Beaten in the season opener and not at all happy about it, Oklahoma looks to rebound against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Friday night in Norman, Okla.

Despite leading by 14 with under 10 minutes to play and still up by 10 with 4:52 left, the Sooners (0-1) fell 52-51 to underdog Sam Houston on Monday. The visitors capped their comeback with a game-winning 3-pointer with four seconds left.

Similar drama arose on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas, where Arkansas-Pine Bluff led No. 14 TCU most of the way before falling 73-72.

Oklahoma’s faults weren’t hard to document, starting with 21 turnovers and giving up 11 offensive rebounds, said coach Porter Moser.

“That’s 32 possessions in a one-point game,” Moser said. “We missed a bunch of layups early, a bunch of 3s that were makeable 3s. … But that’s not what got us beat. What got us beat is our defense the last four minutes. They scored seven of their last eight possessions. We gave them hope.”

Nine turnovers came from Grant Sherfield (five) and C.J. Noland (four).

His team got the message, Moser told The Oklahoman on Wednesday.

“They were upset. They were hungry. Mad, hungry and receptive. Receptive to what we talked about,” Moser said.

Sherfield, a transfer from Nevada, led the Sooners with 14 points in his Oklahoma debut.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-1) quickly jumped on top of TCU, building a 20-point lead midway through the first half. Shaun Doss Jr. scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the half.

The Golden Lions led 70-66 with less than two minutes to play but missed four of their last five shots as the Horned Frogs rallied.

“We aren’t satisfied. We don’t like the moral victories; we want the win,” second-year coach Solomon Bozeman said, per the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “If we look at the positives, we played a team ranked No. 14 that had a veteran return of 92 percent scoring last year.”

A busy early schedule is limiting Bozeman’s practice time. The Golden Lions routed Champion Christian College 87-55 on Wednesday night. Doss again led the way with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting.

–Field Level Media

Colorado makes a historic trip to Louisiana on Saturday to take on Grambling as part of the Pac-12/Southwestern Athletic Conference educational and scheduling partnership.

“It’s an opportunity for our players to understand what HBCUs are and go visit them and see for themselves and learn some of the historical significance of those institutions,” Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle said. “The competition can bring out a lot of good things. It’s not something we probably would have done on our own if the Pac-12 didn’t make it happen with the SWAC.”

Colorado opened the season Monday with an 82-66 home win against UC Riverside. The Buffaloes (1-0) were led by junior college transfer J’Vonne Hadley with 16 points and eight rebounds. He was one of four Colorado players to score in double figures.

Hadley, a 6-foot-6 guard, played his freshman season at Northeastern before averaging 10.9 points and 6.2 boards for Iowa’s Indian Hills Community College last season.

“He makes winning plays,” Boyle said. “He plays with unbelievable energy and a lot of heart. Our fans are going to fall in love with J’Vonne because he brings it every day.”

Grambling opened its season with an 82-57 win against North Texas-Dallas on Monday. The Tigers (1-0) received a strong performance from Carte’Are Gordon, who produced a team-high 18 points and 14 rebounds in his team debut.

Colorado started four guards and 6-9 forward Tristan de Silva against UC Riverside, so expect de Silva to play a major role in trying to slow Gordon.

Shawndarius Cowart and Terrence Lewis, both guards, contributed 13 points each for Grambling in its season opener.

Gordon began his career at Saint Louis. Cowart briefly played for Hofstra earlier in his college career, and Lewis played for Iowa State from 2017-20 before transferring to South Alabama and sitting out his only season there.

Friday’s game marks the first visit by a Power 5 program in Grambling history.

“We will be playing another tough non-conference schedule,” Tigers coach Donte’ Jackson said before the start of the season. “We look forward to competing week in and week out.”

–Field Level Media

Conference realignment couldn’t fully stop “The Backyard Brawl” between Pittsburgh and West Virginia, although Friday’s rivalry game will be a first for most of the players on the court.

The host Panthers and Mountaineers will meet for the 189th time. Both earned lopsided season-opening wins at home Monday, when Pitt beat Tennessee-Martin 80-58 and West Virginia defeated Mount St. Mary’s 76-58.

The game Friday marks the fifth clash of the rivals — whose campuses are located fewer than 80 miles apart — since the series between the former long-time conference mates resumed in the fall of 2017. West Virginia has a 100-88 lead in a series that began in 1906.

The rivalry paused for five seasons following the 2011-12 campaign. West Virginia left the Big East for the Big 12 in 2012-13, while Pitt departed the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013-14.

“It’s an honor to have the chance to play them,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said Monday night. “I understand the rivalry, I understand the intensity of the rivalry. I don’t think it’s hatred — maybe hatred with the fans — but I know that I don’t hate anyone. I have a lot of respect for their program.”

The schools didn’t meet during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season before host West Virginia earned a 74-59 win last Nov. 12. But in another indication of the evolution of college basketball, just 11 players on this year’s rosters– six for Pitt and five for the Mountaineers — were with their programs when they played each other last season.

William Jeffress, Nate Santos and John Hugley IV all started for Pitt and combined to score 30 points, while Jamarius Burton and Nike Sibande sat out with knee injuries and Aidan Fisch didn’t play.

Kedrian Johnson and Kobe Johnson had four points apiece for West Virginia while Jamel King, James Okonkwo and Seth Wilson didn’t play.

“We’re a whole lot different than we were then,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. “And they’re a whole lot different than the last time we played them.”

Both teams were led Monday by transfers.

Blake Hinson, who last played at Mississippi in 2019-20, scored 27 points for Pitt. Emmitt Matthews Jr., who transferred from Washington, scored 15 points in his return to West Virginia, where he spent his first three seasons before playing for the Huskies last season.

–Field Level Media

Wisconsin is the host team when it faces Stanford on Friday night in Milwaukee, but it remains to be seen if the Badgers will have home-field advantage in the first basketball game played at American Family Field — home of baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers.

Wisconsin (1-0) and the Cardinal (1-0) meet in the nightcap of a doubleheader dubbed the “Brew City Battle,” with the court spanning the infield from first base to third. The Wisconsin women’s team faces Kansas State in the first game.

“This is an opportunity to play in a venue that nobody else is going to do,” said Stanford coach Jerod Haase. “It’s a very unique situation — and have a lot of attention and a lot of excitement around it. And I think our guys are excited for that and they deserve that. They’ve worked really hard to get to this point.”

Wisconsin, picked ninth in the Big Ten preseason poll, opened with an 85-59 nonconference victory over South Dakota on Monday at home. Stanford also picked up a nonconference win at home Monday, topping Pacific 88-78.

Tyler Wahl, one of three returning starters, led the Badgers with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Chucky Hepburn, who last season became the first true freshman to start for Wisconsin since eventual NBA star Devin Harris in 2001, had 14 points, including three 3-pointers.

Steven Crowl had 12 points and Wofford transfer Max Klesmit added 11.

Wisconsin, which shot just 30.6 percent beyond the arc last season, hit 12 of 26 from long range against South Dakota. Seven players made at least one triple.

“I thought we got better as the game went on in a lot of certain areas,” said Wisconsin coach Greg Gard. “Obviously, it’s always great when you knock down shots. It erases a lot of other miscues maybe, from time to time, but I thought we got good contributions from a lot of people.”

Michael Jones, the first graduate transfer in Stanford history, scored a career-high 31 points as the Cardinal held off Pacific, which cut a 19-point second-half deficit to three with just over seven minutes left. Jones previously played for Davidson.

Maxime Raynaud added a career-best 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting with nine rebounds.

In the last meeting, Wisconsin defeated Stanford 62-46 at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas in 2018.

–Field Level Media

Fresh off a gritty win over The Citadel, Clemson heads to Columbia for Friday night’s annual rivalry matchup with South Carolina.

Despite missing star big man P.J. Hall, who is out recovering from a knee injury, the Tigers (1-0) were able to grind out an 80-69 win over the Bulldogs at home on Monday. Chase Hunter led the way with 23 points and seven assists, giving fans a small sample size of what coach Brad Brownell expects from his junior guard.

“Our guys have a lot of confidence in him and he made some terrific plays, not just scoring,” Brownell said. “He showed poise. He can obviously get to different spots on the court, put pressure on the defense, because of his penetration and his size. He’s bigger. You know, he’s 6-foot-3 1/2 and 205 pounds so he can play over the top of some people and that was a big factor.”

Ian Schieffelin also had a big night down low for Clemson, scoring 20 points and pulling down 14 rebounds, which helped ease the loss of Hall.

“He’s got good bounce, got good legs to him,” Brownell said. “Got good hands. And so when he gets his hands on balls, he’s gonna get a lot. I mean he’s always been a pretty good rebounder. Rebounds per minute are always pretty high.”

The Gamecocks (1-0) are also coming off a tough season-opening win, edging South Carolina State 80-77 at home on Tuesday.

South Carolina got big games from Hayden Brown and freshman GG Jackson, who scored 21 and 18 points, respectively.

Jackson, a former five-star recruit who is still just 17 years old, showed why he is considered by many to be a future NBA lottery pick. He added 10 rebounds for a double-double in his collegiate debut.

All things considered, first-year head coach Lamont Paris liked what he saw, but he is still looking for more from his team as it gets set to host a fairly experienced Clemson team.

“We have a lot of guys who are in a new position, playing more than they’ve ever played, starting when they’ve never started, were in high school last year, or playing a completely different position.” Paris said. “That’s everybody on our whole floor.”

–Field Level Media

Florida State and UCF are not accustomed to losing season openers.

Yet that’s what happened to the Seminoles and the Knights earlier this week to open the 2022-23 campaign.

Each program will try to get back on track on Friday when Florida State travels to Orlando to face UCF.

The Knights (0-1) had been 6-0 in season-opening games under coach Johnny Dawkins before falling 98-95 in double overtime against UNC Asheville at home on Monday.

A silver lining for UCF was the play of freshman Taylor Hendricks, who led the team with 23 points. Hendricks, who also had five rebounds, three blocks and two steals, fouled out in the second overtime after sending the game to that extra period with a game-tying layup.

“I feel like I did all right, but the individual performance doesn’t really matter if you don’t get the win,” Hendricks said. “(The loss) kind of spoils it.”

UCF was without Darius Johnson, an American Athletic Conference All-Freshman point guard last season who may be out for a while with a lower leg injury, per Dawkins.

Transfers Brandon Suggs (East Carolina), Michael Durr (Indiana) and Ithiel Horton (Pittsburgh) made their team debuts. Suggs scored 16 points, Horton had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds and Durr had 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Seminoles (0-1) didn’t have much to feel good about as they were outplayed in an 83-74 loss at home to Stetson, a team picked to finish second-to-last in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The Seminoles trailed by as many as 18 in the first half and had only eight scholarship players available with forwards Jaylan Gainey (season-ending knee injury), Baba Miller (16-game suspension), De’Ante Green (knee), and guards Chandler Jackson (broken thumb) and Jeremiah Bembry (undisclosed injury) sidelined.

“I always say that the true test of your character is how you handle adversity,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “We’ve got to overcome that.”

–Field Level Media

One coach will be looking for the first road victory of his head coaching career, while the other will be looking for his first win of the season Friday when Kansas State visits Cal in Berkeley, Calif.

It will be the first matchup between the two schools since December 2007.

The Golden Bears (0-1) lost their season opener to UC Davis, 75-65, on Monday. They led 60-54 midway through the second half but were outscored by the visitors, 21-5, down the stretch.

Devin Askew, who previously played at Kentucky and Texas, had a career-high 19 points with four assists and three rebounds in his Cal debut. Lars Thiemann also had a career-best 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

“When we came back and took the lead, we had a couple awful possessions that led to baskets for (UC Davis), and we never recovered,” Cal coach Mark Fox said. “I’m disappointed in how we defended in the second half. I thought offensively our inexperience really showed in the second half.”

The Golden Bears have four newcomers on the roster, including transfers Askew and DeJuan Clayton. Big man ND Okafor has impressed his coaches and teammates so far, as has fellow freshman Grant Newell.

Kansas State’s Jerome Tang, in his first season as a head coach, doesn’t have nearly as much experience returning.

His roster is made up of two holdovers from last year’s 14-17 squad, while the other 13 players are new to the Wildcats (1-0).

The biggest name among the newcomers is Keyontae Johnson, who was the SEC Preseason Player of the Year at Florida two seasons ago before collapsing on the court during a game in December 2020.

He made his return to the court in K-State’s season-opening 93-59 win over Texas-Rio Grande Valley on Monday. He scored 13 points as one of six Wildcats in double figures.

“I told the guys tonight, whether you felt you played well or didn’t play well or played a lot or didn’t play, nobody should be unhappy tonight because Keyontae Johnson played a basketball game, a real game, an NCAA basketball game for the first time in two years,” Tang said.

–Field Level Media

Before Miami plays host to UNC Greensboro on Friday night, there is something that kind of needs to happen.

Somebody please check on Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga.

That’s because Miami trailed visiting Lafayette at halftime on Monday before surging to a stress-inducing 67-54 opening-night victory.

“My heart rate must have jumped 50 beats from the way that game was played,” Larranaga said. “We were fortunate to come away with a victory.”

Norchad Omier, a transfer from Arkansas State, grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds and added 11 points in his Hurricanes debut.

Nijel Pack, a Kansas State transfer who also made his Hurricanes debut, led Miami with four 3-pointers. He finished with 16 points, tying Isaiah Wong for team-high honors.

Miami (1-0) also got nine points from Jordan Miller, falling a bit short of what Larranaga envisions for his squad.

“For us to be successful, we have to have five guys average double figures,” Larranaga said. “That makes us harder to defend, having different weapons.”

Meanwhile, the Spartans (1-0) opened their season with a 93-60 win over visiting Johnson & Wales Charlotte on Monday.

The Spartans had a 56-39 rebound advantage while holding their opponents to 31.8 percent shooting from the floor.

Keondre Kennedy, who led Maryland-Baltimore County in scoring last season, topped the Spartans in points (16) and rebounds (11). He was efficient, making 5-of-10 shots from the floor and 3-of-6 on 3-pointers.

Bas Leyte, a 6-foot-10 forward from the Netherlands, was the only other Spartans starter in double figures as he scored 10 points. He also had eight rebounds.

UNC Greensboro committed only eight turnovers and got 43 points from its bench.

“I was pleased for the most part with how hard our guys played,” Spartans coach Mike Jones said. “Defensively, we were good in spurts but not nearly where we need to be in terms of consistency.”

–Field Level Media

NC State will look for another balanced performance when it hosts Campbell on Friday in Raleigh, N.C.

Five players scored in double figures for the Wolfpack (1-0) in a season-opening win over visiting Austin Peay on Monday.

Terquavion Smith scored 26 points with five assists and three 3-pointers in a 99-50 win against the Governors.

Jarkel Joiner, a transfer from Ole Miss, had 18 points and eight assists, while Jack Clark had 15 points and seven rebounds, D.J. Burns Jr. added 10 points and nine rebounds and Casey Morsell finished with 10 points to round out an efficient effort.

Smith withdrew from the NBA draft to return to the Wolfpack last spring after averaging 16.3 points. He also hit 96 3-pointers last season, becoming the first freshman to lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in made 3-pointers since Duke’s J.J. Redick (95) in the 2002-03 season.

Smith’s decision to return could make NC State’s 11-21 record last year– the program’s first 20-loss season in its 110-year history — a distant memory.

Leading 49-21 at halftime, the Wolfpack opened the second half on an 11-5 run to take a 60-26 lead on Smith’s layup with 17:10 left in the game. The Wolfpack stretched their lead to 50 points when Ernest Ross dunked off a pass from Morsell with a little more than seven minutes left.

“It was important for us, as a team,” Smith said. “We have a lot of players who play together and play for the front of the jersey and not the back.”

Campbell is coming off a season-opening, 79-62 win over the visiting St. Augustine Falcons, a Division II school, on Monday in Buies Creek, N.C.

The Fighting Camels, who led by 17 points at halftime and by as many as 26 points in the second half, were paced by Jay Pal’s 13 points and eight rebounds and Ricky Clemons’ 13 points and seven rebounds.

Anthony Dell’Orso added 11 points and six boards for Campbell, which saw 12 players score. Jesus Carralero and Joshua Lusane had seven points apiece.

“That’s definitely a good sign,” Campbell coach Kevin McGeehan said. “The difference between the top and bottom of the depth chart is not that much. We need to get better, but I was pleased that we got so much contribution from so many different places.”

–Field Level Media

Florida will continue its season-opening three-game homestand on Friday night against Kennesaw State in Gainesville, Fla.

The Gators (1-0) were successful in head coach Todd Golden’s debut Monday night, stomping Stony Brook 81-45.

The 36-point margin was the largest for a Florida coach making his debut, surpassing Tommy Bartlett, who won by 34 against Jacksonville (93-59) on Dec. 1, 1966.

Alex Fudge, a transfer from LSU, scored a career-high 16 points in his Gainesville debut. In all, 13 different players scored for the Gators as they outscored the Seawolves 35-13 in bench points.

“We played with good purpose for 40 (minutes),” Golden said. “Every guy that came in did a good job of staying within themselves and continuing to guard and rebound, which was really important.”

It will be important for the Gators to build off that performance and take some momentum into the end of the month. Florida faces rival Florida State on Nov. 18, then travel to Portland, Ore., over Thanksgiving weekend to play in the PK85 Tournament. Florida opens play in the event on Thanksgiving night against Xavier on Nov. 24.

Florida also will host UConn on Dec. 7 and face Oklahoma in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 20.

“We’ll have six or seven (non-conference) games that will be highly contested games that should prepare us for the SEC,” Golden said. “I’d say it’s good for what we want to do and we’ll schedule similarly over the next several years.”

Kennesaw State (1-0) beat LaGrange 99-56 in its season opener behind 20 points from Chris Youngblood, who was 8 of 10 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Terrell Burden added 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Youngblood and Burden are two of five returning starters from an Owls team that went 13-18 last season.

“Our ball energy was really good tonight,” Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said after the LaGrange win. “We shared the ball well, defensively our ball pressure was on, to the point where we were doing what we had practiced.”

–Field Level Media