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The Breakfast Buffet: Cooper Flagg and Duke visit Arizona, Baylor stuns St. John’s, Pitt begins a big stretch

Who’s hungry for college basketball?

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

Cooper Flagg and Duke visit Arizona
Flagg’s first true road game as a college player will come tonight at the McKale Center in Tucson, which regularly possesses one of the sport’s best home court environments. The Wildcats haven’t played since last Friday’s loss at Wisconsin where their three starting guards — Jaden Bradley, Caleb Love, and KJ Lewis — combined to shoot just 34.2 percent from the field while handing out only two combined assists to go with seven turnovers. The Blue Devils meanwhile, are about to play two of the top brands in the sport — Arizona and Kansas — in the next five days as Duke will play the Jayhawks on Tuesday in a neutral site game in Las Vegas. These next 80 minutes will only amplify the focus on the 6-9 Flagg, who enters tonight’s game averaging 16.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.0 steals.

Baylor stuns St. John’s in a classic at the Baha Mar Bahamas Hoops Championship
Are we sure that it’s only November? The Bears and Red Storm took part in one of the great games that we’ve seen this season on Thursday night, with Baylor winning 99-98 in double overtime on a three-point buzzer beater by Jeremy Roach. It was the type of win that brought euphoria for the winner and the type of loss that made the loser nauseous. St. John’s had a golden opportunity to pick up a signature win in November — something it lacked last season when it just missed the NCAA Tournament. The Red Storm had a two-point lead with seconds to play in the game when Zuby Ejiofor missed two free throws, which opened the door for Roach’s heroics. Rick Pitino can’t let this type of bitter defeat cost his team tonight against Virginia in the consolation game or on Sunday when it plays Georgia. Baylor will play Tennessee tonight in the title game of the event.

Pitt begins a big stretch
Are the Panthers the third-best team in the ACC behind Duke and North Carolina? We’ll have a better idea after the next seven days. Jeff Capel’s team has won its first five games by an average of 35.8 points, but the weight class of its opponents is about to get raised to a different level. Pitt will take on a well coached LSU team today in the first round of the first-ever Greenbrier Tip-Off (2:30 PM ET, CBS Sports Network) and then play either Wisconsin or UCF on Sunday. The Panthers will then travel to Columbus next Friday for a matchup with Ohio State in the first installment of a home-and-home series. These three games could also provide a showcase for Pitt’s Jaland Lowe (13.8 points, 5.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds) to emerge on the national stage. The 6-3 sophomore is one of the best point guards in the country and that not enough people know about and had a triple-double — 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists — in the Panthers’ last game against VMI.

On The Side

  • Kentucky’s Koby Brea is now 15-19 from three-point range this season. That’s 78.9 percent if you’re keeping score at home!
  • Creighton has won four of its last five meetings against Nebraska entering tonight’s in-state showdown in Omaha.
  • Dylan Andrews and Skyy Clark — UCLA’s two primary point guards — are a combined 6-22 from three-point range entering tonight’s game against Cal State Fullerton.
  • St. Joe’s win over Texas Tech on Thursday night at the Barclays Center should offset its early season loss to Central Connecticut. The Hawks can continue to move the needle with a win tonight over Texas in the title game of the Legends Classic.
  • Vanderbilt — who was picked last in the SEC Preseason Poll — will take a 5-0 record into today’s game against Seton Hall in the semifinals of the Charleston Classic. Mark Byington and the Dores have been a bit of a surprise out of the gate in Nashville.

Daily Specials

  • Baylor/Tennessee (Baha Mar)
  • St. John’s/Virginia (Baha Mar)
  • Nebraska at Creighton
  • Texas/St. Joe’s (Brooklyn)
  • Duke at Arizona

Leftovers