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The Breakfast Buffet: Shaheen Holloway, D.J. Wagner, North Carolina

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

Shaheen Holloway has willed Seton Hall into national relevance
The Pirates were 5-4 after a home loss against Rutgers on Dec. 9th. They’re 5-1 since with wins over UConn, Marquette, and Providence. How? Holloway’s will has a lot to do with it. Just like he did when he led St. Peter’s to the Elite Eight in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, the former Seton Hall point guard thrives in situations where his back is against the wall. The Pirates don’t possess the Big East’s most talented roster, but Holloway has two veteran guards in Kadary Richmond and Al-Amir Dawes who are performing at a high level, as evidenced by their 44 combined points in Saturday’s win over Marquette. Richmond, Dawes, and several other role players are also buying into what Holloway is selling — defense and toughness. Seton Hall out rebounded Marquette by 18 in Saturday in Newark.

D.J. Wagner is rounding into form for Kentucky
He’s not John Wall, Brandon Knight, or Tyrese Maxey, but that doesn’t mean that Wagner isn’t going to be a very good player for the Wildcats this season. He’s starting to show flashes. The 6-4 freshman has scored 14 points in three of his last four games and is a super efficient 12-20 from the field in his last two games. Wagner also has six assists to just two turnovers in his last two games. Being a first-year guard with high expectations under John Calipari isn’t an easy thing to manage, but Wagner is settling into his role. The son of former NBA star Dajuan Wagner — who played for Calipari at Memphis — D.J. Wagner is starting to perform like one of the best freshmen in college basketball.

North Carolina looks like North Carolina
There’s a lot of basketball still left to be played this season, but the Tar Heels are proving with each game that last season’s disappointment looks like an aberration. North Carolina’s 65-55 win over Clemson on Saturday wasn’t just impressive because it was a victory against a quality opponent on the road; it was impressive because it was a victory over a quality opponent on the road playing a style that’s not usually synonymous with the Tar Heels’ program. North Carolina — who is now 11-3 — has held its last two opponents to 57 points or fewer. Hubert Davis’ team is proving that it can win in the mud.

On The Side

  • Under Bill Self, Kansas is 36-6 at Allen Fieldhouse against Big 12 opponents in games that have been decided by five points or fewer.
  • Auburn’s five power conference wins this season have come by an average of 23.4 points.
  • St. John’s has unlocked something in 6-7 freshman Brady Dunlap. After playing sparingly for most of the season, Dunlap scored a combined 29 points in back-to-back wins this week against Butler and Villanova while shooting an impressive 6-10 from three-point range. Remember the name.
  • Is Minnesota quietly turning a corner under Ben Johnson? The Gophers will take a six-game winning streak into today’s home game against Maryland. Minnesota already has 11 wins, which is two more than it had during all of last year.
  • Virginia has lost its last three road games by a combined 61 points. I’m not punting just yet on a Tony Bennett coached team, but the lack of competitiveness away from Charlottesville is alarming.

Daily Specials

  • Michigan at Penn State
  • UMass at Dayton
  • SMU at Memphis
  • Maryland at Minnesota
  • Michigan State at Northwestern

Leftovers