Jaron Pierre Jr. scored 22 points, all but four of them after halftime, as SMU defeated slumping Notre Dame 89-81 on Tuesday in an Atlantic Coast Conference game in Dallas.

SMU (17-7, 6-5 ACC) led by six points at halftime after an 18-point first half by Boopie Miller and 57.1% shooting from the floor. The Fighting Irish owned the first five minutes of the second half and swept to a brief lead before the Mustangs swung back with 14 straight points as part of a 19-2 run that netted it a 64-50 advantage with 10:46 to play.

Notre Dame (11-14, 2-10) responded, drawing to 76-70 after Logan Imes’ fast break layup with 4:42 left. But that’s as close as it would get as SMU added to the margin with a driving layup by Corey Washington and three free throws by Pierre and strolled to the finish line.

Miller finished with 20 points while Washington had 14 and Samet Yigitoglu racked up 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Mustangs, who have won two games in a row.

Notre Dame’s Jalen Haralson led all scorers with 23 points. Braeden Shrewsberry and Cole Certa had 16 each and Brady Koehler hit for 11 points for the Fighting Irish, who have dropped five straight games and are tied at the bottom of the ACC standings.

The Mustangs led by as many as 10 points early on before Notre Dame chipped away and a free throw by Shrewsberry with 3:01 left in the half tied the game at 34-34. SMU built the lead back to six points when Miller produced six straight points, the latter a 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining. The Mustangs finished the half with a 43-37 lead.

Miller’s 18 first-half points led all scorers. It included a 6-of-7 showing from the floor and making all four of his jumpers from beyond the arc. Haralson paced the Fighting Irish with 10 points at the break.

Notre Dame took the lead on Carson Towt’s layup with 15:54 to play and was up 48-45 after Shrewsberry made a 3-pointer 46 seconds later. SMU went on its run shortly after.

–Field Level Media

The Denver Nuggets are stumbling into the All-Star break but they can grab a little momentum when they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.

Denver has lost four of its last five after letting one slip away against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night. The Nuggets led by three in the final minute but Cleveland scored the last five points to steal a victory.

Two of the losses were by three points or fewer and the other was a double overtime setback at the New York Knicks. Denver is clinging to the third seed in the crowded Western Conference with a chance to keep that position going into the much-needed week-long break.

“It’s going to be a race in the West to the end, and we got to have a good mindset,” head coach David Adelman said. “Right now, Wednesday is what’s most important to me.”

The glass-half-full view of the Nuggets’ position is they’ve stayed near the top of the standings despite a season full of injuries. All five starters have missed time and six of their top rotation players have been out for significant stretches.

That, combined with the recent tough schedule – three of the last eight games have been against the top seeds in both conferences – has contributed to the recent losses.

Nikola Jokic returned to form after missing 16 games with a left knee injury. He recorded a triple-double in the last three games and leads the team in points (28.2), rebounds (12.2) and assists (10.7). Jamal Murray is second in points (25.8) and assists (7.6), both of which are career bests.

Memphis has lost three in a row and eight of its last 10. The last three losses have come since Jaren Jackson Jr. was traded to Utah that netted the Grizzlies three first-round draft picks along with Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks and Georges Niang. A season that started with Jackson and Ja Morant as the building blocks has taken a turn.

Morant has not played since Jan. 21 due to an elbow injury and Memphis is without Zach Edey (ankle), leaving Santi Aldama as the only true big man to battle Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas. Aldama is averaging 14 points a game while Ty Jerome, who missed the first 46 games with a calf strain, is currently leading the Grizzlies in scoring at 19.8 points a game in the five games he has played.

Memphis signed 7-foot-1 rookie Lawson Lovering to a 10-day contract on Tuesday to help with the frontcourt depth. The Grizzlies could have used some help after blowing a 17-point lead at Golden State on Monday night, losing 114-113 on a late layup.

“We don’t have a lot of mismatched attacking power in that situation because of, let’s say, our big guy situation at the moment,” head coach Tuomas Iisalo said after the game.

The loss was made more painful when forward Cedric Coward went down with a knee injury late in the first half and didn’t return. The rookie is averaging 13.3 points in 48 games this season.

-Field Level Media

Pebble Beach Golf Links may be an icon among American golf courses, but playing in the Northern California weather in February makes things a bit of a toss-up.

Justin Rose can attest as he prepares for this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he won in 2023.

The 45-year-old Englishman said Tuesday that the weather at Pebble Beach can change in an instant and alter how the annual tournament plays.

“The weather can play a huge factor,” Rose said. “I think if you were to play the perfect golf at Pebble, you would like it to be 75 degrees, you would like the course to be somewhat firm and you would like about a 12- to 15-mile-an-hour wind. To me, then you’ve got a great challenge on your hands.

“If you get Pebble in soft conditions without much wind, (it’s) a little bit target golf. And the small greens don’t play small and you can kind of end up sort of — the course can feel a little softer or easier than it should be for a major championship test. But as soon as you get those conditions just right, yeah, this course can play unbelievable.”

Rose thought back to his three-stroke win in 2023 and said he was assisted by the wind and the climate that week, which required a Monday finish.

“In 2023 there was a break in play and I was playing a very tough stretch of golf into the wind at Monterey Peninsula when we were playing over there,” Rose said, referencing a sister course no longer in the Pro-Am’s rotation. “There was a break in play, got called off, came back the next day. The wind had shifted to downwind and I finished, I don’t know what it was, four or five birdies in my last eight or nine holes and that gave me a great run into Sunday and I won the tournament.”

In 2024, the fourth round was completely abandoned due to inclement weather, including wind gusts of more than 60 mph, and third-round leader Wyndham Clark was declared the winner. It was the seventh time since 1974 that the 72-hole tournament was shortened to 54 holes.

On Tuesday, Rose went out to practice with just his wedges and putter. He was glad not to have brought his full bag, as the bright and temperate conditions Tuesday morning quickly flipped to chilly and windy.

“Today was such a curious day out there,” Rose said. “It was actually a lovely morning and you’re sort of thinking to yourself, ‘Oh, they’ve got the weather forecast completely wrong,’ blue sky, it was calm. Then literally it was like a switch, like 30-mile-an-hour winds, the ocean started looking angry, the clouds start rolling in and it’s going to be a pretty rough afternoon I think. Yeah, that’s coastal golf.”

Rose is now No. 3 in the world rankings thanks to his win at the Farmers Insurance Open two weeks ago.

“(I’m) obviously playing at a high level, which is my goal,” he said. “That’s kind of what I want to be. I want to continue to be playing elite golf. That’s the only reason I want to play golf is to continue to play at an elite level.

“I don’t really just want to be out here for out here’s sake. I’ve got better things to do in my life. I’ve got a busy life, I’ve got people who need me at home as well. So like if I’m out here, I’ve got to be making it count.”

–Field Level Media