NCAA Basketball: Major upsets in Week 1 of 2020-21 season

A look at some of the upsets that occurred in week 1 of the 2020-21 NCAA Basketball season.

Even though most college sports fans are still focused on watching and following their favorite football teams, NCAA Basketball made their season debut after a delayed start this week.

Even though some fans have bigger things on their minds this holiday season with the rise in COVID-19 cases nationwide and with many scheduled games were canceled or postpone this week, many college basketball teams were still excited to see their favorite programs open up season play this week.

Last season saw its fair share of upsets last season but this year in week one that didn’t start until Wednesday is seeing many big-name programs losing not only to inferior opponents but in some cases by double digits and on their home court.

It is understandable that some programs are off to a slow start as many have not even played a game until early March as many conference tournaments were canceled and there was no NCAA Tournament in 2019. Also, some programs had to have long pauses from practicing due to positive COVID-19 cases within their program that have last as long as two weeks.

The below list would have been longer but teams like Syracuse, Oklahoma State, Illinois, Butler, Xavier won single-digit games with some of them being decided by only one point, and teams like USC and UCLA needed overtime to win their non-conference games against inferior opponents from lesser-known schools. Let’s take a look conference by conference at the well-known teams that lost in non-conference play in week 1.

ACC Conference

No. 4 ranked Virginia lost on a neutral court to San Francisco in the best upset in week 1 play by a final score of 61-60.

Pittsburgh losing on their home court to little-known St. Francis (PA) by double digits and losing by a score of 80-70.
Georgia Tech losing at home to an in-state school in Georgia State in quadruple overtime by a final score of 123 to 120.

Georgia Tech lost again on their home court to Mercer but this time they were beaten by double digits by a score of 83-73.

Big 12 Conference

Kansas State lost on their home court to Drake by a final score of 80-70 in the Little Apple Classic.

Mountain West Conference

UNLV losing on their home court to Montana State by 13 points as the Running Rebels feel to the Bobcats by a final score of 91-78.

Utah State losing by 24 points to Sout Dakota State in the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic.

SEC Conference

Mississippi State losing to Liberty by double digits Space Coast Challenge by a final score 84-73.

LSU loses on the road to St. Louis in the Billiken Classic as the final score was 85-81.

South Carolina on a neutral court lost by double digits to Liberty in the Hall of Fame Classic with the final score being 78-62.

Technically, the start of the new week begins on Sunday, for many teams in the Power Five conferences and from well-known programs, it is a new week to refocus and regroup heading into week two. We shall see if the upsets continue or lessen in number but only time will tell.