Jan 11, 2018 4 min read

Pitt loses Luther

Pittsburgh senior forward Ryan Luther’s season is over. The Panthers announced Thursday that the stress reaction Luther is dealing with in his right foot is not responding well to treatment and will prevent him from returning this season.

Luther said he will apply for a medical hardship in hopes of extending his collegiate career. He missed 12 games a year ago with a stress fracture in the same foot.

Luther averaged 12.7 points and a team-high 10.1 rebounds in 10 games this season for Pitt (8-9, 0-4 Atlantic Coast Conference). His absence leaves the Panthers without their lone established frontcourt player. Pitt has started four or more freshmen in four of the six games Luther has missed, including five freshmen in a loss to No. 7 Duke on Wednesday night.

NFL schedules three games overseas

The NFL is heading to a new destination in London, and the first match-up at English Premier League club Tottenham will be the Oakland Raiders against the Seattle Seahawks in October.

That’s if the 60,000-plus capacity stadium, which has been designed to accommodate soccer and NFL, is completed in time for Week 6.

While Tottenham is sure that building work is on schedule on the White Hart Lane site where its previous stadium was demolished last year, the NFL has contingency plans to move the Oct. 14 game to Wembley Stadium.

The home of the England national soccer team is where the NFL will be staging another two games after Raiders-Seahawks match-up, giving London three consecutive weeks of American football for the first time.

The Philadelphia Eagles will play the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Tennessee Titans will take on the Los Angeles Chargers. The NFL is yet to decide which game will be on Oct. 21 in Week 7 and which slots into Week 8 on Oct. 28.

Tottenham has signed a 10-year contract for games with the NFL.

The new stadium was designed with NFL-sized changing rooms and to ensure the grass soccer pitch can be retracted and kept under lights below the stands when the artificial surface is required for NFL.

Raiders under investigation

The NFL says it will investigate whether the Oakland Raiders violated the “Rooney Rule” when they hired Jon Gruden as coach.

Spokesman Brian McCarthy said Thursday in a statement that the NFL will “look into this.” The Fritz Pollard Alliance called for the investigation on Wednesday out of concern that Raiders owner Mark Davis came to an agreement with Gruden before the team interviewed any minority candidates as required by the NFL since 2003.

In the NHL

The U.S. Army has filed a challenge opposing the application of the NHL’s newest franchise to register the trademark “Vegas Golden Knights.”

In a claim filed Wednesday with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in suburban Washington, the Army claims it will be damaged by registration of the marque and says it has acquired exclusive rights that predate any rights claimed by the NHL team.

In the NBA

Ten seasons ago, the Boston Celtics came to London and won. They went on to win the NBA title.

As they repeated the first half of that feat with a comeback victory over the Philadelphia 76ers t, the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics provided more evidence that they can emulate that 2008 squad.Kyrie Irving had 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds and Boston overcame a 22-point deficit to beat the 76ers 114-103 in the eighth regular season NBA game played in England.

Jaylen Brown added 21 points, and Marcus Morris had 19 points and eight rebounds to help the Celtics extend their winning streak to seven games.

JJ Redick had 22 points and hit five 3-pointers for Philadelphia, but the 76ers were unable to take advantage of their fast start as the Celtics’ NBA-best defense tightened at O2 Arena.

Joel Embiid had 16 points, and fellow All-Star hopeful Ben Simmons added 15 for the 76ers.