Durant donating $3M to Texas

Warriors star Kevin Durant is donating $3 million to the University of Texas, where he won national player of the year honors in his lone season before turning pro.

The donation will support the Longhorns basketball program and the school’s Center for Sports Leadership and Innovation. Part of the Texas basketball facility will bear Durant’s name. The donation will pay for renovations made to the men’s and women’s practice facilities and locker rooms.

Durant played at Texas during the 2006-07 season. He said his year with the Longhorns built the foundation of who he is today as a player and person.

Durant is an eight-time NBA All-Star and won the 2017 NBA Finals MVP while leading the Warriors to the championship.

TCU’s upset of Kansas last March in the Big 12 tournament was quite a surprise then.

The Horned Frogs’ only win over a No. 1-ranked team doesn’t seem like such a fluke now. Coach Jamie Dixon’s team, which hosts the Jayhawks on Saturday night, has since won the NIT championship, had a school-record 17-game winning streak and reached the Top 10 for the first time.

“After we beat them, it just led to better things,” junior forward JD Miller said Thursday. “That was the big boost we needed.”

No. 16 TCU (13-1, 1-1) returned all five starters and the top six scorers from the team that beat Kansas last year. The Frogs lost to Iowa State the next day, their third game in three days, but then swept through five NIT games and started 12-0 this season.

“It’s pretty apparent what they’ve done,” Jayhawks coach Bill Self said. “They’re one of the deeper teams in our league. I think TCU is here to stay.”

Freshman Trae Young, who leads the nation in scoring and assists, set an Oklahoma record Wednesday by scoring at least 20 points for the 12th straight game.

Young missed becoming just the fourth Sooner to post a triple-double, finishing with 27 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in a 109-89 win over Big 12 rival Oklahoma State. AP