With all the changes to college sports over the past few years, it's a whole new ballgame. NIL and the transfer portal changes how college teams do business.

So it's not really fair to call the Florida Gators the defending national champions, because there's really nothing to defend. Their 2025 title is etched in stone, and this new roster is on their own for the 2025-26 season. There's a new crown to grab at the end of this five-month hoops journey.

The Gators are still really good, as evidenced by their No. 3 national preseason ranking. But they opened their season Monday with a worthy challenge — the No. 13 Arizona Wildcats — and Arizona true freshman Koa Peat stole the show. He had 30 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals in a 93-87 win in the Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. 

"It was a coming out party for him, so to speak," Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. "Everyone's known about him, but no one's really, really studied him and watched him, and he's a special player."

Here's the game story from Gators Roundtable publisher Kevin McGeever.

Champion Gators Upstaged by Arizona 18-Year-Old in Basketball Season Opener The Florida Gators led by 12 points after the first 10 minutes. Then an Arizona defensive adjustment and a freshman named Koa Peat methodically took down the reigning NCAA champions.

Peat became the first Big 12 true freshman to score 30 or more in his debut since Kansas State's Michael Beasley in 2009. He comes from a big sports family.

His father is Todd Peat, who played nine seasons in the NFL as a guard. His brother Andrus  is a three-time Pro Bowl selection who played in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Gators had an early 12-point lead midway through the first half, but couldn't hang on, with Arizona leading 50-46 at the break. They were led by Thomas Haugh, who scored 27 points.

This was the only matchup of ranked teams on opening night. Twenty teams ranked in the Associated Press top-25 played on Monday and the Gators were the only ranked team to lose. 

Here's how the top-25 teams fared on Monday night:

Monday's results (Nov. 3)

No. 2 Houston 75, Lehigh 57
No. 13 Arizona 93, No. 3 Florida 87
No. 4 Connecticut 79, New Haven 55
No. 5 St. John's 108. Quinnipiac 74
No. 7 Michigan 121, Oakland 78
No. 8 BYU 71, Villanova 66
No. 11 Louisville 104, South Carolina State 45
No. 12 UCLA 80, Eastern Washington 74
No. 14 Arkansas 109, Southern 77
No. 15 Alabama 91, North Dakota 62
No. 16 Iowa State 88, Fairleigh Dickinson 50
No. 17 Illinois 113, Jackson State 55
No. 18 Tennessee 76, Mercer 61
No. 19 Kansas 94, Green Bay 51
No. 20 Auburn 95, Bethune-Cookman 90
No. 21 Gonzaga 98, Texas Southern 43
No. 22 Michigan State 80, Colgate 69
No. 24 Wisconsin 96, Campbell 64
No. 25 North Carolina 94, Central Arkansas 54

Tuesday's games (Nov. 4)

No. 1 Purdue vs. Evansville at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind., 6:30 p.m. ET. TV: Big Ten Network.

No. 9 Kentucky vs. Nicholls at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., 7 p.m. ET. Streaming: SECN-Plus

No. 10 Texas Tech vs. Lindenwood at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas, 8 p.m. ET. Streaming: ESPN-Plus.

No. 6 Duke vs. Texas in Dick Vitale Invitational at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., 8:45 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN

Wednesday's games (Nov. 5)

No. 23 Creighton vs. South Dakota at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb., 8 p.m. ET. Streaming: Peacock