News » Conn: A showdown awaits with top-ranked Notre Dame on Wednesday in

The San Antonio Spurs can match an NBA record for consecutive road wins to start a season if they defeat the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night at the United Center.The Spurs are 13-0 and could tie the Golden State Warriors, who set the mark by going undefeated in their first 14 road games last season.Its hard to win an NBA game, especially on the road, reserve guard Patty Mills told Fox Sports Southwest after scoring 15 points in the Spurs 105-91 win Tuesday at the Minnesota Timberwolves. Maybe that extra focus, knowing that were in another teams building and (theyre) wanting to come out trying to beat us, theres that little bit of extra focus or energy or effort, whatever it may be. But we cant pinpoint (why) at the moment, and nor should we try to figure it out. Long season, I guess.It will also be a homecoming of sorts for Spurs center Pau Gasol, who played the past two seasons with the Bulls and signed with San Antonio as a free agent in the offseason.Gasol, 36, has only missed one game for the Spurs (18-4). Hes averaging 11.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Gasol could give the post-challenged Bulls matchup problems, but Chicago will also need to dedicate a significant amount of focus on defending forward Kawhi Leonard.San Antonios leading scorer (24.5 points per game) is coming off a 31-point performance against the Timberwolves, despite a slow start in that game. Leonard, 25, is averaging nearly four more minutes per game than his career average of 30.1 and scoring about 10 more points per game than his 14.9 career average.By this point in his career, hes a confident player, Spurs coach Gregg Poppovich told Fox Sports Southwest. He knows hes got a green light. We call his number now and then, but he does a lot of this stuff on his own, and hes getting pretty good at pick-and-roll. So, he just advances his game every year a little bit in some fashion. Special young man.The Bulls (11-10) are coming off a 102-91 loss Tuesday at the Detroit Pistons, when they were outplayed in the fourth quarter after overcoming a 17-point deficit in the first half. Chicago has lost three straight games, four of its past five and is just 3-6 since winning four straight Nov. 10-17.The Bulls have allowed 100-plus points in seven of those nine games.The problem is not on the offensive end, guard Jimmy Butler told CSN Chicago. (The Pistons) got whatever they wanted. Were not defending the way were capable. Were messing up assignments, not boxing out, not playing to guys weaknesses. We gotta fix it. All of these count early on. We have to turn this around.Butler is doing his part. The Bulls leading scorer scored 32 against the Pistons and is averaging 26 points a game. Over the past 10 games, Butler is averaging 27.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 10.7 free-throw attempts.Hes just not getting enough consistent help from Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo or others in the Bulls playing rotation. Rondo returned to the lineup against the Pistons after serving a one-game suspension for a reported altercation with an assistant coach.Chicago also made a series of roster moves Wednesday involving the Windy City Bulls of the D-League. They recalled forward Doug McDermott from their D-League affiliate. They also recalled guard R.J. Hunter and rookie forward Pau Zipser after sending both to the D-League about two hours earlier.The Spurs might not have veteran guard Tony Parker, who is questionable after bruising his knee in San Antonios 97-96 win Monday at the Milwaukee Bucks. Authentic Custom Bulls Jersey . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). Custom Bulls Jerseys . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. http://www.custombullsjersey.com/ . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. John Paxson Jersey Large .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training. Cheap Bulls Jerseys . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies are finding new ways to win each game.It seems that a different player steps up every game. It was Napheesa Colliers turn on Sunday.Collier scored 24 points and No. 2 UConn won its 82nd consecutive game with a 72-54 victory over No. 14 Texas in the annual Jimmy V Classic.Its really hard to pinpoint or put a label on this team, Auriemma said. They just seem to do what they need to do. Thats what it appears to me right now. We dont appear to be a team that imposes their will on the other team like weve been doing the last couple years. What do we have to do today? We figure it out and just do it.Kia Nurse added 15 points for the Huskies (7-0), who are in the midst of the second-longest winning streak in womens basketball history, trailing only their 90-game run from 2008-10.Next up is top-ranked Notre Dame.Its going to be fun the next couple days preparing, Auriemma said. Thats still one of my favorite things to do, prepare for a really good team on the road. ... Sometimes more fun than the actual game. Im looking forward to seeing how as a team, what kind of look the players have these next two days. I think theyll be pretty excited. Its the first time in a while youre going in and someone else is No. 1 in the country.UConn led by nine at the half before Texas (2-4) closed to 51-49 with 3:18 left in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Brooke McCarty. The Huskies then scored the next 12 points, including the final six of the period to get some breathing room. Collier capped the burst with a nifty reverse layup off a rebound that made it 63-49.Texas couldnt get within single digits the rest of the way.McCarty led the Longhorns with 15 points.The Huskies trailed 17-15 after one quarter but took command in the second behind Nurse. She scored the first seven points of the quarter to give UConn a 22-17 advantage. Texas (2-4) got within 26-24 before the Huskies closed the half on a 13-6 spurt. Collier had the final seven points of that burst as UConn led 39-30 at the half.Texas lost second-leading scorer Ariel Atkins in the first quarter when she was hit in the head inadvertently.dddddddddddd She came in averaging 13.6 points and had just four in six minutes.Were not sure yet, Texas coach Karen Aston said of the extent of the injury. That was obviously a difficult loss for us. ... So Im not sure of her status.JIMMY VThis is the sixth consecutive season that the Huskies have played in the game in honor of the former N.C. State mens coach, who died of cancer. Uconn has won all six of those games. They are 8-2 overall in the game.As a coach you obviously have so much respect for the way he handled an unbelievably difficult situation, Auriemma said. I hope we get invited to play in it every year. Wed do it every year if we could.TOUGH SCHEDULINGBoth Texas and UConn have faced top opponents this season. The difference is the Longhorns have struggled, going 0-4 against Top 25 teams. They lost to Stanford, Mississippi State, South Carolina and UConn. The Huskies have beaten Florida State, Baylor, DePaul and Texas.BIG PICTURETexas: The Longhorns didnt lose their fourth game of the season until March last year. ... McCarty moved into 10th place on the schools all-time list of 3-point shooters. She has 117.UConn: The two teams have played eight times, with the Huskies winning all the meetings, including in the last two NCAA Tournaments. ... Former NFL great Donovan McNabb was at the game. Hes the uncle of Nurse. ... This was the fourth year in a row that the Huskies have played a game at Mohegan Sun. The American Athletic Conference holds its tournament at the casino.UP NEXTTexas: After facing South Carolina and UConn back-to-back, the schedule doesnt get much easier with Tennessee waiting on Dec. 11. The Longhorns do have an exam break before then.UConn: A showdown awaits with top-ranked Notre Dame on Wednesday in South Bend, Indiana. It will be the third straight ranked opponent the Huskies have faced.---Follow Doug on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg ' ' '