HOUSTON — As LeBron James sat in front of his locker late Wednesday, he had ice packs wrapped around his right elbow and both knees while his feet soaked in a bucket of ice. He insisted he felt every bit of his age, 41 years and 78 days old.

“Look at me right now,” James said after starring in a 124-116 road victory over the Houston Rockets that matched the Los Angeles Lakers‘ winning streak to a season-best seven games. “Right now, I feel like s—. But in the game, I felt pretty good. Before the game, I didn’t feel that great. I mean, I was yawning and tired and telling myself, I was literally just like talking to myself like, ‘Come on, here we go. Let’s figure it out. Let’s get through it.’

“But I felt pretty good in the game. I’m happy I’m able to make a few plays to help our team win.”

Six of those plays during James’ 30-point performance on 13-of-14 shooting were dunks.

“That’s really impressive,” said Lakers star Luka Doncic, who had another sensational outing with 40 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. “It’s insane.”

According to ESPN Research, James hadn’t had that many dunks in a game since March 9, 2017. James threw down three alley-oops, matching his most in any game during his legendary 23-year career.

The first of those alley-oops was an errant lob from guard Marcus Smart to James on a back cut, a pass that appeared to be sailing into the baseline seats. But James soared to catch the pass and slam it home, a spectacular highlight for any player regardless of age.

“The fact that he’s 41, he’s still as athletic or more athletic than about 95% of the league — still — and he’s probably, I think everybody would agree, has lost a little athleticism,” said Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who had 14 points and eight assists. “It’s just insane to think [about]. It’s absolutely mind-blowing.”

James’ display of athletic prowess in Wednesday’s win was on the extreme end of the spectrum, but it wasn’t necessarily shocking. According to NBA Advanced Stats, he entered the night second in the league in fast-break points (279) behind speedy Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey. James has 77 dunks in 48 games, including three in Monday’s win over the Rockets.

“I’m not surprised anymore,” said Kevin Durant, the Rockets’ 37-year-old superstar who had 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting in the loss. “I mean, he’s a freak athlete. He’s a generational athlete. He cares and loves the game. Cares about his body. This is what he does. He’s built for this, you know what I’m saying? Since he was a kid.

“I think he could play until he’s 45 years old. I don’t know if he wants to be around that long, but I think he could play for another four to five more years, to be honest. And so yeah, it’s not a surprise anymore. I mean, his age, he is 41, but he looks great out there.”

James became the first Laker to score at least 30 points on 90% shooting since Shaquille O’Neal in March 2003. He became the oldest player in NBA history to accomplish that feat, a distinction previously owned by former Portland Trail Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis, who was 36 years and 108 days old when he scored 32 points on 11-of-12 shooting.

James’ lone miss came on a drive early in the fourth quarter. Houston’s Tari Eason was credited with a block, although James raised his arms and complained to the ref after falling to the ground.

“The one shot he missed, he was trying to foul bait,” Lakers coach J.J. Redick quipped.

Redick is also 41 years old, about six months older than James, and retired as a player in 2021 after a 15-year career. He joked that he feels like a “loser” seeing James’ explosiveness at his age on a regular basis.

“I can touch the rim still,” Redick said. “I can’t jump for three days after it, but I’ve got one jump in me.

“Just the preparation that he puts into his body over and over and over again — that to me is like the ultimate sign of competitive stamina. He just holds on to it every single day and he gets ready to ring the bell.”

The Lakers are relying on James less than ever and getting extraordinary results from the all-time leading scorer accepting his role as the team’s third offensive option behind Doncic and Reaves. James had 15 or fewer field goal attempts in his past eight games, twice as long as any previous streak in his career with that few shots. James is averaging 20.8 points on 61.5% shooting in that stretch, and the Lakers have won seven of the eight games.

“Part of the evolution of him on this team, and particularly in this stretch, has just been his patience,” Redick said. “His patience, knowing he’s going to get the ball and he’s going to have transition opportunities, and he’s going to have plays called for him, and he’s going to play off ball and get a corner 3 the first play of the game. He’s going to have those opportunities, and he’s played really patiently.”

James’ last bucket in Wednesday’s win, which strengthened the 44-25 Lakers’ grip on the third seed in the Western Conference, was evidence of the chemistry developing between Doncic and him. Doncic split two defenders on a pick-and-roll to drive down the middle of the floor, and James executed a perfectly timed cut from the weakside corner. Doncic drew a crowd in the paint and flipped a lob to James, who finished with two hands, a dagger that put the Lakers up six with 1:22 remaining.

Doncic celebrated by shuffling sideways up the court, smiling and staring down a courtside fan who had engaged him in trash talk throughout the game.

“Winning’s fun, so just the way we play I think is a lot of fun,” Doncic said. “That’s what we do. We win and we have a good time.”

DAYTON, Ohio — Miami (Ohio) found itself in a unique position Wednesday night at the First Four.

The RedHawks had been a polarizing 30-win team in the lead-up to NCAA tournament selections. Was Miami good, or just a product of a weak schedule? Were all the major conference teams that avoided the RedHawks being silly or smart? After a 31-0 start, Miami had made the NCAA field, but just barely as an at-large, and would tip off in the First Four, just 40 miles from its campus in Oxford, Ohio.

The 11th-seeded RedHawks were 6.5-point underdogs against SMU, even though neither they nor the thousands who came to support them felt that way.

“The reason people love March Madness is they love to see quote, unquote, upsets,” coach Travis Steele said. “This wasn’t an upset tonight, at all.”

Miami left no doubt about its tournament viability, or the historic path it has taken, beating SMU 89-79 at UD Arena. The RedHawks led for most of the game, recorded their largest victory margin in an NCAA tournament game, made their most 3-pointers (16) in the tournament and posted their highest scoring total in a tournament game since 1958. They advanced to face No. 6 seed Tennessee in a first-round Midwest Region matchup Friday in Philadelphia.

Steele said he felt his team was better than SMU coming into Wednesday’s game, and his players proved him right.

“All the doubters that doubted us, all saying we don’t have Quad 1 wins, two wins, all that stuff, I don’t know what they’re going to say now,” star guard Peter Suder said. “We proved the doubters wrong. To win by double digits against a really good team, athletically, physically talented players, it’s huge for this program.”

Miami did not face a power conference team in nonleague play — the school repeatedly stated that those teams did not want to schedule the RedHawks — and went 30-0 in the regular season before falling to UMass last week in the Mid-American Conference tournament quarterfinals. Despite all of Miami’s winning, a schedule strength that hovered near the bottom of Division I created an odd at-large profile for the tournament selection committee to consider.

“I mean, we had to basically be perfect in the whole regular season to get that at-large,” Steele said.

A MAC team had not earned an at-large berth since 1999, when Miami rode All-American Wally Szczerbiak to the Sweet 16. The RedHawks were one of the last at-large teams in and began their first tournament appearance since 2007 in nearby Dayton.

The positive was Wednesday’s crowd, red and raucous, erupting with every 3-pointer and scoring burst from the RedHawks. Former Miami and NBA star Ron Harper was among the supporters and celebrated in the locker room.

Miami players frequently acknowledged their supporters, including Luke Skaljac, whose 3-pointer with 7:15 left forced SMU to call timeout.

“That was a great crowd, a home game for Miami,” SMU coach Andy Enfield said. “They probably had 12,000 fans here. Felt like 40 or 50 thousand.”

The crowd included Miami’s men’s swim and dive team, some wearing only Speedos and caps, who sprinted down the aisle behind SMU’s basket early in the second half to distract free throw shooter Corey Washington, just as they do at Millett Hall, Miami’s home court.

“What really surprised me was the swim team, when they came out,” forward Antwone Woolfolk said. “That was elite.”

Miami’s willingness to take and make 3-pointers propelled its offense, as the team had more made 3s (10) than 2-point attempts (9) in the first half. But the undersized RedHawks also held up inside, as the rebounding was even at 35-35. They collected 12 offensive boards, including Suder’s with 3:08 to play that set up a 3-pointer by Eian Elmer that increased the lead to 81-68.

Steele challenged his team after the UMass loss, as the RedHawks were outrebounded 41-24 and allowed 54 points in the paint and 23 second-chance points.

“We crashed the glass,” said Woolfolk, Miami’s tallest starter at 6-foot-9. “We put pressure on the rim, instead of letting pressure get put on us.”

The rebounding performance reinforced Steele’s pre-game theme: Attack.

“Our guys deserve to be in this position,” he said. “I felt like we were the better team going into the game was. And I think our guys have that real belief. That’s the most powerful thing you can have.”

Miami now gets another power conference opponent in Tennessee, and further success means similar opponents will follow. But the RedHawks had the tournament stage to themselves Wednesday night.

How many more people know about Miami (Ohio) now?

“I don’t even know, I can’t even count,” Suder said, smiling. “But it’s definitely a lot.”

DAYTON, Ohio — When Kenny Blakeney arrived at Howard, he took over a program that had lived in the lower rung of Division I for decades.

“Howard was, like, for the last 20 years, the 354th-ranked team in the country,” Blakeney said. “For me, that was great, because there was nothing else to do but go forward and make this a better program.”

Despite only four wins in his first season and a second campaign limited to just five games by the COVID-19 pandemic, Blakeney started making Howard better. A winning season followed. Then back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.

But Howard had still not won a game in March Madness. The Bison had a “box to check,” which Blakeney emphasized to his team before Tuesday’s First Four Matchup against UMBC at UD Arena.

Despite a late scare, No. 16 seed Howard finished the night with a checkmark next to its name, outlasting No. 16 UMBC 86-83. The Bison are now headed to Buffalo, New York, where they will face No. 1 seed Michigan on Thursday in a first-round Midwest Region matchup.

“Being on this stage and being able to check this box, it’s the only game going on right now, and the whole college basketball world, I’m pretty sure, was locked in on this,” Blakeney said. “So, what a wonderful accomplishment.”

Howard saw an 11-point lead with less than two minutes to play dwindle, but Bryce Harris‘ turnaround jumper before the shot clock expired pushed the Bison’s advantage to four with 13 seconds left. UMBC had a chance to tie in the closing seconds, but DJ Armstrong Jr.‘s 3-point attempt missed.

“We’ve been in games like this before, we practice for these situations,” said Ose Okojie, who led Howard with a career-high 23 points and played most of the final 12:33 with four fouls. “It wasn’t anything like we were worried or anything like that. Because at this big stage, there’s no time for fear. There’s no time for worry.

“You’ve got to trust your work.”

Too overwhelmed to address the team afterward, Blakeney turned things over to Harris, the fifth-year leader who has witnessed Howard climb every rung toward respectability. Harris, who posted 19 points and 14 rebounds against UMBC, reminded the team about the previous season, when Howard tumbled to 12-20 and both he and Okojie were sidelined with injuries. Okojie had suffered a concussion against UMBC, of all opponents.

“It’s a full-circle moment,” Harris said, “how you’re winning your first NCAA tournament game against a team that you got hurt against.”

Howard surged to a 49-41 halftime lead behind Okojie and others, and it led by as many as 14 in the second half. But a UMBC team making its first NCAA tournament appearance since its historic takedown of Virginia in 2018 — the Retrievers were the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 — wouldn’t go away.

“They are such a talented team,” Harris said.

Blakeney grew up near Howard in Washington, D.C., but his basketball career, unlike the program he would eventually coach, was linked to success. He won Gatorade Player of the Year in Maryland, playing for decorated coach Morgan Wootten at DeMatha Catholic High School. Blakeney then went to Duke and was part of its national championship teams in 1991 and 1992, before captaining the squad as a senior.

Blakeney took over at Howard admittedly not knowing how to build a winning culture, only to follow one. He learned through the lean years then lifted the program to the Big Dance. But after falling short, including two years ago in the First Four against Wagner, Blakeney didn’t minimize what a win would mean Tuesday.

“I went to Duke to win championships, and I want our young men to come to Howard to win championships, because I’m having opportunities from 1991 and 1992 at the age of 54 that are still present,” he said. “If you have a chance to win a championship … there’s not going to be an alum in the country that won’t take your phone call.”

The Bison might have to fend off the phone calls as they move on. As they exited the court, several fans implored them to take down Michigan.

“It’s kind of surreal,” said Okojie, who will play near his hometown of Brampton, Ontario, in the next game. “You kind of watch this tournament as a kid, and to win a game is crazy.”