BYU men’s basketball has been hot on the trail of high-scoring Detroit Mercy guard Antoine Davis, who entered the transfer portal in search of greener pastures.

Emphasis on “green,” as in money, as it turns out.

Minutes before Davis announced he was returning to Detroit Mercy, Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported Davis had signed a one-year Name, Image and Likeness deal with a Chinese basketball manufacturer to design and produce custom “GlowBalls.” The deal could ultimately be worth in excess of six figures.

The Cougars were a finalist to get Davis to come to Provo but lost out by essentially being outbid for his services.

Welcome to college basketball, 2022.

Davis, a 6-foot-1-inch guard, has averaged nearly 25 points per game during his career at Detroit Mercy and is 22nd on the all-time college basketball scoring list. He will continue to play for his father, former Indiana coach Mike Davis, and is expected to share his windfall with his teammates, so there is that.

On social media, Davis said, “I wanted to win for Detroit and I feel like I owe Detroit that.”

BYU, meanwhile, continue to search the portal for more players to fill out its 2022-23 roster. On Saturday, the Cougars signed former Coastal Carolina standout Rudi Williams, a 6-2 guard who averaged 14.7 points per game last season. Williams has also played at a junior college (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M) and Kansas State.

Williams shot just 29 percent from the 3-point line his first year at Coastal Carolina but increased that number to 45 percent last season. BYU returns seniors Spencer Johnson and Trevin Knell on the guard line but are pretty young after that with redshirt freshman Trey Stewart and returned missionaries Dallin Hall, Richie Saunders Jr. and Tanner Toolson.

According to Vanquish the Foe, BYU will host a pair of transfer portal big men this week in 6-10 Mo Njie (Eastern Michigan) and 6-8 Josiah Allick (Missouri-Kansas City). Njie was named to the MAC All-Freshman team after averaging 6.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, shooting 62 percent from the field. Allick started 16 games for the Roos before a mid-season injury, averaging 12.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

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