How many quirks, peculiarities and surprises could be crammed into the first month of the college basketball season? Turns out, a lot.
A bag full of compelling numbers from November . . .
1 — Kansas came into the month at the top of the rankings and Purdue leaves it that way. The Boilermakers are No. 1 for a third consecutive season, and you know how many other Big Ten teams have ever done that? None. They’ve also won 31 consecutive regular season non-conference games.
3 — Marquette’s present ranking in the Associated Press poll, its highest spot in 45 years. The Golden Eagles have been hanging around other top vote-getters, beating the old No. 1 (Kansas) and losing to the new No. 1 (Purdue).
18 — Unbeaten teams at the end of November. That includes Nebraska, 7-0 for the first time in 31 years. Princeton, 7-0 for the first time since 1997. BYU, picked to finish 13th in its first season in the Big 12.
24 — Connecticut’s NCAA record consecutive winning streak by double figures against non-conference opponents. Impressive. That goes double when you consider it includes six games in the NCAA tournament. It'll go triple if that streak is still alive after the Huskies visit Kansas Friday night.
74-0 — Tom Izzo’s record at home in November coming into the season. Spotless. But not anymore. The No. 4 Spartans were shocked on opening day by James Madison 79-76 in overtime. It had been 31 years since James Madison last defeated a ranked opponent. The Dukes also became the first team in two decades to knock off an Associated Press top-5 team in its home opener. P.S. The Spartans were 1-for-20 from the 3-point line and 1-for-11 the next game.
36 — An Arizona player scored in double figures 36 times in November, including at least five in all six wins. So this is no shocker: The Wildcats left November as the nation’s highest scoring team at 95.3 points a game.
171-2 — Duke’s non-conference record at home since 1990, not counting the pandemic season when Cameron Indoor Stadium had nobody but ghosts in the seats. The first loss was in 2019 against Stephen F. Austin, the second this November against Arizona 78-73. Jon Scheyer had been 17-0 at home since replacing Mike Krzyzewski.
30 — Points by Monmouth graduate transfer Xander Rice to lead a 73-65 surprise of West Virginia. It was Rice’s second game playing for Monmouth coach King Rice. Who's also his father.
28 — Points by freshman Ja’Kobe Walter — emphasis on the Kobe — in his Baylor debut, to lead the Bears over Auburn 88-82. It was the most points a Baylor freshman had ever scored in his first game, and among the four highest in Big 12 history.
61.5 — Tennessee’s defensive average going into the North Carolina game. The Tar Heels proceeded to score 61 — in the first half. It ended 100-92, the third consecutive loss in the Vols’ Murderers’ Row trilogy of Purdue, Kansas and North Carolina. That was the first time in school history Tennessee had gone back-to-back-to-back against non-conference AP ranked opponents. Dalton Knecht’s 37 points against the Tar Heels — matching the most ever scored by an opponent in the Smith Center — would qualify him for losing player of the month award, if there was one.
3-51 — Western Carolina’s record against the ACC before barging into North Dame and beating the Irish 71-61.
0-2 — Go figure. Villanova could defeat Texas Tech, North Carolina and Memphis to win the Battle 4 Atlantis but could not beat Penn or Saint Joseph’s to go 0-2 in Philadelphia’s Big 5 play. The two defeats matched Villanova’s total Big 5 losses in the past 10 years.
1957 — The last time Oklahoma State lost a season opener at home, until Abilene Christian dumped the Cowboys 64-59. Abilene Christian’s only other win over Oklahoma State was in 1966.
0 — Minutes played by USC’s Bronny James, alias LeBron’s oldest kid. He’s been recovering from a terrifying cardiac arrest incident during the summer. But on the final day of November, he was medically cleared to start practice. Sometime in December, he’ll likely be seen going to the scorer’s table to check in. Probably be best if it’s a Lakers off day.
77.5 — Percent of Kansas baskets in November set up by assists. The Jayhawks have only 49 field goals so far this season that were not aided and abetted by a pass.
81 — Kentucky has scored at least 81 points in all seven games. The last time Wildcats did that was 1970. They scored 118 against Marshall for the most ever in the John Calipari era and crushed No. 8 Miami 95-73 for their largest win ever over a top-10 team in Rupp Arena. Clearly, it’s an inflammable bunch — down 37-34 to Miami, they blew away the Hurricanes 33-6 over the next nine minutes — but also sound, averaging only 8.1 turnovers a game.
5 — Consecutive years Baylor has dented the AP top-10. Only Duke and Kansas can also say that. The Bears are back despite losing four starters and 68 percent of the scoring from last season.
0-14 — Long Beach State’s record in Big Ten arenas, until the Beach roared from 16 points behind to beat Michigan 94-86 in Ann Arbor.
61-0 — Eric Musselman’s career record in home games against non-conference opponents, until UNC Greensboro took down Arkansas 78-72.
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0-10 — Bryant’s record against ranked teams since joining Division I, by an average losing margin for 28.8 points. That was before the Bulldogs knocked off No. 10 Florida Atlantic 61-52.
22 — On Nov. 19, 22 Division I teams woke up still winless. That included 0-5 Jackson State. The Tigers went to bed that night 1-5, having stunned Missouri 73-72, their first win over an SEC opponent since 1995. It was their sixth road game in 14 days, in four different states.
22 — Colorado State’s losing streak against top-10 opponents, going back to 1984. Not anymore. The Rams blew away Creighton 69-48.
40 — Greg Kampe’s years at Oakland, making him the longest-tenured coach in Division I at one school, now that Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim are collecting their retirement pay. The Golden Grizzlies have marked the occasion by pushing Oho State and Illinois to the wire and beating Xavier.
21-30-40 — Scoring by Hofstra’s Tyler Thomas in the Pride’s three victories to take the Gulf Coast Showcase. He became the first Division I player in the nation to reach 40 points in a game this season against High Point, playing all 45 minutes of a 97-92 overtime win.
84 — Free throws shot in Wofford’s 99-98 win over High Point. There were 58 fouls called.
1,032 — Baylor had made at least one 3-pointer in that many games in a row going back to 1990, until the Bears went 0-for-9 in a 77-62 win over Gardner-Webb.
0.4 — Max Abmas’ fall-away jumper with 0.4 seconds saved No. 19 Texas against Louisville 81-80. Care for an item off the moral victory tray, Louisville? In last season's 4-28 disaster, the Cardinals were 0-7 against ranked teams by an average of 19 points.
65-41 — Wisconsin’s win over Virginia, the fewest points the Badgers had ever allowed a AP ranked opponent.
14 — When Florida State scored the first nine points of overtime to beat Colorado 77-71, it was the Seminoles' 14th OT victory in a row, going back to 2018.
62-42 — Evansville’s deficit against Chattanooga with 11:40 left. The Aces then went on a 43-15 roll to get their fifth win, 85-77 in overtime, matching last season’s victory total on November 24. The next day, Evansville would go 6-0 for the first time since 1964.
17 — Players ejected from both sides after the benches cleared during Jacksonville’s 74-65 win over Robert Morris. Each team finished with only five available players.
30 — Years since San Diego State had won back-to-back overtime games. The Aztecs took care of that by beating California 76-67 and Washington 100-97 over seven days.
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40 — Fouls called on New Mexico State in its 90-84 overtime loss at Louisville. The Cardinals had a 36-9 edge in free throws. The Aggies were down for four players on the floor the last 21 seconds.
30.9 — Gonzaga’s 3-point shooting through November. The Zags have not finished a season under 35 percent this century.
7-0 — Jerome Tang’s record in overtime games in his second year at Kansas State. Seven of his first 31 victories as Wildcats coach have gone OT.
What November can do, as the appetizer for the season, is to give a taste of the mayhem and inexplicable twists that happen in college basketball.
James Madison is the final Associated Press top 25 poll of the month, but not Michigan State. Arkansas could lose at home to UNC Greensboro but 12 days later beat Duke. Saint Joseph’s couldn’t handle Texas A&M-Commerce but could knock off Villanova in the Wildcats' own Finneran Pavilion for the first time in 20 years and take Kentucky into overtime in Rupp Arena. Syracuse could come from 24 points down in the final 16 minutes to beat Colgate. Nicholls State could blow a 24-point lead at LSU and self-administer CPR in time to still win in the last second of overtime. That handed Tevan Sadler his first victory as a 28-year-old coach, the youngest Division I.
There could be three 3-pointers in the last 15 seconds of overtime in the Maryland Eastern Shore-Penn game. Penn hit two to tie, then Elijah Wilson answered in the last second to give UMES an 83-80 win. UT Arlington and Arizona could be tied 32-32 with four minutes left in the first half, and have the game end 101-56 for the Wildcats.
Or consider Kennesaw State in the TowneBank Holiday Classic. On Monday, Demond Robinson hit a 12-footer at the buzzer for the Owls to edge Northeastern. The next day, Kennesaw State lost on a halfcourt shot at the buzzer by East Carolina’s Bobby Pettiford Jr.
November can giveth and November can taketh away, as it should. It also left Purdue No. 1 and Arizona No. 2. They play in two weeks in Indianapolis.
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