Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I love when Victor Wembanyama makes my job easy by doing something outrageous. 

In today’s SI:AM: 
🐘 Alabama’s next big recruit
🏈 Inside UCLA’s turnaround
🇵🇹 Ronaldo ends international career

Another stunning Wemby game

Victor Wembanyama is at it again. 

Wemby had the best game of his career—and truly one of the best games in NBA history—last night in a 112–111 win over the Mavericks. He finished with 52 points, 24 rebounds and eight blocks. And he did it in just 34 minutes on the court. 

He’s the first player since the 1976 NBA-ABA merger to put up 50 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks in a game. The only players to do so pre-merger were Bob McAdoo in 1974 and Wilt Chamberlain, who did it at least five times. (The NBA only began officially tracking blocks in the 1973–74 season, after Chamberlain retired.)

The numbers are cool, but what really makes Wembanyama a special player is that he can do things on the court that McAdoo and Chamberlain could only dream of. His first basket of the game came when he brought the ball up the floor, crossed over a defender at the top of the key and glided to the rim for a one-handed slam. He had a handful of off-the-dribble buckets like that, along with his usual lobs and putback slams. 

The Spurs needed a big game from Wemby, too. Their lead grew as large as 19 points midway through the third quarter before the Mavs charged back to take the lead with 5:38 left in the fourth. And how did Wembanyama respond? By hitting a game-tying three-pointer on the next possession and then blocking a shot on Dallas’s next trip down the floor. 

Wembanyama scored 10 of San Antonio’s last 12 points, including a go-ahead free throw with 24 seconds remaining. His historic performance helped the Spurs stretch their winning streak to six games after they opened the season with back-to-back losses. 

The funniest part of Wembanyama’s night came late in the first half, when he blocked three shots in a span of 13 seconds. First, he swatted away a floater attempt by Cooper Flagg. Then he denied P.J. Washington at the rim. For some reason, after seeing that, Daniel Gafford thought it would be a good idea to try to beat Wemby in the post. He got rejected, too. 

“If I got blocked three times in a row, I feel like I’d be pretty upset,” teammate Dylan Harper told reporters. “That’s Vic, he takes pride on the defensive side and things like that are just natural to him.”

Wembanyama’s continued improvement as a player is remarkable. He was already a star when he first entered the league three years ago, and he’s steadily improved each year since. He set new career highs in both scoring and rebounding last night. There’s no telling how much better he can be. 

The best of Sports Illustrated

The top five…

… things I saw last night: 
5. UMass’s rare walk-off extra point in overtime against Ball State. UMass is now 5–4 on the season but needs two more wins to become bowl-eligible for the first time in school history because the Minutemen played two FCS teams this year. 
4. Dylan Harper’s high-flying alley-oop. 
3. Kings rookie Darius Acuff Jr.’s ballhandling to split the defense on his way to the rim. The Kings are a disaster (tied for the worst record in the NBA at 1–7) but Acuff is off to an amazing start to his NBA career. He’s averaging 25.6 points per game and has three 30-point games.
2. Sabres goalie Colten Ellis’s outrageous stretch to save a goal. 
1. Klay Thompson’s game-winning three-pointer for the Heat in overtime. 

📺 What we’re watching today …

NFL

Jaguars at Ravens, 8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video
Undrafted rookie third-string quarterback Joe Fagnano is set to make his first start for the Ravens, and Baltimore will have its hands full: Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence is playing at an MVP level, while the Jaguars boast the NFL's top-ranked rushing defense.

Men’s college basketball

Wake Forest at No. 24 Vanderbilt, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Women’s college basketball

No. 2 UConn at No. 5 Michigan, 6:30 p.m. ET, FS1