NCAA Basketball: Early overreactions from Day 1 of 2021-22 season

What were some other ugly losses in the Power 5 landscape?

Washington Huskies

Pac-12 basketball is giving the Washington Huskies the side-eye right now after their season-opening 71-64 loss against Northern Illinois. The Huskies aren’t off to a good start entering head coach Mike Hopkins sixth year on the sidelines. Coming off a 5-21 season in 2020-21, the Huskies will need to turn things around in a hurry or Hopkins could find his seat heating up.

The loss overshadows Nate Roberts’ 10-point and 19-rebound (career-high) double-double and Terrell Brown Jr. led the way with 22 points. They’ll need to bounce back on Thursday against Northern Arizona.

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska basketball is already experiencing some early growing pains with their roster turnover in Game 1 following a 75-74 loss to Western Illinois on Day 1. The Cornhuskers are now 1-2 in season-openers under head coach Fred Hoiberg following a disastrous result in a game where they were 16-point favorites.

Alonzo Verge Jr. missed an opportunity to win it at the buzzer following a 3-point dagger from Luka Barisic that put the Leathernecks up for good, 75-74. It was a game where adversity showed itself at every turn for Nebraska basketball.

They were outrebounded 57-37 and dished out six assists to 12 turnovers. They shot 39 percent from the field, 25 percent from 3-point range, and 74.2 percent from the free-throw line.

The result overshadowed Bryce McGowens’ 25 points, the most by a freshman in their debut and Verge’s first career double-double (26 points & 13 rebounds) along with five assists.

Without Verge’s five assists, the team dished out just one assist as a unit. They’ll need to improve all-around this Friday against Sam Houston State.