per game on the ground and should have success against an Oklahoma State defense that has yielded 181.6 rushing yards per game.West Virginia has committed only eight turnovers in six games, but the Cowboys forced three

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Up until Wednesday night, life in Rio was pretty good for players on the U.S. mens basketball team.They stayed on a luxury ship, and cruised past a couple of badly outmatched opponents. They played tourist at the Christ the Redeemer statue, and went on a field trip to watch Michael Phelps win yet another gold medal.Then an Australian team with a little pedigree of its own served notice that maybe the Olympic gold medal isnt such a foregone conclusion after all.Banged about and taken out of their game, the U.S. had to rally in the fourth quarter to salvage a 98-88 win that was even closer than the score indicated. Sheer talent -- and some timely 3s from Carmelo Anthony -- saved the Americans, but the Boomers from Down Under exposed some weaknesses even if they were not able to get the final job done.The look afterward of relief on the faces of some U.S. players told the story as well as anything.It got real, Paul George said. It definitely got real.This was supposed to be another romp in the park for the collection of NBA stars that is the U.S. Olympic team. Australia is good -- starting five NBA players of its own -- but no one expected it to be terribly close.That included the bookies in Las Vegas, who installed the U.S. team as a 27.5 point favorite after two laughers to open the tournament.What the bookies didnt realize was this wasnt just another opponent that was going to be intimidated. This was an Australian team plenty confident in its own abilities, a team that has played together in various incarnations for years.They battled for rebounds, fought over loose balls. They played hard and they played physical, refusing to give any possession away.Mostly, though, they played like they belonged on the same court as the U.S. players.I think its the Australian culture, said Joe Ingles, whose day job is playing for the Utah Jazz. Were not afraid of anyone. Were not going to back down to anyone. Were going to play the same way if its the top team or a low-ranked team.Andrew Bogut had warned his teammates before the game not to fall into the trap of paying too much respect to the Americans. Thats hard for most teams to keep from doing, even though the U.S. is full of new players and missing past Olympians like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.Once things got physical, though, it was anyones game. The Australians led by five at half, and still clung to a 2-point lead early in the fourth quarter before Anthony and Kyrie Irving combined to turn the tide.He was special tonight, George said of Anthony, the four-time Olympian who scored 31 points. Hes the reason we won tonight.The U.S. wouldnt have been eliminated had it somehow lost, but there is a certain pride factor when it comes to U.S. Olympic basketball teams. Theyve won two gold medals and 19 Olympic games in a row after the culture of the program was changed by USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo in the wake of the Olympic debacle of 2004 and the loss in the 2006 World Championships.Colangelo was watching courtside as the team he built on the theory that chemistry is just as important as talent struggled to contain Australia defensively and was taken out of its offensive flow by the aggressive play of the Australians.There were only two possible scenarios after the first half tonight, Colangelo said. One is the streak is over. The second is that theyre not invincible because we had a close game.Thanks to Anthony and Irving, who combined for all but the last 2 points of the fourth quarter for the Americans, the second scenario was the one that played out. Afterward, almost everyone connected to the U.S. program tried to take a positive out of it, saying a close game will prove good for the team as it chases the gold.Its pretty obvious why its good for us, said coach Mike Krzyzewski, who screamed at an official after Boguts hard foul on Irving in the third quarter. You beat one of the best teams in the tournament. You beat a team thats going to vie for a gold medal. You beat a team that was undefeated and has played together for years, a really good basketball team so I dont know how that could not be good for us.It was good for Australia, too, though the Boomers had to wonder if anyone can beat the U.S. after just falling short in their best effort.Asked if the Americans could be beaten, longtime NBA player and assistant Australian coach Luc Longley didnt exactly offer a lot of hope.Not tonight, he said. We rolled all our dice tonight and couldnt beat them.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg Air Force 1 Pas Cher . Only three players drafted by NHL clubs were included on the Czech selection camp roster on Wednesday. Those players were Dallas Stars 2012 first-rounder Radek Faksa, Winnipeg Jets 2013 fourth-rounder Jan Kostalek and Phoenix Coyotes 2012 seventh-rounder Marek Langhamer. Air Max Tn Pas Cher Chine . Ivanovic was leading 7-5, 1-0 when Hantuchova withdrew after falling 0-40 behind in the second game. The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered her first two serves as Hantuchova took a 5-3 lead. http://www.chaussurepascherchine.fr/grossiste-yeezy-boost-700.html . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. Balenciaga Shoes Pas Cher . Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Vapormax Plus Pas Cher Chine . -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis was charged Thursday with driving while intoxicated, a day after he was suspended for an NFL substance-abuse policy violation. West Virginia, one of the seven unbeaten teams among the Power 5 Conference schools, finally cracked the national top 10 this weekThe Mountaineers (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) are coming off impressive wins, especially defensively, against Texas Tech and TCU, surprisingly putting themselves into position to crash the College Football Playoff.No. 10 West Virginia, which began the season unranked, will get another chance to impress the playoff selection committee Saturday at Oklahoma State (5-2, 3-1) in a noon kickoff from Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla.Youre only as good as your next game, WVU coach Dana Holgorsen said. Our team understands that. Theyre not worried about rankings or preseason; theyre only worried about where theyre going to be at the end.West Virginias single-minded focus has been evident during whippings of Texas Tech and TCU the last two weeks, when it held those two-high powered foes to a total of 27 points. The Red Raiders and Horned Frogs combine to average 48 points per game when they play teams not named West Virginia.Consider that Texas Tech roared up and down the field last Saturday, scoring 59 points in a loss to Oklahoma a week after falling 48-17 to the Mountaineers.Theyre playing as good as anyone in the conference and maybe comparable to top 10 teams in the country, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said of WVUs defense. Theyre multiple with the style of play they use. They tackle well and they play aggressive.This will be another big test. Oklahoma State has a potent offense, averaging 41.1 points per game, 14th-best in the country. The Cowboys are coming off a 44-20 victory at Kansas, but there were some problems with their usually potent attack.For starters, the Jayhawks used bracket coverage to hold leading receiver James Washington to one reception for 9 yards. In addition, Kansas often pressured quarterback Mason Rudolph and sacked him five times.Youre not going to be able to win games getting sacked five times, Gundy said.Yet the Cowboys did, largely because they found offensive weapons other than Washington, such as slot receiver Jalen McCleskey (seven catches, 129 yards) and freshman running back Justice Hill, who carried 22 times for a career-high 162 yards. Thaat was his third 100-game of the season.ddddddddddddWest Virginia is 10th nationally in total offense at 510.0 yards per game, feeding off its defense and its own low-mistake play. Quarterback Skyler Howard was at his most efficient in the win against TCU, completing 16 of 23 passes for 231 yards, with four touchdowns with no interceptions. He is 14th nationally in passing efficiency with a rating of 157.4.Howard is averaging 9.0 yards per pass attempt, which is 11th in the country, and hell take his cracks at a Cowboys defense permitting 267.1 yards a game. Wide receivers Daikeil Shorts Jr. (team-high 31 catches this season) and Jovon Durante each made highlight-reel catches last week.We didnt make those catches last year, Holgorsen said.Mountaineers running back Rushel Shell has recorded two consecutive 100-yard games. West Virginia continues to average more than 200 yards per game on the ground and should have success against an Oklahoma State defense that has yielded 181.6 rushing yards per game.West Virginia has committed only eight turnovers in six games, but the Cowboys forced three vs. Kansas last week, creating confusion by dropping linemen into coverage and showing pressure from the back end.The Cowboys have won three consecutive games to climb near the AP Top 25 after starting the season ranked No. 21. They fell out of the poll after a Week 2 loss to Central Michigan.Gundy is bidding for his 100th career win while facing two of his former assistants -- Holgorsen and West Virginia offensive coordinator Joe Wickline. The Cowboys won this matchup last season in Morgantown, 33-26 in overtime.A West Virginia win Saturday would nicely position the Mountaineers for a couple of less-demanding games against Kansas and Texas before a showdown in Morgantown against Oklahoma on Nov. 19.Its hard to win in college football, Holgorsen said. There are a lot of good teams out there that have lost some games. Were fortunate not to be one of those. Youve got to celebrate the victories very, very short term and then youve got to get right back to work and worry about the next one. ' ' '