VJ Edgecombe and No. 8 Baylor will take the court against Graham Ike and No. 6 Gonzaga on Monday night in men’s college basketball.
The Findlay Auto Tip-Off will bring us the first Top 10 matchup of the season, as the No. 8 ranked team in the country, Baylor, and the No. 6 ranked team in the nation, Gonzaga, will play at Spokane Arena on Monday night. The Bears leading scorer from last season Ja’Kobe Walter was drafted by the Toronto Raptors. The team also lost RayJ Dennis and Jalen Bridgers, both to the NBA as well. Langston Love is the highest-scoring returning player for the team after 11.0 points and 2.9 rebounds per game last season.
The team did bring in some huge transfer portal grabs, including Duke’s Jeremy Roach, VCU’s Jayden Nunn, Miami’s Norchad Omier, and VJ Edgecombe, the No. 1 ranked shooting guard in the country in this freshman class. The mixture of those players definitely overpowers the players they lost, which is why Baylor is still a Top 10 ranked team.
The Bulldogs bring back one of the best backcourts in the country with Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard. Nembhard set Gonzaga’s single season assists record last year with 6.9 assists per game, earning All-WCC honors. Hickman shot over 41 percent from behind the arc and set the tone with Nembhard up front.
The other three projected starters for Gonzaga include Michael Ajayi, Ben Gregg, and Graham Ike. Ike led the team in scoring, averaging 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. The team did lose Anton Watson to the NBA, but Ben Gregg will fill the role after 9.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game last season in a bench role.
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