UNLV will have to overcome the loss of Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn. (University of Nevada Las Vegas Athletics)
This week, Stacey King, who helped the Oklahoma Sooners reach the NCAA Final in 1987-88 before winning three NBA titles with the Bulls, died at the age of 59; SEC commissioner Greg Sankey says rumours of merger with the Big Ten are not true; and the NCAA Division I cabinet has tweaked the age-based eligibility rules model that’s being considered. Other college basketball news items we’re following include…
Rebels Lose Their Top Scorer
Once upon a time, the Nevada-Las Vegas Runnin’ Rebels were the toast of the college basketball world, but it’s now been 36 years since its national championship title, followed by its near undefeated campaign in 1990-91.
In fact, UNLV has now gone 13 straight years without even making the NCAA tournament, last season barely finishing with a winning record.
To make matters worse, leading scorer/steal man Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn transferred to Texas Tech for his senior season. After a few quiet performances, he finished his Rebel career with a bang by going off for 29 points in the NIT second round.
Gibbs-Lawhorn began his career at Illinois and played almost exclusively in a reserve role while showing some flashes of high-end skill (see video below), before deciding that being a big fish in a smaller pond was the way to go. So he moved to UNLV, where he broke out in a big way last season. As a full-time starter, the shooting guard got a ton more touches – especially from downtown – and beefed up his assist, block and steal numbers in addition to scoring nearly 21 PPG.
For the Red Raiders, Gibbs-Lawhorn will take over as the new starting two. He’s got a lot of Trae Young in him, but here’s the issue: he’s just 6’1” and is not a true point guard, so his path to the NBA is going to be a tough one.
Originally an Indiana high schooler, Gibbs-Lawhorn is athletic and can store from anywhere on the court (check out a deep breakdown of him here), so we’ll be curious if a big season for a power conference team can spark more NBA draft hype.
Cowboy Up
Another school that’s hoping to snap an NCAA tourney drought is the Oklahoma State Cowboys, although its drought only stretches five years.
And while OK State managed just 12 wins in 2023-24, things are on the upswing here as they improved to 17 the following campaign and reached 20 last season in Year Two of the Steve Lutz era. Heading into 2026-27, the Cowboys have improved to +20000 to win the National Championship as per FanDuel.
But with five players transferring out and another five graduating, Oklahoma State has its hands full in trying to build on last season’s showing. Making matters worse, among the grads is Christian Coleman, who led the team in rebounding and blocks.
In his only season as a Cowboy after two years with UAB, the forward didn’t get as many touches and saw his rebounding and assist numbers dwindle, although he finally developed an outside game – sort of.
But once it came time for the Big 12 tourney and then the NIT, Coleman elevated his play big time, scoring at least 15 points in all four games over the two tournaments while recording double-doubles in three of them. He saved the best for last, going off for 22 points (on 9-of-14 shooting), with 10 boards, two assists, one trey, one steal and one block in the second round NIT loss to Wichita State.
At 6’9”, Coleman provided the team with a strong presence in the paint, although he probably did not accomplish enough in his final season of eligibility to push his way into NBA draft consideration. A Jarred Vanderbilt type, Coleman could earn an invite to Summer League where he’ll get a shot to earn a two-way deal.
RotoRob Tune of the Day
While recording for Sony, Jamiroquai made three albums that hit the top of the UK charts: Emergency On Planet Earth (1993), Synkronized (1999) and A Funk Odyssey (2001). The lead single from the latter (their fifth album overall) was “Little L,” which was a No. 1 hit in Spain.