NC State beats Wake Forest, 65-56 — and more

Of all the games NC State has played this season, this was certainly one of them. A dreadful effort from start to finish, where the defensive intensity lacked in the first half and execution at the offensive end was poor throughout, but the lengthy stretches of inconsistency didn’t matter because Wake Forest is just that bad.

You’d think that, given what is on the line, and the fact that this was the last home game of the season, the team might feel a little bit of urgency, but there was none of that, and instead they let a very bad team hang around for no reason.

The game never felt in doubt—Wake Forest has had its inspirational performances against State, but this was not one of them. It was just confusing.

Wake Forest chose to bog this game down by playing 2-3 zone and sending nobody to the offensive glass for the duration. That 2-3 was so bad it reminded my of my days in intramurals, but anyway, NC State just had a rough time executing despite having all kinds of opportunities. The timing was not there, and the results followed.

This team is so frustrating, and I’m not used to getting battered like this at the same time by both sides of NC State basketball. But we carry on.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jack Hughes knows that at some point, the chaos that has been his life since his gold-medal winning overtime goal for the United States at the Milan Cortina Olympics will end.

The New Jersey Devils star isn't there yet. And might not be for a while.

The 24-year-old Hughes — his smile still missing the handful of teeth he lost in the Olympic final against Canada — received a loud and long ovation on the road in Pittsburgh on Thursday night, the latest in a series of “is this really happening?" moments since his overtime score on the final day of the Games gave the U.S. its first Olympic goal in men's hockey in 46 years.

During a brief pregame ceremony that included a nod to members of the gold-medal winning U.S. women's team as well as Penguins and Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby, the crowd at PPG Paints Arena turned the volume way up when the spotlight swung to Hughes' No. 86.

Some of the 18,288 in attendance chanted “Huuuuuughhhes! Huuuuuughhhes!” before it morphed into “U-S-A! U-S-A!," catching Hughes a little off guard.

“I was thinking going into the game, I knew they’d do something, but obviously, you know, Crosby’s the biggest athlete here,” said Hughes, who had an assist on New Jersey's lone goal in a 4-1 loss to the Penguins. “So I’m sure they were cheering for Canada as well, but obviously a lot of proud Americans in the crowd tonight. And that was something I’ll always remember."

Pittsburgh fans did something similar 16 years ago for then Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller, who was on the wrong end of Crosby's “golden goal” for Team Canada that capped the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Miller and that Team USA team had to settle for silver. Hughes etched out his own space in U.S. Olympic lore and earned gold in the process with his overtime score in Italy. The last few days have been a whirlwind that included a trip to the White House and a cameo at President Donald Trump's State of the Union.

Hughes was celebrated at home in New Jersey on Wednesday. To receive the same welcome against a Metropolitan Division rival, with the chance at another one on Saturday when the Devils visit St. Louis, is not something he anticipated.

“Obviously, it’s not going to last forever, but just really cool,” he said.

Hughes allowed that the pace of things have not really allowed him to process it all just yet. While re-entering the grind of the NHL regular season has been challenging after what he called “probably the best moment of my life,” his time at the rink has given him a welcome dose of routine.

“The best thing that’s happened to me is getting back on the ice and playing,” he said. “Just so I have like four or five hours of no distractions.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Kon Knueppel is now the greatest rookie three-point shooter in history, but he does not want to celebrate alone.

Most athletes leave their work at the gym. Ayaka “Zombie” Miura never quite gets that luxury – though in her case, the lines between profession and passion have always been beautifully, almost poetically, blurred.

On the global stage of ONE Championship, the Japanese MMA star is one of the most feared submission hunters. Her signature “Ayaka Lock” – a scarf-hold Americana so refined it might as well have her name on a patent – has finished nine opponents, seven in ONE Championship alone.

Away from the sport, though, Miura was doing the same thing, albeit in reverse. 

Before MMA consumed her world entirely, the Tokyo-based warrior worked as a clinical educator at an osteopathic center, studying the human body with the kind of precision that most fighters simply never develop. She learned how joints move, how they lock, and, crucially, how to put them back together.

The irony writes itself:

“Well, being able to fix means being able to break. Because I understand the structure of the body, I think it’s easier for me to lock in techniques that require bending joints. I often joke that I went from a job healing people to a job breaking them.”

Miura still hasn’t fully left that world behind. 

At Tribe Tokyo MMA, where she trains under Japanese martial arts veteran Ryo Chonan, her clinical knowledge gets called upon regularly – not on opponents, but on teammates.

The 35-year-old told onefc.com:

“I only take appointments occasionally when there are appointments at a friend’s clinic. The same goes when I’m at the gym. Sometimes, when Chonan-san’s body needs work or when fighters dislocate something during practice, I’m called over to pop it back in.”

It’s a remarkable thing to picture. 

One moment, “Zombie” is drilling submissions on the mat, hunting for the precise angles to secure a tap. The next moment, she’s the one repairing the damage.

It’s a dynamic that exists nowhere else in combat sports. Most fighters study the body to hurt it. Miura studies the science behind solving issues like that, and somewhere along the way, discovered that understanding one made her dangerously good at the other.

The Science Behind The Submissions

There’s a line that separates healer from fighter in most people’s minds. For Ayaka Miura, that line has never really existed.

Her osteopathic background has sharpened her into the combatant she is today. Understanding exactly how a joint bends, where its limits are, and what angle produces the most leverage isn’t something you can learn purely from drilling. 

Miura carries that knowledge into every scramble, clinch, and moment she pulls guard and goes hunting for submissions on the canvas:

“[That knowledge is] probably ingrained in my body. But I’m not very athletic, and my head isn’t that great, so I’m the type who has to repeat techniques many times before I can do them.”

The self-deprecation is classic Miura — humble to a fault, despite the evidence stacking up against that assessment throughout her 13 appearances in ONE. What she doesn’t say, but what her record makes abundantly clear, is that all that repetition has worked just fine.

There was one moment, though, that captured her dual nature perfectly. 

In competition, after locking in a joint technique and hearing the telltale sound of something giving way, her instinct wasn’t to celebrate:

“During one of my previous fights, when I locked in a joint technique and heard a pop, I immediately tried to fix my opponent’s limb. But it was a situation [I couldn’t solve].”

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Soaking wet SI Swim star Nicole Williams English flaunts her flawless bikini body in a strappy, skimpy swimsuit.