ROCK HILL, S.C. — College basketball is back, and a day-long run of mid-major matchups is opening the season. Eight games involving 16 teams are being played across 24 hours on Monday, Nov. 2, with six of them at the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center and two at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The first tip came at midnight Eastern with High Point against Liberty, after doors in Rock Hill opened at 11 p.m. Sunday. Grambling and Northern Illinois followed at 3 a.m., and Appalachian State met Merrimack at 6 a.m.
The action shifts to South Dakota for the middle of the day, with Murray State against Tennessee State at 11:30 a.m. and UTEP against Northern Kentucky at 2 p.m. Rock Hill gets the last two games: UAB and McNeese State at 5:30 p.m., then Furman and Bethune-Cookman at 8 p.m.
The lineup leans on proven programs from outside the power leagues. Five of the teams reached last season’s NCAA Tournament, including High Point, the lone mid-major to win a first-round game. Eleven of the 16 won more than 20 games a year ago, nine are projected as favorites in their conferences, and 14 leagues are represented.
The all-day format first ran from 2008 through 2017 before being revived. This is the second straight year in Rock Hill, where the field expanded from six teams to 12, and the third year at the Pentagon. Every game streams free on the organizer’s YouTube channel and X account, and Rock Hill tickets are sold through Visit York County.
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