ACU Pulls the Upset, A GCU Sweep, and First-Year Head Coaches Can Coach
Wild Opening Night of the 2023-24 Season resulted in some upsets, wild comebacks, first wins for new head coaches and more.
The 2023-24 season is finally here and it got off to a wild start on Monday night around the WAC.
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Now, back to Opening Night. Technically, we could call it Opening Day/Night because we had two games EARLY to open the 2023-24 season. The SFA men’s and women’s basketball teams held a doubleheader at The Sawmill on what we can dub ‘Elementary School Day’. Both teams played a non-Division I opponent and both rolled to victories. Along with that both scored 100-plus points in their respective wins.
SFA women’s basketball head coach Leonard Bishop got his first win as a head coach. Kurstyn Harden led the way with 17 points in just 18 minutes of floor time in the 118-46 win that was never really close.
What’s funny about it, is the game was so early on Monday, that typos happened on Twitter/X and a tweet went semi-viral after Sickos caught it.
Yeah, this tweet about the final score, although a typo, got a ton of attention on Monday morning. Good times to open the 2023-24 season.
Teams that Beat Non-Division I Opponents
I am not a fan of non-Division I games, so I won’t make a big fuss over those games. We will just make a little list of final scores against non-Division I opponents.
Women’s Basketball
SFA 118, Oklahoma Panhandle State 46
Utah Tech 116, La Verne 59
Abilene Christian 77, Southwest Assemblies of God 52
Tarleton 106, Howard Payne 38
Men’s Basketball
SFA 96, North American 68
Utah Valley 81, Carroll College 73
UTRGV 110, Southwestern Adventist 59
California Baptist 74, San Francisco State 57
GCU Sweeps Home Doubleheader in Much Different Ways
To say that Opening Night at GCU Arena on Monday was wild would be an understatement. The GCU men and women held an Opening Night doubleheader. The GCU women played host to WCC foe Saint Mary’s while the men played host to Southeast Missouri State, a 2023 NCAA Tournament team.
And the outcomes were so extremely different that it might be challenging to put into words.
First, let’s start with the GCU women. Through three quarters, it was pretty darn ugly. Turnovers galore, couldn’t hit a shot, and just couldn’t figure out the Saint Mary’s zone defense. All in all, the Lopes trailed by 16 after three quarters.
But, that might be the beauty of the quarter system in basketball. Things can change in a hurry. And they did at GCU Arena. With 7:32 to play, the game looked all but over. Saint Mary’s led 52-33 after a Hannah Rapp 3-pointer and the Gaels looked poised to leave the desert with a nice road win.
However, a 19-0 run over the next seven minutes changed all that. And then, as the clock was winding down, from the top of the key, Naudia Evans called game and sent the GCU faithful into a frenzy.
The preseason favorites are fortunate to be 1-0 to open the 2023-24 season. However, Molly Miller and company will take it.
On the flip side, the GCU men have had a lot of hype leading up to Monday night. And, led by Tyon Grant-Foster’s 30 points, the Lopes rolled to a 88-67 win over the Redhawks to complete the Opening Night sweep. Grant-Foster was an efficient 10-15 from the field in his first ‘official’ GCU ball game. This might be the scary part for the WAC…Preseason Player of the Year Ray Harrison had just three points and the Lopes still won by 21 points.
New Head Coaches Get First Win
There were five new head coaches coaching their first games on Monday night. Four of the five came away with wins and the fifth nearly coached his team to a wild win.
Leonard Bishop, SFA WBB - Ladyjacks got off to a good start with a 118-46 win in Bishop’s first game. Ladyjacks have a big test on Friday when they host Liberty.
Bill Brock, Tarleton WBB - The Texans struggled in 2022-23 and it led to a coaching change. Sure, they played a non-Division I opponent on Opening Night but they dominated as they should have in Brock’s first game.
KT Turner, UT Arlington MBB - In arguably the best game of the night, UT Arlington handed Turner his first win as head coach with a big 75-71 home win over Oral Roberts.
Todd Phillips, Utah Valley MBB - It might not have been as big of a win but a win is a win and the Wolverines gave Phillips his first win as UVU head coach. Now the test begins with a trip to Sam Houston on Thursday.
Rob Jeter, Southern Utah MBB - It was heartbreak city at the Icardo Center Monday night for the T-Birds. Two late free throws were the difference in a 73-72 loss. But Jeter showed he can coach in the comeback attempt.
Abilene Christian Gets Win of the Night
If you remember, in my preview article for games I was watching on Opening Night, I raised the following question:
“We have seen opening night magic happen before. Can ACU, with its experienced roster, pull off some magic to start a new season?”
Well, that experienced roster, led by Ali Dibba Hunter Jack Madden and Airion Simmons led almost wire-to-wire in a 64-59 win at Oklahoma State.
The Wildcats were on lockdown the entire night and despite four turnovers in the final 30 seconds, were able to come out of Stillwater with a big win.
Ali Dibba finished with a team-high 14 points. Keep an eye on him as he could be a star in 2023-24.
The difference in the ball game was that ACU hit five more field goals than the Pokes and got the stops when they needed to. Either way, Brette Tanner’s crew opens 1-0 and has the first win over a Power Conference team of the season.
Utah Valley Women Get In-State Win
It wasn’t pretty. They didn’t shoot the ball very well. And yet, somehow, on Opening Night, the Utah Valley women’s basketball team found a way to grind out a win over in-state foe Weber State at the UCCU Center.
For what it’s worth, Utah Valley was just 3-18 from the 3-point line and if we are being honest, they are fortunate they hit three as one of those three came when Ally Criddle called bank in the first half.
There were eight lead changes and eight ties with neither team ever taking a lead bigger than seven.
Criddle had a team-high 12 points while Kaylee Byon had 11 for the Wolverines. Utah Valley now has a week off before heading across town to take on BYU on Nov. 14.
One Game on Tuesday
There is just one game on Tuesday. The UTRGV women’s basketball team heads North to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech. Lane Lord’s crew has an experienced point guard in Iyana Dorsey plus some size so we will see what happens.