NBA 101

Former NBA player, Coach of the Year Doug Moe dies at age 87

Former NBA player and coach Doug Moe has died at the age of 87, former NBA player Bill Hanzlik shared on X Tuesday. Hanzlik played under Moe for eight seasons with the Denver Nuggets.

The Nuggets later confirmed the news with a post in memoriam:

Moe is credited with revolutionizing the “passing game offense” in the NBA, emphasizing constant movement and a notorious “two-second rule” — pushing players to either pass the ball or shoot as quickly as the rule’s name would imply.

Moe spent four years as an assistant coach before earning his first job as a head coach with the San Antonio Spurs, leading the team to a 117-135 record over four seasons before heading to Denver as an assistant coach. He was then promoted to interim head coach and spent 10 seasons with the team.

Moe led the Nuggets to a 432-357 record over 10 seasons; those 432 wins made him the winningest coach in franchise history, prior to Michael Malone earning his 433rd win with the team in 2024. The Nuggets made the playoffs in each of his nine seasons as a full-time head coach, though the Nuggets failed to ever make it past the conference finals.

Moe earned NBA Coach of the Year honors in the 1987-88 season. That year, the Nuggets finished first in the NBA Midwest with a 54-28 record, leading the league with 116.7 points per game. After defeating the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, they fell in the semifinals to the Dallas Mavericks.

Despite leading the team to two Midwest Division titles in his tenure, Moe was fired by the Nuggets after the 1989-90 season as the team looked toward its future under new leadership. Bernie Bickerstaff — the first African American president and GM in franchise history — was hired in the summer of 1990 and fired Moe not long after.

Moe was a two-time All-American out of UNC, selected first by the Detroit Pistons in the 1960 draft, followed by the former Chicago Packers (now Washington Wizards) in the second round of the 1961 draft. Despite having been drafted, his connection to a point-shaving scandal in college followed him, an d he was eventually blackballed by the league for his connection to the alleged scheme, despite later being cleared of any wrongdoing.

Moe went on to earn the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award from the league in 2018.

Ava Heiden scores career-high 27 and No. 13 Iowa women beat Nebraska 80-67 for a 20-win season

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Ava Heiden had a career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds, Taylor Stremlow added a career-high 17 points, and No. 13 Iowa beat Nebraska 80-67 on Monday to sweep the season series.

Iowa (20-5, 11-3 Big Ten) secured its 10th straight 20-win season.

Heiden helped Iowa build a 45-27 lead by halftime after scoring 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting.

Nebraska went on a 10-1 run early in the third quarter to get within 52-41, but the Cornhuskers did not get any closer the rest of the way.

Iowa led by as many as 27 points, 76-49, with 7:54 left in the fourth.

Chazadi Wright chipped in with 14 points and seven assists, and Journey Houston added 10 points off the bench for Iowa. Heiden was 12 of 15 from the field, and Stremlow made her first six shots.

Britt Prince scored 13 points for Nebraska (16-10, 5-10), which has lost five straight games. Eliza Maupin added 11 points and Amiah Hargrove had 10. Prince had her consecutive free-throw streak end at 56 straight makes.

Nebraska has lost 13 of the last 15 meetings with Iowa.

Up next

Iowa: Stays on the road to play at Purdue on Thursday.

Nebraska: Travels to Oregon to face the Ducks on Thursday.

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Double Olympic gold for Matt Weston, who pairs with Tabitha Stoecker to win mixed skeleton title

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Britain’s Matt Weston waited a lifetime to capture his first Olympic skeleton gold medal. He only needed to wait two days for his second title, capping the Milan Cortina Games in the finest possible fashion.

Weston and Tabitha Stoecker won the mixed skeleton event on Sunday night, their two-run combined time of 1 minute, 59.36 seconds good enough to get another Olympic gold for Britain — its fifth in skeleton since 2010, by far the most of any nation in that span.

Weston won the men’s skeleton gold medal on Friday night. Stoecker was fifth in the women’s skeleton Olympic race that ended Saturday night.

Germany didn’t win any golds in the three Olympic skeleton races — but it won everything else, grabbing silver and bronze in each of those events. Susanne Kreher and Axel Jungk were second in 1:59.53, while Jacqueline Pfeifer and Christopher Grotheer were third in 1:59.54.

Kreher and Jungk also won individual silvers in Cortina; Pfeifer and Grotheer also won individual bronzes in Cortina. Jungk, Pfeifer and Grotheer are now the first three-time skeleton medalists in Olympic history.

It came down to the final duo, Stoecker and Weston.

Stoecker crossed the line three-tenths of a second behind Kreher’s time, meaning Weston — who set track records in all four of his heats in the men’s event — had work to do going into his final slide of these Olympics.

He didn’t wait long, getting into the lead early in his run and letting the sled do the work from there.

Mystique Ro and Austin Florian, the world champions in this event last year for the U.S., were seventh. Kelly Curtis and Dan Barefoot were 10th for the Americans.

The mixed team event was in the Olympic program for the first time. Athletes — one man and one woman on each team — start their run after a series of lights stop flashing, and the reaction time weighs heavily on whether a team has a chance of winning. Starting early leads to time being added as a penalty.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Leipzig’s Champions League hopes hit by 2-2 draw with lowly Wolfsburg in Bundesliga

BERLIN (AP) — Leipzig’s Champions League hopes took a blow in a 2-2 draw with lowly Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

It could have been worse for the Red Bull-backed club with Brajan Gruda salvaging the draw in the 89th minute and Leipzig goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt saving Christian Eriksen’s effort from the last kick of the game.

“It’s a bitter result for us. We wanted three points,” Gruda said.

Leipzig dropped to fifth, two points behind Stuttgart and just a point above Bayer Leverkusen with 12 rounds remaining. Only the top four qualify for Europe’s premier club competition.

Wolfsburg moved a point above the relegation zone.

Mohamed Amoura broke the deadlock for Wolfsburg early in the second half after Adam Daghim surged past Max Finkgräfe and Nicolas Seiwald before laying the ball back. Amoura fired inside the far post.

The otherwise excellent Wolfsburg goalkeeper Kamil Grabara gifted Leipzig a way back with a kickout that went straight to Gruda, who laid it off for Yan Diomande to equalize in the 70th.

Wolfsburg substitute Mattias Svanberg restored his team’s lead eight minutes later, but Gruda replied in the 89th to salvage a point for Leipzig after its German Cup exit to Bayern Munich.

Leipzig hosts second-place Borussia Dortmund next weekend, when Stuttgart plays bottom side Heidenheim and Leverkusen visits Union Berlin.

A late penalty from Alexis Claude-Maurice was enough for Augsburg to beat Heidenheim 1-0 in Sunday’s early kickoff.

Bayern leads by six points after 22 rounds, but will have to play the next games without injured captain Manuel Neuer, who picked up a calf injury in Saturday’s win over Werder Bremen.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Moustapha Thiam has 15 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks; Cincinnati beats Utah 69-65

CINCINNATI (AP) — Moustapha Thiam had 15 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks, Day Day Thomas scored 16 points, and Cincinnati beat Utah 69-65 on Sunday to extend the Utes skid to seven consecutive games.

Thiam, a 7-foot-2 sophomore, had his fifth career double-double and his third this season.

Baba Miller had 13 points and eight rebounds for Cincinnati (14-12, 6-7 Big 12) and Keyshuan Tillery scored 10 points. The Bearcats have won three straight for the first time since they started the season 4-0.

Keanu Dawes made a spinning fadeaway in the lane that gave the Utes a five-point lead with 1:56 to play. Thomas answered with a jumper before Miller hit two free throws and then threw down a two-hand dunk that gave Cincinnati a 66-65 lead with 40 seconds left.

Don McHenry led Utah (9-17, 1-11) with 18 points and Dawes had 16 points and 14 rebounds, his eighth double-double this season. Terrence Brown added 11 points and Seydou Traore 10. Dawes, a 6-9 junior, is averaging 15.8 points and 10.2 rebounds over the last six games.

The Utes have lost 12 of their last 13 overall and 15 straight on the road — tied with Binghamton and Gardner-Webb for the fifth-longest active streak in the nation.

Cincinnati leads the series with the Utes 5-2, 4-0 at home.

Up next

Utah: Plays Wednesday at West Virginia.

Cincinnati: Visits No. 9 Kansas on Saturday.

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Francis, Zrno lead Rutgers in 68-57 victory over Maryland

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Tariq Francis scored 21 points, Harun Zrno added 13, and Rutgers defeated Maryland 68-57 on Sunday, lifting the Scarlet Knights out of the Big Ten cellar.

Zrno hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 of Rutgers’ first 15 second-half points as the Scarlet Knights built a 42-34 lead through the first seven minutes after halftime. The lead reached 13 points with 8 1/2 minutes remaining.

Maryland cut the deficit to five points a couple of times and the Terrapins were still within 60-54 with two minutes left. Rutgers (10-15, 3-11 Big Ten) then closed it out at the free-throw line with Francis making 6 of 6 and Jamichael Davis going 2 for 2.

For the game, Francis made 12 of 13 free throws and the Scarlet Knights were 19 of 24.

Solomon Washington had 11 points and 14 rebounds for Maryland (10-15, 3-11), which had won two in a row. Darius Adams scored 13 points and David Coit had 12.

Rutgers led 18-13 with seven minutes remaining in the first half before Washington had a layup and a dunk in an 8-2 run that put Maryland on top 21-20 with four minutes left. Rutgers quickly went back ahead and held the lead until Washington’s free throw in the final second made it 27-all going into halftime.

All three of Rutgers’ conference wins have come at Jersey Mike’s Arena, the previous two in overtime against Northwestern and Oregon.

Rutgers and Maryland are one win clear of last place in the conference, ahead of Oregon, Northwestern and Penn State which all have two wins.

Up next

Maryland: at Northwestern on Wednesday.

Rutgers: at Penn State on Wednesday. ___

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