Tuesday Sports-January 25, 2022

Will he or won’t he? Fox Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer went on a Dallas sports talk show Monday and reported Saints Head Coach Sean Payton is seriously considering retirement-but-Glazer added; “Sean (Payton) changes his mind every two seconds.”

Saints beat reporter for NewOrleans-Dot-Football, Nick Underhill reported Monday that Payton was at the Saints team facilities after two weeks’ vacation.

Fox 8 in New Orleans Olivia Vadal and Sean Fazende asked Saints owner Gayle Benson about Payton’s intentions and she replied, “Who knows? We’ll find out soon enough I guess. I don’t think any of us know, but he’ll let us know soon enough.

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Despite missing leading scorer Brandon Ingram, the New Orleans Pelicans earned a 117-113 win over the visiting Indiana Pacers, who were without their top dog in Domantas Sabonis. With Sabonis on the sideline, the Pelicans controlled the paint, outscoring Indiana in the middle 64-32. Jonas Valanciunas racked up 16 points and 12 rebounds, former LSU Tiger Garrett Temple added 14 points and Texas-Ex, Jaxson Hayes added 14 points and seven rebounds. While that trio did their damage inside, Devonte Graham and Josh Hard paced the Pelicans with 25 and 22 points respectively. That’s two wins in a row for the Pelicans who face the 76ers tonight in Philadelphia.

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The SEC announced their co-Players of the Week Monday afternoon. Arkansas forward Jaylin Williams and Auburn forward/center Walker Kessler were named co-Players of the Week.

Williams, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound sophomore from Ft. Smith, Ark., averaged 16.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals in wins over South Carolina and Texas A&M. He had career-highs with 19 points against South Carolina and six steals against Texas A&M. Williams recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds against the Aggies.

Kessler, a 7-foot-1, 255-pound sophomore from Newnan, Ga., averaged 17.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 blocks in wins over Georgia and No. 12 Kentucky. Kessler registered his third-straight double-digit performance in league play with a game-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field against UK. He also tallied seven re- bounds and two blocks.

The SEC Freshman of the Week is Auburn forward Jabari Smith, a 6-foot-10, 220-pound freshman from Tyrone, Ga., averaged 13.0 points, 7.0 re- bounds and 2.5 assists per game in wins over Georgia and No. 12 Kentucky. Smith extended his team-leading double-digit scoring streak to 16 games with 14 points and seven rebounds against UK. He also recorded 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the victory over Georgia.

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As we barrel toward the high school basketball post-season, we check on local schools and their standing in the power rankings, particularly schools ranked in the Top 10 of the Power Rankings.

In Boys hoops, Class 4A Non-Select, Huntington resides in the 6 spot with Woodlawn at number 10. Bossier occupies the Number 2 position in Class 3A. Lakeview is the top team in Class 2A with Many at number 10. Simsboro and Zwolle are ranked 1st and 2nd in Class B. Evangel is ranked 6th in the Select Division II rankings. Calvary comes in at number 3 in the Division IV power rankings.

On the girls side, Parkway is number 2 in the Non-Select 5A power rankings with Ruston fifth and Benton tenth. In Class 4A, Huntington slides into the 8 spot. Mansfield is ranked 5th in 3A, Lakeview number two in Class 2A and Homer is fifth in Class 1A.

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