Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: Oklahoma meets Stanford in the Sun Bowl, while the Rangers face the Hurricanes, and the Mavericks seek a win in Houston.
Colliding on the gridiron . . .
There are five bowl games on the schedule for Thursday, with Houston vs. Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl, Navy vs. Missouri in the Texas Bowl, Minnesota vs. Iowa State in the Insight Bowl, Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, and Oklahoma vs. Stanford in the Sun Bowl. The Sooners (7-5 SU, 4-6-1 ATS) beat Oklahoma State 27-0 last time out, while the Cardinal (8-4 SU, 7-5 ATS) are coming off a 45-38 win over Notre Dame. Oklahoma is listed as a 10-point favorite for the bowl matchup, with the game’s total set at 55.5 points.
Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The NBA has five games on tap for Thursday, with Chicago at Detroit, Miami at San Antonio, Utah at Oklahoma City, Philadelphia at the Clippers, and Dallas at Houston. The Mavericks improved to 22-9 on the season (16-15 ATS) with a 104-96 win in Denver last time out on Sunday; Drew Gooden had 19 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for Dallas in that contest. The Rockets won’t have former All-Star Tracy McGrady in the lineup on Thursday, as he’s left the team and is waiting for a trade. Houston won 116-108 in Dallas back on December 18.
On the college hardwood there’s just one Top-10 team in action on Thursday, with No. 7 Duke playing host to Pennsylvania. However, the day’s top matchup has No. 15 Ohio State at No. 23 Wisconsin. The Buckeyes (10-2 SU, 6-6 ATS) had no problem with Cleveland State last time out, rolling to a 72-59 victory behind 30 points from David Lighty. The Badgers (10-2 SU, 6-4 ATS) blasted Illinois-Chicago 79-43 last time out, as Jon Leuer tossed in a team-high 17 points.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
Finally, the NHL offers up a busy slate of 11 games on New Year’s Eve, with Montreal at Florida, the Islanders at Ottawa, Nashville at Columbus, Colorado at Detroit, San Jose at Phoenix, Vancouver at St. Louis, Los Angeles at Minnesota, Anaheim at Dallas, New Jersey at Chicago, Edmonton at Calgary, and the Rangers at Carolina. The Rangers won’t have forward Vaclav Prospal in the lineup on Thursday; he’ll be out for two to three weeks with a knee injury. The Hurricanes fell to 10-22-7 on the year with a 6-3 loss to the Capitals on Monday.
