the game. It was fun to watch."

Forte didn't spend much time getting emotional in what may be his final postgame presser with the Chicago media, but he spoke with feeling when asked how he feels about his teammates' respect for him and hearing some of their comments.

"It means a lot," Forte said. "That's what you play the game for. You play the game to earn the respect from your opponents and also your peers, which are your teammates.

"For them to say that, reassures that you've been doing a good job and have been a hard worker during your career. So, I feel like I've been doing the right thing, and if I continue to do that, I'll be in a good place when I finish playing football."

Bears could be looking for offensive, defensive coordinators.

By ANDREW SELIGMAN

Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Miami Dolphins in Chicago. Gase and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio could be candidates for head coaching jobs after helping lay a solid foundation in their first year in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

The way Kyle Long sees things, it just might be time for offensive coordinator Adam Gase and the Chicago Bears to part ways.

That's about the biggest compliment the 6-foot-6 right tackle could pay him.

''I'd go to fight for Adam Gase any day,'' Long said.

The Bears could be looking for offensive and defensive coordinators as they take a 6-9 record into their season finale against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

That's not because Gase and Vic Fangio are in danger of losing their jobs. It's because they helped coach John Fox and general manager Ryan Pace lay what appears to be a solid foundation for a team coming off a five-win mess in 2014.

They interviewed for head coaching jobs last offseason, and they could be in the running again even though their groups rank in the middle of the NFL statistically.

On offense, Chicago is 18th. The defense ranks a little higher at 12th. They're hardly dominating, but that has more to do with the holes the Bears had to fill than the ability of their coaches.

There were big talent gaps, particularly on defense. Injuries have only compounded things on both sides.

Despite all that, Gase has helped quarterback Jay Cutler cut down on his turnovers after leading the league a year ago. Fangio has helped restore a defense that ranked among the worst in franchise history.

While Gase insisted he is not thinking beyond this weekend's game, Fangio made it clear his phone line is open.

''If the right opportunity and people were interested, yeah, I'd certainly listen,'' he said. ''But like I've always said, they are their jobs and they have their minds set on what they have, and if I happened to fit that mold and what they're looking for, that would be great.''

The Philadelphia Eagles have an opening after firing Chip Kelly this week, and the Miami Dolphins have an interim coach. Other jobs figure to become available this weekend.

Whether there will be a fit for the 57-year-old Fangio or 37-year-old Gase is unclear. Neither has been a head coach. But they do have extensive experience in the NFL.

Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, right, works with linebacker Kyle Woestmann during an NFL football training camp at Olivet Nazarene University, in Bourbonnais, Ill. Offensive coordinator Adam Gase and Fangio could be candidates for head coaching jobs after helping lay a solid foundation in their first year in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Fangio, wrapping up his 16th season as a coordinator in the league, could benefit from the success of Arizona's Bruce Arians and Minnesota's Mike Zimmer. Both were older assistants who are now enjoying success as first-time head coaches.

Fangio, who oversaw one of the league's top defenses with San Francisco from 2011 to 2014, came to Chicago after being bypassed for the 49ers' head coaching job in favor of defensive line coach Jim Tomsula. He was also a candidate for the Washington Redskins job that went to Joe Barry.

''The things that I see from Coach Vic, he'll definitely be a good head coach,'' cornerback Tracy Porter said.

Gase ultimately followed Fox from Denver to Chicago after interviewing for head coaching jobs with the Bears, San Francisco, Buffalo and Atlanta.

Gase spent the last six seasons on Denver's staff, including the last two as offensive coordinator. The Broncos led the NFL in scoring and total offense the last two years.

He did that with Peyton Manning at quarterback. In Chicago he has done something previous coordinators Ron Turner, Mike Marta, Mike Tice and Aaron Kromer struggled to do - connect with the quarterback.

''If he gets that shot, I'm excited for him,'' Cutler said. ''I think he deserves it. He's done some really good things in this league and they speak for themselves, whether it's Tim Tebow or Peyton or myself or Kyle Orton. Whoever he's worked with he's found ways to manage the system and make them successful.''

How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blackhawks capitalize in 'low-chance affair' as Crawford blanks Sens.  

By Tracey Myers

Corey Crawford blocks a shot during the second period. (Photo/Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

Duncan Keith was just trying to get Jonathan Toews’ attention as quickly as possible.

“I was just calling for (the puck) as loud as I could and hopefully Toews would get it to me,” Keith said. “He did, and I just tried to get it on net.”

He did, and it proved to be the game winner.

Keith scored his seventh goal of the season and Corey Crawford stopped 26 shots for his sixth shutout this season as the Blackhawks beat the Ottawa Senators, 3-0, on Sunday night. The Blackhawks have now won three in a row and jumped ahead of St. Louis to second in the Central Division.

Artem Anisimov scored his 15th goal of the season and third in as many games. Andrew Desjardins added an empty-net goal; Desjardins now has four goals and an assist in his last three games.

On a night when there wasn’t a lot of flow and weren’t a lot of scoring opportunities, the Blackhawks had to take advantage of whatever chances they got.

“Yeah, we’ll take a win,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “Certainly it was definitely a low-chance affair tonight, just the opposite of when we saw them in Ottawa, when it was up and down the ice with high quality at both ends. It’s probably the respect of knowing they’re dangerous off the rush, and they’re thinking the same way against us. It was hard to generate any kind of flow or offensive-zone opportunities. Duncs got a nice goal for us and loosened things up a bit.”

Anisimov scored off a Michal Rozsival rebound to give the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead six minutes into the third period. Desjardins added his empty-net goal with 47.9 seconds remaining in regulation.

“Obviously it’s nice to see Desi get some goals here lately. But any time you get that secondary scoring or guys like Desi chipping in on the offense, it helps our team so much,” Keith said. “Getting that empty-netter was a relief. Otherwise, they still feel they’re in it.”

Crawford, meanwhile, got the 18th shutout of his career. It wasn’t Crawford’s busiest night shot-wise, but one in which his focus was there from start to finish regardless. "He wasn’t tested early, and sporadically they came at him,” Quenneville said. “But he’s been doing a good job for us.”

Crawford, who played in his 300th career game on Sunday, said he’s learned plenty in his last few seasons with the Blackhawks.

“Every year that’s the goal is to be predictable, consistent and give your team confidence going into games knowing what they’re going to get,” he said. “That’s definitely an important thing for a goaltender.”

The Blackhawks like how they’re doing as they near the midway point of the season. They’ve had some tricky moments, but they’re finding the right combinations and finding ways to win. They’re also finding each other on the ice at critical times, much like Toews did with Keith on Sunday.

“I don’t think we’re ever really satisfied with where we’re at, but we’ve improved from where we started. Having said that, we know there’s lots more room for improvement in what we want to do as a team and how we need to play,” Keith said. “It’s good there are lots of games left to do that.”

Look back fast then move on: Five thoughts on the Blackhawks.

By Tracey Myers

Ah, here we are, folks, in 2016. It’s a time to reflect on the past and make resolutions for the future (if you’re into that sort of thing).

For the Blackhawks, they finished 2015 with two victories. They were two interesting, entertaining victories, but they were victories nonetheless. They’ll enjoy a quick respite but, beginning yesterday, Sunday, the Blackhawks started another busy month, in which they’ll play 14 games in 24 days.

So with this very brief respite upon us, let’s look at Five Thoughts on how the Blackhawks finished 2015 and what awaits them in 2016:

1. Jonathan Toews’ overtime goals. It’s just becoming something you expect: if the Blackhawks head to overtime, you can expect Toews to score the game winner. Toews did it again on Thursday, scoring his league-leading fourth overtime goal. He also set a single-season franchise record for overtime goals. Some may lament Toews not having more goals overall this season but ultimately, you need your captain to come through at clutchtimes. Scoring a bunch of overtime winners fits that description.

2. Is that third line onto something? Andrew Desjardins, Phillip Danault and Teuvo Teravainen: it may not be an on-paper combination that screams “offense,” but that’s exactly what these three have created lately. Desjardins has three goals in his last two games. Teravainen has three assists in the same two games and Danault has two assists. The Blackhawks wanted to get their supplementary scoring going and these three have gotten that third line involved in the offense.

3. Giving up the goals. There’s always another side, isn’t there? The Blackhawks’ goaltending during most of December was stellar. Corey Crawford, who had three shutouts last month, was a big part of that. But he and Scott Darling gave up eight goals combined against the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche. Darling told the Sun Times he was feeling a little rusty – it was just his second start in December and third in a month. Perhaps Crawford was feeling the effects of a busy month. The Blackhawks’ goaltending, overall, has been good this season. There’s no reason to think it won’t return to being stingy soon.

4. The Blackhawks’ power play is good. Repeat that, folks, because it’s not something you’ve been able to say the last few years. That power play that was long futile despite the amount of talent is futile no more. It’s third overall in the NHL, converting 23.8 percent of its chances. Now it’s not as good at home (12^th, 20 percent), where you could argue the Blackhawks fall into that wait-and-pass-a-lot habit more often. But it’s the league’s best on the road, recording four power-play goals in the past two games.

5. Looking back, then moving forward. The Central Division continues to be an entertaining one that, outside of Dallas, is allowing little breathing room. But the Blackhawks are keeping pace; they finished 2015 in third place with 48 points, two behind St. Louis and two ahead of Minnesota. The Stars lead with 59 points. The Blackhawks won’t head into January thinking, “we have to catch the Stars.” They’ve been here, done this before. It’s not about finishing first; it’s about getting into the playoffs and seeing what happens from there. Certainly, it’s not going to get easier. But the Blackhawks, who went through a lot of changes, two injuries – one current – and a myriad of line changes, are doing fine. 

Just Another Chicago Bulls Session... Jimmy Butler drops record 40 points in second half to fuel Bulls comeback.

By Jessica Parker

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

What the Bulls reserves lacked, Jimmy Butler made up for in a 115-113 comeback win against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, pushing the Bulls' winning streak to a season-high four games.

Jimmy Butler was held almost scoreless in the first quarter, sitting with two points when he took a DeMarre Carroll elbow to a face. When he returned in the third with a lacerated lip, he was a new man, scoring a franchise-record 40 points in the second half, finishing with 42 on the night.

Nikola Mirotic and Pau Gasol added 17 points and 19 points, respectively. Gasol also had 13 rebounds and six assists.

It looked to be all Raptors as they pulled away after an even first quarter to lead 60-48 at half, but much like when the two teams met last Monday in Chicago, the Bulls came back in the fourth to get the win.

It was the Bulls' seventh consecutive win against the Raptors. The bench combined for 51 points in a 104-74 win over the Raptors last Monday, but they failed to repeat those numbers Sunday, scoring only 20.

Coming into Toronto, the Bulls bench led by Tony Snell and Bobby Portis had been averaging 48.3 points over their last three games, and the team was 14-1 when outscoring the opposing team’s bench.

DeMar DeRozan finished with 24 for the Raptors, while Luis Scola had himself a night, matching his season high with 22.

The Bulls were without starting point guard Derrick Rose, who sat out his third straight game due to a hamstring issue. He is scheduled for an MRI on Monday back in Chicago, but that is to check out his oft-injured knee.

Next up for the Bulls is a game against the division-rival Milwaukee Bucks back at home Tuesday.

Mirotic and Portis' energy starts Bulls' 2016 off on the right foot. (Friday's game, New Year's Day, 01/01/2015). 

By Vincent Goodwill

Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic  heads back on defense after hitting a 3-pointer in the first half. (Photo/Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

There was one, then before you knew it Nikola Mirotic made a series of game-changing plays for the Bulls, and the surprising part was just one came on the offensive end.

A shocking 35-foot 3-pointer he took almost out of resignation when Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony dared him to do something with it from that far out, as the momentum was careening away from the Knicks midway through the fourth quarter.

Challenge accepted.

“Yeah, literally. You look at my face and I said, ‘oh s***,’” said Jimmy Butler when asked if he was surprised when Mirotic launched the long triple with 10 seconds on the shot clock. “Not even joking I was like damn. He was feeling it, I like that Niko.”

Mirotic’s slump-busting four triples certainly got the Bulls off to a hot start to 2016, as well as Doug McDermott’s consecutive triples that sent the United Center into a frenzy but it was Mirotic’s defense during the decisive 19-4 run that sealed the Bulls’ 108-81 win over the Knicks Friday night.

Mirotic blocked an Anthony layup from behind, snatching a rebound and got his hands on some steals that got the Bulls off and running, playing a huge part in an energetic win that vaults the Bulls to 19-12.

Surprisingly, the Bulls held the Knicks to just eight points in the fourth quarter, outscoring them by 23 when the Knicks looked to be stalking the Bulls in the middle two quarters.

McDermott himself outscored the Knicks in the fourth with 11, while Mirotic, the second-year struggling forward scored 17 with seven assists and five rebounds.

“He’s had a few like this lately. He had a very efficient night,” said Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg, referring to Mirotic’s eight shot attempts and wryly joking about the long triple attempt.  “He rebounded the heck out of the ball. It wasn’t just offense for Niko tonight, I thought he played a complete game.”

Mirotic’s energy was the surprise while Bobby Portis’ was the constant, as he cemented his case for not just a spot in the rotation but consistent minutes when Joakim Noah returns from his shoulder injury.

Portis outdueled fellow rookie Kristaps Porzingis, with 16 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes. Porzingis scored nine with nine rebounds in 28 minutes but missed 10 of his 14 shot attempts.

“Absolutely. We’re gonna continue to find minutes for Bobby, no doubt about it,” Hoiberg said. “He’s playing too well. He plays with a toughness and a swagger. He’s not gonna back down from anyone.”

The energy that had been lacking through the early part of the season was found on the bench with Portis, which actually overshadows his adeptness at picking up pro concepts and mastering the offense while being aggressive with his shot opportunities.

“You gotta stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,” Portis said. “It’s something my coaches told me growing up. Every day I came to work and worked as hard as I can. It started paying off. Everything is in God’s hands. It wasn’t my time. I had to work my way up.”

Now Portis has made Hoiberg’s job even more difficult because of the time he’s earned and the admiration he’s garnered from his teammates.

“Every basketball game hypes me up. I love the game of basketball,” he said simply.

Butler led the Bulls with 23 points, six assists and four rebounds in 34 minutes, helping hold Anthony to 20 off eight of 18 shooting, as Derrick Rose sat out his second straight game with right hamstring soreness, a cautious measure by the Bulls that at one point seemed to lead to old bad habits.

The inconsistencies reappeared shortly after the Bulls took a rousing 11-0 lead, holding the Knicks to misses on their first nine shots. It ballooned to 17 before the Bulls began letting up with their energy and crispness offensively, translating to the defensive end.

“In the first half our second group struggled a bit, but then we got off to a good lead in the 2^nd half,” Hoiberg said.

After all, a team can survive off solid helpings from Mirotic and his outside shooting but for so long, as he played his best stretch of basketball in a long while, seemingly in the first seven minutes.

Mirotic was definitive, aggressive and anything but bashful, abandoning the annoying pump-fake and hitting three triples in the first few minutes as the absence of Rose was barely felt.

It didn’t last long as the Knicks methodically worked themselves back into the contest. Anthony scored 11 in the first half and while he was the only Knick in double-figures, the wealth was spread.

Jose Calderon was effective getting into the paint and hit a pair of triples to make it a manageable six-point game at the half.

But despite the Knicks making their runs in the second and third, the Bulls made it a laugher in the final period, putting some distance between themselves and Knicks—as well as themselves and controversy.

CUBS: Candelario soaks up wisdom on way to bigs.

By Carrie Muskat

Cubs' third-base prospect says Montero has been a mentor.

Catcher Miguel Montero doesn't just help the Cubs pitchers. He deserves credit for inspiring prospect Jeimer Candelario, too.

Candelario, 22, was one of the most talked-about prospects during the Arizona Fall League and did so well last season that he earned a spot on the Cubs' 40-man roster. He began the year at Class A Myrtle Beach, where he batted .270 in 82 games. He was bumped up to Double-A Tennessee and didn't miss a beat, hitting .291 with five home runs, 10 doubles, one triple and 25 RBIs in 46 games. His on-base percentage at Myrtle Beach was .318, and it improved to .379 at Tennessee.

What was the difference?

"In Double-A, I saw more pitches to hit," Candelario said matter-of-factly.

He also got a boost from Montero, who was with the Minor League team for a few days in August as part of his rehab.

"We had a good time with him," Candelario said of the veteran. "He told us a couple things about baseball and we learned a lot, too."

Sometimes the message can mean more coming from a player than a coach or manager.

"We talked about everything -- the world, baseball, everything," Candelario said of the conversations. "He told us some little details, and we took advantage of it, and it worked. He's a good person. We worked hard together."

Candelario extended those lessons to the Arizona Fall League, where he batted .329 with five home runs, eight doubles and 15 RBIs in 21 games. He was named to the AFL top prospects team.

"I'm taking advantage of this," Candelario said before a game in Mesa, Ariz. "There's good talent here. I'm working hard to do the best I can to help the team."

Other Cubs youngsters have the AFL on their resumes, including Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Javier Baez, Jorge Soler and Albert Almora.

"If you come here and do good, you kind of have a chance next year to get to the big leagues," Candelario said. "I'm going to take advantage of this. The Cubs gave me this advantage."

Candelario kept an eye on the big league team last season.

"I saw those guys working hard and doing the best they could to win a ballgame," Candelario said. "That's what you have to do, is learn how to win and learn how to prepare yourself to get to the World Series. I like this team -- I think next year we have a chance to get to the World Series. They worked hard, they deserved it."

He also saw the photos of the zoo animals at Wrigley Field, one of the diversions coordinated by Cubs manager Joe Maddon. Did Candelario ask Tennessee manager Buddy Bailey if he'd arrange for a visit by a penguin?

"Maybe in the big leagues," Candelario said, laughing.

Getting there is the goal of the young third baseman, who started playing with the Cubs at the age of 17 in the Dominican Summer League in 2011.

"I'm working hard. The Cubs know I'm working hard," Candelario said. "They'll make the decision. They know I can help them win a championship there."

Report: White Sox want to sign Gordon/Cespedes for three years or less.

#WHITESOXTALK

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

The White Sox are still hoping to add either Alex Gordon or Yoenis Cespedes this offseason.

On Friday, a report by USA Today's Bob Nightengale said the White Sox are looking to add Gordon or Cespedes for three years or less.

Nightengale said on Wednesday that the White Sox have had dialogue with the three big outfielders (Gordon, Cespedes and Justin Upton), but no deal is close with any of them.

Cespedes, 30, is expected to earn a bigger annual salary than Gordon and could command a deal in the five-year range. 

Gordon, who turns 32 this season, is expected to receive a lesser deal in the four-year range.

Golf: I got a club for that..... Who will be 2016 Player of the Year?

By Golf Channel Digital

Rory McIlroy (L), Jordan Spieth (C), and Patrick Reed (R). (Photo/golfchanneldigital.com)

Jordan Spieth ruled in 2015, but Jason Day wasn't too far behind. So who will emerge as the top dog in 2016? Our writers weigh in.

By RYAN LAVNER   

Rory McIlroy.

He says there is “no reason” he can’t be world No. 1 by the time the Masters rolls around, and he’s absolutely right. With seven scheduled starts before Augusta – two more than in 2015 – it’s clear that McIlroy is determined to be in top form for the year’s first major and not coast through the opening months of the season as he has in recent years.

Jordan Spieth will be adjusting to his new normal as a global superstar. Jason Day will be adjusting to his new normal as a parent of two young kids. And Rory? Well, his personal life has quieted down, and the alpha dog should be nothing if not motivated in 2016, after a frustrating and humbling year in which he lost his No. 1 ranking, his spot atop the sport’s marquee and his chance at two majors because of an ill-timed kickabout.

McIlroy is poised to reclaim his spot atop golf’s pecking order. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

By RANDALL MELL

This year ended with Rory McIlroy holding up a pair of trophies in Dubai.

It was a nice image with a strong message.

McIlroy might have slipped behind Jordan Spieth and Jason Day in the Official World Golf Ranking and major championship title hauls in 2015, but he’s highly motivated to catch up. Winning the DP World Tour Championship and the Race to Dubai left McIlroy with good feelings about making the best of his injury-interrupted year and taking some strong momentum into 2016.

You remember how McIlroy bounced back from his struggles in 2013, winning a pair of majors in ’14? He didn’t really struggle in ’15. There was the ankle injury in the important summer run, but he still won four times around the world. The swing and confidence are intact. With all the talent he possesses, it’s all you need to know about his prospects coming into the new year. He’s still the best all-around player in the game, and he’ll be looking to remind Spieth and Day of that fact.

By REX HOGGARD

Jordan Spieth was historic in 2015, dominant on the game’s biggest stages and otherwise unrivaled in the final PGA Tour Player of the Year voting, but in 2016 that honor will shift back to Rory McIlroy.

We’ve seen the Northern Irishman’s modus operandi before.

In 2012, McIlroy won four times on Tour, including the PGA Championship by eight strokes, and was the consensus Player of the Year; but he followed that campaign with a relatively pedestrian 2013.

McIlroy rebounded in 2014, winning three times on Tour including the Open Championship and PGA Championship to claim the Jack Nicklaus Award for the second time only to endure another lackluster season in 2015 that featured two victories but no major championships.

Although his struggles in ’15 were born from a mid-season ankle injury that forced him to miss the Open Championship and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, it has become a familiar ebb and flow to the 26-year-old’s career – periods of brilliant play framed by stretches of mortal performances.

McIlroy also seemed to learn a valuable lesson from his injury-induced hiatus in 2015. After winning the season-ending DP World Tour Championship on the European Tour, he lamented his missed opportunities in ’15 and talked of a renewed desire to continue his dominance.

If history is any guide, another “bounce-back” year is likely.

By WILL GRAY

Hey guys, remember me?

Just little old Patrick Reed, sitting here with my four PGA Tour trophies and a game that many seem to have forgotten.

It was a year ago, after all, that Reed kick-started his 2015 campaign with a playoff win at Kapalua. But the rest of the season didn’t go according to plan, and even though he made the Tour Championship it was seen as a bit of a disappointing season for Reed, as the brunt of the discussion shifted to names like Spieth, Day, and McIlroy.

But then a funny thing happened this fall. While spanning the globe and cementing his European Tour status, Reed rekindled his game. In fact, he closed out the year with six straight top-10 finishes in OWGR-sanctioned events, highlighted by runner-up finishes at the BMW Masters and the Hero World Challenge, and cracked the top 10 in the world for the first time.

No one disputes Reed’s ability to win on a big stage, or his desire to perform under the brightest of spotlights. So don’t be surprised if this year ends with Reed winning multiple events, and not only earning a spot in that elusive top-5 category – but taking home Player of the Year honors, as well.

First-time major champion?

By Golf Channel Digital

Patrick Reed (L), Rickie Fowler (LC), Brandon Grace (RC) and Hideki Matsuyama (R). (Photo/golfchanneldigital.com)

Jordan Spieth and Jason Day broke through in the majors in a big way in 2015. Who has the best chance to win major No. 1 in 2016? Our writers weigh in.

By RYAN LAVNER

Patrick Reed.

After a steady but unspectacular summer, Reed closed out his year with six consecutive top-10s worldwide to push inside the OWGR top 10 for the first time. Still maddeningly inconsistent at times, the 25-year-old finally appears ready to deliver on all of that promise, after a major season in which he finished in the top 30 in all four events.

An improved putter, Reed ranked near the bottom of the Tour statistics in ball-striking last season, the biggest reason that he failed to capitalize on his opening win at Kapalua. He seems to have found something of late, however, because in two starts during the wraparound season he has found 82 percent of the greens in regulation. He should have little trouble carrying over that strong iron play during the three-week offseason.

Reed plays so much golf (three consecutive years of 29-plus starts) that he’s bound to endure waves of inconsistency. But if he can find the right combination of staying sharp and not getting worn out, he has the all-around game to break through and win his first major.

By RANDALL MELL

Rickie Fowler will spend a lot of time with the claret jug next year.

Fowler won on some big stages in 2015, beating strong fields with clutch closing efforts at The Players Championship, the Scottish Open and the Deutsche Bank Championship. He had that great run knocking on the door at every major in 2014, when he was T-5 or better in all four of them. He looks prepared for the next big step and Royal Troon looks like a good place to take that step.

Royal Troon has a history of crowning first-time major winners. The last three players to win The Open Championship there were first-time major winners – Todd Hamilton (’04), Justin Leonard (’97) and Mark Calcavecchia (’89).

Fowler wants to get into the mix with Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy for consideration as the game’s best players. He needs a major to move into that conversation, and he looks more than ready to do so.

By REX HOGGARD

Branden Grace began 2015 with no status on the PGA Tour and little name recognition on this side of the transatlantic divide.

He rectified the former issue with his play in this year’s majors and the latter concern seems destined to be addressed at this year’s Grand Slam stops.

The laconic South African earned special temporary membership on Tour with his tie for fourth at the U.S. Open, where he began the final round tied for the lead but derailed his title hopes with a tee shot that raced down the train tracks adjacent to the 16^th hole at Chambers Bay and out of bounds.

Grace completed his Grand Slam apprenticeship with a third-place finish at the PGA Championship after a third-round 64 moved him to within three strokes of the lead.

That momentum continued for Grace in 2015, with top-five performances to close out the year at the WGC-HSBC Champions, DP World Tour Championship and Nedbank Golf Challenge.

He also scorched the U.S. side at the Presidents Cup in October, leading the International team with a perfect 5-0-0 record in his second start in the matches.

It was all a sign that the 27-year-old is poised to take the next step in this year’s biggest events.

By WILL GRAY

This will be the year that Hideki Matsuyama graduates from “consistent contender” to “major champion.”

Matsuyama quietly had one of the most consistent seasons last year on the PGA Tour, racking up 19 top-25 finishes in only 25 starts while missing just two cuts.

His consistency has been a staple at the majors, as well: since the 2013 U.S. Open, Matsuyama has finished outside the top 40 only once in 11 majors, with a trio of top-10 finishes across that same span.

Matsuyama is one of the best ball-strikers on Tour, and he demonstrated at the 2014 Memorial Tournament that he has what it takes to defeat an elite field on a difficult track. The putter has always been his biggest liability, but if the birdies start to drop he will certainly be a factor down the stretch – especially on a taxing layout like, say, Oakmont.

NASCAR: How much has changed since Dale Earnhardt Jr. went to Hendrick.

By Daniel McFadin

(Photo by Layne Murdoch/Getty Images)

One of the funnier NASCAR related commercials of the last decade turned out to partially predict the future.

Once upon a time, Dale Earnhardt Jr., still competing in the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc., starred in an ad where the driver announced he was changing his number from 8 to 6.7.

Chaos reigned in the 30-second spot as Earnhardt fans altered tattoos, cut down tailor-made hedges and mourned over rooms full of obsolete merchandise.

Then, on June 13, 2007, it became a reality.

That was the day Earnhardt really announced he would be changing his number – to 88 – and that after eight years of driving for the team his father founded, he would join Hendrick Motorsports in 2008.

You can now draw a line down the middle of Earnhardt’s Sprint Cup career. Eight full-time seasons with DEI, eight with Hendrick.

His eight seasons with DEI included 17 victories. He has nine wins with Hendrick, seven of them coming in the last two seasons. During the first eight Hendrick years Earnhardt has worked with five different crew chiefs, starting with Tony Eury Jr. and ending with Greg Ives in 2015.

The only constant for Earnhardt has been the Most Popular Driver award, which he has been given every season since 2003.

But how much else has changed in the sport in the eight years since arguably the biggest free agent move in NASCAR history?

2008 also marked the first year of Sprint being the title sponsor of the Cup series, following up Nextel’s four years of service. That was also the second season the Cup series used the Car of Tomorrow, or Gen Five car. It would be put out to pasture after six seasons in 2012.

During the era of the CoT, Earnhardt won only two races and teammate Jimmie Johnson claimed five of his six championships.

In the last eight years the format of the Chase for the Sprint Cup has been through three different iterations.

Then, only 12 drivers were included in the post-season. Now, 16 drivers are trimmed down to four over the course of 10 races.

In 2008, Mark Martin still had five seasons in front of him before finally retiring after 2013.

Clint Bowyer was in his third full-time season with Richard Childress Racing and wouldn’t join Michael Waltrip Racing for four more seasons. MWR competed in its first full-time Sprint Cup season in 2008 with David Reutimann driving the No. 00 and Waltrip in the No. 55. Reutimann hasn’t driven full-time since 2013 and MWR shut down at the end of 2015.

Tony Stewart, who Bowyer will replace in 2017, still called Joe Gibbs Racing home in 2008. The next year, he was off to Stewart-Haas Racing where he would claim his third Sprint Cup title in 2011.

Other drivers who raced for different teams in 2008 than they would in 2015 included:
Ryan Newman, Sam Hornish Jr. and Kurt Busch (Team Penske), Kevin Harvick (Richard Childress Racing), Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards,  David Ragan and Jamie McMurray (Roush Fenway Racing), Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard and Aric Almirola (DEI), Casey Mears (Hendrick), AJ Allmendinger and Brian Vickers (Red Bull Racing), Kasey Kahne (Evernham Motorsports) and David Gilliland (Robert Yates Racing).

Drivers who have retired, left NASCAR or the Sprint Cup Series since 2008 include: Martin, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott, Gordon, Jeff Burton, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dave Blaney, Kyle Petty, Marcos Ambrose, Sterling Marlin, Regan Smith and Elliott Sadler (racing for Earnhardt at JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series).

Including Earnhardt, the only drivers who competed for the same teams in 2015 that they were in 2008 were Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle (Roush), Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin (JGR).

But probably the biggest signifier of the passage of time is in who the Gillette Young Guns were in 2008. The five drivers were Newman, Bowyer, Hamlin, Edwards, Kahne and Kurt Busch.

Those “Young Guns” are now all 35 years or older.

Earnhardt ended his association with Gillette after the 2006 season.

The former “Young Gun” is now enjoying his early 40s, which so far has included getting engaged to girlfriend Amy Reimann and having his best on-track success in more than a decade.

SOCCER: Manchester United 2-1 Swansea City: Rooney’s stunner wins it.

By NBC Sports

Manchester United beat Swansea City 2-1 on Saturday at Old Trafford as Louis Van Gaal‘s men recorded their first win in nine games.

Anthony Martial and Gylfi Sigurdsson traded headers before Wayne Rooney delivered a moment of magic to win the game and ease the pressure on the Red Devils.

With the win — their first since Nov. 21 — United move up to fifth on 33 points and Swansea remain managerless and just two points out of the drop zone.

Ander Herrera burst into the box inside the first 30 second but his shot was blocked as United came flying out of the traps.

United had another chance as a cross from the right found Rooney at the back post but the skipper sent his show into the side-netting.

Before half time Swansea began to build momentum and Wayne Routledge‘s snapshot forced David De Gea into a smart save, then Juan Mata twice forced Lukasz Fabianski into a low save.

At the start of the second half United again started brightly with Rooney having a shot deflected just over by Ashley Williams.

Moments later United were ahead as a cross from Ashley Young found Martial and the French youngster headed home as the ball skipped off the surface and into the net. 1-0 to United as a collective sigh of relief rang out around Old Trafford.

Sigurdsson had a shot deflected towards goal which looked to be looping over De Gea but the Spaniard claimed well as Swansea.

Swansea then went close to equalizing as Ayew’s header struck the post and despite Angel Rangel going down in the box with the follow-up, the Spanish full back was booked for diving.

The Swans did grab their equalizer with 20 minutes to go as Modou Barrow clipped in an inviting cross and Sigurdsson sent a deft header into the far corner. 1-1 and the moans and groans grew louder from the home fans at Old Trafford.

However, they were celebrating 10 minutes from time as Martial’s cross found Rooney and he delivered a moment of sheer magic with a clever back heel to get the Red Devils back to winning ways as Williams’ late drive was saved by De Gea.

Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle United: Koscielny goal tops game Magpies.

By NBC Sports

Laurent Koscielny‘s late goal helped Arsenal overcome a game effort from visiting Newcastle and go atop the Premier League table with a 1-0 win at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners now have 42 points, two more than Leicester. Newcastle is still in 18th, with 17 points.

Koscielny put the Gunners in front when he darted in front of Ayoze Perez off a goal-mouth scramble to make it 1-0 in the 73rd minute. Giroud won the cross toward the goal post and Koscielny finished it off.

Arsenal dominated the first 15 minutes, but was frustrated by Newcastle’s packed-in defense. The Magpies broke with a dangerous counter soon after, and Petr Cech was forced to make a pair of good saves.

Ayoze Perez put a similar rare chance wide in the 26th minute. And despite Arsenal’s control in possession, Newcastle arguably had the best opportunities to score in the final 20 minutes or so (including an overhead kick missed by Aleksandar Mitrovic).

The Magpies countered well in the second half, with Georginio Wijnaldum stopped by Cech 1v1 and Mitrovic hitting a close-range shot over the bar. Chancel Mbemba would later head a good cross high as well.

At the other end, Rob Elliot scooped up a low shot from Aaron Ramsey. The snakebit Arsenal attacker later made a brilliant dribble to Elliot’s doorstep before lashing wide of the frame.

Mitrovic would head another over the goal 10 minutes from time. Wijnaldum did the same off a short corner in the 85th minute.

Cech stood tall to stop Siem De Jong‘s overhead kick in the game’s final moments.

Watford 1-2 Manchester City: Aguero seals stunning late comeback.

By NBC Sports

Manchester City fought back to beat Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road on Saturday with City scoring twice in two minutes and 35 seconds to overturn a one-goal deficit and grab a stunning comeback win.

Ben Watson‘s corner was flicked into his own net by Aleksandar Kolarov to give Watford a lead early in the second half and it looked to be enough for the victory until Yaya Toure struck in the 82nd minute and then Sergio Aguero grabbed the winner in the 84th to spark incredible scenes in Hertfordshire.

With the win City are just three points off first-place Arsenal, while Watford lose back-to-back games to close out the festive period.

Watford went close to taking the lead as Abdi rifled a shot just over the crossbar to set the tone early on and Nicolas Otamendi then blocked Odion Ighalo‘s shot.

Ighalo then spun City’s defense expertly but Joe Hart saved well with the Nigerian clean through on goal as the away side struggled to get a grip on the game. As the first half closed out City looked more dangerous in attack and Sterling smashed a snapshot over the bar following a sustained period of pressure.

At the start of the second half Watson drilled a low shot on goal which Hart tipped wide with the Hornets pushing hard to go ahead. At the other end Fernandinho headed over when completely unmarked 12-yards out from a corner as City’s entire bench had their head in their hands after a glorious chance went begging. Moments later Watford went ahead as Watson whipped in a corner to the near post and the ball flicked off Kolarov’s head and into his own net. Pandemonium at Vicarage Road. 1-0 to the Hornets.

That goal sparked an end-to-end feel to the game with Jose Holebas weaving through three tackles before his shot was deflected off target and then Yaya Toure slotting his shot over when he should’ve done better.

Entering the final 10 minutes Etienne Capoue went on a surging run and fired wide under pressure and then City equalized moments later. Kolarov’s corner was met on volley by Toure who belted it into the top corner to make it 1-1.

Two minutes later City were ahead as Bacary Sagna dug out a superb cross from the right and Aguero rose majestically, hung in the air and headed home what turned out to be the game-winner with five minutes to go. Cue madness among the Man City fans at Vicarage Road.

Heartbreak for the Hornets. Ecstasy for City.

Everton 1-1 Tottenham: Quality goals from Lennon, Alli cancel in entertaining draw.

By Kyle Bonn

A pair of quality goals highlighted a fun match between Everton and Spurs, neither of which appeared to be comfortable with settling for a point. They were ultimately forced to do so as things finished 1-1 at Goodison Park on goals from Aaron Lennon and Dele Alli.

Spurs began with the first meaningful attack and nearly threaded in Alli but his sliding effort from point blank range was blocked. Harry Kane tried a speculative shot on nine minutes that weaved its way past Tim Howard and clanged the inside of the post, but it skipped along the goal line and stayed out.

The visitors were on top throughout the first 20 minutes, but failed to create much else. Everton produced their first notable attack on 21 minutes, and it produced the game’s first goal. A long ball met the head of Romelu Lukaku in the penalty area, who nodded to Aaron Lennon in space at the top of the box. The former Tottenham midfielder let the ball bounce before poking a half-volley to the far post, leaving Hugo Lloris no chance to stop the opening goal.

Everton nearly had a second just two minutes later when Arouna Kone took aim in space atop the box but he was closed down quickly and his effort blocked.

Spurs looked to get back into things, and while they had less possession than they did early on, they again clattered the woodwork, this time hitting the crossbar through Ben Davies. They pushed harder past the half-hour mark and regained the ascendency, but Everton defended well. It took a moment of brilliance just ticks before the halftime whistle to get Spurs level, as a stunning ball from Toby Alderweireld over the top met the chest of Alli, who struck a volley past Howard for the equalizer.

Spurs looked the better side after the break. Alli nearly had another as Tom Carroll played a perfect ball forward to him in the 55th minute but Alli tumbled to the ground under pressure. Moments later Alli nearly found Kane in the box but the result was the same.

Everton came to life upon the introduction of Gerard Deulofeu on the hour mark, and he sent a cross inches high of Lukaku in the box six minutes later. They created an opportunity again with 12 minutes to go as a clear fell to Muhamed Besic who unleashed a dipping strike that forced a full-stretch save from Hugh Lloris. The ensuing corner saw Ramiro Fuenes Mori head just wide.

The final five minutes were wild as Everton threw men forward in a sloppy yet ferocious attack, but Spurs held and the game finished even. Neither side gained any positioning with their point, as Spurs remained in fourth, three points back of Manchester City, while Everton sits in 11th, two points behind Stoke.

Crystal Palace 0-3 Chelsea: Blues rip Eagles apart in comprehensive performance.

By NBC Sports

Chelsea came into this match 11 points behind Crystal Palace. The Blues left Selhurst Park potentially having turned a corner.

Willian and Diego Costa starred up front for the Blues and Cesc Fabregas appears to be back to his former self as Chelsea stormed Crystal Palace 3-0.

At the start, both sides looked to have an attacking mindset despite the pouring rain, but each side was sloppy with the ball in the wet conditions. The weather had an adverse affect on the game early on as Eden Hazard was forced off after taking a speculative shot in the 15th minute, appearing to tweak his groin or hip. He was replaced by Pedro a minute later.

Palace built themselves in to the attack trying to capitalize on some sloppy Chelsea mistakes. Kurt Zouma was needed to cut out a breakaway with a perfect tackle on Wilfried Zaha in the 23rd minute, and Jason Puncheon sprung Frazier Campbell with a long ball to the far post a minute later, but the sliding striker couldn’t connect properly.

With Palace on the front foot, they would concede on the break. In the 29th minute, Cesc Fabregas picked out Diego Costa. His defender Damien Delaney fell down, allowing Costa to find space and cut back to a trailing Oscar in the middle of the 6-yard box for the tap-in.

Chelsea began to build themselves onto possession following the goal, and created a few more chances. Oscar sprung Cesar Azpilicueta down the left on 35 minutes, and with no other options the wing-back shot from a tight angle, forcing a good save by Wayne Hennessey and it went behind.

Following the break, Chelsea had the first chance, as Kurt Zouma rose well to meet a Willian free kick but headed just over the bar on 53 minutes. Palace had one down the other end five minutes later as Campbell found Zaha on the left edge of the box, but the 23-year-old’s effort was weak and saved.

That would allow Chelsea an opening, and they would take full advantage. The Blues combined brilliantly down the field, and ultimately Oscar set up Willian atop the 18-yard box who unleashed an absolute howitzer into the top corner, an unsaveable shot for Hennessey to deal with, and Chelsea went 2-0 up.

They’d get a third soon after, as Willian skipped past James McArthur and shot. Hennessey saved but could not hang on, and Costa bagged the rebound to send the game out of reach on 66 minutes. Palace began to hit the panic button down the stretch, but all it did was cause their build-up to be rushed and allowed Chelsea to have a few more efforts on goal.

The full-time whistle would come, giving Chelsea all three points and pushing them to 14th place with 23 points on the season, six points above the relegation zone and six points back of the top half of the table. Crystal Palace, meanwhile, remains in seventh position on 31 points, failing to capitalize on Liverpool’s loss in front of them.

NCAAFB: No. 11 TCU roars back to beat No. 15 Oregon 47-41 in 3OT.

By JIM VERTUNO

TCU quarterback Bram Kohlhausen (6) is lifted by teammate Halapoulivaati Vaitai (74) after he threw a touchdown pass in the first overtime in the Alamo Bowl NCAA college football game against Oregon, Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, in San Antonio. TCU won in triple overtime, 47-41. (AP Photo/Austin Gay)

Thrust into the starting role in place of the suspended star quarterback, TCU's Bram Kohlhausen made the absolute most of his final chance with the Horned Frogs - in historic fashion.

Not just for his team, but for the family that could join him at the Alamo Bowl and those who couldn't.

Starting in place of Trevone Boykin, who was suspended after a bar fight two days earlier, Kohlhausen led the No. 11 Horned Frogs back from 31 points down for a 47-41, triple-overtime victory over No. 15 Oregon on Saturday night in the Alamo Bowl.

Kohlhausen passed for 351 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, running in for the winner in the third overtime. The comeback tied the record for the largest deficit overcome to win a bowl game, matching Texas Tech's win over Minnesota in the 2006 Insight Bowl, and set a TCU school record.

After it was over, Kohlhausen talked stadium security into letting his mother join the celebration on the field. The person not there was his father, Bill, who died Nov. 7 of cancer.

''I just gave her a hug and started crying with her. I'd love for him to be here and watch this happen but I know he's watching upstairs,'' Kohlhausen said.

''This will be one I'll tell my grandkids. This is a night I never thought would happen. I dedicate it to Trey. He showed me how to play like I did tonight.''

Kohlhausen, who had played spot duty this season, was thrust into the spotlight on Thursday when Boykin was arrested and suspended after a bar fight in San Antonio's famed River Walk district.

Kohlhausen started his career at Houston, left for junior college and walked on at TCU (11-2). He had never started a major college game until his final one and did his best to mimic Boykin, especially in the second half with tough runs and pinpoint passing as TCU stormed back. He twice came back from hard hits that forced him out of the game.

''I told him, I said, 'Can you imagine - your dad passed away, he's watching, can you imagine if you come back? Can you come back, can you win this football game?''' TCU coach Gary Patterson said.

It didn't look possible when Oregon (9-4) was rolling to a 28-0 lead behind standout senior quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., and led 31-0 at halftime.

Adams passed for 197 yards and a touchdown and led the Ducks on four consecutive touchdown drives, eluding sacks and throwing downfield as Oregon rolled early.

But Oregon stopped in its tracks when Adams was hurt on a rare called run for him. Adams knocked heads with TCU linebacker Derrick Kindred, left the game and never returned.

Jeff Lockie drove Oregon to a field goal that made it 31-0 at halftime, but the Ducks stalled there.

TCU scored on all of its possessions in the second half and overtime.

The Horned Frogs started their march back with 17 points in the third quarter, twice scoring touchdowns on fourth down. Kohlhausen threw a touchdown pass to Jaelen Austin, then ran 2 yards for his first score.

''Nobody had any doubt we'd come back from 31 points,'' Kohlhausen said. ''Their quarterback out, get a couple scores, nobody had any doubt.''

TCU was gaining confidence with each play while Oregon seemed stuck in neutral. Lockie, who had played in relief of Adams when he was injured earlier this season, couldn't move the offense as the TCU-dominated crowd of nearly 65,000 revved up.

''This whole year, especially on the defensive side, it's been a struggle in the second half to finish games,'' Oregon defensive end DeForest Buckner said.

Jaden Oberkrom's 22-yard field goal with 19 seconds left tied it, and TCU scored first in the first overtime when Kohlhausen hit Emanauel Porter for a 7-yard touchdown. Oregon answered with Royce Freeman's third touchdown run.

After the teams exchanged field goals in the second overtime, Kohlhausen sneaked around the right end on an option, and seemingly disappeared behind his blockers until he was in the end zone. TCU's 2-point conversion pass attempt failed, but Oregon's final chance to tie and keep the game going ended with an incomplete pass on fourth down near the goal line.

TCU players stormed the field when the game was over.

''Tough to end like this,'' Oregon coach March Helfrich said. ''They made one more play that we did.''

Awful CFP semifinal ratings show sport still lacks common sense.

By Dan Wetzel

College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock poses in front of the championship trophy. (Photo/AP)

College Football Playoff executives said they were going to change the paradigm of New Year's Eve in America and instead Americans changed the paradigm of the College Football Playoff.

Many of them didn't watch.

There are 12.5 million reasons why 12.5 million fewer people tuned into the first semifinal game this year than last. There's another 10 million why they didn't watch the second one.

The most obvious is that they moved the games from New Year's Day to New Year's Eve and then told their customers to deal with it.

It was an act of arrogance, of course, but also ignorance because the bubble in which these suits exist doesn't lend to interaction with folks who have jobs that don't take place in corner offices, you know, places where "just stream it on your smart phone" isn't an option.

You move an event from a national holiday synonymous with the sport to the middle of a workday for many and this is what happens – ratings drop as much as 45 percent. Double that by placing a second game on a night with endless entertainment options and longstanding traditions and you're completely spitting in the face of many of your fans.

They ran months of Jimmy Kimmel ads telling people to change everything but the party in the commercial didn't even have a single television for people at the party to actually watch football. So not even the mascots were tuning in.

(Kimmel tweeted out a video from New Year's Eve of him counting down to midnight with Howard Stern and Billy Joel at some concert, so he apparently didn't plan accordingly either.)

So that's one explanation. Just 12,499,999 more to go.

The New Year's Eve experience was a two-fold disaster. Not only did millions fewer people watch the playoff games, but it sucked all the life out of New Year's Day. Normally the Jan. 1 games serve as a lead-in to the big game (like they did even during the BCS and last year); now they just feel like exhibitions.

Sure, some of the bowl games turned into complete duds – Stanford jumped Iowa so viciously that when the Cardinal Band mockingly played a halftime tribute to FarmersOnly.com, it felt mean. (Not really, it was still funny.)

That doesn't fully explain the 7.9 rating – the lowest on record (dating back to 1983). Blowouts don't normally cause such terrible disinterest. There's been a million of them. Consider the 2009 Rose Bowl: it was a game with no national title implications, USC led Penn State 31-7 in the first half and it was never competitive (a couple late, meaningless scores caused the final to be USC 38-24). People still watched – 20.6 million of them, or 10 percent more than either of this year's semifinals.

The playoff is still controlled by the bowls, or commissioners who are beholden to the bowls. They gave those sites essentially no bid contracts to stage massively profitable games that the sport pointlessly outsources to them.

You can never prevent lopsided games. They happen. You can schedule to limit their impact. The whole sport seemed to stop dead in its tracks a little after halftime of Alabama-Michigan State. New Year's Day was an afterthought.

That's how it is though and how it will stay.

The Rose Bowl says it won't move from 5 p.m. ET on New Year's Day. The Sugar Bowl says it won't move from later that night. Why would they? It's easy money.

The commissioners are fine with it because four leagues make a few more million and no one is looking out for the common good.

Next year New Year's Eve will be on a Saturday, which is a huge benefit (and will deliver ratings increases that the playoff will take credit for). But the Rose, et al, won't get staged for two days, after an NFL Sunday. Strange won't begin to describe it. Soon enough it'll be back to weekday/workday.

They could just make the Rose and Sugar permanent semifinal sites, but then four other bowls wouldn't be able to profit wildly off this. If there is one thing to know about major college athletics, it's that the graft needs to be spread around (except to the players … unless forced by a federal judge).

How much, for instance, did their buddy who runs the Sugar Bowl make in 2014? How's $753,546, per tax records. A second guy made $494,589. It's nice work if you play golf with a commissioner who will allow it.

Whatever. You get what you get, a dud of a couple days of football and a lot of predictable excuses.

"That decline, frankly, is not much of a surprise and it's modest," playoff executive director Bill Hancock told the Associated Press.

A 45 percent drop in viewers for one semifinal? Record lows for the Rose Bowl? No buzz? Inconvenienced customers? Others who simply took the whole thing as a slap in the face?

It's all just a modest non-surprise to these guys. They expected 12.5 million of you wouldn't/couldn't watch. They didn't care.

They should schedule the playoff so the other bowls serve as a buildup to semifinals that begin on New Year's Day afternoon, when far fewer people have to work and far more people are desperate to watch this grand sport surge to a crescendo.

Why is that too much to ask?

NCAABKB: Eight takeaways from a day that set up the season's biggest game.

By Jeff Eisenberg

1. Monday could feature the rarest of all games: No. 1 vs. No. 1

The last time the No. 1 team in the AP poll met the No. 1 team in the coaches poll, Ohio State edged Wisconsin by a single point nearly nine years ago.

A 1-versus-1 matchup could happen again Monday night when 11-time reigning Big 12 champion Kansas hosts top challenger Oklahoma.

When top-ranked Michigan State fell at Iowa earlier this week, it opened the door for a new No. 1 team to emerge. The Jayhawks (12-1) entered the week ranked No. 2 in the AP poll and the Sooners (12-0) entered the week ranked No. 2 in the coaches poll.

Both Kansas and Oklahoma made strong cases to ascend to No. 1 on Saturday by notching victories over fellow Big 12 contenders.

Fueled by an energetic home crowd and an early scoring barrage from Wayne Selden, Kansas disposed of 23rd-ranked Baylor 102-74 in the Big 12 opener for both teams. By the time Bears coach Scott Drew called his second timeout, Kansas already led 24-4 and Selden already had tallied 11 of his game-high 24 points.

Oklahoma's margin of victory was much smaller, but the opponent it defeated was a bit better. Senior guard Isaiah Cousins tallied all 15 of his points in the second half, leading the Sooners to a come-from-behind 87-83 victory over No. 11 Iowa State in a game the Cyclones led by double figures in the first half.

When Buddy Hield sank a pair of free throws with four seconds left to put Oklahoma ahead by four, he didn't just clinch a victory for the Sooners. He also ensured that ESPN's Big Monday will more than live up to its name this week.

No. 1 vs. No. 1? Oklahoma vs. Kansas? Hield vs. Selden? This should be as anticipated a college basketball game as this season has produced so far.

2. Iowa belongs in the top 25 on Monday after back-to-back big wins

The lingering question in the wake of Iowa's one-sided victory over top-ranked Michigan State on Thursday night was what exactly the Hawkeyes proved by winning. Were they Big Ten contenders like they appeared to be that night or did they merely take advantage of the vulnerability of a Spartans team weakened by the loss of injured star Denzel Valentine?

It's probably too soon to draw sweeping conclusions one way or the other, but Iowa certainly validated itself further on Saturday night. The Hawkeyes rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit and defeated 14th-ranked Purdue 70-63 in West Lafayette.

The key to the comeback was Iowa's trapping 1-2-2 press, which bothered a Purdue team whose point guards are its biggest weakness. The Boilermakers sank only 8 of 26 second-half field goal attempts and committed 10 of their 14 turnovers after halftime.

Whereas Jarrod Uthoff scored 16 of Iowa's 20 first-half points, the Hawkeyes' standout forward received more help in the second half. Uthoff finished with a team-high 25 points, but guards Peter Jok, Mike Gesell and Anthony Clemmons had a combined 26. Walk-on Nicholas Baer buried the game's biggest shot, a three with 6:30 to play to give Iowa a 51-48 lead that it maintained the rest of the game.

3. Lack of concrete information makes Caris LeVert's injury more worrisome

When Michigan announced Saturday morning that leading scorer Caris LeVert had suffered a "lower left leg injury," the wording of the release seemed purposely vague. Michigan coach John Beilein did little to clear up the confusion after his team dominated Penn State 79-56 in its first game without its injured star.

Beilein confirmed LeVert's injury happened when he stepped on an Illinois player's foot with three minutes to go in that game, but he would neither speculate on the extent of the injury or a timetable for the 6-foot-7 guard's return. Asked whether LeVert had undergone an x-ray, Beilein said only, "He’s had all kinds of information coming his way.”

The vague responses from Beilein suggest Michigan is concerned LeVert could be out for awhile. LeVert suffered a stress fracture in his left foot as a sophomore and then missed the latter half of last season when he broke that same foot.

Michigan dismantled Penn State thanks to torrid 3-point shooting and another strong interior game from Mark Donnal (16 points), but the Wolverines will have a tougher time in future games replacing LeVert's 17.6 points and 5.2 assists. Up next for Michigan is its toughest three-game stretch of the season: at Purdue, home against Maryland and at Iowa. Yikes.

4. LSU takes a small step toward salvaging its season in its SEC opener

After a dreadful opening two months in which it played a soft non-conference schedule yet somehow dropped five games, LSU needs to accomplish something spectacular in SEC play to get back into NCAA tournament contention. The Tigers took a small step toward that goal Saturday night when they recorded by far their most impressive victory of the season.

LSU won at SEC contender Vanderbilt 90-82 thanks to an uncharacteristically solid defensive effort and brilliant performances from Ben Simmons and Keith Hornsby. Simmons had 36 points and 14 rebounds by attacking the rim aggressively and consistently getting to the foul line. Hornsby added 23 points by knocking down four of LSU's five 3-pointers.

One win over a Vanderbilt team that has struggled in recent weeks won't save LSU by itself, but it's nonetheless an encouraging sign for the Tigers. They had previously dropped the only five games they had played against teams ranked 140 or better in KenPom. The victory was also important for LSU because of what the Tigers have next on their schedule. They host Kentucky and visit Florida, two more games in which they'll be underdogs.

5. Butler's defensive issues are becoming alarming

On Thursday, Butler blew an 11-point halftime lead at home against Providence because it surrendered 56 second-half points. On Saturday, Butler fell for a second straight time because it allowed Xavier to shoot 56.4 percent from the field. How did Bulldogs coach Chris Holtman feel about this development? As you might expect, he was not pleased.

“We’re not guarding the ball, we’re not defending the 3, we’re not defending the post and we’re not rebounding,” Holtman told the Indianapolis Star. He later added, “The way we’ve defended these two games, to be honest with you, I don’t know who we’re beating in the Big East."

It's far too soon for Butler to panic considering it's two weeks removed from a win over Purdue and its two losses came against top 15 competition, but its issues at the defensive end certainly are a concern. The Bulldogs struggled to keep Xavier out of the paint or off the offensive glass, two big reasons they're 161st in KenPom's defensive efficiency rankings.

To begin the game, Holtmann tried to inspire a better effort by changing his starting lineup, inserting Kelan Martin, Jordan Gathers and Austin Etherington and leaving Kellen Dunham, Tyler Lewis and Andrew Chrabascz on the bench. The adjustment didn't help. The Musketeers jumped to an early lead and led nearly from start to finish.

6. Joel Berry's emergence provides North Carolina with another weapon

Joel Berry's early turnovers were a major reason North Carolina trailed at halftime for only the second time this season on Saturday afternoon, but the sophomore point guard redeemed himself in the second half. Eleven of Berry's career-high 19 points came in the game's final 5:07, helping the seventh-ranked Tar Heels rally past visiting Georgia Tech for an 86-78 victory.

Berry's most important basket was a catch-and-shoot top-of-the-key 3-pointer set up when his defender left him to double team Marcus Paige. He then extended the North Carolina lead to five on the Tar Heels' next possession by driving into traffic, drawing contact from Georgia Tech's Adam Smith and sinking the runner and a foul shot.

A non-factor for stretches of an injury-plagued freshman season, Berry has emerged as another key perimeter weapon for North Carolina. He is averaging 12.1 points and 4.4 assists so far this season, easing the pressure on star Marcus Paige with his ability to handle the ball and score off the dribble or from behind the arc.

7. Everything's a struggle for Michigan State without Denzel Valentine

Three games without Denzel Valentine have made one thing abundantly clear: Top-ranked Michigan State needs its injured national player of the year candidate back soon if it has any hope of winning the Big Ten this season.

First the Spartans needed overtime to survive Oakland's upset bid. Then they were barely competitive in a one-sided loss at Iowa. And finally on Saturday, it took them until the final minute to put away a struggling Minnesota team that has already suffered home losses against Milwaukee, South Dakota and South Dakota State.

Michigan State's biggest issue against the Gophers was its inability to prevent second-chance opportunities, an area that probably had as much to do with Marvin Calrk and Javon Bess sitting out as it did Valentine's absence. The Spartans also struggled to knock down shots against Minnesota's 2-3 zone for stretches, but 20 points from Bryn Forbes and 17 from Matt Costello were enough for them to eke out a victory.

The bad news for Michigan State is that Forbes and Costello probably aren't enough to lead the Spartans past some of the Big Ten's better teams, especially away from home. The good news is that Valentine may be back as soon as Jan. 10 against Penn State, so Michigan State may only need to survive one more game against middling Illinois before getting its star back.

8. South Carolina continues to gradually gain credibility

South Carolina's soft non-conference schedule made it difficult to earn respect before SEC play, but the Gamecocks did all they can to gain recognition. They completed the non-league portion of their season with an 86-76 victory over Memphis, elevating their record to 13-0 entering their SEC opener against Auburn on Tuesday night.

The main reason South Carolina defeated the Tigers was a formidable defense that forced 15 turnovers and limited Memphis to 31.1 percent shooting. The Tigers got to the foul line 36 times in a extremely tightly called game, however, their starters combined to shoot 9-for-36 from the field.

The question with South Carolina remains whether it can score efficiently enough against a set defense to maintain its torrid start against SEC competition. The Gamecocks got to the foul line a staggering 63 times on Saturday, but shot just 31.6 percent from the field and sank only 4 of the 17 3-pointers they attempted.

Why is 24th-ranked South Carolina ranked so far behind No. 3 Oklahoma or No. 17 SMU? It's because Saturday's win over a middling Memphis team is one of the most notable victories the Gamecocks have secured so far this season. South Carolina doesn't have any KenPom top 50 victories yet this season and the only top 100 wins it has besides Memphis came against Clemson, Tulsa and Hofstra.

PARTING SHOTS

• Is Texas Tech an NCAA tournament contender after its 82-74 home win over Texas? That seems premature given that the Longhorns were without Cam Ridley, but the Red Raiders are clearly much improved.

• Saint Louis won the A-10 in Jim Crews' first two seasons. The Billikens may finish without a win in his fourth one. An 85-57 loss to Rhode Island does not inspire confidence that Crews' team can be competitive in league play.

• In a league as tough as the ACC, NC State cannot afford losses like the 73-68 overtime upset it suffered at Virginia Tech on Saturday. That's the kind of result that could doom the Wolfpack to the NIT.

• Prediction: Northern Iowa will be the only NIT team with two wins over top 10 opponents. The Panthers fell to 9-6 after a two-point loss at Southern Illinois on Saturday evening.

• Maryland's 72-59 victory at Northwestern wasn't as close as the score indicates. The Terps led by 20 at halftime behind a big first half from Rasheed Sulaimon.

• Virginia remains a puzzle Notre Dame cannot solve. After a 77-66 victory on Saturday, the Cavaliers are 4-0 against the Irish as ACC foes and 9-0 against them overall since the early 1980s.

• What the heck Temple? The Owls followed up an impressive road win at Cincinnati with a 77-50 face-plant against Houston. Temple did not have a single scorer in double figures and went just 3-for-23 from behind the arc.

• Program that deserves more praise so far this season: Saint Mary's, which is trending toward a top-two WCC finish and a potential NCAA bid in what was supposed to be a transition year. The Gaels blasted San Diego 79-46 on Saturday night.

Trimble, Sulaimon lead Maryland over Northwestern 72-59.

By ANDREW SELIGMAN

Maryland forward Jake Layman (10) goes up for a dunk against Northwestern during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/David Banks)

No need to rally this time. No. 4 Maryland asserted itself early and breezed to an easy victory.

Melo Trimble scored 24 points, Rasheed Sulaimon added 16 and the Terrapins beat Northwestern 72-59 on Saturday night.

Trimble scored 17 points in the second half. Sulaimon had 13 in the first, helping the Terrapins (13-1, 2-0 Big Ten) grab a 40-20 lead on the way to their seventh straight victory.

They also gave coach Mark Turgeon his 100th victory in five seasons at Maryland and snapped a 10-game winning streak for Northwestern (13-2, 1-1).

It was just what the Terrapins wanted after they had to rally in the second half to beat Penn State on Wednesday. Turgeon said players ''were kind of walking on eggshells'' after that game.

He mostly showed his team the positives when they watched video of that game and didn't push them too hard in practice because he wanted to build their energy.

''They wanted to kind of redeem themselves,'' Turgeon said. ''Coming in here, they're 13-1, they're undefeated at home. It kind of gets your attention, to be dialed in.''

Sulaimon was 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 6 on 3-pointers. Trimble hit five 3s - four in the second half - to go with eight rebounds and eight assists.

Bryant McIntosh led the Wildcats with 17 points. He also had nine assists, an impressive number considering Northwestern hit just 22 of 59 shots and was 2 of 20 on 3-pointers. Coach Chris Collins said his team was a bit jittery playing a championship contender in front of a capacity crowd, but a bigger factor was Maryland's defense.

He and Turgeon said the Terrapins guarded as well as they have all season.

''I was pretty nervous before this game,'' Trimble said. ''I saw how well they were shooting the ball and how well they run their plays. We just went out there and outplayed them.''

Diamond Stone scored 10 points after setting a setting a Maryland freshman record with 39 points against Penn State on Wednesday, and the Terrapins made it look easy against an opponent that came in on a big roll.

The only other double-digit win streak for Northwestern was a 12-game run by the 1930-31 team.

''Guys are disappointed, it's never fun to lose,'' Collins said. ''But listen, we got to move forward. Like I told the guys, somebody may prove me wrong (but) I don't see anyone going 18-0 in our league. The way we see it, you have 18 opportunities. We had one tonight. We got beat by a really good team.''

Whether they were beating the Wildcats off the dribble or with quick passes, the Terrapins wasted little time ripping the suspense out of this one.

They were up 20 at halftime after shooting 50 percent, with Sulaimon leading the way. The senior hit all five field goals, nailing three 3-pointers.

Northwestern also had trouble shaking a disruptive defense and shot just 8 of 25 - 1 of 8 on 3s - in the half.

Maryland was already leading by 11 when Stone threw down a put-back dunk off a missed layup by Jake Layman. Trimble, who missed 6 of 7 3s in the half, buried one. And Sulaimon wrapped two more 3s around a dunk by Northwestern's Joey van Zegeren as Maryland bumped the lead to 36-16 with 2:22 left.

DUKE CONNECTION

Sulaimon spent his first three seasons at Duke and Collins helped recruit him to play there. The two spoke before and after the game and had kind words for each other.

''He just told me he was proud of me and to keep my head up and keep going,'' Sulaimon said. ''I told him he has a great team and I looked forward to playing against him again.''

Collins said he's ''really proud'' of Sulaimon. ''He's got this second opportunity to be really good. He's got a great role on this team and I'm happy for him.''

TIP-INS

Maryland: The Terrapins' only loss was to North Carolina on Dec. 1. ... Sulaimon and Trimble - Maryland's starting guards - combined for 14 assists and one turnover.

Northwestern: The Wildcats' only other loss was to North Carolina in Kansas City on Nov. 23. ... Northwestern has not beaten a team ranked fourth or higher since it knocked off Michigan State on Jan. 27, 1979.

UP NEXT

Maryland hosts Rutgers on Wednesday night.

Northwestern hosts Ohio State on Wednesday night.

On This Date in Sports History: Today is Monday, January 4, 2016.

Memoriesofhistory.com

1883 - The Ontario Rugby Football Union was formed. The organization was the forerunner of the CFL.

1920 - The National Negro Baseball League was organized.

1957 - The Dodgers bought a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000. They were the first team to own their own plane.

1957 - Former heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis appeared on "The Steve Allen Show" to introduce singer Solomon Burke. Burke performed Louis' "You Can Run, but You Can't Hide."

1974 - NBC-TV presented hockey in prime time. The Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers were the teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) game.

1975 - The Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals 10-0.

1976 - The Dallas Cowboys became the first wild-card team to make it to the Super Bowl. They beat the Los Angeles Ram 37-7 in the NFC title game.

1977 - Mary Shane was hired by the Chicago White Sox as the first woman TV play-by-play announcer.

1982 - Bryant Gumbel moved from NBC Sports to the anchor desk where he joined Jane Pauley as co-host of the "Today" show on NBC.

1983 - The USFL (United States Football League) held its first player draft.

1984 - Wayne ‘The Great One’ Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. Edmonton’s Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date.

1992 - Mike Gartner (New York Rangers) scored his 1000th career point.

1996 - Don Shula announced his retirement from coaching the Miami Dolphins after 26 seasons.

1997 - The New York Rangers won their 2,000th game as an NHL franchise. Wayne Gretzky assisted on four second period goals.

1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota's 37th governor.

2003 - The Green Bay Packers lost 27-7 to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC wild card game. It was the first time that the Packers had lost a playoff game at home.

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