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Men's college basketball opening night winners and losers: Gonzaga makes early statement

jeff eisenberg
Senior writer
·6 min read
2

Khalif Battle couldn’t believe how open he was.

He’d just hit step-back and catch-and-shoot 3-pointers on Gonzaga’s previous two possessions, yet here he was alone in the corner with no defender within 15 feet of him after Baylor lost him in transition.

The 3-pointer that Battle celebrated with a smile and a shoulder shimmy epitomized a Gonzaga victory that turned out to be a lot easier than expected. The Zags stormed to their largest-ever victory over a top-10 opponent, a 101-63 season-opening shellacking of eighth-ranked Baylor on Monday night at Spokane Arena.

Gonzaga’s lead was already double digits midway through the first half and 19 by halftime. The gap continued to grow during the second half as the sixth-ranked Zags defended with maximum effort, shared the ball willingly and generated open look after open look.

The top-10 clash between Gonzaga and Baylor was a rematch of the 2021 national title game won convincingly by the Bears. This win does little to avenge that bitter loss for the Zags, but it does raise the question whether 2024-25 could finally be Gonzaga’s year.

With six rotation players returning and high-scoring transfers Battle and Michael Ajayi now aboard, Gonzaga should pile up points even more effortlessly than it did a year ago. Guard Nolan Hickman (17 points) and forward Graham Ike (15 points) were two of five Gonzaga players in double figures on Monday night. The Zags shot 57.1% from the field and over 40% from behind the arc.

For Gonzaga, the biggest question is whether its defense will improve. Gonzaga’s defensive efficiency slipped outside the top 50 nationally the past two seasons, but way the Zags stayed in front of the ball against Baylor was a big step forward.

Gonzaga’s dominant victory makes the Zags the big winner from the opening night of men’s college basketball. Here’s a look at some of the other winners and losers from a night when 19 of 25 AP Top 25 teams were in action:

For a conference hailed as one of college basketball’s best entering the season, the SEC had a rough opening night. Four of the league’s teams suffered losses, each one against unranked opponents.

It was bad enough when South Carolina suffered a stunning home loss to North Florida and Missouri blew a 10-point halftime lead against Memphis. Then Texas A&M went cold late at UCF and Texas squandered a record-setting 29-point performance from freshman Tre Johnson in a loss to Ohio State.

Making matters worse for the SEC, college basketball’s other four power conferences largely avoided disaster. Teams from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten and Big 12 went a combined 48-1 on Monday, the lone loss Baylor’s no-show against Gonzaga.

Better days are probably ahead for the SEC this season, so the Big 12’s social media team was quick to pile on while it had the chance.

It’s easy to see why Montverde Academy went 33-0 last season and captured its eighth high school national championship. Three of the Florida prep school’s top players made statements on Monday night in their college debuts.

As always, the headliner was Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA Draft and the most hyped prospect to enter college basketball in more than a decade. The 6-foot-9 Duke freshman showcased his trademark statsheet-stuffing versatility in his highly anticipated college debut, a 96-62 rout of Maine.

Early in the first half, Flagg was Duke’s top playmaker, drawing defenders before delivering pinpoint passes to open teammates. Later in the game, Flagg became more aggressive looking for his own shot and consistently got downhill. He finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals, this soaring dunk his most memorable highlight.

Of course, Flagg wasn’t the only five-star recruit at Montverde last season. Maryland center Derik Queen debuted with a 22-point, 20-rebound masterpiece in a throttling of Manhattan. And Georgia big man Asa Newell matched Dominique Wilkins’ program record for most points by a player in his first game, tallying 26 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in a narrow win over Tennessee Tech.

The most impressive part? There’s another former Montverde star yet to come. As soon as he recovers from a calf strain, five-star recruit Liam McNeeley will make his UConn debut.

Thoughts and prayers are with those rims after Michigan State’s Coen Carr did this.

And this.

And nearly this.

Carr is the best dunker in college basketball. Rims, you have been warned.

In two miserable seasons under Kenny Payne, Louisville was a laughingstock. One of college basketball’s most tradition-rich programs staggered to a 12-52 record. The fans who bothered to show up to the KFC Yum! Center watched the Cardinals lose to the likes of Bellarmine, Wright State, Appalachian State and Chattanooga.

The revamped, retooled Louisville team that new coach Pat Kelsey unveiled on Monday night looked nothing like the Payne-era Cardinals. Kelsey restored the joy to the Louisville program, demolishing overmatched Morehead State 93-45.

Yes, it was only one game. Yes, it was an opponent projected to finish fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference. Still, this had to be cathartic for Louisville fans given the program’s bleak recent history.

The opening game of Josh Schertz’s tenure at Saint Louis could not have gone much worse. The Billikens didn’t just suffer an 85-78 loss to underrated Santa Clara on Monday afternoon at the Field of 68 Showcase. They also may be without goggled star Robbie Avila for a few weeks after the Indiana State transfer suffered a right ankle injury late in the second half.

Avila crumpled to the floor beneath the basket with Saint Louis within four and needed help limping to the locker room. He later returned to the Billikens bench, ankle wrapped in ice. The injury is similar to the sprained right ankle that sidelined Avila for much of the preseason, Schertz told reporters after the game.

Said Schertz to the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch: “It doesn’t look great.” He later added, “There's a chance we'll be without him for a period of time.”

Jacob Meyer made Southern Indiana pay for not fouling up three. The DePaul guard buried a game-tying right-wing 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left in regulation, enabling the Blue Demons to escape with an 80-78 overtime victory.

This was Southern Indiana, KenPom’s preseason No. 336 team, a third-year Division I program that went 8-24 a year ago. It’s not an encouraging omen for Chris Holtmann’s debut season that DePaul needed an improbable shot to survive this game.