Daily Sports Roundup
Saturday, December 19
Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: Bowl season gets underway in the college ranks, while the perfect Saints host the 'Boys, and the Blazers take on the Magic.
Colliding on the gridiron . . .
The NFL offers up a Saturday night game this week, with Dallas at New Orleans. The Cowboys (8-5 SU, 6-7 ATS) are on a two-game losing skid, falling 20-17 to the Chargers last Sunday. The Saints (13-0 SU, 8-5 ATS) kept their perfect record intact last week with a 26-23 win in Atlanta on a Garrett Hartley field goal. The oddsmakers have sided with the Saints at the Superdome on Saturday night, pegging them as 7.5-point favorites. The total for the matchup sits at 53.5 points.
As well, bowl season gets underway on Saturday with two games on the schedule. First it'll be Fresno State (8-4 SU, 6-4-1 ATS) vs. Wyoming (6-6 SU, 8-3 ATS) in the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, with Fresno State set as the 10.5-point favorite and the total at 55 points. Then it's Central Florida (8-4 SU, 9-2 ATS) vs. Rutgers (8-4 SU, 5-5 ATS) in the St. Petersburg Bowl, with Rutgers favored by 2.5 points and the total at 44. UCF is riding a three-game win streak.
Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The NBA has nine games on tap for Saturday, including Portland at Orlando. The Trail Blazers (16-11 SU, 13-13-1 ATS) pulled out a 105-102 home win over Phoenix in their last game on Thursday night. Jerryd Bayless led the way with 29 points off the bench for Portland in that win. The Magic (19-7 SU, 14-11-1 ATS) lost 104-86 on the road to rival Miami on Thursday night. Dwight Howard picked up 17 points and 14 rebounds in that loss, and J.J. Redick contributed 13 points.
Rounding out the NBA's Saturday schedule: Utah at Charlotte, the Clippers at Philadelphia, Atlanta at Chicago, Oklahoma City at Houston, Sacramento at Milwaukee, Indiana at San Antonio, Washington at Phoenix, and the Lakers at New Jersey in the mismatch of the day. Los Angeles (20-4 SU, 10-14 ATS) edged the Bucks in Milwaukee 107-106 in overtime in their last game on Wednesday night. Kobe Bryant exploded for 39 points for the Lakers in that win.
On the college hardwood top-ranked Kansas (9-0 SU, 4-2 ATS) will try to run their winning streak to 10 games when they host Michigan (5-4 SU, 1-5 ATS). As well, No. 2 Texas (9-0 SU, 6-1 ATS) will also put their unbeaten record on the line on Saturday when they host No. 10 North Carolina (8-2 SU, 3-4 ATS), while No. 7 Duke (8-1 SU, 5-3 ATS) will battle No. 15 Gonzaga (8-2 SU, 4-3 ATS). Other games involving Top-10 teams: No. 6 West Virginia at Cleveland State, No. 8 Villanova at Fordham, Ball State at No. 4 Purdue, Austin Peay at No. 3 Kentucky, No. 9 Tennessee at USC, and then St. Bonaventure at No. 5 Syracuse.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
Finally, there are dozen NHL games on the schedule for Saturday, including a matinee matchup between the Rangers and Flyers in Philadelphia. New York thumped the rival Islanders 5-2 in their last game on Thursday night to improve to 15-16-3 on the season. Ryan Callahan had two goals and two assists in that contest. The 15-6-2 Flyers fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Penguins in their game on Thursday night. Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux both scored for Philly that defeat.
Also on the ice on Saturday: Detroit at Dallas, Nashville at Calgary, Phoenix at Anaheim, Pittsburgh at Buffalo, Boston at Toronto, Minnesota at Ottawa, Montreal at the Islanders, Florida at Carolina, New Jersey at Atlanta, Columbus at Colorado, and Washington at Edmonton. The Oilers will be looking to put an end to a two-game losing streak when they play host to Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps late Saturday. Edmonton fell 6-3 to Nashville in their Thursday contest.
Today's Helpful Tips
Saturday, December 19
Broken Wing
Detroit will be without its leading scorer, Henrik Zetterberg, for the next two weeks after separating his shoulder in Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay.
The defending Stanley Cup champs are holding down the eighth spot in the Western Conference with 41 points behind Zetterberg’s 10 goals and 22 assists.
The Red Wings have won four straight, scoring three goals in each, but expect the offense to take a hit without "Z" in the lineup.
Detroit is 13-6-3 in its last 22 meetings against Dallas. The Stars are listed as -140 favorites with a total of 5.5.
Blazers blazing
Portland may have discovered a way to remedy injuries to Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez and Travis Outlaw – play at a blazing speed with a small lineup.
The Blazers have won two in a row and were powered in Thursday’s win over the Suns by a career performance from Jerryd Bayless who dropped in 29 points in 29 minutes off the bench.
In Portland’s last five games, the team is 3-2 and averaging 100.4 ppg, but in the five outings prior went 1-4 while averaging 92.4 ppg.
The over has cashed in two straight in this series and is 7-3 in the last 10 meetings when Orlando is the favorite.
Oddsmakers installed the Magic as 9-point favorites on Saturday with a total of 194.
Knights of the down table
Rutgers could be without two key players when they face Central Florida in the St. Petersburg Bowl on Saturday.
Stud wide receiver Tim Brown is questionable with a lingering ankle injury. He has not missed a game this season because of the setback, but was limited in the team’s season finale. Brown led the Scarlet Knights' receiving corps this season with 51 catches for 1,051 yards and eight touchdowns.
Starting defensive lineman Justin Francis is also questionable for the game with a leg injury. Francis did not play in Rutgers’ last game and has totaled 12 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in 11 games this season.
Rutgers is listed as a 2.5-point favorite over the Golden Knights with a total of 44. Central Florida is 9-2 ATS this season but 2-10-1 ATS in its last 13 games versus the Big East.
Good morning Morningstar!
Brady Morningstar will return to the Kansas Jayhawks lineup after serving a semester suspension for a DUI he was cited for during the offseason.
Morningstar will most likely play in a reserve role this season after starting for Bill Self’s squad last year. Freshman phenom Xavier Henry also plays the wing and will most likely consume the majority of the minutes at the position.
Morningstar logged 30.4 minutes a game last season while averaging 6.5 ppg and 2.6 apg. Henry is averaging 18.0 ppg in nine games this year.
The No. 1-ranked Jayhawks find themselves labeled as 19-point favorites over the visiting Michigan Wolverines on Saturday with a total of 140. Kansas is 0-8 ATS in its last eight meetings against the Big Ten.
Notable quotable
"It was a lesson learned and I'll move on from it. Don't Tweet when you're in the arena. I won't do that anymore. That's a lot of money, especially around Christmas time. You do a lot of shopping for the family. It doesn't look like I'll be able to do that this year. Looks like no Gucci and Louie for Xmas. I may just have to give out a bunch of Under Armour gear."
-- Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings on being fined $7,500 by the NBA for Tweeting on his Twitter account inside the 45-minute window after the Bucks lost to Portland in overtime last weekend.