Mercedes Russell glad to be staying at UT

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee center Mercedes Russell has no regrets about opting to return to school rather than turn pro, even if the makeup of her team has changed quite a bit since her decision. Russell and Diamond DeShields announced separately after the 2016-17 season that they both planned to come back to the Lady Volunteers this year, which figured to give Tennessee one of the nation’s most talent-laden rosters. Much has changed since. Guard Alexa Middleton transferred to Iowa State, guard Te’a Cooper left for South Carolina and DeShields changed her mind and launched her pro career. All those exits leave Russell teaming up with senior Jaime Nared to lead a squad relying heavily on freshmen. “Honestly, I never second-guessed my decision to stay,” Russell said. Russell wants to help Tennessee bounce back from a season in which it went 20-12 and lost to Louisville in the second round of the NCAA tournament, just the second time that the Lady Vols hadn’t reached at least the round of 16 since the NCAA started running the event in 1982. Rated as the nation’s No. 1 prospect in her class by multiple services when she arrived on campus, Russell struggled with foot problems early in her career. The 6-foot-6 center sat out the entire 2014-15 season to recover from surgeries to each of her feet. But she came up strong last year by averaging 16.1 points — up from 9.9 in 201516 — and 9.7 rebounds. She had the fourth-highest single-season rebounding average in Lady Vols history. “I definitely want to average a double-double,” Russell said. “That’s a big goal for me this season.” Russell says she expects high expectations again for the Lady Vols this season. “We’re expected to do a lot, being Lady Vols and playing at the University of Tennessee.”

FOOTBALL

› HAMILTON, Ontario — The Canadian Football League and Hamilton Tiger-Cats say former Baylor coach Art Briles will not be joining the team as an assistant coach after all. Less than 12 hours after the TigerCats announced that Briles would be joining head coach June Jones’ staff as assistant head coach of offense, the league and team responded to public backlash and let the 61-year-old Briles go. Briles was fired in May 2016 by Baylor after an investigation by a law firm found that over several years the school mishandled numerous sexual assault allegations, including some against football players. Baylor already has settled at least two federal Title IX lawsuits against the school, though Briles had been removed as a defendant in one that was resolved earlier this month.

BASEBALL

› MIAMI — During his home run binge, Giancarlo Stanton is also content to settle for singles. Stanton went 8-for-10 to lead the Miami Marlins to a three-game weekend sweep of San Diego, raising his average to a career high .296. He hit three homers, increasing his season total to 50, along with three singles and two doubles. “A lot of people from the outside are probably thinking he’s just going up there trying to hit a homer every at-bat, but that’s not the case,” teammate Christian Yelich said. The series raised Stanton’s average in 23 games since Aug. 4 to .402. That includes 13 singles, five doubles and 17 homers for an OPS of 1.531. “It’s unbelievable,” Yelich said. “You feel everything he hits is an absolute rocket, and if it gets up in the air, it’s a homer.” A recent tweak in Stanton’s stance has helped him lay off outside breaking pitches, long his biggest weakness. Swinging mostly at strikes, he’s willing to hit the ball the other way or on the ground or both, depending on the situation. The goal, he said, is to make the most of every trip to the plate.“That is the biggest key,” Stanton said. “You never know which at-bat is going to give you a chance. If you don’t give in, you’re set up for something good.”

› NEW YORK — The New York Mets terminated David Wright’s rehab assignment because of shoulder pain and ruled Yoenis Cespedes out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury. The banged-up Mets announced Monday that Wright was returning to New York to be re-examined later this week. Wright had played third base Friday and Saturday at Class A St. Lucie after serving as the designated hitter a few days earlier. Cespedes strained his right hamstring running the bases in Washington on Friday night. An MRI confirmed the strain, which requires a recovery time of six weeks, ending Cespedes’ season that has been marred by injuries. The 31-yearold outfielder was limited to 81 games and hit .292 with 17 home runs and 42 RBIs.

HURRICANE HARVEY

HOUSTON — Hurricane Harvey has forced both the Houston Astros and Houston Texans to play home games miles away from the flood-stricken city with players wondering when they will be able to come back. The Astros will play a three-game series against the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., this week, starting today, and the Texans will wrap up their preseason schedule against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington instead of NRG Stadium. LSU was supposed to play BYU on Saturday at the home of the Texans. That game has been moved to the Superdome in New Orleans. The Rice football team was settling in on TCU’s campus in Fort Worth. The Owls opened the season over the weekend in Australia, where they lost to Stanford. The University of Houston football team, meanwhile, is in Austin, where former coach Tom Herman is preparing for his first season in charge of the Longhorns after two seasons at Houston. Houston coach Major Applewhite said he wasn’t sure how long the team would remain in Austin, but that they’d been able to determine that the families of all players and staff back in Houston were safe. “On this trip, our job is (to) be No. 1, parents, and No. 2, to be coaches,” he said.