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The Breakfast Buffet: St. John’s/UConn, Oumar Ballo versus Vlad Goldin, Nae’Qwan Tomlin

Here’s today’s installment of “The Breakfast Buffet”, a daily column that can be found here every single morning getting you caught up to date on everything that’s happened from the day/night before and everything that’s going to happen in the next 24 hours.

Mangia!

Things To Sample

St. John’s/UConn
Desperate times call for desperate measures and the defending national champions are desperate to avoid an 0-2 start in Big East play after being upset by Seton Hall on Wednesday night in Newark. The Huskies have bullied the Red Storm for the past 31 years and won 26 of the last 39 meetings between these two programs. Is this rendition of St. John’s different because it’s being coached by a Hall-of-Famer in Rick Pitino? Tonight’s game in Hartford will be a pretty good litmus test. If UConn center Donovan Clingan is unable to play due to an ankle injury, it creates a significant advantage up front for the Red Storm’s power forward/center combination of Chris Ledlum and Joel Soriano. Keep an eye on Samson Johnson, who will have to not just produce, but also stay on the floor for longer stretches if Clingan is unavailable.

Oumar Ballo versus Vlad Goldin
Most people are looking forward to a high-octane pace and lots of scoring when Arizona faces Florida Atlantic today in Las Vegas, but it would be foolish to ignore the matchup in the middle. It’s rare in today’s landscape when two bruisers go head-to-head at center, but that’s what we’ll have today as the 7-1 Goldin squares off with the 7-foot, 260 pound Ballo. Goldin is currently leading the Owls in both scoring (15.1 points) and rebounding (7.0 boards) and is vastly improved following last season’s Final Four run. And Ballo? He’s coming off a 16-point, 12-rebound performance in Wednesday night’s win over Alabama and is shooting a career-high 65.1 percent from the field. The winner of this individual matchup could go a long way in deciding the outcome of this game.

Nae’Qwan Tomlin makes his Memphis debut
The Tigers are one of the hottest teams in college basketball and should get a major boost today when Tomlin — a transfer from Kansas State — makes his debut against Vanderbilt at FedEx Forum. The 6-10 Tomlin played an integral role last season during the Wildcats’ run to the Elite Eight last season and averaged 10.4 points and 5.9 rebounds. He’ll immediately add quality depth up front for Memphis, who is 6-2 this season against power conference opponents. Tip off for today’s game is at 4 PM ET on CBS.

On The Side

  • Houston (12-0) will only play one game outside of the state of Texas between now and Jan. 20th.
  • Auburn’s two point guards — Aden Holloway and Tre Donaldson — have combined for 31 assists and just eight turnovers in the Tigers’ last four games.
  • Colorado’s KJ Simpson looks like the best guard in the Pac-12. The 6-2 junior is averaging career-highs in points (19.9), rebounds (4.5), assists (4.5), steals (2.1), field-goal percentage (57.7), and three-point field-goal percentage (48.9).
  • Five teams from the Mountain West — New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, Nevada, and San Diego State — already have 10 or more wins.
  • How many games will James Madison (12-0) have to win to secure an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament if it doesn’t win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament? That’s the million dollar question. Remember: Charleston won 30 games before the CAA Tournament title game last March and still needed an automatic qualifier to hear its name called on Selection Sunday.

Daily Specials

  • Butler at Providence
  • Mississippi State/Rutgers (Newark)
  • Arizona/Florida Atlantic (Las Vegas)
  • Vanderbilt at Memphis
  • St. John’s at UConn

Leftovers