Nova's JayVaughn Pinkston puts in a floater over VCU's Mo Alie-Cox. (USATSI)

Everything you ought to know from college basketball's enjoyable Monday night ...

Game of the Night: San Diego State and BYU give us a typical late-night Maui delight.

I can't tell you how much I adore late-night hoops in the Maui Invitational. It's not every year that last tip on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday goes down to the wire, but more times than not we're treated to a great final-TV-window matchup, you know?

That game this year was BYU-San Diego State. A tilt between two teams that should make the 2015 NCAAs. BYU never held a lead in regulation. San Diego State, now without Xavier Thames -- a guy that made so many onion-flavored shots over the years -- didn't get off a good look to win it at the end of regulation.

BYU eventually got a lead. Jostling. It got tense, just the way we like it in Maui.

And we got controversy at the end of the first OT. I mean, SDSU's Aqeel Quinn walked on the sly here, just before canning the game-tying 3 that sent it to double OT.

Then Tyler Haws -- who hit some big shots and scored 26 for BYU -- was mugged big-time on the closing sequence of the first OT. The Cougars didn't get a good shot, and the Aztecs survived to extend the game, ultimately winning it 92-87. The team managed to commit just 17 fouls in 50 minutes. That D is superb, even if offensively savvy Brigham Young managed 87 on this night.

Quinn cashed six treys for Steve Fisher's club. He had a career-high 22 points.

By the way, Haws cracked 2,000 career points. He's had a great career, getting there in 108 games. This guy's a superb scorer. It's a big-time milestone for any college player.

And this is where I remind you that Doug McDermott finished with 3,150 points. Laughing now.

Game of the Night, No. 2: Eastern Washington goes into Indiana and leaves with a win. Wait ... what???

Well, first off, read Sam Vecenie's longer take on IU.

Losing to the (KenPom) 151st-ranked Eastern Washington Eagles on your home floor? It's only IU's first L of the season, but it's going to be one to remember. Those who want Tom Crean out now have tangible evidence of the latest reason why. The Hoosiers can't withstand these kinds of bad losses, obviously. The Hoosiers remain fascinating on many levels.

Indiana's clearly not even one of the five best teams in the Big Ten. Taking on scars like this make it almost impossible to overcome, barring big-time results in the Big Ten or if IU manages to beat teams like Pittsburgh (home), Georgetown and Louisville (both neutral-site games).

I do remember a year ago, when I essentially counted IU out of the NCAAs in mid-January. Snarky IU fanboys mocked me. The Hoosiers never came close. It was a 17-15 ending for the Hoosiers. I think this team can be better; I think Indiana can get to 20 wins. But it can't be just Yogi Ferrell. He had 27 points and seven boards in the loss.

How the team reacts to this will be telling. A cruise-control game at home against UNC Greensboro on Friday, then Pitt comes to town in eight days. It will be a big game for both teams.

Hey, that’s a good win: Villanova firmly gets away from VCU.

Hard not to like this one going in. Two teams both picked as the clear-cut favorites in their leagues. Villanova in the Big East, VCU in the Atlantic 10. For about an hour and a half, it was an interesting game. But Villanova just took over in the second part of the second half.

The Wildcats lacked a lot of big-time wins on the way to a two seed last season. Early on this year, Nova notches a nice one.

I hadn't seen VCU outplayed like that in some time, in fact. Shaka Smart, frankly, has to be ripping tonight. His team got plenty of run, nine guys playing 10 minutes or more. But it was 2 for 17 from 3 and forced only three steals. If you're telling me VCU doesn't hit five 3-points and doesn't force at least five steals, I'm saying it's probably not going to win.

The Wildcats looked balanced and aggressive. They found some spots in the pain against the Rams. And a Ryan Arcidiacono came up nice tonight, getting nine dimes and not turning the ball over once against that VCU press.

Oh, that's a bad loss: LSU drops another game it shouldn't have.

I'll just say: This is fairly unacceptable. Good on Clemson to get the 64-61 win, but we're talking about an LSU team that was expected to be third-best in the SEC, behind Kentucky and Florida, and while that still may come to be, LSU hasn't looked like one of the 50 best teams in the country through the season's first 11 days.

Jordan Mickey is LSU's best player, certainly, but he can't do it all. Eighteen points, 10 boards, three assists and two steals was a heck of an effort. LSU doesn't have the bench to support him, and the starters are incapable of stretching either of the floor at the moment.

Clemson is now 3-2, its losses against Winthrop and Gardner-Webb.

Louisville killed a team.

I find it interesting Kentucky beat Montana State on Monday 86-28. So what does Louisville do? It offs Savannah State 87-26. Bluegrass schools just vaporizing inferior competition. I mean, what can you even learn from this? Not much. Multiple reporters tweeted this Pitino quote after the Savannah State win: "This will be the first time since I've been at Louisville that I will not watch the game film."

Aaaand then there was this?

Consider this, too: Three Louisville players didn't score. How you gonna feel if you're on the team, you win by 61, and you can't even get in the book for a point?

TONIGHT'S TOP PLAYERS

1. Though Eastern Washington got a few big-time showings, it was Drew Brandon's career-best 27 points, in addition to eight boards, five steals and four assists that did it for his team against IU.

2. Melo Trimble had himself a nice night in victory. How nice? Maryland's next hope in the backcourt set a school freshman record, putting up 31 points in Maryland's 78-73 win against an average Arizona State team.

3. Sterling Gibbs: hello. The Seton Hall senior guard went off, leading SHU to a Paradise Jam title and putting up 40 points against Illinois State.

4. Derrick Randall with 21 boars for Pitt in its win over Chaminade. Pittsburgh, which lost a couple of nights ago at Hawaii, was spared the embarrassment of dropping a game here. Those Silverswords get a team once every five years or so, though!

5. Belmont senior Reece Chamberlain came up big in a rivalry game. The Bruins won 82-77 over Lipscomb and Chamberlain's line was nice: 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and five steals.

Numbers to figure

15:58: The time it took Savannah State to score on Louisville. That was via free throw, which made it a 29-1 game. I do not believe anyone will get off to a better start this year, 29-0, than 'Ville.

42: The streak of straight non-conference home wins for Indiana that got snapped Monday night. It was third-longest in the country. (Duke outrageously is cruising above 100.)

1,799: The days since Indiana lost a home game against a team from outside a major conference. Dec. 22, 2009, a 72-67 outcome against Loyola of Maryland.

124: Was reminded of this stat on the telecast Monday night/Tuesday morning. SDSU has now won 124 straight games when it is leading with five minutes remaining. That is wizardry.

3: Losses, that is. Stephen F. Austin, beloved double-digit hazard, has played tough competition this year and isn't sneaking up on anyone anymore. To wit:

Other outcomes blipping the radar:

  • Re: Stevie Austin, it was Baylor that did the deed Sunday. The Bears, now 4-0, won at home over SFA, 67-51.
  • Giving Iowa State and Alabama a nice block of text here, because that was the best game a lot of people didn't bother to watch tonight. The Crimson Tide kept it close until the final two minutes. Alabama was consistently beat or just single-teaming Georges Niang, which is no smart decision. Using a three-guard look, Bama got 27 from Rodney Cooper. And now Alabama gets Arizona State. The loser of that game is in a big ol' hole for the rest of the non-conference season.
  • Arizona wasn't dominant, but it did handle Missouri 72-53. More/better/talking point-worthy games coming for the Wildcats the next two days in Maui.
  • Michigan and Oregon played at Barclays. Forgettable game, but Michigan won it 70-63. Oregon gets VCU Tuesday night, and I'm going to say VCU wins by 20.
  • Xavier gonna be this good, or is Murray State not as good as we thought? X beat the Racers 89-62. Chris Mack's team is 4-0, while Chris Prohm's club has dropped a home game to Houston and didn't even keep it interesting Monday night.
  • Bruce Pearl's team managed just 35 points against Tulsa, which scored 53. At least it wasn't a home game for the Tigers.
  • Illinois trailed at home to Brown 39-35 but stormed back and comfortably won 89-68.
  • It's not a notable win, but it came against a D-I opponent, and it scored 106 points. Good on you, TCU: 106-53 over Mississippi Valley State. Yep, a double-up.
  • The first game from the Maui Invitational: Kansas State 88, Purdue 79. Isaac Haas coming off Purdue's bench to put up 19 points and six rebounds was the bright spot for Purdue. Haas will be a breakout player this season.
  • Not sure how good Oklahoma State will be this season, but it's 5-0 against weak competition to this point. The Pokes beat an anemic Oregon State roster, 66-53.
  • Figure I should pass along a Kansas score, even if it was 87-60 at home over Rider.

Miscellanea, etc. ...

-- The Great Alaska Shootout is still going, and is taking on big changes this year.

-- Dan Hanner is always worth a college hoops read.

-- Can't help but wonder what SMU would be like with Mudiay this season. His China experiment is on hold for the time being.

-- A member of Jerry Tarkanian's family tweeted Monday night that the Hall of Fame coach is out of the hospital after battling recent respiratory issues.

-- And if you haven't noticed, MSU senior point guard Travis Trice is off to a very efficient start. Trice waited out his time and is capable of keeping a steady hand for the Spartans this season.