Horns up, Dogs down

Whew. That was an quite a night of basketball. Texas looked like a serious title contender in the dismantling of Gonzaga (much to the chagrin of fans in Lubbock). Also, it was the last day of the early signing period, and the UC Board of regents might kibosh UCLA's hopeful move.

Let's get to the news.

1. A Lone Star State smackdown

After Wednesday night, there might not be any team who wants to play in Texas' new arena.

The Longhorns destroyed No. 2 Gonzaga, 93-74, in front of a raucous crowd that saw the Longhorns (3-0) hit 13 3-pointers, including five from sophomore transfer Tyrese Hunter.

"They hit a lot of deep, deep 3s," Bulldogs coach Mark Few said. "We knew he could shoot them, but not from 30 feet or whatever. He was feeling it."

Texas entered the game ranked second on KenPom, but 11th in the AP Poll. Safe to say they could be a top 5 team after this. (Stat of the night: it's the first time Texas has ever beaten Gonzaga.)

It was evident early that Texas would cause Gonzaga problems. The defense disrupted the Zags' passing lanes, which led to 11 first-half turnovers and even more sloppy passes. But defense is a given with a Chris Beard-coached team. The shooting made the Longhorns unstoppable. They were 13-33 (39.4%) from deep, making them as potent as any team in the country. With many interchangeable front-court players and two legit point guards in Marcus Carr and Hunter, Texas proved that they have dudes who can score from all over the floor.

Let's give a little shine to Dylan Disu, who played just 13 minutes but looked more like the player who led the SEC in rebounding in 2021. And OH MY DILLON MITCHELL! Three rim-rattling dunks in the final four minutes showed that he might be the most athletic player in the sport.

Gonzaga (2-1) has to flush this game right now — the Bulldogs meet Kentucky in Spokane on Sunday. Nolan Hickman struggled and suffered a high-ankle sprain, which could sideline him for a while. The defense looked late on rotations, couldn't recover against shooters and couldn't stop dribble penetration from Texas' superb guards. Expect Kentucky to mimic what the Longhorns did.

2. More results + five performances to highlight:

Iowa 83, Seton Hall 67: Add another W to the Big Ten's Gavitt Games tally. Iowa (3-0) came out slow but dominated after the first five minutes, thanks to Kris Murray's 29 points. Tony Perkins also added 18 points and five dimes. We can officially buy into the Hawkeyes once again. Seton Hall (2-1) will have more growing pains under first-year coach Shaheen Holloway.

Michigan 91, Pittsburgh 60: Sorry to our own Tristan Freeman, but Pitt (1-2) got crushed in the second half. Michigan (3-0) scored 53 points after the intermission and did it with Hunter Dickinson scoring only 11 overall. He set the table as Pitt threw multiple bodies his way all night, opening up easy buckets.

Arizona State 63, VCU 59: The best players from both teams didn't play because of injuries — VCU is without Ace Baldwin for the foreseeable future and ASU played without Marcus Bagley. Arizona State rallied thanks to late defensive stops, especially from freshman Duke Brennan, who made two huge plays down the stretch. The Sun Devils face Michigan today in the Legends Classic finale.

Detroit Mercy 88, Ohio 74: Another day, another excellent game for Detroit Mercy (2-1) guard Antoine Davis, who dropped 28 points on 8-19 shooting. Three others (Jayden Stone, Jordan Phillips and Damezi Anderson) also reached double figures.

Stars of the night:

First, special shout out to Trevon Brazile. My word.

Tyrese Hunter, Texas: Hunter scored 26 and was all-around amazing — defense, shooting and playmaking. He did everything in the Longhorns' blowout win over Gonzaga.

JT Shumate, Toledo: Shumate (33 points on 15-21 shooting) couldn't miss as RayJ Dennis repeatedly set him up for good looks. Toledo deserves serious top-25 consideration

Kris Murray, Iowa: Kris looked like twin brother Keegan. He carried Iowa (29 points, 11 boards) to a road win over Seton Hall.

Shaun Doss Jr., Arkansas Pine-Bluffs: Doss' 29 points kept UAPB competitive for the first 25 minutes until Kent State blew the game open. Doss has scored 18 or more points in each game this season.

Chris Ledlum, Harvard: Ledlum (29 points, 12-17 shooting) led Harvard to a comeback win over Northeastern.

3. Major news from final day of early signing period

There's no shame in waiting until the last minute. Wednesday marked the final day of the early signing period for 2023 recruits, and some big names committed.

None were bigger than Isaiah Collier.

Collier had perhaps the quietest recruitment for a top-10 prospect since Josh Christopher two years ago. The 6-2 guard — ranked No. 1 in the class of 2023 by Rivals — picked USC over UCLA, Michigan and Cincinnati. He joins Arrinten Page Jr., and Silas Demary in Andy Enfield's top-10-ranked recruiting class.

Landing Collier is massive for several reasons. USC will lose super senior Drew Peterson after the season and could also lose Boogie Ellis. That would allow Collier to have the ball in his hands right away. Perhaps the best part of Collier's game is his ability to make plays and make others around him better.

In other recruiting news:

• The most shocking commitment came from Ashton Hardaway picking… Memphis! OK, I’m kidding. It’s Penny Hardaway’s son, so of course, it’s not surprising, but it’s notable either way. He’s a forward (not a PG like his dad), and he's talented. Hardaway held offers from Kansas and Oklahoma State, among others, but it’s almost impossible to snag a recruit away from family. Hardaway is the seventh player in Memphis's 2023 class, headlined by 5-star guard Mikey Williams and 4-stars JJ Taylor and Ty-Laur Johnson.

• NC State landed 3-star recruit Trey Parker, who joins Dennis Parker (no relation) in Kevin Keatts' 2023 class. The newly-committed Parker is a part of the Overtime Elite program, where he plays on the "Cold Hearts" team and averages 11 ppg.

• Henderson (Nev.) native Sebastian Mack stayed West to play for UCLA. Mack is a 6-4 guard who rose in the 2023 rankings in the last six months, which put him on UCLA's radar. He joins Brandon Williams and Devin Williams in UCLA's 13th-ranked recruiting class.

• Iowa snagged Ladji Dembele, a 6-8 from Newark. He's a 3-star forward, the type of player Fran McCaffrey regularly turns into a major contributor.

• Houston adds big man Cedric Lath, from Henderson, Nev., the fourth player in its 2023 class. We know coach Kelvin Sampson loves to rotate several bigs throughout games, so Lath could carve out a role pretty quickly. He's a 3-star big who stands 6-10.

4. Happy birthday to Jim Boeheim

Jim Boeheim turns 78 today and isn't just the oldest coach in D-I hoops; he’s actually the oldest coach in college hoops, college football, the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL. He edges out Coastal Carolina coach Cliff Ellis by 13 months, who turns 77 in December.

Some stats on the Hall of Famer: He’s coached at Syracuse since 1969 (his first 10 years as an assistant) and took over the head coaching job in 1979. He’s won 999* games (the NCAA vacated 101 wins in 2015), has 32 NCAA tournament appearances, 18 Sweet 16s, five Final Fours and one national title. Boeheim has coached 47 players who logged at least one NBA game, ranging from Derrick Coleman to Carmelo Anthony to Cole Swider (The most recent Cuse player to appear in an NBA game.)

Some thought Coach Boeheim would retire once his son Buddy finished his career in orange and white, but Buddy is gone and Jim is still there. Although Syracuse fell short against Colgate two nights ago, Boeheim could add another NCAA appearance to his tally this season.

5. Ready, set, hold for UCLA moving to the Big Ten

This summer, UCLA and USC announced that they would move to the Big Ten in 2024. But the California Board of Regents could block the Bruins' jump.

Front Office Sports reports that among the issues that could derail the move include extra funding (the athletic department has a $103 million deficit) and the increased cost of travel (an additional $1 million per year). Also, the Board reportedly isn't keen on the idea of Cal being the only Pac-12 school.

It's unclear how the Board will respond.

Can Penn State stay unbeaten?

The Nittany Lions will try moving to 4-0 tonight, but Furman (2-0) will be no pushover. Penn State ranks 23rd in KenPom's offensive efficiency, mostly because of their shooting: it's hitting 47.8 percent of its attempted triples and taking 52 percent of its shots from deep. That's a recipe for success, but the fulcrum of everything is point guard Jalen Pickett, who posted a triple-double against Butler this week.

Furman is the number two team in the Field of 68 mid-major poll, a weekly show hosted by yours truly. The Paladins' two stars, versatile forward Jalen Slawson and guard Mike Bothwell, are terrific offensively but can be taken advantage of defensively. Who will prevail? I'll take the over on the point total either way.

Other games to watch (All times ET):

• Colorado (2-1) vs UMass (1-1), 1:30 pm (ESPNU)

• Towson (3-0) at UNCG (1-1) 7 pm (ESPN+)

• Davidson (3-0) vs College of Charleston (2-1), 7 pm (ESPNU)

This Bishop's got more than one move

George Washington senior James Bishop has had big games before. His February run last season — 132 points over five games — displayed his ability to score in bunches, but Tuesday night's performance against Hofstra was unlike anything he'd done before.

Heck, it was unlike anyone at GW in more than 40 years.

Bishop dropped 44 on the Pride in an 85-80 loss, hitting 15 of his 24 shots and shooting 5-12 beyond the arc, the first 40-point outing for a GW player since SirValiant Brown in 1999 — and the most at the school since 1969.

We were glad to talk with him and return our "Four Questions" feature that spotlights players and coaches in college hoops.

Q: Your 44 points on Tuesday are the most by any D-I player this season and the most by a GW player since 1999. At what point in that game did you feel like it was going to be a big game?

James Bishop: I would say when I hit my first shot, seeing the ball go in early is big so when that first one went in I knew I would have it going.

Q: What was Coach Caputo's reaction? It would've been nice to enjoy a game like that and win, so what was the takeaway?

Bishop: He recognized there were a lot of things that we could have done better in that game, but he also was happy with how our team continued to fight and never let the scoreboard affect our effort. The goal is always to win, but we were able to take some positive things away from the game.

Q: Defense has been an issue thus far. What needs to improve for your team on that side of the ball?

Bishop: I would say we just have to continue to work on our pick and roll coverages. Just having guys in the correct spots at the correct times. We’ve been working on that in practice and watching in a lot in film. This will also improve the more we continue to play with one another

Q: GW plays in the Diamond Head Classic over the Christmas holiday. Will it be weird to have Christmas and hit the beach afterward? Or will you guys even get to enjoy some surf and sun?

Bishop: It will definitely be a change of scenery for us, especially with how the weather is in December. But something we are all looking forward to. It’s always nice to get some nice weather in the middle of December.

Bishop and the Colonials return to the court Friday night for a home game against Maryland Eastern Shore.

'I thought I was in shape'

On a team filled with juniors, Cedric Henderson Jr. stands out as a senior. The 6-6 wing starred for Campbell the last three seasons, but saw an opening to make an impact at a power conference program when he transferred to Arizona over the summer.

How's he adjusting to playing in the Pac-12 and on a team that likes to play fast? He joined A.J. Bramlett on the Bear Down Baller podcast to talk about getting in shape and what his expectations are for the season.

Subscribe to The Field of 68 on YouTube and subscribe to the Bear Down Ballers podcast here.

Links before you scroll through KenPom's rankings for the day

• Duke's Tuesday night didn't end with the loss to Kansas. Its flight got diverted and didn't return to North Carolina until 10:30 am Wednesday morning.

• Albany sophomore Justin Neely is reportedly out for the year with a torn ACL.

• Gonzaga may face more Big 12 opponents in the future, as Big 12 commish Brett Yormark met with the program amid "growing mutual interest."

• VCU guard Ace Baldwin to miss time with broken wrist.

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