Men s basketball is back and this is why we re excited
Men's basketball is back, and this is why we're excited NCAA.com
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PRESENTED BY How many meaningful/telling/intriguing results could be crammed into the first 12 hours of the college basketball season? Opening night by the numbers: 40-2 – Mike Krzyzewski’s final record in season openers after the 79-71 win over Kentucky. This one came with a message: Krzyzewski’s last team might be a handful. “We had a chance to make a statement,” mentioned ballyhooed freshman Paolo Banchero, who said hello with 22 points. The loudest part of the statement might have been how the Blue Devils kept pushing even when Banchero was back in the locker room needing an IV for his cramps. But then, he wasn’t even the hottest Duke freshman in the lineup as Trevor Keels went for 25 points. That made 47 from two newcomers who intend to make Krzyzewski’s victory lap a happy one. Something else impressive: The Blue Devils managed a showy win despite going 1-for-13 in 3-pointers. 7-2 – Krzyzewski’s record against Kentucky. The Bluegrass won’t be sad to see him go. IT'S HERE: 44 – Points in the paint for Kansas in its 87-74 win over Michigan State. Between that and Ochai Agbaji’s career-high 29 points, the Jayhawks looked perfectly comfortable in their No. 3 ranking. 19-1 . . . Tuesday’s record of ranked teams against unranked opponents. So opening night was a real pleasure cruise for the big names, right? Well, not entirely . . . 52.4 -- Navy’s 3-point shooting percentage in its 66-58 win over No. 25 Virginia, the Cavaliers being the 1 of that 19-1 record. The 3-point barrage would suggest Tony Bennett’s customary defense is very much a work in progress with a lot of new faces. Navy’s last victory over a ranked opponent was 1986, when its leading scorer was a tall guy named David Robinson. 1913 – The last time Akron beat Ohio State. It took a last-second lay-in for that to not happen again, the . 25-5 – The gap in free throws that No. 15 Houston had against Hofstra. The Cougars needed them all, finally beating the Pride 83-75 in overtime, rallying from 13 down in the last nine minutes of regulation. Hofstra made all five of its attempts. Houston missed 10 of its 25 free throws. As for trouble outside the rankings . . . 46 – The Citadel’s losing streak against ACC opponents, going back to 1979. But not anymore. Jason Roche’s eight 3-pointers led a 78-63 upset of Pittsburgh, who is missing a lot of pieces and looked it. 640 – That’s how many college games the 12 returnees on the Miami (OH) roster had played in before this season, totaling 11,795 minutes. A veteran bunch like that could be dangerous. Georgia Tech found that out Tuesday night, losing to the RedHawks 72-69. That made three home defeats for the Yellow Jackets against mid-majors from the state of Ohio in the past five-plus seasons, including Ohio in 2016 and Wright State in 2018. It also made three rather unseemly defeats for the ACC on the first night. 0 – Northern Illinois’ all-time win total against the Pac-12. Well, until Tuesday night when the Huskies shocked Washington 71-64, the program’s first win ever in the state of Washington. Not a bad first game for new coach Rashon Burno. Northern Illinois had been picked to finish 12th and last in the Mid-American Conference. While we’re on the subject of directional schools from the state of Illinois. RANKINGS:RANKINGS :
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