Cuts » to further from the script in his responses.The most obvious exa

HONOLULU -- Mississippi State is getting used to a new role these days.Just five days after notching their biggest win under fifth-year coach Vic Schaefer, the seventh-ranked Bulldogs held off a pesky Oregon team, 75-63, in the first day of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown on Friday.Victoria Vivians scored 17 points and Morgan William added 14 to pace Mississippi State (5-0).Vivians, a 6-foot-1 junior guard and a first team preseason All-SEC selection, made 7 of 13 shots from the field despite being in foul trouble for much of the second half.Oregon cut the Mississippi State lead from 39-30 at halftime to just two points following Sabrina Ionescus 3-pointer from the right corner with 5:57 left in the third quarter.However, Vivians drained a deep 3-pointer from the left wing on the Bulldogs next possession and added a 10-foot pull-up to stretch their lead back to 49-42.She picked up her fourth foul with 1:55 left in the third quarter and played just 10 minutes after halftime.Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer praised the play of reserve guards Blair Schaefer and Roshuna Johnson, who combined for 24 minutes of game time while relieving Vivians.I was real proud of Blair and Roshuna coming off the bench and giving us those quality minutes at that spot, said Schaefer, whose team posted a 79-68 win over then-No. 7 Texas Sunday.Were learning that were the hunted now. Weve been the hunters for a long time, (but) we are now the hunted and thats a new role for this team, so were learning how to accept that night in, night out, Schaefer said. I thought tonight we took their best shot in the third quarter and came back and answered it with my best player in foul trouble.Mississippi State (5-0) shot 51.9 percent from the field.Lexi Bando and Sabrina Ionescu each scored 14 points for the Ducks (4-1).In the second half we got back to what we like to do, which is get the ball side, top, side, Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. We had a little bit more motion and flow to our game and that helped, but then we got away from it at the end. They clamped down and theyre a good team.Oregon was called for 27 fouls to 19 for Mississippi State and had three players finish with four fouls.BIG PICTUREMississippi State: has now won 33 of its last 34 regular-season none-conference games going back to the 2014-15 seasons, including 13 straight victories in such games.Oregon: shot just 39.3 percent from the field in the first half, but kept it close by shooting 50 percent (12 of 24) after halftime. The Ducks were playing their first game away from home.HIGHLIGHT REELOregon got within six points of Mississippi State following a free throw by Morgan William that made it 53-47. The Ducks looked to cut the deficit even further when Jayde Woods broke free for a transition lay-up, but Breanna Richardson soared from behind and blocked her shot with just seconds remaining in the period. The big defensive play was a four-point swing for the Bulldogs and helped them regain momentum heading into the final quarter.INFLUX OF YOUTHOf the 14 players that saw court time for Oregon, half of them are freshmen. The Ducks recruiting class, which is ranked third nationally behind Maryland and Baylor, features four players that were Gatorade state players of the year in high school, including Ionescu, last years national player of the year.We grew up a lot tonight, theres no doubt, Graves said. Thats a senior-laden Mississippi State team. Those are veterans and a couple of times we had four freshmen on the floor for long stretches. Theyre just learning how to play the game. Theyre really talented, but physically, were not ready for this yet. That being said, we hung with them for a long time.UP NEXTMississippi State will play San Jose State Saturday, which will mark just the second meeting between the programs and first since Dec. 19, 2004, when the Bulldogs held on for a 66-60 win over the Spartans.Oregon faces tournament-host Hawaii Saturday, which leads the all-time series against the Ducks 3-1. Fjallraven Kanken Sale . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. Cheap Fjallraven Backpack . -- In one brief spurt, Brazil turned a close game into a rout and proved again it will be a strong World Cup favourite. http://www.cheapfjallraven.net/ . - Levi Browns tenure at left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers is over before it even began. Fjallraven Kanken Backpack Sale . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. Fjallraven Kanken Backpack Cheap . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. YAS MARINA, Abu Dhabi -- Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are fighting for the world championship this weekend. ESPN will be keeping track of both mens interactions with the press, social media and track performances to build up to Sundays grand prix showdown. (Local times displayed)-----Sunday15:40 - Nate Saunders? The traditional end-of-season photograph has been taken on the start-finish straight. Jenson Button and Felipe Massa sat front and centre, flanked by the title contenders. Both men looking calm and collected.?Some interesting gamesmanship follows -- as they all walk to the drivers parade truck, Rosberg rolls in as if it was a wrestling ring and sits himself on the railings at the front of the truck. Thats Hamiltons usual spot, and his teammate awkwardly lingers for a moment as Rosberg waves to the crowd. Eventually Rosberg smirks and walks away from that position to the rear of the truck, allowing Hamilton to take his usual position, where he likes to sit so he can wave to the fans in the grandstand and not be distracted by other drivers.Speaking on the parade, Rosberg says: I try to keep things business as usual... Im feeling very, very good, Im liking the car. Still doing his best to keep his mind focused on anything but the championship showdown we are edging closer and closer towards. ?Earlier, we saw both Mercedes drivers posing for photos in front of the Mercedes garage, leading to this brilliant picture of Rosberg pensively looking over at the man standing between him and a maiden world title.?15:20 - Laurence Edmondson The atmosphere is building in the Yas Marina paddock ahead of todays season finale. Neither Lewis Hamilton nor Nico Rosberg can take a walk in the paddock without 20 camera lenses being pointed in their direction. Sunglasses, hat and headphones is Hamiltons usual race day attire and hell have the volume turned up to 11 today as he tries to block out the rest of the world out and stay in the zone. Meanhwile, Rosberg has already picked up one trophy this year for the most fastest laps of the season -- as long as he adds a second piece of silverware on the podium after the race he will be crowned world champion.Saturday20:00 - Nate Saunders?A vital pole position for Hamilton, but Rosberg is still the man in the pound seats going into tomorrow -- third or above is good enough for a maiden world championship. Hamilton looked very happy with himself after qualifying, he is arguably driving better at the moment than at any point during the season. But his work is still cut out for him tomorrow.Both men took to Twitter after qualifying, and Rosberg still seems to be a picture of calm going into the biggest grand prix of his career.?15:30 - Laurence Edmondson The view from Turn 19: FP3 wasnt the most revealing of sessions, but watching trackside in the final sector it was clear that Mercedes still has an edge over the opposition. Hamilton and Rosberg opted not to go for a second run on a set of fresh ultra-soft tyres at the very end of the session -- hence their deficit to Vettel, Verstappen and Raikkonen who did -- but they did set a time on the compound earlier in the session. I picked Turn 19 to watch in the hope that the off-camber corner (and looming steel barrier on the exit) might reveal a weakness in one of the two, but both cars looked painted to the tarmac throughout.By the time the drivers reach this section of track, the rear tyres have the potential to be on the absolute limit. The stop start nature of the final sector can cause drivers to overheat the compound, reducing grip just when the driver needs it most to launch the car towards the final two corners. Even though Vettel and Raikkonen were faster than the Mercedes drivers overall, they both lost time to Hamilton and Rosberg in this sector and its largely down to a struggle with traction on the exit of the corners. Only Verstappen was quicker, but he did so with the rear of the car stepping out as he pinned the throttle just past the apex. There were no such dramas for Rosberg or Hamilton, who both kept their cars perfectly in control as they used every last centimetre of track on offer. Dont be fooled by the headline times, qualifying is still Mercedes to lose.?14:50 - Laurence Edmondson Team boss Toto Wolff plays down suggestions that there could have been an ulterior motive to Mercedes decision to swap mechanics from both sides of the garage earlier this year. Hamilton had suggested there may have been more to the decision than met the eye during a press conference on Thursday (see below(.11:15 - Laurence Edmondson The view from inside the Mercedes garage on Saturday morning. FP3 starts at 14:00 with pole position decided from 17:00 onwards ...Friday21:30 - Laurence Edmondson A close shave! It turns out Felipe Nasr nearly collided with Hamilton during FP2 when he came across the Mercedes exiting the pits while he was on a fast lap. One of our Brazilian colleagues, Luis Fernando Ramos, was kind enough to translate what Nasr had to say about it after the session: Unfortunately I didnt get a clean run on the ultra-softs. I had to stop my first try and the second mainly because Hamilton was exiting the pits and I nearly crashed into his car. It was really close! So I lost all the maximum of my tyre for a fast lap. I wouldnt say he wasnt paying attention, it was the nature of that corner because its in the middle of Turn 3 and there was also another car on the inside. So there were three cars in the corner and I only just passed between them and it was really close. Both Hamilton and Mercedes will be glad that one didnt end differently. ?19:30 - Laurence Edmondson Hamilton will run a tribute to his friend, mentor and former doctor Aki Hintsa, who died last week at the age of 58 following a battle with cancer. The Mercedes driver gave a heart-felt answer to a question about Hintsa on Thursday - here is a part of what he said: To have finished his life so early was definitely tough to see but coming here this weekend, whilst I have that fighting spirit in my heart from the last races Ive done, I come here with almmost double the power in the sense that I feel that I want to win this race more so for him.dddddddddddd We were texting every single race through his battle and particularly the last race [in Brazil] on Sunday. Yeah, so coming here this weekend, whilst its an emotional time, Im here to try and do him proud, do well for him as he had helped prepare and the belief he had in me.19:15 - Laurence Edmondson Toto Wolff is facing questions about Hamiltons comments regarding Mercedes decision this year to mix up its mechanics from the two sides of the garage (see below). He makes it very clear that he made the decision based on what was right for the F1 teams 1,500 employees and not what was right for Hamilton alone. Mercedes has always maintained that the switch was carried out to stop the garage splitting into two cliques behind each driver. It seems as though this is a touchy issue between Mercedes and Hamilton and we may not have heard the end of it just yet ...19:00 - Laurence Edmondson The F1 track action for the day is done and dusted. The gap between Hamilton and Rosberg in the crucial second session (the only one held in the same conditions as qualifying and the race) was just 0.079s in Hamiltons favour, suggesting were in for a close battle. Red Bull was over half a second off the pace of the Mercedes on one-lap pace, but looked very competitive over long runs. A bad start for either Rosberg or Hamilton could see them struggle in the race if they fall behind on the run down to Turn 1.14:30 - Laurence Edmondson Advantage Hamilton after FP1 ... although it must be said its a fairly irrelevant advantage at this stage. First practice in Abu Dhabi is one of the least useful practice sessions of the year. The conditions are way hotter (due to the sun being up) than qualifying or the race, which are held as the sun is setting. Hamilton set his best time on the softs, Rosberg on the ultra-softs, but again that discrepancy is not unusual for an FP1 session. FP2 should give a much better indication, but Hamilton can take some encouragement from the two Red Bulls being roughly a tenth off Rosbergs best effort. If Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo can finish between him and Rosberg on Sunday, that is Hamiltons? most obvious route to a fourth title.13:30 - Nate Saunders Hamilton becomes the first of the Mercedes drivers to spin this weekend -- swapping ends on the exit of Turn 5 after a long run on the ultra-soft tyre. An easy thing to do on Pirellis softest compound after that many laps, especially on a track still lacking grip at this stage of the weekend.?13:00 - Nate Saunders Rosberg leaves the garage ahead of the first practice session of the biggest F1 weekend of his career.?Thursday22:00 - Nate Saunders Nico Rosberg is feeling the love from local fans this weekend. The championship leader had quite a contingent of fans in the paddock today...20:00 - Nate Saunders? Lots of chatter in the paddock about the press conference, and notably a lot of difference in opinion towards Hamiltons demeanor and attitude throughout. Some thought he was in a bad mood -- especially early on -- while others claimed he was on good form, smiling and joking throughout the session. The pair did talk highly of the respect in their relationship, with Hamilton even going as far as saying he is proud of what his old karting friend has achieved in recent seasons. There were also a few moments of light-hearted humour between them, which hasnt always been the case in 2016.?18:15 - Laurence Edmondson On a Thursday the FOM camera men get a bit of practice in watching the safety car and medical car put their sighter laps in. For reasons Ive never really understood, the action of the two Mercedes road cars is beamed into the media centre for us to watch. However, this weeks edition of Thursdays track action happened to pan away to the Mercedes team garage where we saw Toto Wolff addressing a packed garage of Mercedes mechanics and engineers in what looked like a motivational speech ahead of the first practice day tomorrow. Anyway, the screens are now showing safety car driver Bernd Maylander hold an impressive slide coming out of the Turn 7 hairpin. ?17:30 - Laurence EdmondsonEveryone loves an Abu Dhabi sunset ...17:00 - Laurence Edmondson Although the pair spend a lot of time in the same engineering room, its rare that Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg attend the same press conference. In many ways their answers mirrored their approaches this season. While Rosberg stuck to the same well-worn mantra of taking it one race at a time and not thinking about the title (even when just one race remains on which the title rests), Hamilton was laid back and willing to further from the script in his responses.The most obvious example followed a long but quite pointed question about Mercedes decision to swap five mechanics between the two sides of the garage at the start of the year. While Rosberg talked about team spirit and everybody pulling in the same direction, Hamilton clearly still feels there was more to the decision than reached the media as he told the press to wait for a future autobiography to learn the truth behind the decision. When it hits the shelves at the end of his career it will be an interesting read!Undoubtedly the pressure is on Rosberg, but he seems to be handling it well. A couple of Hamiltons answers resulted in raised eyebrows or a sideways glance, but other than that he is dealing with the magnitude of the event well.16:00 -Nate Saunders? Facing the media for the first time ahead of the weekend and on their own, Rosberg and Hamilton make their way in together and immediately sit on the front row. The press conference host asks if they will stand and shake hands for the photographers in attendance. Neither man proffers their hand to the other, while Rosberg verbally says he does not want to.The two men lightened up as the press conference continued...WednesdayTo be updated throughout the weekend. ' ' '