The first slate of college basketball games saw 225 Division-I schools tip off their season, including 22 teams ranked in the preseason Associate Press poll. This season figures to be one of the most interesting in recent memory thanks to the variety of storylines concurrently occurring.
With 120 Division-I games played on Tuesday, there were plenty of players who lit up the stat sheet and contributed to their team in a big way.
No. 9 Duke vs. No. 10 Kentucky
The marquee matchup of the day came during the second game of the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden, which featured No. 9 Duke and No. 10 Kentucky. This marked the first game of legendary head coach Mike Kryzyewski’s last year at the helm of the Blue Devil’s program.
Duke’s headlining freshman, forward Paolo Banchero, stole the show for the team en route to a 79-72 win. The No. 2 player in the 2021 class per 247Sports Composite dropped 22 points and seven rebounds in his collegiate debut. The Seattle, Wash., native found his buckets in a myriad of ways, getting to the free-throw line nine times and going a perfect 4-for-4 from midrange.
The crown jewel of the Blue Devil’s recruiting class was not the team’s leading scorer, however. That title belongs to former five-star, freshman Trevor Keels, who had 25. He scored just about half of those at the rim, going 6-of-9 in those attempts. The guard also added in three steals in the team’s first regular season game.
Coming off one of the worst seasons in program history, UK retooled their roster in a different way than their opponent. The Wildcats added in four transfers to the program, with two of them being the team’s largest contributors on the night.
Former West Virginia forward Oscar Tshiebwe led the team in both points and rebounds, garnering 17 and 19, respectively. The junior set the record for the most boards in a Champions Classic game, as well as set the UK record for the most in a debut, per Kentucky Athletics.
Guard Sahvir Wheeler also earned the ninth double-double in his career during the Georgia transfer’s first game in the blue and white. Wheeler put up 16 points and 10 assists, however, gave the ball up seven times. He accounted for over half the team’s 13 turnovers.
No. 3 Kansas vs. Michigan State
Prior to the tilt between Duke and Kentucky, No. 3 Kansas and Michigan State played in the first matchup in the 10th annual Champions Classic. The game ended in favor of the Jayhawks, 87-74.
The game’s leading scorer and the only player to contribute more than 20 points was senior Ochai Agbaji, who set a new career-high with 29. The guard went 3-6 from deep and a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe.
Arizona State transfer and former three time All-Pac-12 team member Remy Martin quelled worries of his shot selection as well. He contributed 15 points on 5-9 shooting from the field. The guard had visibly frustrated head coach Bill Self during their exhibition game last week against Emporia State.
Michigan State led the game in bench points thanks to sixth-man A.J. Hoggard, who was also the Spartans leading scorer with 17. The Coattesville, PA, native played more minutes than all but three of MSU’s starters.
On the west coast, preseason national title favorite No. 1 Gonzaga handedly put away Dixie State, 97-63. This was the Zags’ 17th straight victory in regular season openers, per their athletic department,
In guard Julian Strawther’s first start for the program, he led the team in scoring and with a career-high 17 points. He added on 10 rebounds, which marked the first double-double in his collegiate career.
The big story in Spokane came from No. 1 high school prospect Chet Holmgren. The center almost notched a quadruple-double in his college debut, garnering 14 points, 13 rebounds, seven blocks and 6 assists. The seven-footer is projected as the first pick in the 2022 NBA Draft according to NBA Draft Room.
No. 12 Memphis vs. Tennesse Tech
One of the most interesting teams in the sport this year resides in Tennessee with No. 12 Memphis, thanks to five-star reclassifications forward Emoni Bates and center Jalen Duren. In their debut during the 89-65 win over Tennessee Tech, the duo impressed.
Bates and Duren dropped 17 and 15 points, respectively. While there was buzz Bates would be slotted at the point, he spent most of the game slotted at the forward positions. He dished out a team-high four assists, though.
Duren played almost solely at the five, with some time at the four. Except for one mid-range field goal, a bucket at the rim and a made free throw, the remainder of Duren’s baskets come via dunks.
No. 15 Houston vs. Hofstra
Fresh off the program’s first Final Four appearance since 1984, No. 15 Houston came into the year as the favorite to win the American. Their season-opener against Hofstra was expected to be a one-sided affair in favor of the Cougars, but this was much closer than expected.
The Pride took a halftime lead, 37-31, thanks to senior Zach Cooks’ 15 first-half points. He finished with 26.
Houston’s Marcus Sasser came alive in the second half. He helped the Cougars to charge back with 14 of his 25 points making, five of his eight shot attempts in the half.
Hofstra kept it close enough to force overtime. The overtime period was all Houston, though. They outscored Hofstra by a 14-6 count and won their first game of the season, 83-75.
No. 17 Ohio State vs. Akron
Houston was not the only program on the ropes in their buy game. No. 17 Ohio State needed a Zed Key bucket with just .3 seconds to go to take down Akron, 67-66.
While the Buckeyes led the first half 36-28, the Zips pushed them to the brink and kept it close the stretch. With just six second left down three points, guard Ali Ali converted a four-point play off a step-back three pointer.
After advancing the ball and calling a timeout, Ohio State inbounded the ball at the top of the key and cleared out the lane. Key took a drop step toward the rim and got the ball in the rim to avoid a catastrophic upset.
No. 25 Virginia vs. Navy
However, a ranked team did suffer a loss to an unranked team for the first time in the 2021-22 season. No. 25 Virginia fell at home to Navy, 66-58. The Midshipmen ranked 143 spots lower than the Cavaliers on KenPom’s rankings prior to tipoff. It was their first win over a ranked team since David Robinson led his team to a win over Syracuse on March 16, 1986.
This one was much less dramatic, though – the last time Virginia led was 12-11, with 15:01 remaining in the first half. Navy then took the reins and controlled the rest of the way, but never led by more than nine.
Navy’s leading scorer was John Carter Jr. with 19. The guard made his living from beyond the three-point arc, going 5-8 on those attempts. The Midshipmen’s bench outscored the Cavaliers’ by a total of 15-6.
Virginia was not the lone school in their conference starting their season on the wrong end of an upset. Overall, three of the 12 Atlantic Coast Conference teams that played on Tuesday lost their season openers.
Georgia Tech vs. Miami (OH)
Reigning ACC Tournament champions Georgia Tech was given an 84% chance to take out Miami of Ohio but fell 72-69.
The Redhawks scored the game’s final nine points after falling behind 69-63 with 2:29 to go, including a go-ahead layup with 12 seconds remaining by Mekhi Lairy. The guard dropped a team-high 23 points on top of the game-sealing basket.
Pittsburgh vs. The Citadel
Pittsburgh also contributed to the conference’s rough day, dropping their buy game against The Citadel 78-63. The Panthers’ only lead came less than 40 seconds into the game after putting in the game’s first basket. The Bulldogs then went on a 14-point run and never looked back.
Citadel freshman Jason Roche led his team in scoring, tying a game-high 27 points behind eight threes. Following the loss, four-star recruit Judah Mintz then decommitted from Pitt the next day. Just a brutal 24-hour stretch for Jeff Capel and the program.
Ohio vs. Belmont
The first game for Ohio in the post-Jason Preston era came against a strong Belmont team, who returned 96.6% of their minutes from last year. The Bobcats passed their early season test with flying colors, never allowing the Bruins to lead by more than two and won 92-80.
Ohio was able to find offensive production from each of their starters, with four of them scoring in double digits and the fifth reaching eight points. The Bobcats dropped 16 threes and were led in scoring by guard Mark Sears , who had 27 points and six rebounds.
West Virginia vs. Oakland
West Virginia started off their game against Oakland a bit sluggish, trailing by six about midway through the first half and leading by four at half. While they were never able to pull away, The Mountaineers kept the Bears at bay, winning 60-53.
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention member Taz Sherman had a big role to fill for WVU this season, and he stepped up in a big way. The Missouri City, Texas, native impacted the game in almost every way, scoring a game-high 18 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals in 37 minutes of action.
Winthrop vs. Mary Baldwin
Winthrop’s D.J. Burns Jr. entered his name into the NBA Draft process last spring but returned to Rock Hill for another year to work on his game a bit more.
He dominated in their win against Division-III Mary Baldwin, dropping a career-high 30 points on 13-17 from the field and six rebounds. This was the first game a Winthrop player scored at least 30 since Josh Ferguson did so in 2019 against Costal Carolina, per Winthrop Athletics.
The Eagles have dominated the Big South in recent years, making the conference tournament championship in six of the last eight seasons, winning three titles. The program was voted to finish first in their division this year in the preseason poll.
The next full day of college hoops will be on Friday, with 179 Division-I teams playing their next games. The first AP top-five matchup of the season will be played then as well, with No. 4 Villanova traveling to Pauley Pavilion to take on No. 2 UCLA. The game will tip off at 11:30 p.m. ET and be televised on ESPN2.
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