While most of the country was busy watching an ultimately meaningless football game between two mid-major powers, a hoops mid-major scored the biggest upset of the year.
College of Charleston stunned ninth-ranked North Carolina, 82-79, thanks to a good shooting night and a lot of Tar Heel mistakes. The Cougars wouldn't have made it to overtime had Andrew Goudelock hit this three with 2.1 seconds left in regulation to tie the game back up.
The other ranked teams in action last night fared better than the Heels.
- No. 18 Florida State had a far easier time with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi than second-ranked Texas did Saturday, routing the Islanders, 94-54.
- No. 23 Pittsburgh won a thriller at Cincinnati, 74-71. That's the second straight Big East road win for the Panthers.
Monday night featured quite a bit of mid-major conference action.
- In the Atlantic Sun, ETSU survived a trip to USC Upstate, 63-62; Jacksonville rebounded from their loss to Mercer by crushing Kennessaw State, 91-52; the Bears meanwhile won their second straight by topping North Florida, 84-79. Belmont also recovered from a Saturday loss, topping hapless Stetson, 85-71, but Florida Gulf Coast couldn't keep their momentum. They fell to Lipscomb, 89-79.
- Coastal Carolina stayed unbeaten in the Big South, as they defeated Presbyterian, 76-62. Radford kept pace with the Chanticleers by pounding Gardner-Webb, 75-45. Charleston Southern topped former league standard-bearer Winthrop, 57-54.
- Out in the Big West, UC Davis moved to 2-0 thanks to an 85-73 home win over Northridge. UC Santa Barbara picked up their first conference win, 57-53 over UC Riverside. Cal Poly won their league opener at UC Irvine, 95-81.
- It was a topsy-turvy night in the CAA. Old Dominion could be back in the early driver's seat thanks to a 87-71 win at Towson. That's because William & Mary was upset by UNCW, 62-61 in Williamsburg. The Seahawks were obliterated by VCU on Saturday. Speaking of the Rams, Northeastern upset them 62-57 in Richmond. Also, Drexel crushed Georgia State in Atlanta, 72-57; George Mason also knocked off Hofstra, 67-63; and James Madison got a 71-65 win over Delaware.
- Over in the MAAC, Siena still leads the pack, as they cruised past Loyola in Baltimore, 76-56; Niagara got a 77-68 home win over Fairfield; St. Peter's defeated Marist, 61-49; Canisius topped Iona, 77-65; and Rider, who's seemingly fallen off the face of the earth, snuck past Manhattan on the road, 65-64.
- Morehead State topped Tennessee State, 72-66, in OVC action. Eastern Kentucky announced that they will again be factors in the race, as they picked up a 76-71 home win over Austin Peay. Murray State stayed in front of them all by crushing Tennessee-Martin, 83-59. In other games, Eastern Illinois got a thrilling 97-93 win over Tennessee Tech, and Southeast Missouri knocked off Jacksonville State, 78-66.
- While the Cougars picked up a marquee win for the league, Davidson topped Samford, 66-56, in a SoCon game.
- SWAC play opened up Monday. Texas Southern demolished Alcorn State, 89-56; Alabama State won at Grambling, 70-55; Jackson State got a 71-60 home win over Alabama A&M; Prairie View had no trouble with Southern, 68-49; Arkansas Pine Bluff won their very first game of the year, 69-68, over Mississippi Valley State.
- In the WAC, Louisiana Tech could be for real, people. The Bulldogs blasted Utah State in Ruston, 82-60. Nevada rebounded from their loss to Kerry Rupp's team by beating New Mexico State, 77-67 in Las Cruces. Meanwhile, it wasn't a great night for the two Idaho members of the conference. San Jose State topped the Vandals, 78-75, while Hawai'i got a 76-68 home win over Boise State.
After the jump, I'll take a look at Monday's non-conference action and Tuesday's TV schedule.
In non-conference action Monday night,
- Alabama won at Toledo, 67-50.
- Harvard went out to Santa Clara and picked up a 74-66 victory.
- Maine followed up their win at Boston College with a 52-50 win over Princeton.
- Robert Morris snuck past Morgan State, 78-75.
- Maryland-Eastern Shore was no match for Oklahoma, falling 88-54.
- Northwestern State lost at home to NAIA Southern-New Orleans, 95-89.
- SEC teams had mixed results against Sun Belt opponents Monday. While Vanderbilt knocked off Middle Tennessee, 73-53; Western Kentucky was able to stun Mississippi State, 55-52.
If you don't see your team's score, click any of the score links. You'll find a rundown of all of the day's scores on the right side of the page.
For more on Monday's action, visit SB Nation and Searching For Billy Edelin.
On Tuesday, there will be Big Ten, Big East, and Mountain West action, along with a few final non-league tests for SEC, ACC, and Big 12 teams. All times are p.m. Eastern.
- Minnesota at No. 4 Purdue (ESPN, 7): The Gophers may not have much of a chance at Mackey Arena.
- No. 2 Texas at Arkansas (ESPN2, 7): The Longhorns will look to avenge last season's stunning loss to the Razorbacks. With John Pelphrey's personnel issues, they should be able to do so.
- Notre Dame at USF (ESPNU, 7): A win over the Irish would be a big boost to Stan Heath's program. Conversely, a loss in Tampa could really hurt Notre Dame's tourney chances.
- Georgia Tech at Georgia (SEC on CSS/Full Court, 7): If this game were in Atlanta, I'm pretty sure no one would show up tonight.
- Longwood at South Carolina (FS South/FCS Atlantic, 7): Over/under on number of times "Sandstorm" is played: less than the amount of times it was played in Charleston last night.
- Iowa at Illinois (BIg Ten, 9): The Hawkeyes are searching for their first Big Ten win, while the Illini fell to Gonzaga in an overtime thriller Saturday.
- Miami (OH) at Colorado (FS Rocky Mountain/Full Court, 9): This is the Redhawks' best chance at getting a win against a "name" program.
- No. 15 New Mexico at San Diego State (the mtn., 10:30): The Lobos face open up the Mountain West season on the road, and the Aztecs are an opponent looking to make a name for themselves in the Tournament race. You can find full coverage of this one over at Mountain West Connection.
For info about games that will only be telecast regionally like, Ball State at Dayton, visit Matt Sarz' College Sports on TV site.