College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: Florida’s perimeter gets a showcase opportunity against North Carolina, Murphy’s Law again hits Xavier, Ben McCollum

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

Florida’s perimeter gets a showcase opportunity against North Carolina
The Gators are the least talked about really good team in America despite being a perfect 10-0 after 10 games. That may change after tonight’s matchup against the Tar Heels in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte. Florida’s perimeter of Walter Clayton Jr. (19.1 points, 3.6 assists), Alijah Martin (15.2 points), and Will Richard (12.0 points, 5.3 rebounds) is one of the best guard troikas in the sport, but many people don’t truly know it yet. North Carolina is 6-4 and has yet to beat a power conference team this season during non-conference play.

Murphy’s Law again hits Xavier
For the second consecutive season, the Musketeers have lost not one, but two projected front court starters for an extended period of time. A year ago, Xavier lost both Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter for the entire season due to injuries that occurred prior to the start of fall practice. Now Freemantle (16.9 points, 7.7 rebounds) — who was playing the best basketball of his career — is out indefinitely due to a lower body injury that occurred in Saturday’s loss at Cincinnati. He joins Long Beach State transfer Lassina Traore — who was projected to be the Musketeers’ starting center before a season-ending knee injury — on the inactive list. In nearly 20 years on this beat, I’ve never seen a program hit with this type of bad luck in terms of recurring injuries. Xavier will next face UConn on Wednesday night at the XL Center in Hartford.

Ben McCollum and Drake return to the spotlight against Kansas State
Started from the bottom now he’s here? That’s what it certainly feels like it. After winning four Division II national titles at Northwest Missouri State, McCollum has made a seamless transition to the Division 1 level as evidenced by his 9-0 start this year in his first season at Drake. The Bulldogs have another opportunity to move the needle on a national level tonight as they take on Kansas State at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The Wildcats enter tonight’s game at 6-3 and haven’t played since a loss at St. John’s on Dec. 7th.

On The Side

  • What’s up with AJ Storr? The highly coveted transfer from Wisconsin has scored a total of just four points in Kansas’ last two games. Storr is also just 2-10 from the field and 0-4 from three-point range during that span. The Jayhawks can’t come close to reaching their ceiling without getting more mileage out of this guy.
  • As of Monday, 13 of the SEC’s 16 teams were ranked in the Top 50 of the NET.
  • Dayton’s Malachi Smith (11.1 points, 6.0 assists) has 20 assists and just one turnover in his last two games. The Flyers are 9-2 and will next host UNLV tonight at UD Arena. Tip off is at 7 PM ET at UD Arena. Smith only appeared in one game last season due to a knee injury.
  • South Florida will be one of the eight teams in the 2025 Battle 4 Atlantis, a source told College Hoops Today on Monday. Auburn, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, VCU, and Saint Mary’s are also confirmed for the event. The final two teams in the tournament are still TBD.
  • Kentucky’s Mark Pope was this week’s guest on the College Hoops Today Podcast. 

Daily Specials

  • DePaul at St. John’s
  • Florida/North Carolina (Charlotte)
  • Clemson at South Carolina
  • UNLV at Dayton
  • Drake/Kansas State (Kansas City)

Leftovers