Kentucky had a lot to celebrate tonight. (USATSI)
Kentucky had a lot to celebrate tonight. (USATSI)

College basketball's opening night has been one replete with style, but ultimately not much substance as the big boys mostly rolled. 

In fact, no top-25 team lost, and outside of Michigan State none really came close to losing in the end. It was an eventful night, but also a listless one without excitement from the high-major programs. Let's look at some of the biggest storylines from Friday's opening night action.

Kentucky's platoon passes first regular season test against Grand Canyon

Much has been made of Kentucky's platoon this offseason, and whether or not coach John Calipari would stick with it throughout entire games. Our first answer is in, and Calipari largely stuck to the script until he mixed and matched near the end when the game was out of hand. Utilizing lineups of Andrew Harrison-Aaron Harrison-Alex Poythress-Karl Towns-Willie Cauley Stein and Tyler Ulis-Devin Booker-Marcus Lee-Trey Lyles-Dakari Johnson, the Wildcats got out to a 43-16 halftime lead en route to an 85-45 win. The scoring was pretty well-rounded, with seven players scoring between 16 and seven points. Andrew Harrison led the way with 16, and he seemed very assertive getting into the middle of the defense. The freshmen were fine too, as Towns debuted with an eight point, eight rebound night, Lyles scored 14, and Ulis displayed his trademark hustle defense. A ho-hum performance for the top team in the land.

Duke freshmen show out in debut

We knew that the Presbyterian-Duke matchup was going to be pretty ugly. The Blue Devils are among the most talented teams in the country, and the Blue Hose were projected as the 321st-best team in the country. But I don't think even the most optimistic Duke fan could have envisioned what happened on Friday night, with the Blue Devils defeating Presbyterian 113-44. But that's not the real story. The important part of this game was always going to be how the freshmen performed, and boy did they not disappoint. Jahlil Okafor led the way with 19 points, six rebounds, and four assists, and he overpowered everyone that Presbyterian could put in front of him.

Tyus Jones 15 points and added seven assists, including this one to fellow freshman Justise Winslow, who scored 15 points of his own:

Even the fourth piece of their recruiting class, Grayson Allen, got in on the action, scoring 18 points on seven shots. Coach Mike Krzyzewski is going to have a lot of fun with these guys, trying to find different ways for them to get involved. 

Defending champions struggle with Bryant

Bryant is a school in the NEC that was expected to finish somewhere in the middle of the league. Connecticut, if you hadn't heard, won the national championship last season. But none of that mattered on Friday night, as the Bulldogs gave the Huskies all they could handle for about 33 minutes before eventually running out of steam and falling to Kevin Ollie's squad 66-53. Ryan Boatright put the Huskies on his back in the second half, scoring 16 of his 24 points in addition to adding eight rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Overall though, this wasn't a strong performance by UConn and they'll need to show a bit more if they're going to be expected to compete with Texas, Florida and Duke in their non-conference schedule. But for now they'll be happy to get out of Gampel with a victory, and ecstatic with Boatright doing things like this.

VCU defeats Tennessee in Veteran's Classic, but suffers Lewis scare

Virginia Commonwealth did what was expected of them in their 85-69 win against Tennessee. They showed off a ton of different looks, sometimes going big or small, other times going fast or slow. Plus, they did it without suspended point guard Briante Weber and without a big contribution from Treveon Graham, who was largely locked up by Josh Richardson all night. It was a great win, and one that showed that the Rams are very much for real. Richardson was fantastic in defeat, scoring 17 points with six rebounds and three blocks, including this one on Graham:

Despite the win, the biggest story coming out of Annapolis for the Rams is the status of JeQuan Lewis, who took a terrifying fall and looked to have been unconscious on the floor momentarily. CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish was on the scene and gave a quick update about the incident. 

Michigan State survives the Veteran's Classic against Navy

Michigan State looked shaky all night against the Midshipmen, but came away with a five point win in the second game of the Veteran's Classic. Travis Trice was the Spartans' saving grace, scoring 25 points and adding five rebounds and five assists. A lot of the questions that people had about this team came to fruition tonight, as Trice was their only source of consistent offense. Denzel Valentine was pretty invisible as someone that coach Tom Izzo will need to take a step forward on offense, despite his six assists. Branden Dawson did his typical hustle things in the first half, but only scored two points in the second half. It seems like a lot of the Spartans' offense is going to depend on how much they can get out of Trice. We probably shouldn't take a ton away from what was likely an emotional game for the Midshipmen as hosts of the event, but it still seems pretty clear that Izzo has some work to do with this group. 

Louisville takes the Pitino Bowl with ease

In a father-son matchup at the Armed Forces event in Puerto Rico, Rick Pitino got the better of his son Richard 81-68. But neither coach was the biggest star of the night. Montrezl Harrell dropped 30 points, including this to open the game for the Cardinals:

He made three 3-pointers on the night. If Harrell is going to confidently knock down 3s and stretch the floor for the Cardinals, his ceiling as a collegiate player this is incredibly high. Even beyond the 3s, Harrell dominated all over the floor and was the best player in all of college basketball tonight. Potential All-ACC point guard Terry Rozier also put in a strong performance, scoring 18 points and adding six rebounds, four assists, and four steals. The Cardinals looked like the national championship contender that they are tonight. On the other side, I don't think this means a ton for Minnesota. They faced a team that likes to do similar things but is just clearly more talented right now. Andre Hollins poured in an efficient 18 points, and as long as they have him they should be able to contend for an NCAA Tournament bid.  

#5 Kansas defeats plucky UC-Santa Barbara team by 10 at Phog Allen Fieldhouse

In a physical, ugly game, Kansas came away with a 69-59 win against a tough mid-major in UC-Santa Barbara. The Jayhawks got a well-rounded performance with five guys scoring between 14 and nine points. They probably would have liked to see a stronger performance though, given that their next matchup is Kentucky on Tuesday. UCSB's 2-3 zone forced Bill Self's team into 16 turnovers, and repeated failed defensive rotations led to open Gaucho looks. Alan Williams of UCSB was a dominant force inside as usual, scoring 22 points and adding 13 rebounds with four blocks, but the Kansas bigs availed themselves well in making life extremely difficult for him. UCSB faces a pretty tough schedule with five high-major out-of-conference opponents, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them pull an upset or two based on their performance tonight.

Arizona defeats Mount St. Mary's behind career night from Brandon Ashley

Arizona is your second-ranked team in the country right now, and boy did they get off to a sleepy start against Mount St. Mary's tonight. With three minutes left in the first half, they only led 28-25 after an MSM layup. They kicked it into overdrive though to end the half, punctuated by these two consecutive emphatic Rondae Hollis-Jefferson slams.

Hollis-Jefferson scored 15 en route to the Wildcats' 78-55 win, but tonight was Brandon Ashley's night. The returning forward scored 21 points on 9/10 shooting and added six rebounds on his way to a career game. It's an excellent showing for the junior who broke his foot last season and had to watch as Arizona crashed out in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. He's probably their most important player this year due to his offensive and defensive versatility. If the Wildcats can get a lot of him, they could win a national title.

Mid-league SEC teams struggle

While Kentucky and Florida ran roughshod over their competition, many of the other teams in the league struggled. Georgia lost to rival Georgia Tech, and didn't look particularly engaged until the midpoint of the second half.  But that wasn't even close to the worst result of the night for the conference. Ole Miss lost in spectacular fashion in overtime to Charleston Southern, who was predicted to be a mid-league team in the Big South.

(h/t Rob Dauster of CollegeBasketballTalk)

That had potential to be the worst loss of the season for the conference, but Missouri outdid the Rebels just hours later. The Tigers aren't expected to be particularly good this season, but losing 69-61 to UMKC, who KenPom projects to be the 250th best team in the country, is certainly not a good start to the year. Taking these outcomes in conjunction with the aforementioned Tennessee loss, and the SEC's reputation doesn't look to be getting any better than it was last year despite increased expectations. At least Texas A&M -- rather impressively, actually -- Alabama, and South Carolina took care of business. Oh, and Auburn won in Bruce Pearl's debut despite trying their best to give a game away to Milwaukee.

Other outcomes of note:

  • Wisconsin started strong, looked strong in the middle of the game, and then finished strong in beating Northern Kentucky 62-31. Frank Kaminsky had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists, and Sam Dekker added 15 points himself.
  • Florida pulled away from William & Mary late in the first half, scoring a 23-point win. Dorian Finney-Smith looked good as the team's offensive centerpiece, scoring 11 second-half points. 
  • North Carolina led the whole way against North Carolina Central, eventually winning 76-60. Marcus Paige only scored eight points, but Brice Johnson picked up the slack with 12 points and eight rebounds in a well-rounded effort.
  • Ohio State kicked off the post-Aaron Craft era with a 92-55 win against UMass-Lowell. Freshman D'Angelo Russell lived up to his lofty hype, scoring 16 points and adding six rebounds and four assists. 
  • Gonzaga dominated Sacramento State 104-58. Kyle Wiltjer led the way with 18 points, Domantas Sabonis scored 14 with eight rebounds, and Kevin Pangos added 16. 
  • Virginia beat James Madison 79-51. The Cavaliers are flying under the radar in the ACC this year with Louisville, Duke, and UNC dominating the storylines. But with coach Tony Bennett and guard Malcolm Brogdon in the fold, no one in the league will take them for granted.
  • Syracuse doubled up Kennesaw State 89-42. Rakeem Christmas dominated with 21 points and nine rebounds, and Chris McCullough and Tyler Roberson added double-doubles.
  • Harvard started their season with a bang, blitzing MIT at the end of the first half and the start of the second to run away with a 73-52 win. Wesley Saunders had 15 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. 
  • Wichita State kicked off their season with their 32nd consecutive regular season win, a 71-54 victory against New Mexico State. Tekele Cotton led the way with 17 behind Ron Baker's 16. 
  • Iowa State scored an 11 point win against Oakland, as Georges Niang scored 30 points and added nine rebounds and five assists. Bryce Dejean-Jones scored 20 in his Cyclone debut.
  • Villanova struggled for a while against Lehigh before pulling away with ten minutes left for a 77-66 win. Dylan Ennis scored 19 points, including 11 in the second half after Lehigh got out to a 43-38 lead with 16 minutes left in the game.
  • Behind forwards Yannick Moreira and Ben Moore, SMU won their season debut 93-54 against Lamar. Moore had a double-double, scoring 22 and 11, and Moreira added 19 of his own. 
  • San Diego State got its typical all-around performance from their players, with for guys scoring between 15 and 11 points as they beat Cal-State Northridge 79-58.
  • Delon Wright also had an excellent all-around game, posting 13 points, eight assists, four steals, four rebounds, and three blocks in Utah's 90-72 win over Ball State. 
  • Colorado is expected to contend for second place in the Pac-12, and they got a W against Bruiser Flint's Drexel 65-48. Askia Booker didn't start for Colorado, but Josh Scott did and scored 21 points. 
  • In another game out west, UCLA dominated Montana State, winning 113-78. Norman Powell had 25 points, Kevon Looney had 20 points and nine rebounds, and Bryce Alford chipped in a double-double with 18 points and 12 assists. 
  • Stanford picked up a decent win against Wofford on Friday night, winning 74-59. Center Stefan Nastic had a career night, scoring 26 points on 11/14 shooting. 
  • West Virginia got a big second half from Juwan Staten, who scored 13 of his 20 in the second stanza to help the Mountaineers defeat Monmouth 64-54.
  • Louisiana Tech is a potential top-25 at some point, and they got an opening night win against Southern 85-76. Speedy Smith had 15 points on seven shots and Alex Hamilton had 18 points. 
  • Tyler Haws scored 21 points as BYU won a high-scoring matchup against Long Beach State 95-90.
  • In another good mid-major matchup, Boise State came away with a good win against San Diego without Derrick Marks, who missed the game due to suspension. Anthony Drmic scored 21 points and added nine rebounds. 
  • UNLV got 26 points from freshman Rashad Vaughn in a close 60-59 victory over Morehead State. Christian Wood added 12 and debuting point guard Cody Doolin threw in seven assists.
  • Quinnipiac beat Yale in an exciting 2OT game 89-85. Both teams are considered top-three teams in their respective conferences, meaning this actually could end up being a solid-looking win for the Bobcats. 
  • In what was undoubtedly the game of the night if anyone happened to see it, High Point beat CSU-Bakersfield 100-99 in 4OT on a steal into a layup with two seconds left in the game. They did all of this without John Brown, who sat out the game for an unspecified reason.
Players of the Night:
  1. Montrezl Harrell -- Harrell scored 30 points and showed off a newly remodeled jump shot in leading Louisville to a win in the Pitino Bowl.
  2. Georges Niang -- Niang claimed his role in the national player of the year race tonight, showing off his reshaped body and scoring 30 points of his own while adding nine rebounds and five assists.
  3. Ryan Boatright -- Without Boatright, Connecticut probably would have lost to Bryant. The guard played incredibly well in the second half, scoring 16 of his 24 points and willing the Huskies to a win.
  4. Travis Trice -- Man, was Trice good tonight. Constantly probing the defense, he ended up needing to take matters into his own hands against Navy in Michigan State's five point win, scoring 25 points. 
  5. Joseph Young -- He is basically all that is left of Oregon's Tournament team last season, and the efficient scorer dominated in his first game in 2014-15. He scored 32 points on 11/14 shooting, knocked down 6/8 3-pointers, dished out eight assists, and grabbed five rebounds. It's his team this year, and he could lead the nation in scoring because of it.
  6. Martez Harrison -- In what is possibly the biggest win in UMKC's history, Harrison led the team with 26 points, going 15-16 from the free throw line. 
  7. Rashad Vaughn -- Vaughn started for the Rebels and scored 26 points on 18 shots and pushed UNLV to a 60-59 victory over Morehead State. That's how you do a debut. 
  8. Frank Kaminsky -- Kaminsky had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, plus added four assists for good measure as the Badgers made easy work of Northern Kentucky.
  9. Brandon Ashley -- His 21 points were a career high, and Arizona needed them as it got out to a bit of a slow start against Mount St. Mary's tonight. He might be their most important player this season.
  10. Aaron White -- Iowa played a sleepy affair against Hampton, but White was an efficient monster scoring 19 points on eight shots, and adding seven rebounds and six assists in the Hawkeyes 90-56 win.