And with one noisy Monday, college basketball was back.
Back with 182 games, one major-major upset and 39 teams going for at least 100.
Some of the numbers from college basketball’s opening act:
12th. East Texas A&M’s predicted finish in the Southland Conference. Last, in other words, after an 11-21 season. Throw in the fact that the Lions had never beaten a power conference team and, until lately, weren’t even known as East Texas A&M, but rather Texas A&M Commerce. So Sooner Nation can’t be happy after the Lions barged into Norman and shocked Oklahoma 68-64. The Sooners took the floor as a 28.5-point favorite. This was no miracle that fell from the sky at the end, either, but a whipping. East Texas A&M led for more than 31 minutes and was up as many as 16 points. The Sooners missed 15 free throws.
26 years. That’s how long it’s been since UCLA began the season with a ranked opponent. The idea to try that again worked fine as the No. 22 Bruins downed No. 5 Arizona 84-75.
CLUTCH BUCKET FOR THE BRUINS 🐻 @UCLAMBB https://t.co/saGFta4iqz
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 3, 2026
1976. Al Fleming had 41 points and 10 rebounds in a game for Arizona that year. No Wildcat produced a line resembling that for the next half-century until Ivan Kharchenkov went for 38 and 10 Monday night to light up Las Vegas. P.S. Arizona lost to UCLA anyway.
15-1. Members of the Associated Press preseason top-25 were 15-1 against unranked opponents by an average of 29.7 points a game Monday. Feeling conspicuous, Iowa State? The No.18 Cyclones were beaten by Memphis 80-76. So they’re 0-1, which is the first time T.J. Otzelberger has had a losing record at any moment in his six years in Ames.
27. Points by Florida’s Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Denzel Aberdeen in Florida’s national championship game victory in 2025. The fact that all four are still around and combined for 43 points Monday in the Gators’ 77-67 win over Miami – when title team members routinely vanish to the professional ranks like pizza slices at a slumber party - is one good reason Florida starts the season No. 1. A promising sign for the Gators: They won despite slovenly 20-for-35 free throw shooting, Another: They were in the bottom 10 percent in bench minutes last season and had been outscored 61-7 in bench points in their exhibition games, but had a 22-14 edge against the No.14 Hurricanes. These good tidings happened on the same Benchmark International Arena court in Tampa where Florida was bounced out of the NCAA Tournament last March by Iowa, so the ghosts could shut up for a night.
17 years, 156 days. Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje’s age when he took the court for Duke Monday night, the youngest player in Division I and second youngest ever to play for the Blue Devils. The kid fit right in with 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks in an 84-50 romp over Army. The Blue Devils won their 27th season opener in a row and 45th consecutive home opener. They’re 61-1 in home openers since 1965. This one was done with only three points and one basket from transfer prize John Blackwell.
Cayden --> JBB 🔨 https://t.co/vH51eTUiHE
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) November 2, 2026
54. Kansas’ winning streak in home openers going back to the Nixon administration in 1973. No. 54 was 95-65 over Fordham.
65-21. Illinois’ steamrolling in rebounding against Fairleigh Dickinson. The Illini had one more offensive rebound than the Knights had total. The ensuing 120-45 rout was Illinois’ largest margin of victory ever and the second largest ever rolled up by a Big Ten team. And this carnage happened with Illinois preseason All-American David Mirkovic out with an appendectomy.
29.7. Purdue’s average winning margin in its past 13 season openers. But the opponent Monday was tougher, and the roster is more unsettled in 2026. Gonzaga defeated the Boilermakers 78-72. The Zags had been 0-5 against Purdue.
200-75. Dan Hurley’s record at Connecticut after he reached the 200-win milestone Monday with an 86-46 cruise past Gardner-Webb. Twelve of Hurley’s victories – six percent of his total – came in the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back national championship runs.
31-1. Rick Pitino’s record in his past 32 home openers after St. John’s defeated Monmouth 78-63. Auburn transfer Keyshawn Hall made himself right at home with the Red Storm with 26 points.
KEYSHAWN HALL. https://t.co/Cp8iiuzPdQ
— St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) November 3, 2026
9-for-9. Matas Vokietaitis will have to wait for Texas’ second game to miss a shot. He made all nine for 22 points in a 109-59 Longhorn pounding of Chicago State.
30.2. Houston’s average winning margin in its past 18 season openers, including 94-55 over La Salle Monday, Kelvin Sampson is 13-0. The Cougars had a 44-10 scoring gap in points in the paint. Sounds suspiciously like the customary Houston defense.
2.9. Dior Johnson’s scoring average his first season with UCF two years ago. He transferred to Tarleton State last season and started ringing up big numbers, then returned to the Knights this year. Chapter 2 with UCF started with a fireworks show as he poured in 41 points, including his team’s last 10, to get the Knights past Florida Gulf Coast 96-95 in overtime. Johnson took 15 shots and missed two. Florida Gulf Coast weas ahead 38-36 at halftime. A big deal? Yeah. The Eagles hadn’t led a power conference opponent at halftime in 11 years. They lost despite making 25 of 27 free throws.
32. Miami Ohio began this regular season the same way the RedHawks ended the last one – winning. Miami ran its regular season victory streak to 32 games with an 86-77 win at James Madison. The RedHawks haven’t dropped a regular season game since March 1, 2025.
87-1. Tom Izzo’s home November record at Michigan State. So Quinnipiac knew what it was in for in the 96-59 Spartan breeze.
60. Just because AJ Dybantsa is off Washington Wizarding as the No. 1 NBA draft pick doesn’t mean BYU has forgotten how to score. The Cougars put 60 points on Ohio State – in the second half. They won 94-83.
TYLER BETSEY - GAME HIGHLIGHTS 15 PTS | 7 REB https://t.co/io4IKdy5L2
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) November 3, 2026
32. Points scored by the entire Eastern Michigan starting lineup against Coastal Carolina. Good thing for the Eagles Mohammad Habhab came off the bench to contribute 34 in a 71-70 win.
41-32. Western Carolina’s rebounding edge over North Carolina. A worrisome number for the Tar Heels, maybe, but they still won 80-72, giving Michael Malone a victory in his first game as coach. Consider the Tar Heels’ coaches in two marquee programs – Malone in basketball and Bill Belichick in football. On the left, a past NBA Finals champion coach; on the right, a Super Bowl winner.
1974. The last time Tulane had a player score 40 points in a game – until Monday when Krystian Lewis dropped 40 on UT Martin in a 100-98 double overtime victory.
39. Combined points by the freshman Ratliff twins in USC’s 95-63 win over Milwaukee. That was 25 for Adonis – the most in a Trojan freshman debut in 20 years – and 14 for Darius.
26. Tennessee State turnovers against Murray State. That’s one way for the score to be 94-64.
16th. Notre Dame’s predicted finish in the ACC. Didn’t look that way Sunday in Rome in a 74-72 win over Villanova in the first game of the college basketball season. The Irish had 14 steals, a brazen act of thievery to defeat the alma mater of Pope Leo, just down the road from Vatican City.
KOEHLER POSTER #GoIrish☘️ https://t.co/rNAwgCdh5Z
— Notre Dame Men's Basketball (@NDmbb) November 1, 2026
64.0. Grambling State’s field goal percentage in its 89-87 early morning win over Northern Illinois in the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon. Which just goes to show you can see clearly enough at 3 a.m. to shoot well. Especially Isaiah Miranda, who had scored 84 total points in three seasons at three different schools but began his Grambling career with 29.
302. Steps from the NCAA main headquarters across the street, to the front door of James. T. Morris Arena, the sparkling new home for IU Indy. Until Monday, the Jaguars played in a cramped gym across the hall from a swimming pool. IU Indy christened its new home with a 113-76 rout of Miami Middletown, played at 11 a.m. with several thousand elementary school kids in the crowd.
9. Players in double figures for Southern Utah in the Thunderbirds; 134-69 joyride over West Coast Baptist, the biggest point output on a Monday that made the scoreboards smoke. Southern Utah had 71 points at halftime.
103-98. That’s a pretty fiery score for a game played at 9 a.m., but that was Queens outlasting Winthrop. Jordan Watford had 26 points for the winners, Keshawn Fisher 32 for the losers. He averaged 5.5 points last season at Detroit Mercy.
Doings in Intrigue in the morning, doings at night. College basketball has begun.
