Category: College Basketball

Carson Beck commits to Miami, where girlfriend Hanna Cavinder is a basketball player

Congratulations to Carson Beck and Hanna Cavinder!

A big name in the college football transferred portal made a quick decision as former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck committed to Miami.

Beck, a two-time College Football Playoff national champion at Georgia, originally declared for the 2025 NFL Draft but reportedly entered the transfer portal on Thursday.

Then by Friday afternoon, his commitment to Miami was publicized.

He will replace Cam Ward, a Heisman Trophy Finalist who will turn pro as this season is complete. Ward played one season for Miami after transferring from Washington State and is considered one of the top quarterbacks in this draft class.

Beck is an experienced and accomplished quarterback who can help a program trying to win next season under head coach Mario Cristobal.

MIAMI WBB: Why Hanna Cavinder says she’s un-retiring from college basketball

He also has some immediate connections to the university as his girlfriend, Hanna Cavinder, is currently on the women’s basketball team.

She is in the starting lineup alongside her twin sister Haley Cavinder.

Although his girlfriend is currently in her final year of collegiate eligibility, perhaps her endorsement of the campus and athletic department helped to convince Beck to make his decision rather than stay at Georgia or turn pro.

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6-foot-1 LSU guard Aneesah Morrow and her historic double-double streak defy logic

Not to be dramatic, but how does Aneesah Morrow do it?!

We need to have a conversation about Aneesah Morrow.

Admittedly, we’ve kept tabs on LSU throughout the season. The team is undefeated, and they’ve got plenty of ballers on the squad that bear watching, including Aneesah Morrow. But something about Morrow is different this year. She’s on a blistering double-double streak, and none of it makes sense.

Through 18 games, Morrow has 16 double-doubles— yes, SIXTEEN—the most in Division I women’s basketball. She has TWO 20-point, 20-rebounds this season and is the only player to do so. Her efforts on the court also have her up to 90 career double-doubles, tied for the third-most in DI history. Did I mention she’s only 6-foot-1, leading the country in rebounds? SHE AVERAGES *checks notes* OVER 14 REBOUNDS A GAME. Say what now, Aneesah Morrow?! This is sorcery.

Okay, it’s not sorcery, per se. It’s wizardry. Magic. SOMETHING. It defies logic. And, truthfully, you can’t do this kind of stuff on a court without an unrelenting motor.

Head coach Kim Mulkey tried to warn everyone about Morrow back in November. “She’s constantly working. No one outworks her,” Mulkey said then. “No one outworks her in practice. No one outworks her in a game…Everything she gets, she deserves.”

If you hadn’t paid attention to Aneesah Morrow before, now would be the time to lean all the way and grab your popcorn. Her season is a movie.

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Washington run off the floor 88-54 at Michigan State

Washington was doomed from the word go in East Lansing.

Danny Sprinkle and the Washington Huskies suffered nothing short of a disastrous setback against the Michigan State Spartans inside the Breslin Center on Thursday night in an 88-54 blowout. After forward Great Osobor gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the first minute of the game, Washington didn’t convert a field goal attempt until the 9:35 of the first half when center KC Ibekwe, but by then it was too late.

The Spartans had opened up a 16-4 lead at that point and didn’t look back, taking a 42-13 lead into the locker room and laying the hammer down in the second half on the way to a victory that killed any momentum Washington may have had after making an impressive second half comeback against Illinois before ultimately falling 81-77 on Sunday.

Osobor was at the center of those struggles, with the high-priced transfer failing to convert a shot from the floor, earning all 6 of his points at the free throw line. He added 4 rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block to his worst performance of the season.

Washington’s only double-digit scorer was guard Tyler Harris, who mustered 14 points while his team shot a meager 32.7 percent from the floor and 18.8 percent from three-point range. Coach Danny Sprinkle’s other five guards combined for 20 points in an extremely ugly performance.

In the other backcourt, Spartan guards Jeremy Fears Jr. and Jaden Akins thrived. Fears posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists while Akins, Michigan State’s leading scorer, finished with a game-high 20 points.

Washington was outdueled in every way, losing the rebound battle 40-30 while committing 15 turnovers to Michigan State’s 12. And the schedule doesn’t get any easier from here.

Next up for Sprinkle’s team, which fell to 10-6 on the season and 1-4 in Big Ten play, is a date with the No. 24 Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Saturday.

Why Kim Caldwell is offended by Tennessee ‘rebuilding’ talk

Kim Caldwell is offended when people think Tennessee is rebuilding. This is why.

Tennessee isn’t rebuilding, and don’t you dare say they are.

When new head coach Kim Caldwell arrived to coach the Lady Volunteers, she was already an unconventional hire. Despite her years of experience, none was in Division I basketball—a departure from Tennessee’s track record. Then, Caldwell introduced a style of play to her team that was unlike what most teams do, making other teams hate to play Tennessee. But she doesn’t seemingly subscribe to what others do or think, including that her team is rebuilding.

“I get a little bit offended with, “‘You have time to rebuild. You have time to rebuild. These seniors aren’t your players,'” Caldwell recently said. “That offends me. They are my players. They chose to stay, and I chose to coach them. And so, I don’t want to wait. I don’t want people to say, ‘When you get your players in here.’ These are my players. I want to win for them. I want to win right now.” (See the clip below and 9:47 mark of the YouTube video.)

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Texas A&M men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams admits that he does ‘not watch any games’

“Without being condescending, I have literally tried to live in the most narrow lane you can possibly imagine. Rarely look at my phone.”

The Texas A&M men’s basketball team has gotten off to an undefeated start through two games of SEC action and coach Buzz Williams is well aware of the debates that are beginning because of it.

“It is the first full week of conference play. If you were a fan, this would be fun. If you had a platform such as you guys or you were a media personality, like I am assuming some of you guys are, it is good fodder, it is good content. It is like, what about this and what about that and this coach and that player and what is next? What about what happened last week? That is what has created the exposure that this league has,” Williams explained Wednesday. “Without being condescending, I have literally tried to live in the most narrow lane you can possibly imagine. Rarely look at my phone. I do not watch any games. I am not talented enough to give away emotion and energy to something that does not impact us.

“Because when you are doing this for whatever, three hours tonight, shoot around this morning for an hour, film this morning before shootaround, chapel before film, travel here, all of the things that you are doing – when you give away time, energy, emotion over what is about to be one- and two-possession games for 10 consecutive weeks, I do not think you can lead from that. When you are trying as best as you can to be responsible and leading, on average, 20-year-olds who are completely bombarded, I just want to try to be the best example I can be. We are really thankful. We are glad that the bus ride, that the pizza will taste a little better. We are glad that it is only an hour home.

“But we are going to get home at whatever time, and literally, the preparation for Saturday’s game against another top 20 – this one, top five – team, starts as soon as I take a shower. I understand that is what comes with the job, so I do not want a portion of what I am saying to come across as if I am complaining. But thankful, OK, purge, cleanse. We have to figure out if we have a chance in another one- or two-possession game, if we can get it to that on Saturday.”

The No. 9 Aggies (13-2, 2-0 SEC) host No. 5 Alabama (13-2, 2-0) at Reed Arena on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Shaun_Holkko.

Kim Mulkey gave a meaningful baby gift to pregnant Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell

This was incredibly nice of Kim Mulkey.

Kim Mulkey did a really kind thing.

This week, Mulkey’s undefeated squad faced the Tennesee Lady Volunteers in a top-25 showdown. There’s been a lot of chatter about the matchup, including Mulkey telling reporters earlier in the week that if pregnant Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell had her baby during the game, she would help deliver it. When the two coaches met ahead of Thursday night’s game, Mulkey gave Caldwell a gift for her soon-to-be-born baby.

“Pat Summit was gracious to me when I was an assistant at Lousiana Tech,” Mulkey explained. “And basically mentored me and said, ‘You can do this. Don’t you get out of the business. You can have a baby, and you can raise a child. And you can be a great coach….I just gave her a gift.” Wow. That’s super kind. Mulkey even made a clever joke about the gift. “It was an LSU onesie. No, I’m just teasing. That’s a joke.”

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‘We tried real hard,’ Basketball coach Buzz Williams reflects on Aggies beating Oklahoma

“I do not think that they ever dropped their heads,” he said. “They were very accountable to one another and to what we were trying to do.”

After trailing by 18 points Wednesday night, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team fought back to beat Oklahoma on the road, which pleased head coach Buzz Williams.

“I just think we tried real hard. Oklahoma is so gifted offensively, and coach Moser is an offensive savant in regards to how he uses that talent. But there is always a lot of lipstick prior to the shot attempt that causes a lot of confusion, a lot of really gifted decision-makers with the ball. But the things that they are doing are really difficult to guard,” Williams explained. “In many respects, they beat us from start to finish. I do not know that you can give up 42 points from three with the 3-point field goal percentage being higher than the overall percentage and it not be 51-33. Actually, I would say that should be the line, 51-33, because everything that we were trying, they were taking advantage of and having near-perfect success.

“But I do think that the character of our guys and the relationships that they have with one another – they just hung around. I do not think that they ever dropped their heads. They were very accountable to one another and to what we were trying to do, and we were very fortunate to win.”

The No. 9 Aggies (13-2, 2-0 SEC) host No. 5 Alabama (13-2, 2-0) at Reed Arena on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Shaun_Holkko.

‘Zhu was tremendous,’ Coach Buzz Williams explains how Texas A&M won without Wade Taylor

“Zhu was tremendous. Zhu was really good on Saturday. But we can’t just give all of that to one player. Our group did a really good job.”

For only the second time in his historic Texas A&M career, senior point guard Wade Taylor IV missed a game Wednesday night due to injury.

However, the Aggies were still able to win at Oklahoma, thanks in large part to fellow senior PG, Zhuric Phelps.

“Statistically speaking, you could say that (Taylor) may be the best player (in Texas A&M history). There have been a lot of really good players. The game before Christmas was the first time that (Taylor) has ever missed the game, including the two practices prior, too. The same thing happened – I guess it would be Monday, Tuesday, entering today,” Aggies coach Buzz Williams recalled postgame. “He carries a lot for our team. He is incredibly gifted, but his IQ level as a player is probably at the same level or better than his talent. So not only did we miss his talent; we also missed his IQ. As best we could, our staff did a really good job of dispersing that burden and not putting it on one guy.

Latest 2025 NBA mock draft from ESPN has Kasparas Jakucionis as a top-5 pick

The freshman from Lithuania looks AMAZING.

While he wasn’t one of the most touted names before the NCAA season began, Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis is climbing up mock drafts.

Jakucionis, who previously played for Barcelona in Spain, is one of the best young guards in college basketball. He is averaging 16.4 points as well as 5.6 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 41.4 percent on 3-pointers for Illinois.

With good positional size in the backcourt and also still a very young prospect, there is a lot to like about his game. Here is more from Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo (via ESPN):

“The 6-foot-6 Lithuanian is playing fantastic basketball, controlling games with outstanding pace as a scorer and passer, getting to spots on the floor and playing through contact or finishing skillfully around the basket while making high-level pick-and-roll reads and hitting 3-pointers off the dribble.

The 18-year-old has made significant strides physically over the past 18 months and is on an impressive trajectory, making the transition from Europe to college look easy. He has been showcasing his talent on one of the best teams in college basketball.”

Already very impressive in the pick and roll and able to create his own jumper on 3-pointers, the scoring upside is huge for the guard. Jakucionis scored at least 20 points in six consecutive games between November 25 and December 22.

He is averaging 1.4 unassisted 3-pointers per game, per CBB Analytics, which is the most among all freshman.

ESPN’s mock draft has Jakucionis going to the Hornets, but plenty of teams will have interest in his services if he keeps playing this well.

Meanwhile, for more prospect coverage, here is our latest NBA mock draft at For The Win.

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Markowski’s career night lifts Nebraska past No. 20 Michigan State

The Huskers improve to 12-4 on the season and 3-2 in conference play.

On Wednesday night, the Nebraska women’s basketball team faced their fourth-ranked opponent in the last five games. The Huskers welcomed No. 20 Michigan State and earned their first-ranked win of the season.

Alexis Markowski erupted in Wednesday night’s clash, dropping a career-high 28 points in the win. Markowski finished 10-of-19 from the floor and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. She also led the team in rebounds with eight.

Both teams exchanged blows throughout the night, but Nebraska struck at the free-throw line. The Huskers landed 28 free throws on the night while Michigan State only made 14.

Nebraska even built a 17-point lead over the Spartans with under two minutes left in the third. Though Michigan State cut the lead down, the Huskers pulled away.

Allison Weidner dropped a season-high 11 points, going 5-of-7 from the foul line and earned a team-high six assists. Britt Prince rounded out Nebraska’s double-digit scorers, finishing with 10 points.

The Huskers improve to 12-4 on the season and 3-2 in conference play. They will travel to Rutgers on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. CT on B1G+.

Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes, and opinions.