Arizona State and visiting Northern Arizona head into their game Thursday between the intra-state schools in Tempe, Ariz., feeling very differently about their respective season openers.

The Sun Devils (1-0) are coming off a scare on Monday, when they outlasted Tarleton State 62-59, while the Lumberjacks (0-1) are feeling confident following a competitive loss at Michigan State the same night.

While Northern Arizona ended up losing by 18 points to the Spartans, 73-55, it played almost basket-for-basket with Michigan State in the second half in East Lansing, Mich.

A late 3-point play turned by Marcus Bagley, returning from a knee injury last year, followed a turnover that proved to be the difference for Arizona State.

Arizona State, led by Michigan transfer Frankie Collins’ 21 points, shot only 33.9 percent from the field and 14 of 29 from the free-throw line.

The Sun Devils recorded only 10 assists.

“They outplayed us, really,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. “We were just fortunate enough to make some plays down the stretch and close the game out.”

Northern Arizona, playing its first game in a Big Ten arena, was led by Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Cone’s 20 points and 10 rebounds.

“The biggest thing our team took out of this is that you compete the whole time,” said Northern Arizona coach Shane Burcar, whose team shot 25.8 percent from the field in the first half when Michigan State built a 34-20 lead at halftime. “Something that Jalen has done since he transferred from Virginia Tech is he’s a great shooter, and he’s such a coachable young man.”

Northern Arizona and Arizona State will meet for the first time since the 2017-18 season, when the Sun Devils won 97-62.

The Lumberjacks upset Arizona State in the two previous matchups at Tempe — 75-71 in the 2006-07 season and 69-68 in 2011-12.

Hurley mentioned his team should be more focused for Northern Arizona coming off the close win against Tarleton State.

“I don’t think it was a real celebratory locker room and that’s on me, that’s on our staff,” he said. “We got to do a better job of making sure we’re prepared to play.”

–Field Level Media

The season didn’t start the way preseason No. 1 North Carolina wanted it to. Yes, the Tar Heels won their opener, but didn’t run away with the victory and looked fairly poor in multiple facets of the game.

“I think we all came out a little rusty,” said UNC’s Armando Bacot, the Atlantic Coast Conference Preseason Player of the Year. “It’s not easy winning a game. I’m glad it’s the first game and not later on in the season.”

Hubert Davis’ Tar Heels will aim to play sharper Friday night when they host the College of Charleston in Chapel Hill, N.C.

UNC (1-0) beat in-state foe UNC-Wilmington 69-56 on Monday but did not look like a team with aspirations of getting back to the national championship game. The Tar Heels finished with just four assists — its fewest in a single game since a 1980 double-overtime loss to Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament.

Davis said those low assist numbers were a product of the Heels being off their game on the offensive end.

“I just felt like, especially on the offensive end, we were moving at such a nervousness, anxiousness type of pace that at times we couldn’t even catch the basketball,” Davis said. “My hope is that it was just the first game, anxiousness and nervousness that uncharacteristically put us in a position where we weren’t sharing the ball like we usually do.”

The good news is that UNC was sharp defensively, holding the visiting Seahawks to just three assists, the fewest by a Heels’ opponent since 1975. UNC-Wilmington shot just 29.3 percent from the floor.

RJ Davis and Caleb Love led the Heels in scoring with 17 points apiece, while Bacot had a near double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds.

Bacot’s boards were enough to push him past Mitch Kupchak and Brad Daugherty on UNC’s all-time rebounding chart. The senior has 1,010 and needs just 17 to catch seventh-place Antwan Jamison.

“They held me to nine rebounds. I would say that’s probably a bad game for me and I didn’t think any of us played good today, specifically the starting five,” Bacot said. “We all kind of struggled with things, but we’re going to build on that. It definitely starts with me.”

The Charleston Cougars are 1-0 after opening with an 85-78 win over UT-Chattanooga. Sophomore guard Reyne Smith shot 5-for-10 from 3-point range on his way to scoring 24 points to lead the Cougars.

“(Smith is) an elite shooter and people make it hard for him to get looks,” Charleston coach Pat Kelsey told the Post and Courier. “He got lost a little bit. He doesn’t need a lot of space. He’s like a closer in baseball. He has such a short memory.”

Jaylon Scott and Dalton Bolon each added 11 points apiece. It was Scott’s debut as a Cougar, and he also added five rebounds. He transferred in from NAIA Bethel College in North Newton, Kan., where he was the conference Defensive Player of the Year three times.

Charleston went 17-15 last season in Kelsey’s first year as head coach.

–Field Level Media

Marquette’s second game of the season against visiting Central Michigan on Thursday night in Milwaukee will certainly have a more intimate feeling than a usual Golden Eagles home contest.

The nonconference matchup will be played at Marquette’s 3,700-seat Al McGuire Center on campus instead of the regular home court at the Fiserv Forum, also the home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks with a basketball capacity of 17,385.

Marquette (1-0) defeated visiting Radford 79-69 in the nonconference season opener for each team on Monday. Central Michigan, which defeated Division II Northwood 88-61 in an exhibition game last Thursday, will be playing its first regular-season game.

Marquette, picked ninth in the Big East preseason poll, never trailed against Radford, but had difficulty putting away the Highlanders. A 16-0 run in the second half put the Golden Eagles up 69-50 with 8 1/2 minutes left, but Radford rallied within 75-69 down the stretch.

Junior forward Oso Ighodaro led the Golden Eagles with 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper added 13 points as Marquette finished with a 42-20 advantage on points in the paint.

“When we were at our best, we were really, really good and connected on the defensive end,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “There was a couple times where we put ourself in position where we could have really broken the game open and made a really big margin, but we didn’t make the next few plays after that.”

Central Michigan was picked 10th in the preseason poll in the 12-team Mid-American Conference after finishing 7-23 last season.

The Chippewas are led by sophomore point guard Kevin Miller, who averaged team-bests 13.1 points and 4.6 assists per game last season and was named to the MAC All-Freshman Team.

Senior guard Brian Taylor averaged 8.2 points and 5.8 rebounds last season. Junior transfer Jesse Zarzuela led Coppin State in scoring (14.7 ppg). New faces also include freshman guard Max Majerle, son of former Central Michigan and NBA standout Dan Majerle.

Central Michigan had four players in double figures in its exhibition win. Freshman Reggie Bass led with 19 points and Zarzuela added 17. Markus Harding, a 6-foot-10 sophomore center, posted 15 points and 11 rebounds while Miller finished with 15 points, 10 assists, and five steals.

“I was happy with the outcome and how we looked on the floor,” Central Michigan coach Tony Barbee said. “We looked like a team and we played together. Defensively, we got a little sloppy in spots and tried to gamble for steals and that got us out of position, but overall, I was pleased with the effort.”

Marquette last played Central Michigan in 2008, winning 81-67 at home.

–Field Level Media

Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton wasn’t terribly concerned that his team missed their first 11 3-point attempts in Monday night’s season opener, figuring the law of averages would eventually take over.

Sure enough, the Cowboys made 6 of their next 13 and eventually opened up a 31-point second-half lead in a 77-66 home win over Texas-Arlington.

Oklahoma State will try to put together a more consistent effort Thursday night when it hosts Southern Illinois in another nonconference clash in Stillwater, Okla.

What Boynton found most encouraging about his team’s response to not making shots was that they didn’t let it affect their defense. The Cowboys did enough to take a 27-22 halftime lead, then erupted for a 28-2 run to start the second half.

“That’s not always easy to do,” Boynton said. “Especially early when you’re coming in and there’s expectations on individual guys and the team to perform on the floor. We were able to put it together for a good stretch in the second half and get some separation.”

Bryce Thompson scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Oklahoma State, which hit 11 of 14 shots to open the second half and went more than six minutes without missing in one stretch.

Meanwhile, the Salukis started their season with a 94-63 rout of Little Rock in Carbondale. Eleven players scored and four were in double figures as SIU sank 58.2 percent of its field goals, including 12 of 28 on 3-pointers.

Lance Jones and reserve Dalton Banks tallied 14 points each, while Marcus Domask added 11. Jawaun Newton, one of four players out of the transfer portal playing key roles for the Salukis, came off the bench to net 10.

SIU finished with a whopping 51 points off the bench and dominated the boards 48-25.

“Our bench gave us a huge lift throughout the game,” said coach Bryan Mullins. “Different guys stepped up through the game on both ends of the floor.”

The Salukis own a 4-2 lead in the all-time series, although the teams haven’t played in 14 years.

–Field Level Media

Nebraska shoots for its first 2-0 start in four years when it hosts in-state foe Omaha in a nonconference game Thursday night in Lincoln, Neb.

The Cornhuskers won their season opener Monday for only the second time in the last four years, beating Maine 79-66 behind 22 points from newcomer Sam Griesel. The North Dakota State transfer was 8 of 12 from the field, adding nine rebounds and three assists, while scoring 18 in the second half.

“My whole career I always try to let the game come to me, and I felt that my role is to do whatever I can to help the team win,” said Griesel, who is two points shy of 1,000 for his career.

Nebraska had 16 offensive rebounds against Maine, its most since the 2020-21 opener. Last season, Nebraska averaged 7.3 offensive rebounds while going 10-22.

Omaha opened play with an 89-64 loss at No. 5 Kansas, leading early on the road and trailing by only seven in the second half before youth caught up to the Mavericks.

“We’re a young basketball team, in a place like this and it kind of caught up to us, the pace kind of caught up to us and no doubt about it the physicality caught up to us,” Omaha coach Chris Crutchfield said.

The Mavericks shot 38.6 percent but had four players in double figures, including 13 points from junior college transfer guard Jaeden Marshall.

Omaha, picked to finish ninth in the 10-team Summit League, will be playing the second of five power-conference opponents this season. Since moving up from Division II in 2011-12, it has three wins over power foes, most recently in 2019 at Washington State.

Nebraska beat the Mavericks at home in 2012 and 2014, but began last season with a home loss to fellow Summit team Western Illinois and also fell to North Dakota in 2019.

–Field Level Media

Notre Dame becomes the last ACC team to hit the hardcourt when Mike Brey’s 23rd Fighting Irish squad plays host Radford on Thursday night at South Bend, Ind.

Brey lost fabulous freshman guard Blake Wesley to the NBA Draft — Notre Dame’s first first-round pick since Jerian Grant in 2015 — but retains three starters from last year’s crew that finished second in the ACC and scared Texas Tech in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Fighting Irish will boast one of the most experienced teams in the country with five graduate students among their top seven — led by guards Dane Goodwin (13.6 points per game) and Cormac Ryan (9.2) and forward Nate Laszewski (9.3 points, 6.5 rebounds per game). All three shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range.

Notre Dame also boasts perhaps the most highly touted freshman in Brey’s tenure: 6-4, 200-pound combo guard JJ Starling, who ranked No. 21 on the Recruiting Services Consensus Index’s Top 100 list.

While Notre Dame is the last ACC school to get underway, the Irish will race through six home games and one neutral contest in November to prepare for their ACC opener Dec. 3 vs. Syracuse.

“The thing that kept staring at me as we put together the schedule is we have three ACC games in December,” Brey said. “The world has kind of changed with the 20-game schedule and the league coming at you.”

Notre Dame finished the 2021-22 campaign with a 14-1 record on its home floor.

“It started out early in the year,” Goodwin said. “We had a couple big home nonconference wins. I think it really carried over into our ACC schedule.”

Radford, picked to finish sixth in the Big South, opened Monday with a 79-69 loss at Marquette. The Highlanders were within three points with 13 minutes to go, but that’s when the Golden Eagles used a 16-0 run to put the game away.

Freshman guard Kenyon Giles paced Radford (0-1) with 15 points while fifth-year senior Shaquan Jules registered his third career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

–Field Level Media

Maryland had lots of good going for it to open the season under new coach Kevin Willard.

The best part for the Terrapins might be what’s to come.

The next step comes Thursday night at home against Western Carolina.

“It has been a crazy seven months to put together this roster and get these guys playing,” Willard said. “We’re not close to being good yet, but to get them playing as hard as they’re playing and as unselfish as they’re playing, I’m proud of this staff and proud of these guys.”

Donta Scott began his senior season for Maryland with an 18-point outing as the Terrapins (1-0) opened the Willard era by defeating Niagara on Monday night.

“Donta is going to be an 18-and-10 player,” Willard said. “(Playing) 35 minutes is probably way too many minutes in his first game, but he has earned it from his career here.”

The Terrapins have newcomers ready to help. Jahmir Young, a transfer from Charlotte, had 14 points in his first game for Maryland.

“It was exciting,” Young said. “It was fun. My whole family came out.”

With a roster stacked with transfers, it’s going to take time for the Terrapins to discover a rhythm. So that’s why each game is crucial to try to get up to speed.

“We know that defense wins games and we had to step up and do it on the defensive end,” Scott said of stretches in the opening game.

Young is the leading player on the roster in terms of career points, with 1,435. Scott is closing in on 1,000 as he has 944.

Western Carolina (0-1) had encouraging moments in its first game before falling 68-55 at Georgia Monday night.

“We talk about the season as a journey,” second-year coach Justin Gray said. “We need to show some growth the next time we go out there and play.”

Gray was familiar with the Terrapins from his playing days at Wake Forest, with Maryland a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference at the time.

The chance to play against major college opponents could be a boost for the Catamounts.

“Our guys came to Western Carolina for the opportunity,” Gray said. “There is opportunity there.”

–Field Level Media

At the shootaround before his team’s season opening game at DePaul on Monday, Loyola (Md.) coach Tavaras Hardy drained a shot from halfcourt.

Hardy’s Greyhounds then took their best shot at the Blue Demons but came up narrowly short in a 72-66 defeat.

On Thursday night, Loyola (0-1) of the Patriot League gets another chance to pull off a long shot victory over a power conference school as it travels to State College, Pa., to face Penn State (1-0) of the Big Ten.

Shooting from distance was the theme of the Nittany Lions’ opening-game win on Monday night as they made a single-game record 18 3-pointers in a 93-68 romp over Winthrop.

Bucknell transfer Andrew Funk delivered in his Nittany Lions debut, hitting 6-of-10 shots from 3-point range on his way to scoring 22 points.

Funk teamed in the backcourt with a pair of holdovers. Jalen Pickett went 3 of 6 from distance on his way to scoring 23 points, and Myles Dread hit 4 of 6 long-range tries to account for all of his 12 points.

With newfound depth on the perimeter, Penn State also sported a different look, applying more defensive pressure. The Nittany Lions forced 17 turnovers and turned them into 28 points.

“We’re not pressing. We’re not in passing lanes. We’re not overdoing it,” Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “We just want to be solid and disciplined in our spots, and that’s when good things happen for you. That’s when you get deflections when you’re in the right spot.”

Is this the right spot for Loyola to pull off an upset?

On Monday at DePaul, the Greyhounds hung close throughout as Kenneth Jones matched his career high with 20 points and Jaylin Andrews added 12 points.

Jones and Andrews are Loyola’s trusted backcourt leaders, key pieces on the team since Hardy’s first year in 2018-19. The frontcourt is led by three-year starter Golden Dike, who had nine points and 11 rebounds.

The rest of the team is young and untested. In his college debut, point guard Deon Perry looked like a solid fit with 13 points while going 3 of 6 from 3-point range. Jones was 4 of 7 from distance.

“We have 10 freshmen and sophomores that we expect to play,” Hardy said. “And so that’s a young group that’s going to grow and develop but they’re talented and I think we’ll get there.”

– Field Level Media

Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker were in the crowd Monday as Rutgers began a season it hopes ends in a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The prospects look bright after the Scarlet Knights delivered a record-setting defensive performance in their home opener.

Like the other fans in Piscataway, N.J., former Rutgers players Harper Jr. and Baker enjoyed watching their former squad cruise in the season opener, and the school seeks a second straight win Thursday night when it hosts Sacred Heart.

The Scarlet Knights (1-0) made consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances thanks to Harper and Baker. The duo’s last game was a double-overtime loss to Notre Dame in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament. The team returned plenty of talent with Clifford Omoruyi, Paul Mulcahy and Caleb McConnell and also added Cam Spencer as a transfer from Loyola (Md.).

In Monday’s 75-35 rout of Columbia, Spencer shined on both ends as Rutgers allowed its fewest points in the shot-clock era. After averaging 18.9 points in 2021-22, Spencer scored 17 points and also collected six of his squad’s 14 steals to highlight a defensive showing that saw them score 31 points off 25 turnovers, allow 23.4 percent from the field and hold Columbia to 1 of 21 from 3-point range.

“I kept the same mentality, if I’m open, I’m going to shoot it,” Spencer said. “I was just going in the second. The crowd was a new and great experience for me. I’m having a blast here.”

Besides Spencer the Scarlet Knights placed five in double figures including Aundre Hyatt (12 points, 10 rebounds), whose role figures to increase.

“What Ron, Geo and Caleb have done here in years past just gives us more confidence as a team going forward,” Hyatt said. “The impact that those guys have had on this program in the past gives us all more motivation going forward.”

Sacred Heart (1-0) is picked for second in the Northeast Conference preseason poll behind Merrimack and opened the season with a 77-70 win at Hartford on Monday. Joey Reilly, who averaged 4.7 points last season, scored a career-high 23 points to lead four players in double figures as Sacred Heart shot 43.5 percent.

“If you want to be picked something, you want to be picked a favorite,” Pioneers forward Nico Galette said. “I think they’re wrong by one place, but we are taking it with a grain of salt.”

–Field Level Media

The Justice Sueing comeback tour continues for the Ohio State forward when the Buckeyes host Charleston Southern on Thursday.

Playing in his first game in almost a year, Sueing led the Buckeyes (1-0) with 20 points to go with three steals and two assists in their 91-53 win over Robert Morris in the season opener Monday.

Sueing missed all but two games last season due to an abdominal strain and had last played on Nov. 12, 2021. He put in 24 minutes vs. Robert Morris and declared himself fit for his next challenge against Charleston Southern (1-0).

“I’m ready to get right back into it,” he said.

It’s been a long journey for Sueing, who played two seasons for California then transferred to Ohio State and sat out the 2019-20 season, per the former NCAA rules. He averaged 10.7 points in 2020-21 before last season’s disappointment.

“It just finally felt comfortable to be out there healthy with these guys,” Sueing said. “We worked really hard over these past couple weeks, past couple months, really since the summertime to get here, so now that the season is actually here, we’re just going to keep taking it one day at a time.”

Charleston Southern defeated Toccoa Falls 83-52 on Monday behind the career-high 26 points from sophomore Claudell Harris Jr. Cheikh Faye added 14 points, hitting four 3-pointers.

The Buccaneers shot 38 percent from the floor and made just 8 of 34 from 3-point range but coach Barclay Radebaugh emphasized the positives.

“I thought defensively we were absolutely terrific,” he said. “To do the things we’re able to do defensively was a really good sign. The whole night would have felt differently if we had made some shots, but we didn’t.

“We have spent a lot of time on defense since the summer. We will score points. We will shoot better. But you don’t win our league if you are not a good defensive team.”

–Field Level Media