Live blog: THIS IS NOVEMBER

Update: 12:28 a.m.

Now that the dust has almost settled on the first day of the college basketball season, it’s time to check on how The Other Top 25 preseason teams fared. Only the teams that played on opening day are listed below:

1. Gonzaga: Beat Alabama State by a lot.
2. VCU: Beat St. Francis (PA) by a lot.
3. Saint Mary’s: Took Wisconsin to overtime and didn’t score 70 points, still won.
4. Utah State: Let Montana State hang around, still won.
6. New Mexico State: Beat a non-Division I school.
8. Harvard: Held MIT to 27 points.
10. San Diego State: Dispatched Texas Southern behind 15 points from Malachi Flynn and Jordan Schakel.
12. Western Kentucky: Won by 12 against Tennessee Tech.
13. Missouri State: Lost to Little Rock (no, Chris Beard doesn’t coach there anymore).
14. BYU: Beat Cal State Fullerton, finally made some threes.
15. Rhode Island: Beat the artists formerly known as the Blackbirds.
16. Furman: Eked out a win over Gardner-Webb.
18. Wright State: Beat a non-Division I school.
19. UTSA: Lost to Oklahoma.
21. UC Irvine: Clawed back from an 18-point deficit to win at San Diego.
24. Pepperdine: Let California (!) shoot 71.4% in the second half, lost.
25. Bowling Green: Beat a non-Division I school.

So for those keeping score at home, three of the 17 teams that played tonight lost. There’s definitely going to be a shake-up in next week’s poll.

— Kyle Cajero

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Update 11:12 p.m.

Towson defeats George Washington for the first time since 1981

BALTIMORE — Things are wrapped up in Towson as the Tigers picked up their first win over the Colonials since 1981. Snapping their nine-game losing streak to GW was sparked by solid shooting and a stingy defense.

Towson shot 47% from the floor. That was paired with 58% shooting from the three-point line. That stat line separated the two teams; the Colonials missed 18 three-pointers in the contest.

Juwan Gray led the Tigers with 19 points as Allen Bertrand scored 18 points. Jameer Nelson led GW with 15 points.

Overall, Towson looks good, but Head Coach Pat Skerry cited injuries have slowed some players down. He expects his team to be at full strength as the season moves on.

Jamion Christian is taking over a program coming off their worst season since 1988-89. His team lost tonight but continued to fight until the end.

— Stephen Thompson

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Update 11:00 PM
Grand Canyon lost to Davenport???

The No. 130 KenPom team lost 82-73 to a Division II school! Seriously! That’s it. That’s the post.

(Yes, I know Davenport is a good team that went 27-4 last year. No, that doesn’t make this unsurprising.)

— Tristan Jung

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Update 10:51 PM
Big West gets win #1

UC Riverside was a 14-point underdog coming into tonight’s game against Nebraska. They won by 19.

It didn’t matter last season’s leading scorer Dikymbe Martin was inactive tonight. DJ McDonald connected with the three ball four times and had a career high 15 points off the bench. UCR went with a four-guard lineup tonight, which naturally means 6’3” guard George Willborn III grabbed 18 rebounds. The Highlanders had some serious bounce in their step and controlled the game for the last 25 minutes.

This is just the beginning for a Riverside team with lots of experienced and returning talent.

Bonus: If you want some more UC Riverside action, here’s a replay of their famous upset of #4 Iowa on Christmas Day 1989.

— Danny Clark

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Update: 10:27 p.m.
THE QUEST FOR #2BIDIVY BEGINS

We’ve been hyping up the potential for the Ivy League to have two NCAA Tournament-caliber squads in their ranks all throughout the offseason. We even put our money where our mouth was earlier this week, saying that Penn would take down Bama to begin the season.

Bama fans were upset.

We were proven right:

Tonight’s game was highlighted by a fantastic debut from freshman Jordan Dingle, whose bucket above gave Penn the lead (and ultimately the victory after Alabama’s Kira Lewis missed two free throws with under three seconds remaining). He finished the night with 24 points and 7 rebounds.

Buy a #2BidIvy shirt here.

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Update: 10:07 p.m.
UC Riverside catches fire

The Highlanders are currently went on a 20-5 run late in the first half and have a four-point lead at the half thanks to a Dragan Elkaz tip-in at the buzzer, where he became the second Highlander to lose a shoe tonight in the process.

UC Riverside started the half slow, falling behind by nine early but came to life late in the half. DJ McDonald was fouled on a three point attempt to cut the lead to three, then three different players connected from behind the arc three times in under three minutes to take the lead. UTSA transfer George Willborn III has been carving up the Huskers defense for nice looks all night and has 11-6-1 so far in his debut for the Highlanders.

— Danny Clark

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Update: 9:15 p.m.
Some stuff that happened

The semi-legendary, 73-year-old, former ostrich farmer/professional musician Cliff Ellis was probably expecting a better result in Coastal Carolina’s opener, but the Chanticleers lost 75-74 to Campbell.

A live reaction:

This is an ugly loss for Coastal, which came in as an 81 percent favorite on KenPom against a Campbell team in its first post-Clemons Era game. It was an entertaining, back-and-forth game that went down to the wire, but Coastal’s inability to get key stops down the stretch doomed them to a rough loss. Not ready to say the Camels are going to roll again, but this is a great start!

For the NMTC fans out there, William & Mary committed some Club-on-Club crime by dispatching High Point. Somehow the live scoring company confused today’s Chicago State game with a game between Judson and Taylor so we thought they lost to an NAIA team for a while...what the heck. Phew.

In other news, the New Hampshire women’s team...had this happen:

Lastly, George Mason beat Navy in OT after two hours of #plaguebasketball. That’s all I got for now.

— Tristan Jung

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Update: 9:07 p.m.
Appalachian State vs. Michigan

ANN ARBOR — Appalachian State clearly didn’t read my last post. A crazy 21-2 run put them within 4 in the final minute of play. The comeback attempt fell just short as Michigan closed it out 79-71.

— Preston Baker

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Update: 9:06 p.m.
UTSA vs. Oklahoma

UTSA is tied up with Oklahoma 36-36 at the half.

Both sides are struggling form behind the arc, going 2-13 each. Keaton Wallace has 11 points and 4 rebounds while his backcourt running mate Jhivvan Jackson has nine points and 11 rebounds.

The Roadrunners have been hitting the offensive glass hard with 8 offensive boards in the first half. Mix that tenacity with the ability to heat up from behind the arc and you’ve got an upset baby.

— Danny Clark

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Update: 8:54 p.m.
Loyola University Chicago vs. UC Davis

It’s only been two seasons since Loyola University Chicago made its miraculous Final Four run, but it already feels much longer than that.

Sure, Sister Jean is still on the sidelines. So is perpetual mid-major, hot-coaching name Porter Moser. Ramblers point guard Clayton Custer is on hand for the Ramblers’ season-opener against UC Davis, but as a spectator. Cameron Krutwig, the lone starter from LUC’s Final Four team, is on pace for a double-double (nine points, six rebounds) at halftime.

If one half is indicative of anything, then the Ramblers aren’t doing too shabby thus far. After weathering a slow start against a team picked in the bottom half of the Big West, the defending regular-season Missouri Valley Conference champs rallied back to lead 39-22. Loyola is outshooting the Aggies 56.3% to 33.3%, but that might not mean too much in light of how much UC Davis struggled offensively last season.

So far, UC Davis’s lone bright spot is senior center Matt Neufeld. Through one half, the onetime-Saint Louis Billiken is six points shy from tying his career-high of 17 points. The Aggies haven’t scored in 2:25.

— Kyle Cajero

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Update: 8:45 p.m.
Appalachian State vs. Michigan

ANN ARBOR — Meanwhile, the Dustin Kerns era has begun in Boone, North Carolina.

Unfortunately, a 2007 re-creation does not look too promising for the Mountaineers. Justin Forrest has continued where he left off last season, scoring 19 points so far in this one.

There’s still a shot for Appalachian State, but they trail 70-54 with only 5:55 remaining in this one.

— Preston Baker

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Update: 8:31 p.m.
George Washington vs. Towson

BALTIMORE — Towson is in foul trouble, with nine fouls with a little over 10 minutes left in the game.

But luckily, George Washington has shot only 30% from the floor in the second half. Jameer Nelson leads the Colonials with 13 points and Allen Betrand leads the Tigers with 16 points. Towson is leading 54-37 but GW is not out of it yet.

— Stephen Thompson

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We’re back.

I’m eating two slices of pizza, drinking precisely one beer and watching way too much college basketball. Yes, I’m single. Yes, you already knew that. No, I don’t plan on changing my ways. From now until the first week of April, college basketball is back in our lives, which is for the best.

If you need something to watch — or need some guidance as to where to start the 2019-20 basketball season — feel free to either consult the schedule we put together, or subscribe to ESPN+ and pick a game that suits your fancy.

My coworkers and I will be making periodic updates here, so be sure to check back throughout the night.

— Kyle Cajero