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A highly-touted recruit began his career with back-to-back double-doubles, a league team upset a Power 5 foe and another women's team nearly took out a top 15 opponent.
All in all, It was quite the first week of basketball for the Horizon League.
Baldwin's beginnings
On the men's side, consensus 5-star recruit Patrick Baldwin Jr. kicked his career off in style, piling up a pair of double-doubles for Milwaukee. In UWM's season-opening, 75-60 win over North Dakota, Baldwin scored 21 points and nabbed 10 rebounds. Then, in Milwaukee's 77-71 loss to Eastern Kentucky, he scored 19 points and had 11 boards.
For his efforts, Baldwin was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week.
Baldwin's father, Patrick Baldwin Sr., is the Panthers' head coach. Milwaukee will visit Youngstown State on Jan. 29.
Golden Grizzlies shine, league favorites falter
Elsewhere, Oakland has proven to be a defensive stalwart to date, holding West Virginia to 60 points in a 60-53 loss and then using defense to upset Oklahoma State, 56-55. The Golden Grizzlies were picked sixth in the Horizon League Preseason Poll.
Those picked at the top, however, haven't fared as well. Preseason favorite Cleveland State is just 1-2 so far with losses to BYU (69-59) and Ohio (67-56), while preseason No. 2 Wright State is 1-2 with losses to Marshall (96-88) and No. 6 Purdue (96-52). The Vikings earned their only win over Division II Edinboro last night, 75-61, and even in that CSU started slowly. The Raiders defeated D2 Lake Erie, 86-53.
IUPUI women are as advertised
On the women's end, IUPUI showed it's once again for real, as the Jaguars took No. 13 Michigan to the wire in a 67-62 loss, and then followed it with a 71-60 win over Bowling Green, which made the WNIT a season ago.
Star center/forward Macee Williams is averaging 20 points and seven rebounds per game to date. She posted 17 points and seven rebounds against Michigan, and then notched 23 points and seven boards against BGSU. Those performances earned her Horizon League Player of the Week honors.
YSU women topple MAC teams
Speaking of impressive starts, the Youngstown State women are now 2-0 heading into their first conference games of the season, having defeated Eastern Michigan on the road, 70-67, and then winning their home opener with Akron, 57-55.
The Penguins have shown they're a balanced team so far, as five players scored in double figures at EMU. Against Akron, two players, Malia Magestro and Lilly Ritz, did so, but three others finished with at least eight points.
Magestro hit a career high in the win over the Zips, as she drilled four 3-pointers en route to 16 points.
Ritz, who made the jump to D1 after spending time at D2 Wheeling, has played well for YSU thus far, as well. She notched a double-double against Akron with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and at EMU scored 13 points and snagged eight boards.
YSU men to host MTE
Penguin fans eager to see how YSU's men's team stacks up can get their first glimpse of the team this weekend, as Youngstown State hosts St. Thomas (MN), Niagara and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in a multiteam event.
The 'Guins will face St. Thomas on Friday at 5 p.m., SIUE on Saturday at 2 p.m. and then close out the weekend with a 3:45 matchup with Niagara on Sunday. YSU is 1-1 on the year after falling at Penn State last Wednesday and then toppling Southeast Missouri over the weekend.
A full preview of the event will be available in an edition later this week.
Women's conference play already beginning
Just a couple games into the year, the women's teams in the Horizon League already are getting their first league matchups this week, with contests scheduled for Thursday to kick things off. YSU visits Oakland on Thursday and then pay a visit to Detroit Mercy on Saturday.
Games to watch
The upcoming week of matchups has some great games to look forward to.
Tonight, Oakland hosts Toledo while Detroit Mercy visits Mississippi State. Both games tip at 7 p.m.
On Thursday, Milwaukee visits No. 24 Florida, which just knocked off Florida State over the weekend. That's at 6 p.m.
Friday night, Oakland visits No. 14 Alabama for an 8 p.m. contest, and then Saturday Detroit Mercy heads to Louisville for a 2 p.m. game against the Cardinals. All of these games will be on ESPN+.
Tidbits
-- The Robert Morris men paid No. 13 Kentucky a unique visit. The Wildcats' head coach, John Calipari, hails from Moon, Pennsylvania, which is where RMU is located.
-- YSU's Owen Long faced his brother, Parker, when the Penguins topped SEMO.
-- Paige Shy, one of the forwards for YSU's women's team, faced a hometown foe during the Penguins' game against Akron. The Zips' leading scorer, Jordyn Dawson, and Shy both hail from Huntington, W.Va.