GREEN MAG

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tomislav Ivisic and Keaton Wagler each scored 16 points and No. 14 Illinois beat No. 13 Tennessee 75-62 Saturday night in the second part of the Music City Madness.

The Fighting Illini(7-2) came in rested after an eight-day break with this their last of four Top 15 opponents over a seven-game stretch. Illinois snapped a five-game skid on neutral courts againstrankedopponents and also gave coach Brad Underwood his first win in three tries against Tennessee.

Illinois is averaging 90.4 points a game this season after leading the Big Ten in scoring last season. Leading scorer Kylan Boswell went to the bench in the opening minutes grabbing at his left shoulder. He returned and finished with 15 points.

David Mirkovic added 10 for the Fighting Illini.

Tennessee(7-3) has lost three straight after going 30-8 last season and reaching the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.

Ja'Kobi Gillespie led Tennessee with 15 points. Freshman Nate Ament, who has been averaging 17.1 points a game, finished with nine.

The Vols never led by more than two and had their last lead at 49-48 on a dunk by J.P. Estrella when Illinois went on a 15-3 spurt started by Andrej Stojakovic's layup taking the lead back for good, and Boswell's layup with 6:55 to go put the Fighting Illini up 63-52. Illinois pushed that to as much as 14 in the final minutes.

Illinois controlled much of the first half. Ivisic scored the last 10 of the half for the Fighting Illini, but the Vols finished the half on an 11-4 run with Cade Phillips' layup with 51 seconds left putting Tennessee up 34-32 at halftime.

Illinois: At Ohio State on Tuesday night.

Tennessee: Hosts No. 6 Louisville on Dec. 16.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign uphereandhere(AP mobile app). AP college basketball:https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pollandhttps://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

ATLANTA – Now, the elephant sweats.

With a chance to remove all doubt that it's aCollege Football Playoffteam,Alabamalet doubt multiply like weeds after a thunderstorm.

Alabamacould have played its way into the bracket. Now, it's left to try to talk its way in, after trying its darnedest to play its way out in apitiful 28-7 loss to Georgiain the SEC Championship game.

One of these teams looked like a playoff team.

CFP rankings predictions:Live bracket projections for 12-team field

The other team looked like a worthy opponent for Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. Alabama hasn't played like a playoff team since descending from its mid-October peak.

Alabama's one-dimensional offense downgraded to zero-dimensional on this day.Georgiastomped a hole in its chest.

When Ty Simpson's fourth-down pass deep inside Alabama territory sailed incomplete to suffocate Alabama's faint hope, Kalen DeBoer threw his hands onto his head.

Sorry, coach,the Penn State job is fillednow.

CFP rejecting Alabama would spur debate on playoff size, format

We can have a spirited debate about the optics or ethics ofNotre Dame and Miamibenefiting from sitting at home while Alabama strapped it up against one of the nation's best teams, but this is college football, so what are ethics?

I'm unaware of any playoff rule that says the committee must select a three-loss team that got whipped twice.

There's two spots for three teams. The committee must decide whether to bounce Alabama, Notre Dame or Miami.Brigham Young, Texas and Vanderbilt would like a word, too, but their words will fall on deaf ears.

Two spots. Three teams.

The committee must play the hand its dealt. It's not the committee's fault thatit must select a Tulane, which lost to Mississippi by 35 points, or that five-loss Duke retained a shot at an automatic bid, hours before selection day.

If Alabama had just been competitive in this game, that would have buttoned up the Tide's spot. They weren't competitive. They were steamrolled.

The "It Just Means More" brigade will howl that there's no way the SEC's runner-up should be left out of a 12-team bracket. That would hold merit if we knew Alabama is the conference's second-best team.

Truth be told, there's no evidence Alabama is superior to Mississippi or Texas A&M. When it played Oklahoma, it lost at home. Nobody forced the SEC to expand to 16 teams, and Alabama played only half the conference to earn its spot here. The Tide reached this game thanks in part to league tiebreaker rules. Those tiebreakers don't apply to the CFP.

If the SEC's runner-up gets rejected from the bracket, that probably assures change is coming to the playoff's size and format. Change is likely coming, anyway. If this is to be the accelerant, so be it.

While the muckety mucks do their playoff rethinking, spare some brainpower for what should be done with the first weekend in December.

Conference championships were a wonderful data point when the playoff consisted of four teams. At 12 teams, we'd be better served if conference title games were dumped in favor of a 13th game for everyone on the first weekend in December.

I don't savor the idea of rewarding Notre Dame and Miami for putting their feet up. Dumping conference championship games for a 13th game would remedy that situation.

SEC boss Greg Sankey will holler that a loss to his conference's champ shouldn't eliminate Alabama, and he'd be right. A single loss to Georgia shouldn't eliminate Alabama. But, how about a loss to a bad ACC team? Should that eliminate Alabama, just as Texas' loss to Florida sinks the Longhorns?

Heavy is the anchor of Alabama's Week 1 flop to Florida State.

Alabama's best case vs. Notre Dame, Miami: Strength of schedule

Consider this microcosm of the SEC Championship: Alabama's first three possessions of the third quarter totaled 7 yards and no first downs. And Alabama's rushing attack? It produced negative yardage. Lord, have mercy. Georgia showed none.

A shutout would've been rocket fuel for the Notre Dame and Miami propaganda campaigns, but Alabama mustered one fourth-quarter score to save a little face.

Since Alabama comfortably beat Tennessee on the Third Saturday in October, the Tide have produced white-knuckle victories against South Carolina and Auburn, two of the SEC's worst teams. They got a mucky win against LSU. They had a turnover meltdown in a loss to Oklahoma. Now, this.

None of that means Alabama doesn't have a playoff case. It does. Even after this debacle, I'd think long and hard before booting the Tide, but not because it reached Atlanta. Remember, tiebreakers influenced this spot. I'm unmoved by tiebreakers. The committee shouldn't be either.

What remains persuasive, though, is that Alabama won as many games as Notre Dame and Miami against a tougher schedule than either of those teams endured.

It's hard to believe now, but Alabama beat Georgia on the road in September. That trumps Miami's win against Notre Dame. It's a much better win than anything on the Irish's resume, even if the Tide's FSU loss is more unsightly than anything Alabama's challengers sustained.

The Tide have a case — but a shaky one, and it's much more wobbly after Georgia smashed it in the mouth for four quarters, while Notre Dame and Miami polished their talking points.

Blake Toppmeyeris the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him atBToppmeyer@gannett.comand follow him on X@btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Alabama CFP bracket odds take hit as Georgia cruises in SEC Championship

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — James Harden moved into 10th place on the NBA's career scoring list Saturday, passing Carmelo Anthony during the Los AngelesClippers' loss to Minnesota.

Harden was 20 points behind Anthony's 28,289 career points entering the game. Harden hit a pair of free throws in the third quarter to move ahead of the Hall of Famer.

"Blessing. A testament to the work I've put in," Harden said. "It's an honor, especially with somebody like Melo who's done so much greatness for this league."

Harden finished with 34 points on 10-for-18 shooting, but missed a tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer as the Clippers lost 109-106 after leading by 18 in the first half.

The 17-year veteran is averaging 26.5 points this season, his highest average since he led the league with 34.3 per game for the Houston Rockets in the 2019-20 season.

Next on the list ahead of Harden is Shaquille O'Neal, who scored 28,596 points during his Hall of Fame career.

AP NBA:https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Vitor Cesa Aguiar - UGC / AFP via Getty

NEED TO KNOW

• A LATAM Airlines plane was consumed by smoke after a fire broke out at São Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport

• The Dec. 4 fire started on a baggage carousel connected to aircraft while parked on the runway, according to reports

• Footage posted online shows the smoke-filled aircraft surrounded by flames at the airport in Brazil
  

Passengers on a LATAM Airlines plane were left panicked after the aircraft was engulfed in smoke due to a fire at an airport in Brazil.

Flight LA3418 was scheduled to depart from São Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport (GRU Airport) for Porto Alegre whena fire broke outon the ground on the night of Thursday, Dec. 4, Brazilian newspaperEstadãoreported.

A baggage conveyor connected to the aircraft caught fire, causing the plane to fill with smoke, according to the outlet. The jet reportedly carried 169 passengers at the time.

Footage from the scary incidentposted on Xshows the plane engulfed in smoke while surrounded by flames at the airport. Fire crews were seen on the ground putting out the fire.

Panicked passengers were filmed inside the aircraft, queuing up to leave and evacuating the plane at the airport. Fire crew members were also seen preparing an emergency slide for passengers to escape the aircraft.

Vitor Cesa Aguiar - UGC / AFP via Getty

All 169 passengers aboard the plane were safely evacuated with no injuries reported, per Estadão. "The situation was quickly brought under control," LATAM Airlines said.

The airline explained that the fire "started in equipment belonging to a subcontractor responsible for loading cargo onto the plane," theDaily Mailreported, which added that passengers were told to "leave everything" onboard as they evacuated the plane.

According to the flight-tracking websiteFlight Aware, the flight departed GRU two hours and 59 minutes behind schedule at GRU Airport at 1:04 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 5. The plane landed at Salgado Filho International Airport in Porto Alegre at 2:54 a.m.

Sergio Yate / AFP via Getty

Among the passengers onboard the original flight, 159 arrived in Porto Alegre on Friday morning, while 10 others were placed on other flights or transported by land, per theDaily Mail.

The incident is being investigated.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

LATAM Airlines and GRU Airport did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Saturday, Dec. 6.

Read the original article onPeople

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina have charged a 33-year-old man with critically injuring another person in a stabbing on a Charlotte commuter train, just a few months after aUkrainian refugeeriding one of the city's trains was killed in an unrelated knife attack.

Oscar Solarzano, 33, was charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon and other crimes stemming from the Friday afternoon attack in which he wielded a large knife, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said in a news release.

Police said the victim suffered a stab wound and was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

Solarzano was being held in jail Saturday without bond. A magistrate judge said in a court filing that the suspect was in the U.S. illegally and had previously been deported. He faced a hearing Monday morning in Mecklenburg County District Court.

An arrest warrant filed in a North Carolina court says Solarzano appeared to be intoxicated and was slurring his words when he challenged the victim to a fight.

Online court and jail records did not list an attorney for Solarzano.

The attack comes less than four months after a 23-year-old woman from Ukraine was killed on a Charlotte commuter train in an apparently random assault captured on video. The victim, Iryna Zarutska, had been living in a bomb shelter in Ukraine before coming to to the U.S. to escape thewar, her relatives said.

A suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., has been charged first-degree murder for Zarutska's killing in a North Carolina state court, and was also indicted infederal courton a charge of causing death on a mass transportation system.

The death of the Ukrainian woman sparked anger among allies of President Donald Trump and figures in his Make America Great Again movement. Many pointed to the case asevidence that federal intervention was neededbecause leaders of large cities and state governors are failing to protect their residents from crime and rampant illegal immigration.

In November, the Trump administrationincreased immigration enforcementin Charlotte. City officials said the surge in enforcement caused "unnecessary fear and uncertainty."

Trump commented Saturday about the latest stabbing on his Truth Social site. "Another stabbing by an Illegal Migrant in Charlotte, North Carolina. What's going on in Charlotte? Democrats are destroying it, like everything else, piece by piece!!! President DJT"