Senior Jalen Montonati, the No. 44 player in the 2026 SportsCenter NEXT 100 basketball rankings, announced his commitment to Oklahoma State on Thursday, giving coach Steve Lutz his first top prospect since taking over the Cowboys in 2024.

Montonati, the top high school player in the state of Oklahoma, also visited Kansas State and Oklahoma, but the 6-foot-6 wing opted to play where his father suited up for Eddie Sutton in the late 1990s.

“In a time with so much portal recruiting, they made me a priority,” Montonati told ESPN. “The day after Coach Lutz got the job, he called me and expressed that I was a priority. The support and love from Coach Lutz and the staff was great all summer long. They attended all my games.”

Oklahoma State made it clear to Montonati earlier this month that he was their top target with a late-night in-home visit on the first day of the recruiting period.

“When the September recruiting period opened, they came to my house at midnight. They wanted to be the first ones to see me,” Montonati said. “We have built a great relationship where we talk about basketball and life off the court.”

A product of Owasso High School (Oklahoma), Montonati averaged 15.8 points on the Nike EYBL circuit last spring and summer for the MoKan grassroots program, including a 29-point performance against Brad Beal Elite at the Nike Peach Jam in July. Montonati also helped lead USA Basketball to a gold medal at the 2023 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, pacing the team in 3-pointers.

Montonati is a shooter with length who is capable of getting clean looks against closeouts and in contested situations. He’ll be an immediate asset as an off-ball threat, someone who opens the floor for others and moves off screens.

He’s the first commitment for Oklahoma State in the 2026 class.

President Donald Trump will attend the first day of the Ryder Cup this weekend at Bethpage Black, and it has members of Team USA excited.

Both Scottie Scheffler and Keegan Bradley raved about his attendance at the People’s Country Club, and his YouTube co-star Bryson DeChambeau is also excited.

The two-time U.S. Open champion even believes Trump could add some motivation to the team representing the Stars and Stripes.

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“I hope he will inspire us to victory. I think he’ll be a great force for us to get a lot of people on our side,” DeChambeau told reporters Thursday. “I think it will be interesting and exciting to see how the crowd and everybody reacts. It’s going to be an electric environment.”

The Ryder Cup will be the third sporting event this month Trump will have attended, all of which have been in the New York metro area.

Trump was in attendance for the men’s U.S. Open final on Sept. 7 and attended a New York Yankees game against the Detroit Tigers four days later, the 24th anniversary of Sept. 11.

DeChambeau had Trump featured in one of his “Breaking 50” videos last year, shortly before the first assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pa. Trump returned the favor by inviting him on stage during his victory speech last November.

President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order restarting the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, from left, professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. watch Thursday, July 31, 2025, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

EUROPEAN RYDER CUP PLAYER UNIMPRESSED WITH TRUMP’S ATTENDANCE: ‘JUST ANOTHER SPECTATOR’

Any sight of public political leanings in athletes could lead to a loss, or gain, of fans, but when asked by Fox News Digital last year if DeChambeau had any regrets over making the video with Trump, DeChambeau quipped, “Not at all.”

“There’s always risk associated to that. But from my perspective, it was focused on entertainment,” DeChambeau said to Fox News Digital at Maridoe Golf Club, the site of last year’s LIV Golf Team Championship, outside of Dallas. “We can talk about politics — that’s a whole different conversation, something that I was not trying to do on my YouTube channel, it was solely on providing great entertainment.”

President Donald Trump talks with team captain Bryson DeChambeau of Crushers GC on the practice range during the pro-am before the LIV Golf Invitational-Bedminster at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 28, 2022, in Bedminster, New Jersey. (Charles Laberge/LIV Golf via Getty Images)

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That it did. 

The video has more than 16 million views on YouTube, making it by far his most popular video.

Bradley, Team USA’s captain, said Trump will be on the first tee, which is at 7:10 a.m. ET.

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Mikey McCoy, Charlie Kirk’s former chief of staff, slammed New York Mets announcer Gary Cohen over critical remarks the broadcaster made about Chicago Cubs rookie Matt Shaw attending the conservative influencer’s memorial service.

McCoy on Thursday posted a video of Kirk walking onto Wrigley Field back in August. He wrote that it was a dream come true for Kirk, who was a big fan of the Cubbies. But as Cohen called Shaw’s absence from Chicago’s lineup “weird,” he brought upon a ton of backlash.

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“A little over a month ago Charlie’s dream came true… he got the opportunity to walk on Wrigley Field and after – see his friend Matt Shaw hit a home run.,” McCoy wrote on X.

“A month later, Charlie is gone and Matt Shaw is receiving backlash for attending his friend’s memorial. Shame on Gary Cohen…”

Cohen made his remarks during Tuesday night’s game between the Mets and Cubs.

“I don’t want to talk about any of the politics of it, but the thought of leaving your team in the middle of a race for any reason other than a family emergency, really strikes me as weird,” Cohen said during the SNY broadcast.

Fellow Mets broadcaster Todd Zeile called Shaw’s absence “unprecedented.” 

Charlie Kirk’s former Chief of Staff Mikey McCoy speaks during the memorial service for political activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium on Sept. 21, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

NYC RADIO HOSTS BLAST METS ANNOUNCER OVER COMMENTS ON CUBS PLAYER ATTENDING CHARLIE KIRK MEMORIAL SERVICE

“It’s unusual, I think it’s unprecedented at least from my experience as a player, and I think it made it a little more unusual that it was not revealed until after it came to issue because he was thought to be in the dugout and maybe available, and was not, and that’s how it was revealed,” Zeile said.

Shaw explained Tuesday why he made it a point to attend the memorial despite his team’s schedule.

“My connection with Charlie was through our [Christian] faith,” Shaw said before the Cubs opened a new series with the New York Mets on Tuesday, per the Chicago Sun-Times. “And that’s something that drives me every day, the reason why I’m able to do what I do every day, and that’s something I’m extremely thankful for. 

“I know without my faith and without the many blessings I’ve been given in my life, that I wouldn’t be here, be able to talk to you guys, able to help this team eventually go and win championships.

“That’s something I feel really, really blessed about, so whatever backlash comes is OK. I feel strong about my faith and that what was meant to be happened.”

Chicago Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw looks on in the dugout before the MLB game between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 22, 2025 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Shaw appeared to take the criticism in stride on Wednesday night. He was 3-for-4 with a home run as the Cubs routed the Mets, 10-3.

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