Saturday was the first day where conference play led the way. A handful of non-conference games were on tap, and most of them were quite interesting, but conference play led the way. While it’s early, we have non-conference to go on as well, so these games leave an impression relative to that. Of note, road teams had a fair amount of success on the day as well.
After all of that, a wild one out west closed out the day as four overtimes were needed to decide the winner of an early West Coast Conference game.
With that, here are notes from many of the day’s games.
Gonzaga 75, Pepperdine 70: The Bulldogs get a scare but survive at home. Maybe this is a sign that someone will knock them off, as has happened to everyone else occupying the top spot in the polls this season.
Pacific 107, Saint Mary’s 99 (4 OT): The Tigers win the war of attrition in which three Saint Mary’s starters fouled out, though the Gaels were able to hang in despite shooting below 36 percent. Pacific was down by eight in the second half before forcing overtime. They outscored Saint Mary’ 16-8 in the fourth extra session to outlast them, getting 39 points from Jahlil Tripp.
Portland 76, San Francisco 65: The Dons start off West Coast Conference play 0-2, which is a bit surprising.
Georgia 65, Memphis 62: One of the few non-conference games ends with a big win for Georgia on the road. And while it was surely billed as featuring freshmen from both teams even without James Wiseman, it was junior Rayshaun Hammonds who had 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead the winners and continue a solid season that’s flying under a lot of radars as he’s been overshadowed by his freshman teammate.
Maryland 75, Indiana 59: Indiana tried to make this a ballgame in the second half, but seemed to run out of gas as the Terrapins pulled away. Maryland has been a bit of a forgotten team of late, but this is a good way to head into Tuesday night’s visit from an Ohio State team that has lost two straight.
Penn State 89, Iowa 86: This was actually at the Palestra, and it got hot in there – and we’re not talking about how these two teams shot the ball, although Iowa shot it well when they didn’t give the ball away. The temperature rose with a big crowd and it was challenging for the teams to handle at times.
Kansas 60, West Virginia 53: The Jayhawks had to rally to take this one in Lawrence, and it’s a good thing since three of the next four are on the road.
Texas Tech 85, Oklahoma State 50: This was expected to at least be a competitive game, but late in the first half and early in the second, the Red Raiders took over and ran away from the Cowboys, who have now lost four of six since winning the NIT Season Tip-Off in impressive fashion.
Baylor 59, Texas 44: The Bears get off and running by using 20 offensive rebounds to win a defensive struggle in which both teams shot below 35 percent from the field. Texas’ starting perimeter trio went a combined 7-26 from the field for 20 points. Texas now gets a chance to get some momentum with their next two at home against Oklahoma and Kansas State.
Oklahoma 66, Kansas State 61: This game was very much there for the taking for the Wildcats, who could have used it to jump-start them after a so-so non-conference run.
TCU 81, Iowa State 79 (OT): The Cyclones got Tyrese Haliburton back, and he gave them a triple-double (22 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) but the Horned Frogs had a little too much in the extra session in Fort Worth.
Marquette 71, Villanova 60: Both teams even up their Big East mark at 1-1, with Markus Howard pouring in 29 more points to lead a convincing win in Milwaukee.
Butler 71, Creighton 57: Creighton stayed with the Bulldogs for a while, but seemingly ran out of gas as Butler pulled away late at home.
Providence 66, DePaul 65: DePaul falls to 0-2 in Big East play with another home loss, this time after rallying from down seven late to tie it and then committing a foul with under a second to play. Providence, meanwhile, is 2-0 after a very underwhelming non-conference run.
Florida State 78, Louisville 65: Welcome to a wide-open ACC, unless you put Duke as being clearly ahead of the field (which is debatable even though they thumped Miami and are 3-0). Jordan Nwora had a nice day with 32 points and 10 rebounds, but the rest of the team didn’t, and the Seminoles shot 55 percent from the field.
Virginia 65, Virginia Tech 39: The Cavaliers are quietly 3-0 in ACC play after shutting down the Hokies, who shot just 27.1 percent from the field.
Clemson 81, NC State 70: Clemson gets their first ACC win, and not a good outcome for NC State save for the game being at Littlejohn, as they’re one of the few ACC teams that looks like they could be remotely at-large worthy based on non-conference resume.
Georgia Tech 96, North Carolina 83: This might be the clearest sign yet that the Tar Heels are in real danger of not being an NCAA Tournament team. Cole Anthony is still out for a while, and this game was in Chapel Hill. Garrison Brooks gave it all he had with 35 points and 11 rebounds in defeat.
Notre Dame 88, Syracuse 87: Like North Carolina, Syracuse is a traditional power that looks more and more like a long shot for the Big Dance this season, with this home loss being another blow to absorb. Give John Mooney (28 points, 14 rebounds) and the Fighting Irish credit for finding a way, though.
Wake Forest 67, Pittsburgh 65: A nice road win for the short-handed Demon Deacons, their first ACC win of the year.
San Diego State 77, Utah State 68: The Aztecs remain undefeated as they hold off Utah State with several daggers as the shot clock ran down once the Aggies got a rally going. Those demoralized the Aggies and helped the Aztecs close it out.
Nevada 83, Boise State 66: The Wolfpack took their lumps a bit in non-conference play, but they’re 3-0 early on in Mountain West play.
Auburn 80, Mississippi State 68: The Tigers remain undefeated by overcoming a slow start before the half was out and pulling away in the second half on the road.
LSU 78, Tennessee 64: The Tigers open SEC play with a solid road win as they pull away from the Volunteers in the second half.
Florida 104, Alabama 98 (2 OT): A real missed opportunity on the road for the Crimson Tide, who led for much of the game and by as many as 21 before a late Florida rally forced overtime. A win here might have done wonders for them going forward and knocked the Gators back even more.
Kentucky 71, Missouri 59: The Wildcats take care of business at home with Nick Richards continuing to get better as he had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the way.
Oregon 69, Utah 64: The Ducks bounce back from a loss at Colorado on Thursday night to take one of two on the road as the Arizona schools come to town next week.
Arizona 75, Arizona State 47: Arizona State remains offensively challenged, shooting 30.5 percent from the field including 3-21 from long range. That only makes winning harder, especially in a better Pac-12.
Washington State 79, UCLA 71 (OT): The Bruins got a nice win over Washington two nights earlier, but this is on the other end of the spectrum even though it came in Pullman.
South Florida 75, UConn 60: The Bulls drop the Huskies to 0-2 in early American Athletic Conference play, pulling away in the second half.
Tulane 76, Cincinnati 71: Ron Hunter can coach, folks. Tulane is now 9-4, and while this isn’t vintage Cincinnati, the Bearcats are no slouch. The Green Wave had a chance at Memphis, but finished the rally in this one as they outscored the Bearcats 44-32 in the second half.
Northern Iowa 69, Bradley 64: A good bounce-back for the Panthers after losing at Illinois State in the conference opener as A.J. Green scored 35 points.
Loyola-Chicago 62, Missouri State 58: The Ramblers start off 2-0 after edging the well-tested preseason favorites behind Cameron Krutwig, one of the real hidden gems in college basketball.
Wofford 98, UNC Greensboro 92 (2 OT): This was every bit the game one could have hoped for between two Southern Conference contenders. Isaiah Miller had 28 points and nine assists for the Spartans, but they couldn’t overcome allowing the Terriers to shoot over 52 percent from the field including 14–31 from long range.
Furman 65, East Tennessee State 56: The host Paladins win a dandy between two more of the SoCon’s best to go to 3-0 in the early going.
William & Mary 66, Northeastern 64: The Tribe goes to 3-0 in CAA play for just the fifth time in their history and remain a great story thus far, winning on the road at Hofstra and Northeastern this weekend, although they almost let this one get away as they blew a 14-point lead before getting the winning basket in the final seconds from Nathan Knight (23 points on 10-16 shooting, 11 rebounds).
College of Charleston 85, James Madison 69: The Cougars join the Tribe at 4-0 in CAA play after shooting past the Dukes – literally. The Cougars were 13-23 from long range, led by Brevin Galloway’s 7-10 for 21 points to support Grant Riller’s 31 on 11-19 shooting.
Akron 69, Eastern Michigan 45: A resounding road win to open MAC play in what shaped up as a battle of two contenders but was never a very competitive game.
Princeton 78, Penn 64: The Tigers were late to come alive in non-league play, but they go on the road and draw first blood against their arch rival behind 27 points from Ryan Schwieger and 18 points and 14 rebounds from Jaelin Llewellyn.
