BJ Davis and Miles Byrd were teammates at San Diego State last season. Now they’ll play against each other in the Big East.
Davis reportedly committed to Creighton on Tuesday afternoon, a slightly surprising move in that he was scheduled to visit Auburn and Oklahoma State this week. But both those schools either retained or landed other guards, and Davis opted for the Big East instead of the SEC or Big 12 for his final season of eligibility.
At Creighton, he’ll be coached by Alan Huss, who is taking over for the retiring Greg McDermott after 16 largely successful seasons. Creighton played SDSU in the Elite Eight in 2023 but ended a streak of five straight NCAA Tournament appearances this year with a 16-18 record and fifth-place finish in the Big East.
Byrd, the Mountain West defensive player of the year, committed to Providence last week. Forward Pharaoh Compton is headed to Oregon, leaving three Aztecs still in the transfer portal: Magoon Gwath, Miles Heide and Taj DeGourville.
The three who found new homes all are getting significantly more money than they did at SDSU but all are transferring “down” in terms of 2025-26 team performance. Creighton, Providence (15-18) and Oregon (12-20) all had losing records, and none finished in the top 75 of the NCAA’s NET metric or were close to NCAA Tournament berths.
Davis primarily came off the bench last season after starting as a sophomore, averaging 10.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 43.4% overall, 37.4% from 3 and 85.3% from the line. He was less effective in his seven starts: 8.9 points, 36.7% shooting, 27.3% from 3.
He closed the season in dramatic fashion, with a career-high 30 points in the regular-season finale against UNLV and a last-second layup to beat New Mexico in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
The advantage of going to the Big East, which other than UConn and St. John’s was a step below the Power Four conferences last season, is that there is opportunity for more guaranteed money. Because the Big East doesn’t have football to drain financial resources, it can pay players directly from its allotted $21.3 million in revenue sharing and not have to supplement offers with NIL deals that may or may not receive approval (although most think they will stand up to legal challenges).
Providence, according to multiple sources, is giving Byrd north of $2.5 million in guaranteed money, with incentives potentially pushing it over $3 million. Davis is expected to command in the $1.5 million range.
UC San Diego’s Hudson Mayes drives to the basket during a Dec. 19 game against USD at LionTree Arena. (Derrick Tuskan, UC San Diego athletics)
Mayes to UNM
New Mexico coach Eric Olen dipped into his UCSD connections for transfer guard Hudson Mayes, who was honorable mention all-Big West in his freshman season with the Tritons.
Mayes committed to UCSD two weeks after Olen took the New Mexico job last season. The athletic 6-foot-5 guard from Los Angeles appeared in all 33 games and averaged 11.1 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 54.5%.
He was even more impressive after he moved into the starting lineup late in the season. Over the final nine games, he averaged 17.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals in 30.9 minutes.
Mayes, the son of Notre Dame and Green Bay Packers receiver Derrick Mayes, told USA Today his agent began getting calls two months ago and received offers in the mid-six figures. Notre Dame, Baylor and Syracuse were also finalists.
“Coming into the portal,” Mayes told USA Today, “I obviously had pretty much every power (conference) and every other conference trying to get me to commit there. They were throwing me different offers. I kept money out of my decision and made a basketball decision.”