Penn State will respond to NCAA

Penn State said Tuesday it will respond within days to the NCAA’s demand for information as the governing body decides whether the university should face penalties — including a possible shutdown of its storied football program — because of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Penn State President Rodney Erickson said he doesn’t want to “jump to conclusions” about possible sanctions after the head of the NCAA declared that the so-called death penalty has not been ruled out.

The NCAA is investigating whether Penn State lost “institutional control” over its athletic program and violated ethics rules. The probe had been on hold for eight months while former FBI director Louis Freeh conducted an investigation on behalf of the school’s Board of Trustees. Freeh’s 267-page report, released last week, asserted that coach Joe Paterno, who died in January, and three top officials buried allegations against Sandusky, Paterno’s retired defensive coordinator, more than a decade ago to protect the university’s image.

Sandusky was convicted last month of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. He awaits sentencing.

In a PBS interview Monday night, NCAA President Mark Emmert said he has “never seen anything as egregious as this in terms of just overall conduct and behavior inside a university.”

He said he doesn’t want to take “anything off the table” if there’s a finding that Penn State violated NCAA rules.

PRO BASKETBALL

Knicks decide to let Lin go to Rockets

Jeremy Lin is leaving New York and taking Linsanity to Houston.

The New York Knicks announced that they would not match the Houston Rockets’ three-year, $25-million offer for Lin, a restricted free agent.

New York had to make a decision Tuesday, three days after Houston’s official offer, and elected not to retain a player who became an international phenomenon in his brief stay with the Knicks.

The Rockets made it tough for the Knicks to keep him by backloading their offer sheet with a $15-million salary in the third season.

If the Knicks had agreed to that deal, they would have faced a hefty luxury tax in 2014-15 because of other big contracts on their books — between $30 million and $40 million.

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The Brooklyn Nets continued their off-season barrage of signings, agreeing to a new, two-year deal with power forward Kris Humphries.

Humphries, 27, averaged 13.8 points and 11.0 rebounds for the Nets last season, and has averaged a double-double in consecutive seasons: 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Humphries, who will make $24 million over the life of the contract, will now be part of a new-look group in Brooklyn that includes guards Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, center Brook Lopez, and forward Gerald Wallace, who all either decided to re-sign with the Nets this month, or in the case of Johnson, accept a trade from Atlanta to Brooklyn.

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The Miami Heat’s Mike Miller has decided against retirement and plans to return to the NBA champions next season.

Miller said he expects that he can avoid back surgery. He has been consulting with a Miami neurosurgeon this off-season and believes the back problems he dealt with last season can be minimized through rest and rehabilitation.

ETC.

Kings re-sign four minor league players

The Kings re-signed four minor league players who were restricted free agents. Defensemen Jake Muzzin and Thomas Hickey and forwards David Steckler and Stefan Legein each signed one-year contracts. Former Kings assistant coach Jamie Kompon, whose contract was not renewed after it expired June 30, was hired to be an assistant coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.

—Helene Elliott

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant was arrested in Texas on Monday after being accused of attacking his mother during an argument, hitting her arms and face.

He faces a charge of family violence, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers re-signed tackle Max Starks to a one-year deal, hoping his surgically repaired knee is healed and his leadership can help one of the NFL’s youngest lines provide better protection for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Terms were not disclosed.

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U.S. Olympian Christina McHale saved a set point, then used a late service break to pull out a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over Jarmila Gajdosova in the first round of the Mercury Insurance Open at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad.

McHale’s second-round opponent will be Japan’s Misaki Doi.

No. 7-seeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium dropped the first set, 7-6 (6), to qualifier Yung-Jan Chan of Taiwan before retiring because of a lower back injury.