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What We Learned from Day 1: Memphis Makes a Statement, McNeese Sets the Tone

2026-11-03

Opening night gives us evidence, not a finished picture. A good win can change the conversation immediately. A bad loss can expose a problem worth watching. Neither should erase everything we thought about a team before the season began.

The November 2 slate delivered both kinds of results. Memphis earned the headline victory, McNeese produced one of the loudest statements, and several teams left themselves specific things to fix.

Biggest statement: Memphis already has a meaningful win

Memphis beat No. 18 Iowa State 80–76 on a neutral floor in Sioux Falls. The Tigers did more than survive a late scramble: they scored 40 points in each half against a ranked opponent.

Jayden Reid supplied 26 points, Luke Almodovar added 18 and eight rebounds, and Rihards Vavers scored 15. Reid made 12 of 14 free throws; Memphis finished 25 of 33 as a team. Those trips mattered in a four-point game.

What we learned: Memphis has an early result that belongs in a serious national conversation. One win does not establish consistency, but beating this opponent is a much stronger opening argument than a comfortable win over an overmatched visitor.

What still needs proving: The Tigers made nine of 20 threes. We should watch how their offense functions when that percentage comes down. Opening night raised the ceiling conversation; the next few weeks will tell us more about the floor.

McNeese made the strongest case for a closer look

McNeese handled UAB 99–78, with Larry Johnson scoring 31 and Jaylon Dean-Vines adding 17. The Cowboys shot 38 of 69 from the field and scored 55 points after halftime.

This was a 21-point win against another Division I program, rather than a scoring outburst against a lower-division opponent. That distinction matters when deciding which opening-night margins deserve attention.

What we learned: McNeese deserves an immediate place on the watch list. The Cowboys showed enough offensive punch to turn a competitive matchup into a decisive result.

What still needs proving: Shooting that well for an entire season is a different assignment. The useful follow-up is whether McNeese continues to create advantages when the first few jumpers miss.

A familiar contender did what a contender should do

Gonzaga opened with a 78–72 win over Purdue. Davis Fogle scored 22, Xaivian Lee added 18, and the Bulldogs had four double-figure scorers.

That is an encouraging distribution of responsibility against a credible opponent. Gonzaga also made 26 of 34 free throws, giving itself a way to score beyond its field-goal production.

What we learned: A program expected to matter nationally gave us a result consistent with that expectation. This belongs in the reassuring category rather than the stunning-surprise category.

What still needs proving: A six-point win is not a declaration that every rotation question is settled. It is a useful first test passed.

Miami earned a road win worth remembering

Miami (Ohio) beat James Madison 86–77 in Harrisonburg after trailing 41–35 at halftime. The RedHawks scored 51 second-half points.

Luke Skaljac finished with 19 points and five assists. Evan Ipsaro contributed 15 points, five assists and four steals. Miami got meaningful production from both guards in a game it had to turn around away from home.

What we learned: This was a useful early road test, and Miami passed it. Recovering from a halftime deficit makes the result more instructive than the final nine-point margin alone.

For JMU: Giving up 51 in the second half is the issue to examine. Losing to another mid-major is not automatically alarming; failing to slow a visiting offense after halftime is a concrete concern to carry into the next game.

Panic meter: UAB has work to do; Vermont needs perspective

UAB — elevated concern. The opponent was good, but allowing 99 points is still a warning. McNeese made 12 threes and shot 55.1% overall. UAB also committed 14 turnovers. The Blazers need a better defensive response, not a season obituary. The next test is whether those problems repeat.

Vermont — frustration, not panic. The Catamounts lost 56–55 at Iona after leading 29–21 at halftime. Gus Yalden scored 17, but Vermont shot 19 of 53 overall and eight of 31 from three. A one-point road loss leaves little room for sweeping conclusions. The more useful question is whether the offense can produce better possessions when perimeter shots are not falling.

JMU — watch the next defensive performance. The Miami result warrants attention because of how the second half unfolded. It does not establish where the Dukes will finish in the Sun Belt.

Three individual performances that caught our attention

These are selected standouts from the games discussed here, not a complete national ranking:

Opening night rewarded teams that could generate offense beyond a single option and keep scoring when the game tightened. Memphis earned the biggest headline here. McNeese supplied a reason to reconsider how closely we are watching. For the teams on the wrong side of those results, the next response will tell us more than an immediate rush to panic.

Sources

Results and statistics were checked against official athletic-department reports and box scores. Assessments and concern levels are MMH editorial judgments, not betting-line comparisons or claims about MMH's frozen predictions.