Cam Carter put LSU ahead for good with a jumper 1:08 into the third overtime and the Tigers came away with a wild 109-102 win over UCF on Sunday in the third-place game of the Greenbrier Tip-Off in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Carter's make sparked a 5-0 spurt for LSU (5-1), which mounted a ferocious second-half rally that began after Darius Johnson drilled a 3-pointer to put the Knights up 52-34 with 12:57 to play in regulation. UCF (4-2) got back within two in the third overtime, but it never found a way to draw even. Vyctorius Miller and Jordan Sears sealed the victory, combining for three buckets down low that gave the Tigers a 106-99 cushion with 17 seconds remaining. Carter was the late-game hero for LSU, scoring the final four points of regulation to forge a 70-70 tie. He also knocked down a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:19 left in the first extra session to give the Tigers a 76-75 advantage. Sears gave LSU a four-point edge with a triple of his own with 2:10 to go, but the Tigers failed to stay in front, and UCF's Keyshawn Hall kept the game going by sinking two free throws with six seconds remaining to make it 82-82. Neither team led by more than three in the second overtime, with Hall again coming to the Knights' rescue. He made two layups in the final 52 seconds of the frame to knot things at 93 and send the teams to a third OT. Few could have predicted 15 minutes of extra basketball after UCF put together a 25-3 first-half run that lifted it to a 38-18 advantage with 2:12 left until the break. LSU responded with seven unanswered points, but the Knights still led comfortably, 40-25, at intermission. Sears finished with a game-high-tying 25 points to go along with nine boards, while Jalen Reed recorded a 21-point, 13-rebound double-double for the Tigers. Carter netted 20 points, Miller had 16 and Dji Bailey chipped in 14. Johnson collected 25 points, six rebounds, eight assists and five steals for UCF. Hall totaled 21 points and 10 boards, and Jordan Ivy-Curry supplied 20 points. LSU outshot UCF 43.2 percent to 40.7 percent and had narrow advantages from behind the arc (12 made shots to 10) and the free-throw line (21-18). --Field Level Media
Controversial billionaire Elon Musk responded to speculation that MSNBC could be put up for sale , asking on Friday how much the cable news network would set him back. The Comcast media conglomerate announced Wednesday it planned to spin some of its NBCUniversal properties — including MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen and E! — into “a new publicly traded company.” The announcement prompted some social media users, including Donald Trump Jr., to suggest the world’s richest man should buy MSNBC . Many of the left-leaning network’s hosts, including Joe Scarborough, Rachel Maddow and Mika Brzezinski, have been critical of Musk and the MAGA movement he supports . “Hey @elonmusk I have the funniest idea ever!!!” Trump Jr. posted on Friday alongside a graphic joking that MSNBC would sell for the “best offer.” “How much does it cost?” replied Musk, whose net worth was estimated to have reached a record high of $321.7 billion on Friday. Musk’s response was very similar to the one he gave in 2017 when some social media users suggested he buy Twitter. Five years later, he spent $44 billion to purchase the platform , which he renamed X and has since used to promote his right-wing ideology and conspiracy theories . “I mean it can’t be much,” Trump Jr. wrote back. “Look at the ratings.” MSNBC viewership reportedly plummeted 38% after Election Day, according to The Wrap. Musk’s banter with Trump Jr. continued, with the entrepreneur writing, “The most entertaining outcome, especially if ironic, is most likely.” While Comcast made no mention of selling MSNBC to Musk , the big-spending tech wiz has proven he can take over companies despite resistance from their board of directors, just as he did with Twitter. Speculation about Musk buying a progressive cable news network comes a week after satirical site The Onion announced it had purchased Alex Jones’ far-right “InfoWars” empire in a bankruptcy auction. Jones was forced to sell the disgraced brand to satisfy a judgment against him in connection with the lies and conspiracy theories he pushed about the 2012 massacre at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School . A Texas judge has delayed that acquisition while a court reviews details of the bidding process.The world stands at the dawn of a “third nuclear age” in which Britain is threatened by multiple dilemmas, the head of the armed forces has warned. But alongside his stark warning of the threats facing Britain and its allies, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said there would be only a “remote chance” Russia would directly attack or invade the UK if the two countries were at war. The Chief of the Defence Staff laid out the landscape of British defence in a wide-ranging speech, after a minister warned the Army would be wiped out in as little as six months if forced to fight a war on the scale of the Ukraine conflict. The admiral cast doubt on the possibility as he gave a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank in London. He told the audience Britain needed to be “clear-eyed in our assessment” of the threats it faces, adding: “That includes recognising that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom, and that’s the same for the whole of Nato.” Moscow “knows the response will be overwhelming”, he added, but warned the nuclear deterrent needed to be “kept strong and strengthened”. Sir Tony added: “We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age, which is altogether more complex. It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.” The first nuclear age was the Cold War, while the second was “governed by disarmament efforts and counter proliferation”, the armed forces chief said. He listed the “wild threats of tactical nuclear use” by Russia, China building up its weapon stocks, Iran’s failure to co-operate with a nuclear deal, and North Korea’s “erratic behaviour” among the threats faced by the West. But Sir Tony said the UK’s nuclear arsenal is “the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on (President Vladimir) Putin than anything else”. Successive British governments had invested “substantial sums of money” in renewing nuclear submarines and warheads because of this, he added. The admiral described the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers on Ukraine’s border alongside Russian forces as the year’s “most extraordinary development”. He also signalled further deployments were possible, speaking of “tens of thousands more to follow as part of a new security pact with Russia”. Defence minister Alistair Carns earlier said a rate of casualties similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the army being “expended” within six to 12 months. He said it illustrated the need to “generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis”. In comments reported by Sky News, Mr Carns, a former Royal Marines colonel, said Russia was suffering losses of around 1,500 soldiers killed or injured a day. “In a war of scale – not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine – our Army for example, on the current casualty rates, would be expended – as part of a broader multinational coalition – in six months to a year,” Mr Carns said in a speech at Rusi. He added: “That doesn’t mean we need a bigger Army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.” Official figures show the Army had 109,245 personnel on October 1, including 25,814 volunteer reservists. Mr Carns, the minister for veterans and people, said the UK needed to “catch up with Nato allies” to place greater emphasis on the reserves. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Defence Secretary John Healey had previously spoken about “the state of the armed forces that were inherited from the previous government”. The spokesman said: “It’s why the Budget invested billions of pounds into defence, it’s why we’re undertaking a strategic defence review to ensure that we have the capabilities and the investment needed to defend this country.”
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VIDEO: Stanley Brand Recalls 2.6 Million Mugs Due to Potential Burn HazardLAS VEGAS (AP) — Trae Young might be the NBA's biggest enigma. Young's fans can point to numbers and say he's an elite player. His detractors can point to numbers and say he's overrated. Both arguments have validity. To some, his cocky ways are endearing. To others, they're infuriating. This can't be argued: He's helping Atlanta author one of the season's surprise stories. The Hawks are in the NBA Cup semifinals, set to play Milwaukee on Saturday before the other semifinal between Oklahoma City and Houston. The title game is Tuesday night. “When we talk about Trae, the word I like to use is evolution,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “And every player evolves. They just evolve in different ways. He's been an important part of our young guys' growth and being able to elevate them.” The Hawks haven't had a ton of big moments in Young's seven seasons. But he has shown a propensity for rising to the occasion: ousting New York in the 2021 playoffs, ousting the Knicks from the quarterfinals of this tournament to get to Las Vegas — and now comes another chance on national TV on Saturday, facing the Bucks with a chance to play for a trophy. “I feel like this team has been embracing the challenge each and every night from the beginning of the season,” Young said. “We haven’t looked too far ahead in any moment. We’re just taking it day by day. Even though early on in the season we may have had some struggles and some bumps in the road and some guys out, we stuck with the process and focus on each day." Here's part of the pro-Young argument: He's averaging 21 points and 12 assists something that only Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas have done over a full season, and he's on pace to lead the league in assist average for the first time. Here's part of the anti-Young argument: Among the 220 players with at least 50 3-point attempts this season he ranks 189th at 30.8%, and of the 248 players with at least 100 field goal attempts this season he ranks 231st at 38.4%. Choose your side. They're both valid. But it's clear that Young — who made no secret that he was upset over not being picked for the team that won gold for USA Basketball at the Paris Olympics this past summer — is growing and maturing. “He’s doing a better job on both ends of the floor,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “Defensively he’s figured out a way of keeping himself out of actions. I know that sounds easy. That’s hard to do, and he’s brilliant at it, he really is. ... He must be really studying the game on both ends of the floor, and you can see that in his play. And he’s earned the trust of his players. This team likes playing with him, that’s obvious. I couldn’t say that in the past, but now they love playing with him.” Hawks forward Jalen Johnson doesn't deny that point. “He’s so good, man,” Johnson said. "It’s crazy, like just seeing it in person and on TV prior to me playing with the Hawks and getting drafted by the Hawks, it was crazy just watching it. A guy that’s undersized, being able to score at will, being able to make any pass at will. And then next thing you know you’re his teammate and you’re on the receiving end of those passes. “Watching those clutch late game buckets, it’s a joy to watch. It’s a gift that he has that’s very special and not many people have had it at that elite of a level. It’s been great being his teammate. It’s been a blessing.” Saturday is an opportunity. The semifinals are the only games on the NBA calendar for that day; the title game Tuesday — which doesn't count in the standings — is the only game on the NBA slate that night as well. Young will have tons of eyeballs on him Saturday and would have tons more on him Tuesday if the Hawks find a way to win another big game against the Bucks. They're 3-1 against Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland and Boston already this season, 1-0 against Milwaukee. The potential is clear for the Hawks. The potential for Young has always been clear as well. Only now, it's starting to be realized. “The narrative about me not being able to do certain things or being too mad or frustrated about certain things is — I mean, just aren’t true,” Young said. "I think you’re just now being able to see like with the young team we have, just some of the different things we’ve been doing this year, I think just now you’re starting to kind of see it because the results are showing and we’re winning now. We’re here in this final four of the Cup, and it’s a big deal.” AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
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