The Minnesota Timberwolves have two games left before the NBA All-Star break.

That’s not much time to snap out of weeklong slump.

Minnesota will try to bounce back on short rest when it tips off against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves are coming off a 115-96 loss at home against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday afternoon.

The setback marked the Timberwolves’ third loss in the past four games. Rudy Gobert called out the team’s effort level on defense after a recent loss, and coach Chris Finch told reporters he addressed the topic internally and regretted that Gobert had made it public.

For his part, Timberwolves top scorer Anthony Edwards said the team’s latest loss did not seem to be the result of a lack of effort.

“I felt like we had good energy (Sunday),” said Edwards, who averages 29.8 points per game. “I felt like the offense just wasn’t going for us, especially for myself. I have nothing to say about our defense. I thought we did a pretty good job (against the Clippers), it’s just, we couldn’t score the ball.”

Minnesota will try to bounce back against a Hawks team that has won two of its past three games but is coming off a 126-119 home loss against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.

Jalen Johnson finished with 31 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for Atlanta. He leads the team at 23.4 points per game on 50.2% shooting from the field in 49 games this season.

Johnson said he always looks for a way to get involved in the game, even if the first half does not always go the way that he wants.

“I might miss my first couple shots in the game, and other guys might have it going, so that opens up for me to play-make,” Johnson said. “Obviously, when the time is right, I pick my spots. I’ll be aggressive when I need to be, and that approach has helped me to stay even keel when I’m not shooting the ball well to start the game.”

This is the second and final meeting between the Timberwolves and Hawks during the regular season. The first game took place Dec. 31 in Atlanta, where the Hawks rolled to a 126-102 win thanks to Johnson’s game-high 34 points on 15-for-22 shooting.

Finch said he has confidence the Timberwolves can find a way to win on their home court. He said a key ingredient to success would be moving the ball on offense and finding the open man.

“We’ve got to get our offense going,” Finch said. “We had a lot of turnovers (Sunday). We’ve got to get some kind of rhythm and speed to our offense.

“Guys are kind of not getting included in the offense enough. I think we get some connectivity from that. We don’t have a great spirit about us right now; we’ve got to pick it up. Try to finish these last two games strong before the break.”

–Field Level Media

If North Carolina coach Hubert Davis is hyped, imagine what his players must be feeling.

The 14th-ranked Tar Heels (19-4, 7-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) are set to visit Miami (18-5, 7-3) for a conference tilt on Tuesday night. The game could represent an emotional challenge for North Carolina, as the Tar Heels are coming off a thrilling 71-68 win over fourth-ranked Duke on Saturday night.

“I’m still a little bit numb,” Davis said after the dramatic home win over North Carolina’s biggest rival.

As for the Hurricanes, they have had some extreme highs and lows in recent years, reaching the NCAA Final Four for the first time in program history in 2023 before suffering through two straight losing seasons, including an embarrassing 7-24 record in 2024-25.

Jai Lucas — in his first season as a head coach — has turned around the Hurricanes. And Lucas, 37, knows the Tar Heels well because he was a Duke assistant/associate head coach for the past three seasons.

The Hurricanes are not deep — they got just seven bench points in their most recent game, a 74-68 win at Boston College on Saturday. Miami also is last in the ACC in 3-point-percentage defense (35.3) and just 12th in 3-point shooting on offense (34.2).

But what the Hurricanes do well is score inside, which is why they lead the ACC in field-goal percentage (51.1).

“That’s how we’re built,” Lucas said. “We have a formula of points in the paint. We’re big. We’re physical. We have to fight for our identity.”

Miami, which is 12-2 at home, starts an imposing front line of 6-foot-11, 265-pound Ernest Udeh Jr. along with Malik Reneau (6-9, 235) and Shelton Henderson (6-6, 240). Even shooting guard Dante Allen looks like a linebacker at 6-4, 220.

The fifth starter is point guard Tre Donaldson, who plays bigger than his listed size (6-2, 195). Donaldson is second on Miami in scoring (15.9) and ranks fourth in the ACC in assists (6.2). Donaldson typically closes strong, which was evident on Saturday as he scored 13 of his 14 points in the second half.

Donaldson also does a great job of getting the ball to Reneau, who ranks fifth in the ACC in scoring (20.0), sixth in field-goal percentage (56.5) and 17th in rebounding (6.5). Reneau is a master of scoring in the paint, using glass often.

Udeh ranks second in the ACC in rebounding (9.6).

Henderson ranks 19th in scoring (14.5). He’s also been efficient, ranking third in field-goal percentage (61.5).

Allen, a freshman averaging 6.6 points, has stepped in for starter Tru Washington, who has been out due to personal reasons.

Meanwhile, the Tar Heels are big, too — or at least tall — as they are led by Caleb Wilson (6-10, 215) and Henri Veesaar (7-0, 225).

Wilson ranks fourth in the ACC in scoring (20.2) and field-goal percentage (58.5) and third in rebounding (9.6). Veesaar is 10th in scoring (16.6), fifth in rebounds and second in field-goal percentage (62.6).

North Carolina’s only other double-figure scorer is Seth Trimble (14.2). Trimble, as every basketball fan in North Carolina knows, hit the last-second 3-pointer to beat Duke on Saturday.

“It’s special,” Trimble said of his shot. “I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life.”

–Field Level Media

Searching for a bounce-back performance, No. 15 Vanderbilt will look for its first victory at Auburn in a decade when the Southeastern Conference opponents meet on Tuesday.

Vanderbilt (19-4, 6-4 SEC) had its three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday by lowly Oklahoma, which had lost its last nine games. The Commodores never led in the surprising home loss and trailed by 15 with 2:20 left before rallying in a 92-91 setback.

Vanderbilt still is off to its best 23-game start since 2007-08 (also 19-4 before reaching 24-4), but head coach Mark Byington knows his team can’t afford a slide in conference play.

“In this high level of sports, you get what you deserve, and we did not play well,” Byington said. “We obviously didn’t play well, and we weren’t ready to play. … We’ve got to go back and figure it out and learn from it and we’ve got to fix some things. We can’t ever do this again.”

The Commodores, who haven’t won at Auburn since Feb. 13, 2016, are led by breakout sophomore Tyler Tanner. After averaging 5.7 points per game in a reserve role as a freshman, Tanner ranks fifth in the SEC with 18.6 points per game.

Tanner has shouldered the load of Vanderbilt’s injured backcourt, as second-leading scorer Duke Miles (16.6 ppg) has missed the last three games with a knee injury and Frankie Collins (7.8 points, 4.7 assists per contest) hasn’t played since Dec. 17 as he also deals with an injured knee.

“I’m just proud of his resiliency,” Byington said of Tanner, who poured in a career-high 37 points against Oklahoma, 15 in the final two minutes. “He was fighting and playing as hard as he could, and he almost got us back into it.”

Byington noted that Miles and Collins don’t have timetables for returns, but they could be back before the end of the regular season.

Auburn (14-9, 5-5), meanwhile, is out to avoid its first set of consecutive home losses since February 2021. A year removed from their second Final Four appearance in program history, the Tigers are 11th in the SEC standings with a month remaining in the regular season.

First-year head coach Steven Pearl’s team held a 10-point first-half lead against rival Alabama on Saturday, before allowing 59 points after halftime in a 96-92 home loss. Auburn won’t have much time to lick its wounds with another Quad 1 opportunity around the corner.

“You’ve got to have a short memory because you’ve got such a quick turnaround on Tuesday against another really good offensive team,” Pearl said. “Vanderbilt runs a ton of offensive sets, so it’s going to be really hard to break that down to show the guys. I’ve got to do a good job of really identifying areas that we got exposed.”

Vanderbilt ranks 12th in the nation with 88.9 points per game, while Auburn allows 78.4 ppg — third most in the SEC.

Hoping to steer the Tigers away from the NCAA Tournament bubble has been Keyshawn Hall, who ranks second in the conference at 21 points per game. Playing on his fourth team in four years, Hall is averaging 23.8 points across the last five outings.

–Field Level Media