NEWS » games.MATH LESSONDixon took a few minutes after th

When Billy Joe Saunders was crowned WBO world middleweight champion, he would never have imagined he would make a first defence at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Glasgow.But the Englishman does just that after a series of setbacks in what has been a frustrating 2016 since he twice floored Irishman Andy Lee on his way to winning the belt on points nearly a year ago.First there was talk of a lucrative world title unification fight with world No. 1 Gennady Golovkin, then a rematch with Chris Eubank Jr.Neither happened while a hand injury ruled out a fight against Ukraines Max Bursak and there have since been two more postponements of Saunders first defence.Saunders had been due to defend his belt against Russian Artur Akavov (16-1, 7 KOs) at Cardiffs Motorpoint Arena on October 22, but suffered a muscle injury in training causing the fight to be postponed to last weekend.A mix-up with Akavovs medical documents meant the fight was pushed back to this Saturday and moved to Scotland.Its been so frustrating for Bill who has had injuries and pull-outs over the last year, Saunders promoter Frank Warren said.Chris Eubank Jr mucked us about and never signed a deal for a rematch, but hopefully Bill will get the ring rust off in this next one and then we can start looking forward to a really big one.At the start of the year, Golovkins team made Saunders an offer -- believed to be ￡2.2 million -- to face the Kazakh knockout machine. But Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs), 27, turned it down because he wanted more to fight Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs), the WBA-WBC-IBF world middleweight champion. Warren hopes to match Saunders with either Golovkin of former WBC champion Canelo Alvarez in 2017.But 2008 Olympian Saunders, who may have former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in his corner this weekend, insists he is not taking Akavov easy after his extended exile from the ring. Nothing comes easy in boxing and Im definitely not taking Akavov for granted, Saunders said. Hes a strong fighter and very dangerous and if I dont come in 100 per cent then he could cause an upset in my first title defence.Im ready to fight him [Golovkin] where ever, in England, in America or in a field. Theres nothing that can get in the way of stopping this. Im not pricing myself out, I will fight any man born.Hes a good puncher, a good puncher and has a good chin. But hes a man and hes definitely beatable.Akavov, a southpaw like Saunders, is ranked No. 10 by the WBO and has had his last two fights in New York with promoter Lou Di Bella.The concern for Saunders and his team is the Hatfield boxers ring rust but his last two title fight performances -- against Lee and Eubank Jr -- were impressive and he is expected to come through without trouble. Authentic Custom Royals Jersey . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Wholesale Custom Royals Shirts . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. http://www.customroyalsjersey.com/ . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. Custom Royals Jerseys . 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FORT WORTH, Texas -- Vlad Brodziansky was quite impressive from the field for TCU, with the 6-foot-11 forward from Slovakia making all seven of his shots and blocking five others.Hey, you missed one free throw, Horned Frogs senior guard Michael Williams said, leaning over to Brodziansky after the game.That can be forgiven considering that Brodziansky scored 18 points, on 7-of-7 shooting and 4-of-5 free throws, and had six rebounds as the Horned Frogs remained undefeated under Jamie Dixon with a 77-54 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday night.TCU (8-0) led by only a bucket before Brodziansky scored seven consecutive points in a 55-second span, part of a 9-2 run for the Horned Frogs that JD Miller ended with a short jumper for a 46-37 lead.My teammates are finding me in the open spot on the floor. ... I didnt have to take any hard shots, or tough shots, Brodziansky said.I was excited. He kept the ball up, weve been working on that. He had a tendency to bring it down, said Dixon, calling that one of his pet peeves for big men. Weve been working on simple little drills.Kenrich Williams added 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Frogs, while freshman point guard Jaylen Fisher had 13 points despite some early foul trouble.Devin Carter had 22 points and C.J. Foster 13 to lead Arkansas State (7-2). Grant McCasland is in his first season with the Sun Belt Conference team after the past five seasons in the Big 12 as a Baylor assistant.Theyre playing with a different level of confidence, and from what I see, you can tell theres a physicality still to the way they play and theyre good defensively, they swarm you, McCasland said of TCU. Theyre playing with a little different confidence, different composure.BIG PICTUREArkansas State: The Red Wolves had won seven in a row, including a win at Georgetown, since losing their season opener. Starting guards Dontee Thomas and Rashad Lindsey both came in averaging more than 10 points a game, but were a combined 2-of-12 shooting with each scoring only one basket.ddddddddddddTCU: The Horned Frogs still have four more games before starting Big 12 Conference play against fourth-ranked Kansas, but Dixons team -- which includes four seniors and a trio of talented freshmen -- is growing together. After consecutive wins over Washington, in a tournament in Las Vegas last weekend and then at home Wednesday, Dixon said the Frogs played their best overall game against the best team theyve played.STILL UNBLEMISHEDDixon, the former TCU player who was Pittsburghs coach the past 13 seasons, is the first Frogs coach to ever win his first eight games.MATH LESSONDixon took a few minutes after the game to give his team an algebra lesson. Some of his players didnt know how RPI is calculated, so he explained it to them. They may still be confused on all the calculations, but if they keep winning, all those numbers and decimals will take care of themselves.HE SAID ITYou get a chance to get exposed when you play a team like that, McCasland said.UP NEXTArkansas State will spend most of December on the road. The Red Wolves played the first of five consecutive games away from home, but now have a 10-day break before going to UT-Martin on Dec. 14. Their next home game is their Sun Belt Conference opener on New Years Eve against Louisiana-Lafayette.TCU has two more games before a week off during finals exams. The Horned Frogs go to the other side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to play at SMU on Wednesday, and then are home again next Saturday against Wofford.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 . ' ' '