Billy Gillispie's Tarleton gave No. 3 Gonzaga quite a scare last night

Is Billy Gillispie back? The former Kentucky coach is in his second year at Tarleton and so far this season, the Texans are 1-7, so first glance would suggest no; however, three of those losses are to ranked teams and last night, Tarleton had No. 3 Gonzaga on the ropes.

The Texans only trailed by one at half, 26-25, and held the Zags to 34.8% shooting and only 1-9 from the three-point line. In the first half, Tarleton forced nine Gonzaga turnovers and the Bulldogs, who have Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren, had zero second-chance points. Gonzaga didn’t score for over eight minutes in the first half.

Tarleton guard Tahj Small led all scorers with 25 points, 17 in the second half. With five minutes left, the Texans were only down 51-47 before Holmgren and Rasir Bolton took over, scoring 10 of Gonzaga’s final 13 points. Gonzaga went on to win 64-55, but it was another scrappy performance by Billy G’s squad. The Texans lost at then-No. 20 Michigan by 11 last week and covered at then-No. 3 Kansas in the second game of the season. They also stayed close with Stanford and Wichita State, all road games. All in the program’s second season in Division I.

“That was a tough one,” Mark Few said afterward. “It was tough. Billy did a great job. We saw how they played Michigan. We saw even in the KU game, it was tough deep into the second half. On short prep, tried to get the guys ready for that and it was harder than even it looked on film. I think we just did a great job of surviving it.”

Between Rick Pitino at Iona and Billy G at Tarleton, Kentucky’s former coaches are flourishing in their new homes. Could the Cats see them in the NCAA Tournament? This is the stuff the Selection Committee dreams of, so if either team makes it, almost certainly. Better get to scouting now.

Correction: As a commenter pointed out, Tarleton is only in year two of its four-year transition to Division I and is therefore ineligible for the 2022 NCAA Tournament. #FactsAreOptional