Washington
Aday Mara romps out west as Michigan basketball rolls in Washington
Dusty May explains what happened to Michigan’s defense vs Wisconsin
Michigan basketball coach Dusty May speaks Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 at Crisler Center, ahead of Michigan’s Pacific Northwest trip.
SEATTLE — Michigan basketball went to the Emerald City and struck gold … or maize.
On a night when Washington honored its national-champion men’s soccer team, brought back former star (and former Detroit Piston) Isaiah Thomas and introduced their incoming class of football recruits to the first sellout crowd in two seasons, the Huskies simply couldn’t hang with the Wolverines on Wednesday, Jan. 14.
No. 3 Michigan battled on the boards, locked down on defense and got enough done on offense despite another lackluster shooting night to get back to its winning ways, beating Washington 82-72 in the first of two games on a Pacific Northwest swing.
Morez Johnson Jr., nicknamed “Junkyard Dog” by his teammates, showed his bite against the team with “Dawgs” across its chest, scoring 16 points and adding a career-high 16 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
“As a coaching staff, we communicate throughout the game and there were anywhere between three and 300 instances where we said to each other ‘Rez is an absolute dog, Rez is an absolute beast’,” coach Dusty May said postgame. “We were very repetitive because he made so many plays that made us appreciate him.”
He set the tone on the glass – a battle U-M won, 42-40, as part of its 50-28 scoring advantage in the paint. Meanwhile, U-M played a largely clean game, forcing 12 turnovers and only committing eight as it outscored U-Dub, 11-2, in points off turnovers.
Johnson was aided by his fellow bigs: Aday Mara scored a team-high 20 and Yaxel Lendeborg added 14 after a slow start.
The Wolverines will stay in the Pacific time zone for their next game, heading to Eugene, Oregon, to take on the Ducks in a nationally televised game Saturday (4 p.m. ET, NBC). The Ducks, a second-round NCAA Tournament team last season, have already nearly matched their 2024-25 losses (10) this season, at 8-9 overall and 1-5 in Big Ten play. Still, three of those five conference losses have come on the road, rather than at Matthew Knight Arena. Center Nathan Bittle leads Oregon with 16.3 points per game, plus 6.7 rebounds and two assists.
Getting to the finish line
The Huskies fought back after a cold start – just seven makes in their first 26 shots – with 10 makes in their next 17 to get within five, 46-41, on a Hannes Steinbach putback.
But Michigan got hot. Lendeborg drilled a corner 3, Mara hit three straight baskets – a floater, a layup and a dunk –Lendeborg hit another hook in the lane and then Mara finished another slam on the baseline, for six straight makes.
Even so, the Huskies stuck with the Wolverines thanks to baskets on four straight possesssions. Johnson got an offensive rebound and putback off a Trey McKenney missed layup, but McKenney was then assessed with a technical foul for tripping a U-W player stepping over him.
The Wolverines struggled to extend their lead until Mara swatted a hook shot near the rim and Roddy Gayle Jr. had a runout the other way for a coast-to-coast layup to go up 11 with 5:16 to go. He then found Lendeborg on the break on the following possession for an acrobatic layup, making it 76-63.
The Wolverines weren’t perfect on offense – 17-for-23 on dunks or layups 15-for-46 on all other shots – but they did enough of the little things for coach Dusty May.
Marvelous Morez Johnson Jr.
Johnson led the way in that grinding mentality.
He dominated early on the boards with 10 in the first 15 minutes, including three on offense. The Wolverines didn’t shoot well on 3s – 5-for-23 (21.7%) – so extending possessions mattered.
“Elite,” Mara said of how he’d describe Johnson in a single word. “His ability to help us in rebounding is something I’ve never seen before. I think that was better than me scoring 20. For today’s game, one of the keys was rebounding and I think he did great.
“It’s way easier when you have a player like this on your team.”
Johnson’s greatest highlight came off a missed Gayle jumper, as he came flying in through the paint and threw down a tip-slam between two defenders to put Michigan up, 28-18.
Johnson responded to May’s recent team-wide critiques of the energy level with perhaps the Wolverines’ most energetic performance this season. He wasn’t quite as dominant after halftime, but still added eight points and four rebounds.
Coming in waves
The Wolverines started slow; they didn’t score until 2:33 in, falling behind by three. That was followed by a 12-0 run in 4:14, with all of the points coming either in the paint or from the free throw line.
Michigan, which has struggled beyond the arc for a few weeks, missed its first 10 3-pointers, but a spurt from the reserves got the group going. It was 14-9 when McKenney buried the team’s first 3. Will Tschetter followed with one of his own less than a minute later, then added a follow under the bucket, as U-M’s reserves scored eight straight.
Later, it was Lendeborg’s turn. He missed his first five attempts, then finally drilled a 3 from the left wing to get going. On the next possession he received a full-court pass from L.J. Cason and finished in the paint, then grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and had a putback in traffic. That gave him seven straight points and extended U-M’s lead to 37-26.
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) – A man is in custody, charged with Murder in the shooting death of a teenage girl.
Washington County Deputies responded to calls of a shooting at a home on Hagan Circle, Friday night just before 10 p.m.
Once there, deputies located 15-year-old LuVenya Knight lying unresponsive inside the home. Life-saving measures were attempted but unsuccessful. Knight was pronounced dead at the scene.
22-year-old Kermarion Markel Washington of Tennille has been arrested and charged in the case.
Washington is charged with Felony Murder, Malice Murder, Child Molestation, Statutory Rape, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony.
Additional charges may be forthcoming.
Washington is currently being held at the Washington County Jail.
INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD has a new public safety camera downtown to help address crime or deter it altogether.
The technology is up and running at the intersection of W Washington Street and N Illinois Street. It’s the third camera to be installed along Washington Street in the last three months.
“We’ve had a lot of success with our cameras, using them with juvenile mitigation or violence crime reduction efforts to identify those people involved in crimes, and we’ve been able to make arrests because the cameras are there,” IMPD Downtown District Commander Shane Foley said. “If the cameras weren’t there, there’s certain situations we would not be able to make arrests.”
The other intersections that had cameras installed back in March previously had mobile surveillance units in place, but that wasn’t true for the Illinois Street location.
“Washington and Illinois is one of the most travelled parts of downtown and it’s important to have this tool to monitor activity,” Foley said. “We didn’t have a camera at this location at all, so that really emphasizes the importance of this location being added.”
The streams from the cameras are monitored by IMPD’s real-time crime center, but also by officers on the streets. The video can alert officers to incidents before 911 is even called.
“We have five different camera angles, and as you can see here, this can be used for traffic investigations,” Foley said while showing the stream from inside of his car. “If there was a crash or a pedestrian struck, this might help identify a vehicle involved in that incident.”
The Conrad Hotel on the corner paid to put the camera in place, an investment General Manager Ryan Fitzgerald hopes helps officers better secure the area.
”All the men and women that are down here making the city safe, it’s really important to us and we just wanted an opportunity to support that,” Fitzgerald said. “They do all the hard work, so anything we can do to support that effort is in the interest of all of our residents, our team members and our guests.”
Video from the cameras that don’t show criminal activity is thrown out after 30 days. IMPD is hopeful to further secure community partnerships to fund more cameras in the future.
“Ultimately, the goal of these cameras is to make downtown a safer place for people to work, live and visit,” Foley said.
Keagan Smith gives you a preview, prediction and pick for today’s game between the Washington Nationals and Tampa Bay Rays on Friday’s MLB slate.
Did anyone have the Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals competing for the MLB Postseason on their bingo cards? It’s June 19 and both these teams have winning records, but the ways they’ve gotten there are completely different. On Friday evening, this pitching-reliant Rays group squares off against the Nats’ formidable offense, setting up a fun battle at the Trop.
As the new series begins tonight at 7:40 p.m. ET, here’s a betting prediction and pick for this Nationals vs. Rays matchup courtesy of MLB odds and lines on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Nationals vs. Rays prediction, preview
Washington Nationals
The Nats are perhaps the most fun team in the entire MLB this season. With a group of talented young bats, they’ve cruised to a 39-36 record on the campaign with a +15 run differential, also going 6-4 over their last 10 games. The upside of this offense is immense, and if they can get the pitching figured out, we could be looking at a future power in the NL. Washington produces an MLB-best 5.43 runs per game with a .744 OPS that ranks fifth overall. The full slash line reads .247/.323/.421 with a .287 BABIP; tonight, the group faces a RHP with a split of .238/.311/.414 for a .725 OPS against similar handedness. It may be the lower of their splits, but the Nationals do have 73 of their 96 homers against righties. The club’s .174 ISO comes in at fourth in the sport, but a composite speed score of 6.0 also leads all other teams, too. Plus, a 21.0% K% and 8.9% BB% are solid-enough marks.
RHP Cade Cavalli was scheduled to start for the Nats today but has now been scratched due to illness. A new starter is currently TBD, but this section will be updated when the announcement is made. The bullpen’s numbers aren’t great though, sitting 24th in ERA at 4.71 with a 1.42 WHIP and 7.5% K-BB%.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays have dropped from the top spot in the AL East after a few rough weeks in June, now sitting 41-30 with a +5 run differential. However, momentum is not on their side after going 4-6 over their last 10 and dropping both of their last two series — one to the Angels and the other to the Dodgers. Their offense is good with 4.44 runs per game, but doesn’t quite have the elite upside of today’s opponent. Tampa Bay has a .713 OPS and a slash line of .255/.333/.379, and the club gets the better of its lefty/righty splits today at .259/.339/.393 for a .732 cumulative mark against right-handed pitching. That’s a positive, as is a BB/K ratio of 0.50 fueled by an MLB-best 19.1% K% and a 9.6% BB%. A .301 BABIP is nice to see, but a .124 ISO and 58 home runs this year leave much to be desired in terms of power. That’s the biggest weakness of this team by far, but they have hit 45 of those off a RHP.
RHP Griffin Jax gets the starting nod for Tampa Bay today. He’s 1-5 across 20 games and nine starts. His numbers include a 3.68 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP and 41 SO in 44.0 IP. He’s forced ground balls at an above-average rate and has seen positive results in terms of chase and whiff rate as well. The Rays’ bullpen has a 4.67 ERA that ranks 22nd with a 1.37 WHIP and 10.9% K-BB%.
Nationals vs. Rays pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Rays as -126 Moneyline favorites at home today. The Rays are underdogs at +104 odds to win outright with the run total set at eight.
Best Bet: WAS Nationals ML (+104)
A straight-up pick is the move tonight as we target the Nats for an outright win on the road. Here’s the logic. I like the Washington offense far more than Tampa Bay’s, especially as of late. The Nationals have an .840 OPS in the last two weeks with a .221 ISO, though that drops a smidge to .772 and .185 over the last seven days in particular. They’re just as productive as usual though, if not more so. On the opposite side, the Rays are dead last over the last week at a .609 OPS and an .088 ISO, and while their strikeout rate has remained the same as on the full year, the OBP has dropped and they’re hitting a paltry .216. Looking at the last two weeks, they’re still 25th in the league with a .676 OPS as well and below .100 in ISO once again at .097. Jax has been solid as per usual, but it hasn’t translated to wins yet this year and likely won’t against such a high-powered lineup.
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