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The Breakfast Buffet: Mark Sears, North Carolina has a massive week, Lamont Butler

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

Mark Sears is starting to look like Mark Sears again
That’s good thing for Alabama and potentially a bad thing for the rest of the SEC. Sears was universally viewed as a National Player of the Year candidate entering this season, but didn’t play his best basketball out of the gate. Part of it was the Crimson Tide have a deeper supporting cast than last season’s Final Four team and part of it was he just didn’t play as efficiently as he did a year ago. Not to worry, Sears is again regaining his form. The 6-1 guard is averaging 23.5 points, 5.5 assists, and four rebounds in his last two games, but he’s also displaying the type of efficiency that’s separated him from other guards in the past. During that span, Sears is shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 42.8 percent from three-point range. This is the player that America saw last season when he led Alabama to the Final Four for the first time in program history.

North Carolina has a massive week
The next 80 minutes could very well alter the course of the Tar Heels’ season. Hubert Davis’ squad is 6-4 after 10 games with its best victory coming against Dayton in the Maui Invitational. North Carolina has not won a non-conference game yet this season against a power conference opponent, but it will have two big opportunities to change that in the next few days. The Tar Heels will face undefeated Florida on Tuesday as part of the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte and then play UCLA on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic at MSG. A split bolsters North Carolina’s resume while a sweep immediately changes the ceiling in the Chapel Hill.

Lamont Butler has become a different offensive player under Mark Pope
People from the periphery will highlight Butler’s 33-point performance in Kentucky’s win over Louisville on Saturday, but Butler’s offensive jump is about much more than one game. Known as a defensive minded player when he was at San Diego State, the veteran guard averaged 9.3 points last season on a Sweet 16 team while shooting 42.1 percent from the field and 30.2 percent from three-point range. Now at Kentucky, Butler is currently averaging a career-high 15.1 points while shooting a career-high 60.8 percent from the field and 48.1 percent from three-point range. He’s a major part of the Wildcats’ 10-1 start in their first year under Pope.

On The Side

  • UConn’s four opponents during its current four-game winning streak are shooting an average of just 41.3 percent from the field. All three of the Huskies’ opponents in Maui shot 50 percent or better from the field. The defense has turned a major corner in Storrs since Thanksgiving.
  • Nebraska has won 11 straight games against Big Ten opponents at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
  • Memphis’ road win on Saturday at Clemson was its fifth Quad 1 victory of the season. The Tigers need a split in their upcoming games at FedExForum against Mississippi State (Dec. 21st) and Ole Miss (Dec. 28th) to add another resume booster prior to the start of league play in the American Athletic Conference. 
  • Things you didn’t think you’d write on December 16th: Arizona is 0-5 this season against power conference opponents.
  • Syracuse is on track to miss the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season. The Orange will take a 5-5 record into Saturday’s game against Maryland at the Barclays Center.

Daily Specials

  • Grand Canyon at Louisiana Tech
  • Oral Roberts at Texas Tech
  • South Alabama at TCU

Leftovers