NCAA Basketball: Biggest power conference upsets in 1st week of 2021-22

Big East Conference

*Dartmouth 69 Georgetown 60

The Big East is not a power five conference, but they are easily considered the best mid-major conference for NCAA Basketball. Xavier on opening night had a scare at home against
Niagara when they only won their game by three points. Creighton at home was losing at halftime to Kennesaw State before playing better in the second half and winning by seven.

Marquette held off New Hampshire at home to win by only five points and the Big East only had one upset during week one play. Georgetown who won the Big East tournament last season was losing to Dartmouth by a score of 37-21 at halftime. The Hoyas played a better second half but they couldn’t overcome the deficit and ended up losing by nine.

PAC-12

*Northern Illinois 71 Washington 64

*UC Riverside 66 Arizona State 65

*UC San Diego 80 California 67

*Santa Clara 88 Stanford 72

The Pac-12 like the ACC had a bad week one overall, with four teams losing games in which they should have easily won. On opening night, California was winning at halftime against UC San Diego, but then in the second half on the Bears home court, the Tritons outscored Cal by 17 in the second half and UC San Diego pulled off the upset with an outstanding second-half performance.

Then also on the opening night for college basketball, Washington hosted Northern Illinois who was picked in the preseason MAC poll to finish last in the conference, and in the battle of the Huskies, Northern Illinois lead 36-27 at the half. Washing played a better second half but ended up getting upset and losing by seven.

UC Riverside who lost by 13 to San Diego State two days earlier, went on the road again but this time to play Arizona State. The Highlanders played a great first half and led by two over the Sun Devils entering the second half of play. Arizona State played a better second half but on the last play, UC Riverside’s J.P. Moorman II made a long three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Highlanders the huge upset.

Finally, Santa Clara went to Stanford confident after winning their season opener but an upset over the Cardinals was not expected. Santa Clara had a great first half and led Stanford entering the second half with a 45-32 lead. The Broncos outscored Stanford by only three points in the second half but it was enough for a convincing 88-72 win over the Cardinals.

SEC Conference

*Princeton 66 South Carolina 62

The SEC was 11-0 on the season-opening night for college basketball and they also won all three of their games the following night. However, the only upset for an SEC team in week one play was when South Carolina hosted Princeton from the Ivy League. The Tigers took a 31-25 lead heading into halftime with a really solid defensive performance.

In the second half, the Gamecocks played better but were unable to put enough points on the board ended up losing by four points to Princeton. There was a scare for an SEC team but Texas A&M in double overtime defeated Abilene Christian.

Who knows what week two for college basketball will hold as we begin easing into the tournaments and MTE’s and week three will have some great match-ups so college basketball fans should be excited and even possibly ready for more upsets to occur in the near future.