#injuries

#injuries

When Eric Musselman and his staff carefully pieced together this USC team through the transfer portal last spring, the lineup announced Tuesday night ahead of the Trojans' 88-71 win over Maryland was probably not what they had in mind. Ryan Cornish, the Dartmouth transfer starting at one guard spot, didn't scratch the rotation until December. Kam Woods, the other starting guard, wasn't even enrolled at USC until late last month.

"I don't know," McInnes said of the prospect of the transfer being fast-tracked. "We don't control that, but it would be nice if we could. "We could do with a couple of signings, if we can, to help us. We've got a couple of injuries, and we'll see where we are. I don't know if that (Mato) can be done, but certainly if it can be done, we'll try it."

Senegal secured a 1-0 win over Egypt to secure their place in the Africa Cup of Nations final. The opening minutes in Tangier were scrappy, with both sides contesting the ball and dominance in the game. Early fouls from Omar Marmoush and Idrissa Gana Gueye set the tone, while Senegal looked to use the movement of Nicolas Jackson and Sadio Mane to stretch Egypt's defensive line.

Arsenal are reportedly not prepared to sell defender Ben White in this January's transfer window despite reported interest from Everton. The Gunners are seemingly keen to keep hold of White, according to football.london, with Everton's interest also not yet confirmed anyway. White has been a key player for Arsenal down the years, though he's no longer the automatic first choice for Mikel Arteta's side.

Cooper Flagg scored 27 points and matched a season high with three blocks, and Naji Marshall had three straight baskets down the stretch and finished with 22 points as the depleted Dallas Mavericks beat the Brooklyn Nets 113-105 on Monday night. The Mavericks (15-25) snapped a two-game skid. Klay Thompson scored 18 off the bench and matched a season high with six 3-pointers.

Not many teams like coming to Fratton Park and we've got to put them under pressure early on,

"He's a significant challenge," Capitals Coach Spencer Carbery said. "He's having a phenomenal season. ... He changes his shot angle as good as anybody in the world. When he gets in tight spaces and you think you've got him stick on puck, he's able to just move it six inches more to get a real clean look off when he gets into that dangerous scoring area. And frankly, that's a little bit larger for him than it is for most players."

Playing Real Madrid in a final is always special for Barcelona, for it hands them the opportunity to not only celebrate an El Clasico win but to do so with silverware in their hand. Last season, they played against Real Madrid in the final of both the Spanish Super Cup and the Copa del Rey, winning on both occasions and taking home the bragging rights.

Arsenal will move eight points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League if they beat reigning champions Liverpool at home on Thursday. Brighton & Hove Albion did Mikel Arteta's side a favour by holding City to a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, as did Crystal Palace by sharing a 0-0 draw at home to third-placed Aston Villa, who are behind the Cityzens only on goal inferiority.

A few torn ACLs later, those plans are in disarray. The Chiefs aren't in the bracket at all. The Packers are here, but they're walking wounded as a 7-seed. So this year, because my preseason pick is officially impossible, I'm freeing myself to make a new Super Bowl prediction. The chance of me picking all 13 games correctly is zero point zero percent, but maybe we can learn something along the way.

A crucial month for Manchester City has begun badly. Pep Guardiola will hope this season does not derail in similar fashion to last season. Patched up because of a growing list of injuries, City are seeing their title challenge fall apart. They have now drawn three games in a row. As Wednesday's match against Brighton finished 1-1, there were a few jeers at full-time.