Miami, Kentucky need to recover from losses

Fifth-ranked North Carolina made use of its few days off to sort out what went wrong during an upset home loss to Wofford. Now sixth-ranked Miami and No. 7 Kentucky have to do the same.

The Tar Heels lost to Wofford on Wednesday — snapping a 23-game home winning streak — before regrouping with a win against Ohio State in Saturday’s CBS Sports Classic in New Orleans. The Wildcats (9-2) lost to unranked UCLA in that same event in the marquee game of the week for a light AP Top 25 schedule.

“Hopefully we bounce back from this,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “I told them, “The next four games we play, we can lose every one.”

Then, late Saturday, the Hurricanes followed with a loss to New Mexico State in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii.

The Tar Heels (11-2) were coming off last weekend’s win at No. 21 Tennessee when they turned in a clunker of a performance against the Terriers, from being sloppy with the ball to struggling for consistent defensive stops and offensive flow. It was a performance that left coach Roy Williams criticizing “bad movement, bad defense, bad coaching” for a team he described as “fat and happy” — and it overshadowed the good news that Pittsburgh graduate transfer Cameron Johnson finally made his season debut after missing the first 11 games because of injuries.

After the 86-72 win against the Buckeyes, Williams said the team used the Wofford film as an extended tutorial.

“We went in and watched the tape of the entire game and they listened to the coaches grade it while they were sitting there,” Williams said. “It was almost 2½ hours, so hopefully they learned something.”

Now it’s the Wildcats’ turn after the 83-75 loss to the Bruins that left Calipari saying: “We’re better than this.”

As for Miami, the Hurricanes (10-1) beat Hawaii in Friday’s Diamond Head first round in Honolulu but lost to New Mexico State in the semifinal. A win would’ve sent the Hurricanes into a Christmas Day title game against USC, which was ranked earlier this season. Instead, Miami will play Middle Tennessee for third place.

Ball will miss game • Lonzo Ball has a sprained left shoulder and will sit out of the Lakers’ game against Minnesota on Christmas night. The team said Sunday an MRI revealed a sprain that Ball sustained in the second quarter against Portland on Saturday night.

Suzuki still wants to play • Ichiro Suzuki, who became a free agent in November when the Miami Marlins declined their option to sign him for the 2018 season, still hasn’t given up hope of remaining in Major League Baseball.

Suzuki was quoted by Kyodo news agency Saturday as saying: “I feel like a big dog at a pet shop that hasn’t been sold. Of course, I want to play baseball next year.”

He was asked if there was any possibility of him returning to play in Japan if he isn’t offered an MLB contract.

“When you use the word possibility, there are many things ... it means anything is possible as long as it’s not zero.” Suzuki said.

Serena Williams returning • Serena Williams is coming back to competition with an exhibition match Saturday in Abu Dhabi against French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Williams has not competed since winning the Australian Open last January while she was pregnant. She will face Latvia’s Ostapenko at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in the first year that women will be taking part, tournament organizers announced.

“I am delighted to be returning to the court in Abu Dhabi for the first time since the birth of my daughter in September,” the 36-year-old Williams said in a statement.

Associated Press