On Thursday night, the eyes of the sports a small, but important portion of the college basketball world were on Cleveland, Ohio Green Bay, Wisconsin, where a certain professional unbeaten Horizon League basketball superstar team returned to play in his former club's home arena for the first time since snubbing them for a warmer climate over the summer opened conference play. The crowd, venomous and unhappy small and quiet, left unhappy, as the Cleveland team lost won, 83-75. No arrests were reported in the aftermath.
While most people were indeed focusing on something relatively inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, it was a busy night of conference openers/early matchups. There was action in the Atlantic Sun, Big West, Horizon, NEC, OVC, SoCon, and Summit. Among these were now 9-0 Cleveland State's win at Green Bay and Murray State's thrilling 74-72 victory at Eastern Kentucky. However, there were many more, so click here and check out all of the scores on the sidebar.
If a team's name appears as a link, click it to visit that school's SB Nation blog for more coverage.
Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series
The Big 12 picked up three victories to take a 4-0 lead in the series, but it wasn't easy. Sure, Baylor had too much for Arizona State, as LaceDarius Dunn scored 24 and the Bears dominated on the boards (36-20) in a 68-54 victory, but Kansas needed a soft foul call on Malcolm Lee (which required a trip to the monitor) and a subsequent Mario Little free throw with 0.7 seconds remaining to top UCLA, 77-76, while Missouri nearly blew a 20-point halftime lead in an 83-80 win over Oregon.
There's one series game on the slate tonight.
Kansas State at Washington State, FSN/Comcast SportsNet (11 p.m. ET): Klay Thompson and the Cougars will look to upset the Wildcats in Pullman. A win in this game would be a huge boost for the Pac-10, which has consistently struggled in this event.
There are three other games on the TV/streaming slate for tonight.
UMBC at Connecticut, Big East Network/SNY/MASN/ESPN3 (7 p.m. ET): The Huskies continue the America East portion of their schedule, hoping that they'll have an easier time with the Retrievers than they did with New Hampshire on Tuesday night.
UAB at Georgia, SEC on FSN/ESPN3 (7 p.m. ET): The Bulldogs lost by 16 in Birmingham last season, but the Blazer roster looks a bit different now. Georgia is still trying to work things out after Trey Thompkins return from injury.
St. Joseph's at Villanova, ESPNU (8:30 p.m. ET): The Hawks, winners of the Philly Hoop Group challenge, will look to upset the Wildcats, who have been off for a week since falling to Tennessee in the NIT Season Tip-Off final, in the Holy War.
For information about late TV additions, visit Matt Sarz's College Sports on TV site. Another good resource is the schedule page at BB State.
Please share your thoughts about today and tonight's action in the comments, after you sign up for a free SB Nation account, of course.
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