Five-star quarterback Malachi Nelson, the No. 3-ranked prospect in the ESPN Junior 300 for the class of 2023, decommitted from Oklahoma on Sunday night, one of four commitments the Sooners lost in the hours following the news that Lincoln Riley had accepted the head-coaching job at USC.

Nelson, out of Los Alamitos High School in California, committed to Oklahoma in July but wrote on Twitter that he was decommitting "in light of the recent events and changes."

Gods Plan... pic.twitter.com/KyYllmP0f7

— ✨Malachi Nelson✨ (@MalachiNelson9) November 29, 2021

Riley had been instrumental in Nelson's recruitment and a big part of why he chose the Sooners in the first place.

"One of the things that attracted me most to OU, other than the rich history and amazing fans, was the stability in the coaching staff and their ability to develop the QB position," Nelson wrote.

Also decommitting on Sunday was class of 2022 linebacker Kobie McKinzie, and ESPN Jr. 300 receiver Brandon Inniss and running back Treyaun Webb, both of the 2023 class.

McKinzie is the 95th-ranked recruit for '22, according to ESPN, and had been committed to the Sooners since January 2020.

Inniss, a 6-foot, 190-pound recruit out of American Heritage High School, is the No. 6 prospect in the state of Florida and No. 29 overall, per ESPN's rankings. He had been committed to Oklahoma since Aug. 23.

Webb, from Jacksonville, Florida, and ranked No. 152 in the ESPN Jr. 300, had originally committed to Oklahoma over Georgia and Ohio State in July.

"First off, I would like to thank the University of Oklahoma and the coaching staff for believing in me and welcoming me with open arms," Webb wrote in a tweet Sunday evening. "It has been a wild recruiting process for me to say the least, but at the end of the day, I have to do what's best for me. With that being said, due to the recent changes, my family and I have decided it is in my best interest to decommit from the University of Oklahoma."

Nelson, McKinzie, Inniss and Webb were not the only recruits to react to Riley's departure. ESPN 300 running back and Oklahoma commit Raleek Brown told ESPN on Sunday, before the Trojans announced the hire, that Riley's move will impact his recruitment.

"That changes everything," Brown said after ESPN and other outlets reported earlier Sunday that Riley would replace Clay Helton at USC after five seasons with Oklahoma. "I had a good relationship with all [the Oklahoma coaches], so that will really change everything."

Brown is the No. 60-ranked prospect overall and the No. 2 recruit in California, according to ESPN. He's a 5-7, 170-pound back from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, and has been committed to Oklahoma since February.

USC had been a school of interest for Brown before he chose Oklahoma, but similar to other recent California recruits, he chose to go out of state.

USC has signed only 30 of the 143 ESPN 300 recruits from California over the past five recruiting cycles, but Brown believes Riley coming to the school could stop that trend.

"It's exciting news for everybody," Brown told ESPN. "He's a great head coach, you could just tell what he was doing at Oklahoma. So, this is a big step for USC, and I think he's going to bring it back to what it was -- packed stadiums and all that."

Brown is one of three class of 2022 and '23 recruits from California who is committed to Oklahoma. He's joined by DeAndre Moore Jr. and Makai Lemon, both ESPN Jr. 300 receivers and teammates of Nelson.

Lemon posted an ambiguous tweet after the Riley news surfaced, writing, "hmmm," but has not commented on his commitment status.

Moore has also not commented on the hire or whether it impacts his recruitment.

Oklahoma currently has 10 ESPN 300 commitments in the 2022 class with a little over two weeks remaining until the early signing period. With Nelson, Inniss and Webb no longer a part of their 2023 class, the Sooners now have three ESPN Jr. 300 commitments.

Carlo Ancelotti praised Vinicius Junior's "extraordinary" late strike in Real Madrid's 2-1 comeback win over Sevilla on Sunday, admitting the Brazil star has what it takes "to be one of the best in the world."

The winger's 87th minute winner -- already his ninth goal in LaLiga this campaign -- came after Rafa Mir had opened the scoring for the visitors and Karim Benzema had equalised in a closely-fought first half at the Bernabeu.

The 21-year-old received the ball by the left touchline, controlling it with his chest and driving infield before unleashing an unstoppable, rising right-footed shot past goalkeeper Bono.

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"An extraordinary goal," manager Ancelotti said in his post-match news conference when asked to pick a word to describe the finish, calling Vinicius "a player who has something special in his feet."

He added: "What surprises me about Vinicius is the quality he has in scoring goals. His individual quality isn't a surprise, I knew he was strong in his dribbling, in one-one-ones, with his pace, but he's surprising everyone now with his capacity to score."

Real Madrid's victory over their fellow top four contenders leaves them four points clear at the top of the table, while Sevilla drop to fourth behind Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad.

"Vinicius today showed a quality that I don't think he's ever shown before," Ancelotti said. "It's another step he takes to be one of the best in the world ... The important thing is he focused on being efficient. When the chance comes, you have to take it."

With nine goals in 14 league games, Vinicius has already tripled his tally from both of the last two entire LaLiga seasons, becoming a fixture alongside Benzema -- who has 11 goals himself -- in attack.

"Vini knows that games are going to be more difficult for him now," teammate Casemiro said. "People have realised that he's a top player.

"We know he'll be man-marked, sometimes by two or three players, but when he gets the slightest chance, he has to make the difference."

Real Madrid are next in action on Wednesday, hosting Athletic Bilbao in a game rescheduled from matchday 9, before travelling to third-placed Real Sociedad next weekend.

Stephen Curry was angry at the officials during Sunday's 105-90 victory over the Clippers in Los Angeles, then made the other team pay for it.

The Golden State Warriors star scored 13 of his team-high 33 points in the fourth quarter and caught fire with just over nine minutes left, after a drive toward the basket in which he thought he got fouled by Clippers small forward Terance Mann. Curry did not get the benefit of the whistle and let his frustrations fly, earning a technical foul, while displaying more outward anger than at any other point this season.

"I thought I got fouled, so I let my emotions go," Curry admitted after the team's eighth straight win. "And definitely fired me up, fired our team up -- you have to be able to direct that energy into just putting the ball in the basket, obviously, after that. So that's where I feel like we do it well, where you don't let it become a distraction for the rest of the game, and it obviously helped open up the game."

Curry, who is now averaging 28.4 points a game this season, broke his own record of becoming the quickest player in history to make 100 3-pointers on the year -- this time in 19 games. His play is a major reason the Warriors have started the season with a league-best 18-2 record -- and his emotional outburst at the lack of a call was noticeable to his teammates and coaches.

"It was as upset as I've seen Steph in a long time," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "And it was as upset as I've been in a long time, too. It's kind of a miracle that I didn't get a technical, but it seemed to get him going.

"Whatever it takes, I guess ... he clearly got fouled. Steph is a guy who, he's just so competitive, and when he knows he got fouled -- especially in a play like that in transition where it's right out in the open, easy to see, and he doesn't get the call, every once in a while he's going to snap. He doesn't do it often, but when he knows he's right, the competitor in him comes out and he'll kind of lose his mind a little bit, but it often spurs him, like it did in this instance."

Kerr's point was exemplified with 5 minutes, 21 seconds left in regulation as Curry hit a contested 3-pointer in the corner and celebrated by firing off what appeared to be his own technical signal, in response to getting a technical foul a few moments earlier. When asked after the game if that was a technical sign or a sign to Clippers coach Ty Lue to call a timeout, Curry said: "You can decide. It's open for interpretation."

Curry's teammates knew as soon as they saw the usually calm and collected 33-year-old get fired up, the Clippers would have a problem.

"You saw the flurry coming," Warriors forward Draymond Green said. "I was telling Jordan Poole over there, 'He's about to put this one up.' He started putting them up. It was good to watch."

Curry's big close pushed the Warriors to their seventh straight win and sets up an early-season showdown on Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns -- who have won 16 games in a row and sit one game behind the Warriors in the Western Conference standings.

"Obviously, they're following [Devin Booker and Chris Paul]," Green said. "So you got to try and cut the head of the snake off whenever you're trying to stop anyone's attack, but overall I think it will be a good game. Highly anticipated. Two teams that's playing well -- obviously, they've won 16 in a row, you want to be the team to go stop that and you got a great opportunity to do it."

Right-handed starting pitcher Kevin Gausman and the Toronto Blue Jays are in agreement on a five-year, $110 million contract, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Sunday night.

Gausman was a reliable back-end starter early in his career, posting a 4.22 ERA, a 1.34 WHIP and a 3.02 strikeout-to-walk ratio while averaging 146 innings per season for the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds from 2014 to 2019.

But his career truly took off upon joining the San Francisco Giants, who helped him fine-tune his splitter to form a devastating combination with his four-seam fastball.

Gausman, originally obtained on a one-year, $9 million contract, posted a 3.62 ERA with 79 strikeouts and only 16 walks in 59 2/3 innings during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. The 30-year-old right-hander returned to the Giants after accepting the qualifying offer and was even better in 2021, combining a 2.81 ERA with 227 strikeouts and only 50 walks in 192 innings while anchoring the starting rotation for a team that won a major league-best 107 games.

Gausman made his first All-Star team that year, then finished sixth in National League Cy Young Award voting and became one of the most coveted free agents on the market.

Gausman could help fill a new hole in the Blue Jays' rotation. Last week, Toronto lost starting pitcher Steven Matz, who posted a 14-7 record, with a 3.82 ERA in 29 starts last season. The veteran agreed to a four-year, $44 million deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

ESPN Staff Writer Alden Gonzalez contributed to this report.

Raise your hand if, like me, you uttered something unprintable when you heard the reported terms of Marcus Semien's new contract and the team that had offered them. That's what we call a knee-jerk reaction, which isn't always rational or correct. Your real response is what you come up with after thinking through the factors involved. Often, then, you see a reason and a rhyme, even with surprising news.

For me, after thinking this deal through, I still think something mildly unprintable, but it's a word that's less severe than my knee-jerk phrase -- and it comes with a slightly more positive connotation.

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, Semien and his representatives agreed to a seven-year, $175 million deal with the Texas Rangers. It's the richest deal by far of this year's free-agent season, matching the average annual value of Justin Verlander's deal with the Astros ($25 million) but for a half-decade longer.

In finding a new team, Semien becomes the second member of the long-anticipated shortstop free-agent class of 2021-22 to find a long-term home (the first being Francisco Lindor, who agreed to an extension with the Mets last season). Let's consider that class with a few numbers from baseball-reference.com:

Here, it's worth noting that Passan is also reporting that Semien is far from likely to be the last of the Rangers' high-level free-agent targets, even among that shortstop class. Still, for now, we'll look at how he fits as if he were the jewel of the Rangers' winter push, and not just a jewel.

CINCINNATI -- Down three scores with 30 seconds until halftime, Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers offense tried to capitalize on Minkah Fitzpatrick's interception of quarterback Joe Burrow a play earlier.

Roethlisberger targeted James Washington on an out route, but Cincinnati Bengals veteran -- and former Pittsburgh defensive back -- Mike Hilton cut inside, picked off his former quarterback and ran it back 24 yards for a touchdown and an exclamation point in the eventual 41-10 Steelers loss.

It was a microcosm of what's becoming clear more than halfway through the season. Once the untouchable kings of the AFC North, the Steelers (5-5-1) have been all but dethroned as their flaws become further exposed every week.

"It's a big changing of the guard, in our opinion," Hilton said. "It's giving us a lot of confidence and guys are excited to see how the rest of the season plays out."

As the Bengals ran into their locker room immediately after the win, one player who had disappeared beneath the entrance yelled, "It's our f-----g division."

On the other side of the stadium, the mood was somber.

With his head hanging and his voice low, pass rusher T.J. Watt expressed frustration with himself and the defense for not stopping the Bengals ground attack. Running back Joe Mixon set a new career high with 165 rushing yards before the fourth quarter even started.

"It wasn't something any of us are proud of," Watt said. "You never want to have that feeling coming out of a game. We put it on tape and now we have to own it, move forward and know that everybody sees what just happened today and what we can expect moving forward. We have to stop this before it continues to unravel and become a bigger issue than what it already is.

"We can't keep playing like this. It's absolutely embarrassing."

Not only did the Bengals (7-4) sweep the Steelers in the regular season for the first time since 2009, but they also outscored the Steelers by 45 points in the two matchups. It was the second-biggest score differential against the Steelers in a season, trailing just the 2006 Baltimore Ravens team that outscored the Steelers by 51. It was also the Steelers' most lopsided loss since falling to the Philadelphia Eagles 34-3 in 2016.

"It's alarming, it is," coach Mike Tomlin said of his defense giving up so many points. "We're not trying to play it cool by any stretch. We don't play football like that, but we have been our last couple of weeks, so some adjustments need to be made."

Sunday's loss comes on the heels of a near fourth-quarter comeback against the L.A. Chargers, but in each game, the Steelers couldn't control the line of scrimmage. Since holding the Cleveland Browns vaunted ground attack to 96 yards, the Steelers have given up 722 rushing yards in four games.

"We're trying to solve it and clearly we're not doing a good enough job," Watt said. "We have to go back to the film and everyone has to look at the film and watch themselves critically and figure out how to stop this thing because it's continuous."

Defensive captain Cam Heyward, a 10-year veteran, said it was the worst defense he's seen since he was drafted by the team in 2011.

"I don't know, I'm probably going to say yes," he said. "I don't look at the past. All I can do is worry about the present. "There's a lot of football to be played, but if we do what we did out there today, we won't win another damn game."

While the Steelers couldn't stop the Bengals' run game, they also couldn't get their own going with just 51 yards on 15 attempts. Running back Najee Harris was held to 23 yards on eight carries, his worst output of the season.

"They won that game mano-e-mano component of play too much," Tomlin said.

The Steelers are still above .500, but with the loss, they're at the bottom of the AFC North standings and in danger of slipping farther out of the playoff picture with games against the Ravens, Minnesota Vikings, Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs on the horizon.

"It's tough because you're getting into crunch time," Roethlisberger said after the loss. "Division opponent. And you want to come out and play good football and you don't. It stinks, but you have to move on because we've got another one next week. "... I don't know what happened today, but the AFC seems open. Obviously, we didn't do ourselves any favors, but there's still six left. How can we bounce back?

"That's going to be the key."

ESPN Staff Writer Ben Baby contributed to this report.

Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant avoided a serious knee injury but is expected to miss at least a "couple of weeks," coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters ahead of Sunday's game against the Sacramento Kings.

Jenkins said Morant avoided any tears or ligament damage to his left knee but added that there was no official timetable for his return.

"We're so thankful we avoided a significant injury," Jenkins said. "We expect a full recovery, and this is nothing long term that we're worried about."

Morant suffered the left knee sprain in the first quarter of Friday's loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

For his first 24 games of 2021, Byron Buxton was the best baseball player on the planet. He hit for average. He hit home runs. He hit doubles. He stole some bases. He played center field like Hermes, only in cleats instead of winged sandals. He hit .370/.408/.772 with nine home runs, 10 doubles and five stolen bases. He led all hitters in slugging percentage and trailed only Mike Trout in OPS.

This was the ceiling we had longed dreamed of for Buxton, who at his best is the most dynamic player in baseball this side of Shohei Ohtani: a combination of power, speed and defense that would make him a modern-day Willie Mays or Ken Griffey Jr.

Of course, it's unfair to compare anybody to those two, and it was unfair to expect Buxton to keep hitting at that level. But sadly, we don't even know how close he would have come, because once again the injury bug wrecked Buxton's season. On May 7, he went on the injured list with a hip strain, suffered while running to first base on a groundout. He returned on June 19, and in his third game back, he suffered a fracture in his left hand when Reds pitcher Tyler Mahle hit him with a 94-mph fastball.