The college basketball season gave us a great opening night. We had close games in the best matchups, saw perceived favorites and underdogs win, and had some noteworthy individual efforts on the night. There were also a couple of real surprises, but those were kept to a minimum.
In New York, we got a blockbuster doubleheader with the top four teams in both preseason polls battling it out in good ones. That led the way, along with another neutral site game that was all we could have hoped for.
The Champions Classic has become the headliner of opening night, and after a blowout highlighted last year’s event, this year featured two close ones. It began with Duke taking on Kansas, and while there was plenty of individual talent in this one, the real difference-maker came in the box score: turnovers. Kansas gave the ball away an incredible 28 times, 18 in the first half, and those surrendered opportunities added up to a tough 68-66 loss.
Duke got a balanced attack, which is probably what they will need to have this year as the sense is that there isn’t a Zion Williamson or R.J. Barrett among their talented freshmen. Sophomore Tre Jones, who will certainly be a big key as their point guard, led the way with 15 points and seven assists, while Cassius Stanley added 13 (11 in the second half) and Vernon Carey Jr. and Matthew Hurt each had 11. Thanks to the turnovers, Duke won despite shooting under 36 percent from the floor, being out-rebounded 40-30 and allowing Kansas to shoot 46 percent.
In other words, had Kansas held on to the ball, they might well have won this one.
The second game belonged to Tyrese Maxey and Kentucky, as the freshman guard was the unquestioned star of the game. He is also fun to watch, playing with a lot of confidence to go with his abilities. Maxey had 26 points to lead the Wildcats as they built up a lead and held off Michigan State at every turn in a 69-62 win over most people’s national title favorite.
Michigan State had offensive issues like Kansas, but their was a struggle to make shots, especially from deep. They were 5-26 from long range, while Kentucky used the three-point shot for a 9-0 run that broke the game open at 54-41 and seemingly put it out of reach. The Spartans would respond with a run of their own and eventually get within three in the final 90 seconds.
The night belonged to Maxey, though, as the birthday boy a day earlier capped it with a big three-pointer as the shot clock ran down to seal it. Maxey is fun to watch, and you can tell within a few minutes of watching him that he can just play. Add in two guards who are grizzled veterans by today’s standards (especially at Kentucky) in Ashton Hagans (11 points) and Immanuel Quickly (10 points) and you see that the Wildcats will be led by their perimeter all year long, scoring and disrupting opponents.
Add these games to Saint Mary’s edging Wisconsin 65-63 in overtime in Sioux Falls, and it was quite a night with the biggest matchups. Jordan Ford picked up where he left off last year for Saint Mary’s with 26 points in the win.
Side Dishes
The ACC began play with three games on the evening, the earliest conference games in NCAA history. Louisville handled Miami 87-74 behind 23 points and 12 rebounds from Jordan Nwora, Virginia Tech got 30 points from Landers Nolley II, who sat out last year, to win at Clemson 67-60, and Georgia Tech nipped NC State 82-81 in overtime in Raleigh as James Banks III capped off a 20-point, 14-rebound outing with two free throws in the final seconds.
In other good ones on the night, Penn went on the road and edged Alabama 81-80 despite 30 points from Kira Lewis in his Alabama debut, Furman went on the road to beat Gardner Webb 70-63, Monmouth edged Lehigh on the road 66-62, Ohio went to Olean and beat St. Bonaventure 65-53, Northern Iowa edged visiting Old Dominion 58-53, UC Irvine rallied from a 14-point deficit to edge San Diego 76-73, and Utah went on the road to beat Nevada 79-74 in a game that was as good as advertised between two teams trying to figure it out.
Georgia Southern lost at Auburn 83-74, but before the game the Eagles announced that redshirt senior Simeon Carter was suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. Carter, a forward who transferred from Iowa State and is in his second season in Statesboro, figures to be a key inside presence if he returns to action.
The most surprising result of the night came in Lincoln, where UC Riverside pulled away from Nebraska 66-47 in Fred Hoiberg’s debut as head coach. George Wilborn II had 13 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Highlanders, who were 12-25 from long range, hammered the Cornhuskers on the glass by a 49-29 margin and held Nebraska below 30 percent from the field to win despite committing 18 turnovers. One other surprise was Grand Canyon losing to Division II Davenport 82-73.
With no other shockers on the night, it’s worth highlighting some notable individual efforts.
- In one of the first games of the day, Jared Butler had 30 points and five assists to lead Baylor to a 105-61 romp over Central Arkansas.
- Heralded graduate transfer Kerry Blackshear Jr. scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Florida past North Florida 74-59.
- In Memphis’ 97-54 rout of South Carolina State, heralded freshman James Wiseman had 28 points on 11-14 shooting, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.
- As VCU took care of a good Saint Francis U team 72-58, Marcus Santos-Silva had a monster game with 21 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Rams.
- Jon Teske, a nice story of player development, led Michigan’s 79-71 win over Appalachian State with 17 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots.
- In East Carolina’s 80-68 win over VMI, Jayden Gardner had 28 points and 11 rebounds.
- Top freshman Anthony Edwards had 24 points and nine rebounds to start his career at Georgia as the Bulldogs rolled over Western Carolina 91-72. Carlos Dotson had 17 points and 15 rebounds in the losing effort.
- Northeastern edged cross-town rival Boston University 72-67 behind 39 points from Jordan Roland.
- UMass took care of UMass-Lowell 79-64, but Christian Lutete had 17 points and 13 rebounds in the losing effort.
- Rider went on the road and beat Coppin State 91-84 behind 21 points and 13 rebounds from Frederick Scott.
- South Dakota State took out UT Rio Grand Valley 70-57 behind 17 points and 14 rebounds from Matt Dentlinger.
- Markus Howard picked up where he left off last year with 38 points in the Golden Eagles’ 88-53 romp over Loyola (Md.)
- Illinois beat Nicholls 78-70 behind 23 points and 11 rebounds from Andres Felix.
- Oklahoma took care of UTSA 85-67, but Jhivan Jackson had 24 points and 13 rebounds in the losing effort.
- In Loyola-Chicago’s 82-48 thumping of UC Davis, Cameron Krutwig flirted with a triple-double as he had 15 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists.
- The return to action of Andrew Jones after battling leukemia would be triumphant no matter how he played. But he scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Longhorns past Northern Colorado 69-45.
- Oregon handled Fresno State 71-57 behind 24 points, seven rebounds and seven assists from Peyton Pritchard.
- UNLV was led by Cheikh Mbacke Diong’s 17 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots in their win over Purdue Fort Wayne.
- Tres Tinkle paced Oregon State to an 87-67 win over Cal State Northridge with 25 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Opening night also included a number of games with non-Division I schools, and a few results were especially ugly. UMBC beat Valley Forge 134-46, New Hampshire beat Curry 93-29, Harvard beat MIT 84-27, Stetson beat Trinity Baptist 84-26, Abilene Christian beat Arlington Baptist 90-39, Eastern Washington beat Portland Bible 107-25, Boise State beat Life Pacific 126-49, and Portland beat Willamette 86-36. Not to be outdone, Arkansas hammered Rice 91-43, so even a Division I team got humbled on the night.
Tonight’s Menu
One day of games is in the books, with many more to come.
- More early ACC games highlight the slate, with Wake Forest visiting Boston College (6 p.m.), North Carolina hosting Notre Dame (7 p.m.), Pittsburgh hosting Florida State (8 p.m.) and Syracuse hosting defending national champion Virginia (9 p.m.)
- A nice mid-major matchup early on is NJIT visiting Colgate (7 p.m.)
- Merrimack plays its first-ever Division I game on the road as they visit Maine (7 p.m.)
- In a matchup of two good mid-majors, Illinois State hosts Belmont (8 p.m.)
- Oklahoma State begins its season with a challenge as a Summit League contender Oral Roberts comes to Stillwater (8 p.m.)
- A very good one to watch will be Ohio State hosting Cincinnati (8:30 p.m.)
- Out west, two good ones will be Big Sky favorite Montana visiting Stanford (10 p.m.) and Long Beach State going to UCLA (11 p.m.)
