Bravas Travel to Leavenworth for Saint Mary Game
The Ottawa Braves men's basketball team is set to travel to Leavenworth for a matchup against Saint Mary this Wednesday. The game represents an important opportunity for the Braves to showcase their skills against a new opponent.
Traveling for away games is a regular part of the basketball season, allowing teams to test their abilities in different environments. The Braves will look to make a strong impression during this Wednesday's contest.
Rich Bisaccia steps down as Packers special teams coordinator
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Rich Bisaccia has stepped down as the Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator after four seasons.
Bisaccia said Tuesday in a statement released by the team that he had made the decision “after taking some time to reflect over the last few weeks.”
The Packers’ season ended Jan. 10 with a 31-27 loss to the Chicago Bears in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs.
Bisaccia, 65, joined Packers coach Matt LaFleur’s staff after going 7-6 as Las Vegas’ interim head coach in 2021 and helping the Raiders reach the playoffs that season. Bisaccia added the title of assistant head coach in March 2023.
Bisaccia was the Packers third special teams coordinator in as many years when he got to Green Bay.
The Packers were hoping Bisaccia could fix Green Bay’s history of special teams issues, a trend that began well before LaFleur’s tenure started in 2019.
He had mixed results in that regard.
Keisean Nixon followed Bisaccia to Green Bay from Las Vegas and earned All-Pro honors as a kick returner in 2022 and 2023. This season, Daniel Whelen became the first Packer to lead the NFL in gross punting average since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
Yet Green Bay also had some notable special teams breakdowns the past few years, making Bisaccia a major target for criticism among Packers fans.
With the NFC North lead at stake, the Packers fell 22-16 in overtime at Chicago on Dec. 20 after the Bears recovered an onside kick to set up the tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter. In Green Bay’s playoff loss at Chicago, Brandon McManus went 0 for 2 on field-goal attempts and missed an extra point.
Before coming to Green Bay, Bisaccia had worked as a special teams coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2002-10), San Diego Chargers (2011-12), Dallas Cowboys (2013-17) and Raiders (2018-21).
“While we are disappointed to lose a person and coach as valuable as Rich, we respect his decision to step down from the Packers,” LaFleur said in a statement.
“Rich was a tremendous resource to me and our entire coaching staff who had a profound impact on our players and our culture throughout the building. We can’t thank him enough for his contributions to our team over the last four years. We wish Rich, his wife, Jeanne, and the rest of their family all the best moving forward.”
Bisaccia’s decision means the Packers will have a new special teams coordinator as well as a defensive coordinator for the 2026 season. The Packers hired former Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon as their defensive coordinator to take over for Jeff Hafley, who left after two seasons to become the Miami Dolphins head coach.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Michigan basketball thunders through Purdue on the road
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – Bodies were on the floor less than 30 seconds in and No. 7 Purdue’s fanbase at Mackey Arena was in an absolute frenzy.
The atmosphere was deafening early and the preseason No. 1 team (Purdue) against the current No. 1 (Michigan basketball) lived up to the hype for a few minutes, only for the Wolverines to put together an incredible 40-15 run in the middle 12 minutes of the first half to go up by 20.
From there, the Wolverines just had to hang on to finish off their most impressive victory this season, 91-80, extending their lead in the Big Ten and further cementing themselves as a No. 1 seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament.
Yaxel Lendeborg, days after a video from last May surfaced showing him disparaging Purdue, wasn’t bothered by the hostile crowd, posting 13 points and seven assists. But it was Aday Mara who dominated from start to finish, with a 10-point, 12-board double-double before fouling out. Elliot Cadeau added a team high 17 points, including eight of U-M’s first 10 in the second half.
Big Ten tournament picture
The win by the Wolverines (25-1, 15-1) extends U-M’s lead in the Big Ten to 2½ games over Illinois (12-3) and three games over Nebraska (11-3). The Cornhuskers played late Tuesday night at Iowa, while the Illini visit USC on Wednesday night. Michigan has four games remaining in league play and could clinch its first regular-season title since 2021 with victories in its next two Big Ten contests.
Next up for Michigan basketball
But first, the Wolverines have to deal with No. 3 Duke in a neutral-site nonconference matchup in Washington on Saturday (6:30 p.m., ESPN). The winner at Capital One Arena this weekend could have the inside track for the No. 1 overall seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament. After the Blue Devils, the Wolverines return to Big Ten play again Minnesota at Crisler Center on Tuesday (8:30 p.m., Big Ten Network).
Bullying on the boards
Michigan has won 11 consecutive games, all without losing the rebounding battle. That continued Tuesday, when Mara, Lendeborg and Johnson came up with big boards at bigger times.
With U-M down 7-2 early, Lendeborg and Johnson came away with two extra chances on the same possession, allowing Lendeborg to hit a 3 in front of the Purdue bench. Johnson grabbed an offensive board moments later, leading to two free throws to start a 15-0 run.
But perhaps the play of the half was when Will Tschetter went up between four Boilermakers and tipped a ball behind his back to Lendeborg, who swung it to Trey McKenney for a 3-pointer to go up 15.
In all, U-M had eight offensive rebounds in the first half, leading to open looks as seven Wolverines hit at least one 3-pointer, including all four reserves making their first long ball of the night.
Bullying Braden Smith
Braden Smith was Big Ten preseason Player of the Year but looked more like John Smith on this night.
Purdue’s superstar point guard missed all four of his shots in the first half, going scoreless until he hit a baseline fadeaway with 18:31 to play; that got Purdue only within 17.
The Wolverines switched up their ball coverage on him all night: Sometimes Mara’s length stumped him, other times Roddy Gayle Jr. pestered him on the ball and, in the second half, Johnson even got a turn.
As a result, Purdue was forced to feed Trey Kaufman-Renn early; he finished with a team-high 27 points, but it took 26 shots to get there.
Purdue entered Tuesday averaging nearly 20 assists a game, best in the Big Ten. Against the Wolverines, the Boilermakers managed 12, but they struggled to string multiple scoring possessions together in a row.
Bullying the nation’s best
The Wolverines improved to 13-0 away from Crisler Center, which includes two victories in the most hostile arenas in the country − Michigan State and Purdue.
The win also moves U-M to 3-0 in top-10 matchups (Michigan State, Nebraska and Purdue) and 4-0 against top-12 teams (Gonzaga).
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball shows why it's No. 1 with pounding of Purdue