Buzzer Beater In Return

Well, that's one way to make a regular season debut…let the fans know what they've been missing with a buzzer beat. We'll discuss this, plus some college basketball and football stories, and obviously, we have to talk about Aaron Rodgers's return.

Here we go.

Morant Hits Buzzer Beat In First Game Back

Ja Morant returned to the Memphis Grizzlies after a 25-game suspension by the NBA and had a buzzer-beater win in a thriller against the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Grizzlies were down almost 20 entering the 2nd half and were able to chop the lead down to 10 points going into the 4th. Memphis outscored the Pelicans 38-26 in the final 12 minutes, including Morant's buzzer beat in the paint to secure the win.

Morant finished with 34 points in his season opener. Jaren Jackson Jr. helped out with 24, and Desmond Bane also finished with 21.

Brandon Ingram led the Pelicans with 34 points. Jonas Valanciunas scored 22, and CJ McCollum also dropped 18 for the Pelicans.

Other NBA Scores

Phoenix Suns 104 | Portland Trailblazers 109

🏀 Kevin Durant scored 40 points, but the Suns would lose a close one to Portland. Phoenix hasn't been a healthy roster for most of the season and didn't get much help from the rest of the team except for Devin Booker, who scored 26 points.

San Antonio Spurs 119 | Milwaukee Bucks 132

🏀 Giannis "took a night off" from scoring last night, but thanks to the Dame Lillard addition this season, it doesn't impact the Bucks much. The Bucks grabbed a nice win against the 2nd worst team in the NBA, and Dame scored 40 points. The Bucks got double digits from 4 other players as well.

Boston Celtics 126 | Golden State Warriors 132

🏀 If you're on the East Coast, you probably didn't stay up for this matchup that took it to overtime.

👉️ Steph Curry was coming off one of the worst shooting nights in his career, and it wasn't clear how he'd respond against this talented and deep Celtics roster. Boston couldn't contain Curry, as he finished with 33 points and was 6-11 from 3-point land. Klay Thompson was looking a little more like himself last night, too. Klay was 6-15 from beyond the arc and finished with 24. The Warriors had double digits from 3 others and some points from everyone on the roster last night.

👎️ Jayson Tatum only had 15 points last night, and the rest of the Celts picked up the slack, but it still wasn't enough. Derrick White scored 30, and Jaylen Brown scored 28, but the Celtics would get outscored 46-29 in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Providence Upsets #6 Marquette

🏀 Providence guard Devin Carter scored 22 points and hit five 3-pointers to lead Providence to a huge Big East win over a highly ranked Marquette team. Ticket Gaines also hit five 3-pointers for Providence as well.

📉 Marquette looked "off" last night with their shooting, and the eye test was validated from the stats book. Marquette finished just 32% on field goals last night.

👍️ This is the first Big East game for Kim English, Providence's new head coach. A big win over the #6 team isn't a bad way to start your in-conference play.

College Football

🏆️ Washington's Kalen DeBoer was named AP Coach of the Year. It's DeBoer's 2nd year as head coach, and he has a 23-2 record with the program. He took over after the Huskies had a 4-8 record in 2021.

🚌 Florida State is considering packing its bags and leaving the ACC after being the first undefeated Power 5 conference champion excluded from the CFP. Florida State would have to pay around $120 million to exit the conference, which may be considered as they are already perturbed by the revenue payouts they receive.

💲Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has reportedly signed a contract extension with the program. The details haven't been made public, but Kiffin was already set to earn about $9 million each of the next four years at Ole Miss.

Aaron Rodgers Will Not Be Making His Return

Aaron Rodgers' practice window is about to close, as he would need to come off IR today to be activated for the roster. Rodgers says he's not near 100% right now, but if he were, he'd be pushing to play.

This doesn't seem like "new" news, and it's pretty much aligned with what we expected when Aaron Rodgers ruptured his Achilles in the 4th play of the season…. we wouldn't see him again this year.

Rodgers was on the Pat McAfee show and explained his passion for the game and that he thinks he'll play beyond next year. He also added, "The night is always darkest before the dawn, and we're going to rise again."

Touche Mr. Rodgers, touche.

What To Watch Tonight

NHL

🏒 NY Islanders @ Washington Capitals, 7:30 pm ET on TNT

🏒 Seattle Kraken @ LA Kings, 10 pm ET on TNT

College Basketball

🏀#5 UConn @ Seton Hall, 7 pm ET on CBSSN

🏀 #10 Baylor @ #21 Duke, 7 pm ET on ESPN

🏀 #11 North Carolina @ #7 Oklahoma, 9 pm ET on ESPN

🏀 Villanova @ #12 Creighton, 9 pm ET on FS1

🏀 Alabama @ #4 Arizona, 11 pm ET on ESPN

That’s all for today. See you tomorrow!

-The Daily Breakroom