The Phoenix Suns plan a simple remedy for their miserable shooting performance Saturday.

“Keep shooting,” guard Devin Booker said after a 109-103 home loss to Philadelphia, when the Suns made 11 of 46 attempts from 3-point range.

“We have good shooters that space the floor very well. We encourage everybody to keep letting it fly around here, and a majority of the nights aren’t going to look like (this).”

The Suns’ 23.9% mark from distance was well below their 36.5% success rate on the season.

The Suns’ first chance at redemption comes Tuesday in a home game against the new-look Dallas Mavericks. While the Mavs arrive on a seven-game losing streak, they added to their rotation with the haul gained by sending Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards at the trade deadline.

Power forward Marvin Bagley III, one of Dallas’ new arrivals, had 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots off the bench in his first game with the Mavs, a 138-125 loss Saturday at San Antonio.

“Just getting a feel for how the guys play,” said Bagley, a Phoenix native. “Just trying to figure guys out and doing it on the fly at the same time. I think once we figure that out, it will be great.”

The Suns are on a three-game home losing streak as they approach the midpoint of a stretch in which they play 16 of 19 games in their own building. Tuesday’s game is the ninth in that run.

The Suns have not been in sync recently. They have been outrebounded in each of the last four games and have been unable to compensate with their distance shooting and harassing defense.

The Suns shot 39.8% from the field against the 76ers. They made only one of their first 19 attempts from 3-point range to fall into a hole in Booker’s return from a seven-game absence with a right ankle injury.

Booker had 21 points in 32 minutes, going 5 of 12 from the field and 1 of 7 from the 3-point line. Dillon Brooks (28 points) and Collin Gillespie (six points) each went 2 of 10 on 3-point attempts.

“A lot were catch-and-shoot from our best shooters,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said. “Almost as high-quality as you can get from really good shooters. But it’s a recurring thing. We got to get to the rim.

“We love 3s, but we love getting to the rim, too, and all that does to your offense. The rim is still more valuable.”

The Suns average 14.6 made 3-pointers per game, ninth in the NBA heading into Monday’s play.

Suns guard Jalen Green had eight points, three assists and three rebounds in 17 minutes Saturday during his return from a three-game absence, while Grayson Allen (knee) did not play. He will be reevaluated after the All-Star break.

The Mavs are looking to build around Rookie of the Year candidate Cooper Flagg, with Bagley appearing to be part of the new future.

Flagg had 14 points Saturday, when he played only 26 minutes because of a back issue. He scored 32, 36, 34 and 49 points in his previous four games, in that order.

“Just understanding there was his back,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “It stiffed up on him, so we couldn’t bring him back in.”

Flagg’s status against the Suns remains undetermined, though he did participate in practice Monday.

–Field Level Media

Double-digit road victories have become the norm for No. 2 Michigan, which has won five straight away from home within its eight-game winning streak entering Wednesday’s clash with Northwestern in Evanston, Ill.

Complacency is another story for the Wolverines, though.

After rallying from a halftime deficit at Maryland to win their first conference road test in mid-December and surviving a scare at Penn State three weeks later, the Wolverines (22-1, 12-1 Big Ten) take nothing for granted.

“Those close games really shifted our mindset,” said Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg. “We’re not invincible, even though we feel like we are. And it just proved to us that we’ve got to be more mature in everyday approach.”

Michigan led throughout Sunday’s 82-61 victory at Ohio State by remaining centered and steady.

The conference-leading Wolverines plan to apply the same principles against Northwestern (10-14, 2-11), which has lost three straight and nine of 11.

“We know in the Big Ten, every road game is going to be really tough,” Aday Mara said. “But I think our preparation and just being ready and having a good intensity from the beginning, it makes the difference.”

Wildcats coach Chris Collins also has focused on his team’s mentality as Northwestern aims to avoid the league basement.

The Wildcats are one of five schools with double-digit conference losses — joining Maryland, Rutgers, Oregon and Penn State. Of that group, the Wildcats clearly boast the best power ratings. They opened the week at No. 69 in KenPom and No. 79 per the NET rankings.

While he insists Northwestern is “not a moral-victory program,” Collins sees progress amid the losses. On Sunday, fielding a starting lineup with three freshmen just four days removed from a 40-point blowout loss at Illinois, the Wildcats challenged host Iowa throughout a 76-70 defeat.

“When you get throttled like that, you worry about how that’s going to affect them going into the next game,” Collins said, “but I thought our effort was great, I thought our fight was great. I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win this game (Sunday).”

While Big Ten leading scorer Nick Martinelli paced Northwestern with 21 points, freshman point guard Jake West continued his development with a career-best 18 points, including a 4-of-5 effort from long range.

Collins lauded West’s poise as he goes against a deep roster of Big Ten point guards.

“Put yourself in his shoes as a young kid trying to go through this gantlet,” Collins said. “I’m proud of him. He’s learning a lot. But I think what you see about Jake is, he’s a competitor. He’s not going to back down. He’s going to play against these guys, he’s going to give his best. He’s learning with each game. He’s growing with confidence. We’re putting him out there.”

Collins cited Michigan’s Elliot Cadeau as the next point-guard challenge West will encounter, but the Wolverines are solid in the frontcourt as well.

Mara, a 7-foot-3 junior, scored a career-high 24 points on Sunday while connecting on his first two 3-pointers.

“I’m confident with my shot. It’s in my game,” Mara said. “It’s just that I haven’t (shot) it for two years, but I know it’s there, so I’m just going to keep taking the good shots.”

Meanwhile, Lendeborg (14 points, 14 rebounds) and fellow forward Morez Johnson Jr. (11 points, 12 rebounds) each registered their fifth double-double of the year.

–Field Level Media

No. 14 Florida, sitting alone atop the Southeastern Conference, will try to duplicate its defensive effort from the weekend when they travel to play high-scoring Georgia on Wednesday night in Athens, Ga.

The Gators (17-6, 8-2 SEC) shut down Texas A&M’s prolific, frenetic attack and rolled to an 86-67 road win on Saturday. The Florida defense, No. 2 in the SEC at 71.2 points, put the clamps on the Aggies, who entered the game leading the SEC with 92.0 points per game.

The Gators limited Texas A&M to 17.1% shooting in the first half that included 23 consecutive missed shots – highlighted by five blocked layups as the Aggies went 10:25 between baskets.

Florida needs to bring the same defensive effort against Georgia (17-6, 5-5), the SEC’s new leader with 91.9 points per game. The Bulldogs are coming off an 83-71 win at LSU that ended a three-game losing streak.

The Gators have won four straight conference road games, something they had not done since 2017.

“Obviously, we’re really pleased where we are right now, but we’ve got eight more league games left and a lot can happen,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “There’s a lot of teams with three and four losses and it’s all about us taking care of our business. We’ve got to take one game at a time, as cliche as that sounds.”

Florida’s Rueben Chinyelu leads the SEC in rebounding (11.5 per game) and double-doubles (14). Thomas Haugh, who scored a game-high 22 against the Aggies, ranks seventh in the SEC with 17.8 points per game.

“The great thing about being in this position is we don’t have to worry about anybody else,” Golden said. “Just see what’s in front of us, one game at a time. And we’ll be ready to go against Georgia on Wednesday.”

Georgia is coming off one of its best defensive efforts of the season. The Bulldogs forced 14 turnovers and limited the Tigers to 5 of 23 (21.7%) from 3-point range.

“I thought we were pretty sharp for 40 minutes defensively,” said Georgia coach Mike White. “Proud of the effort. A lot of carryover from practice. These guys worked hard and their attention to detail was pretty good against an LSU team that’s capable of beating anyone in our league. That was a big win for us.”

White said the Bulldogs need to continue to get better on the boards. Florida leads the nation in rebounding margin (plus-15.2 per game) and owns a height advantage over the Bulldogs, who outrebound foes by just 1.5 per game.

“We made a significant improvement with our desire to compete on the glass,” White said. “Now here comes another SEC opponent who is prolific at rebounding the basketball. If we can just stay in the fight. We can’t get demolished on the glass. We’ve got to keep it close.”

The Bulldogs continue to share the offensive load. On Saturday it was Kanon Catchings, who finished with 23 points, including five 3-pointers — tying his career high in both categories. He averages 11.2 points to join Jeremiah Wilkinson (17.1), Blue Cain (13.2) and Marcus “Smurf” Millender (11.7) in double figures.

Florida leads the series 127-102, but Georgia is 62-47 in games played in Athens. That includes an 88-83 win on Feb. 25, 2025, that marked the Gators’ last loss on their way to the NCAA title.

–Field Level Media