Anchor Drop, December 15, 2018: Luuuuuuuuuke’s Big Night

Good morning.

In spite of strong performances for the Westchester Knicks and a promising end to 2017-18, Luke Kornet’s struggled to find a role for the New York Knicks this season. Prior to Friday night, he’d played a grand total of 23 minutes and hadn’t scored a point in seven NBA games this season.

On Friday night, he played 24 minutes — one more than he’d played all season — and scored 13 points, with a +/- of 19, as the Knicks beat the Charlotte Hornets 126-124 in overtime. Kornet wasn’t the biggest reason the Knicks won — Emmanuel Mudiay did have 34 points, after all — but they probably wouldn’t have won without his play in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Hey, maybe they should play him more!

Vanderbilt News

FINALLY, a game of some sort. The women’s basketball team, 4-5 this season, hosts Central Michigan tonight at 5:00 PM CT. The game can be streamed on the SEC Network+.

DO YOU HEAR THAT? We have a AA+ bond rating, still.

Ahead of Monday’s game, Arizona State blog House of Sparky previews, well, us.

Off the West End

Well played, Sacramento Kings.

How the hell does a college football player play an entire season with an outstanding warrant?! You would think, after all, that it wouldn’t be too difficult for the police to locate him...

I know the SB Nation mothership for whatever reason has a bunch of Florida grads working there, but it’s probably not a great look to pick one of them to explain why UCF should accept a 2-for-1 against the Gators. UCF at least gained my respect by telling Florida to pound sand.

(Also, Florida still won’t play a nonconference road game outside the state of Florida, and you’ll never unconvince me that Florida pulled some strings to avoid playing UCF in a bowl game. Or that the SEC office intentionally schedules their road games against Kentucky in September to keep them from having to play in cold weather.)

Oh yeah, here’s today’s bowl schedule. Consider this your open thread for the day.

Celebration Bowl: Alcorn State vs. North Carolina A&T, 11 AM CT, ABC

Cure Bowl: UL Lafayette vs. Tulane, 12:30 PM CT, CBS Sports Network

FCS Semifinal: Maine at Eastern Washington, 1:00 PM CT, ESPN2

New Mexico Bowl: North Texas vs. Utah State, 1:00 PM CT, ESPN

Las Vegas Bowl: Arizona State vs. Fresno State, 2:30 PM CT, ABC

Division II National Championship: Ferris State vs. Valdosta State, 3:00 PM CT, ESPNU

Camellia Bowl: Eastern Michigan vs. Georgia Southern, 4:30 PM CT, ESPN

NAIA National Championship: Benedictine vs. Morningside, 5:00 PM CT, ESPN3

New Orleans Bowl: Appalachian State vs. MTSU, 8:00 PM CT, ESPN

(There’s also plenty of basketball today, too!)