College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: Illinois/Missouri, Auburn’s dominance, Liam McNeeley

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

Illinois/Missouri
The best game on today’s college basketball slate is the annual “Braggin’ Rights” matchup between these two proud programs in St. Louis. The Illini are off to a 7-3 start this season despite having essentially a brand new team. Their deep crop of newcomers are anchored by two foreigners — Kasparas Jakucionis (16.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists) and Tomislav Ivisic (14.2 points, 9.7 rebounds) — who have been incredibly impactful. Look for the 6-6 Jakucionis to play a key role today against the Tigers’ frenetic defense, which forced 22 turnovers in a win over Kansas on Dec. 8th. Missouri takes a 10-1 record into today’s game and has already accumulated two more wins than it did during all of last season.

Auburn’s dominance deserves more attention
Bruce Pearl put together the toughest non-conference schedule in the history of the Tigers’ program and the result through 12 games is 11 wins and a single defeat. The one loss was by six points against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. And the wins? Auburn has played six teams of substance other than Duke — Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina, Memphis, Ohio State, and Purdue — and its average margin of victory in those six games is 15 points. That’s astonishing. The Tigers aren’t just winning — they’re winning against quality competition by a considerable margin. While Auburn’s wins against Houston and Iowa State were only by a combined seven points, every other significant win its tallied thus far has come by at least 13.

Liam McNeeley is exploding for UConn
It may officially be time to stop saying that McNeeley is just one of the best freshmen in the country because it’s starting to look like he’s one of the best players in the country. The former five-star prospect is averaging 19.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in his last three games while shooting an impressive 50 percent from three-point range during that span. Beyond his statistics, the 6-7 McNeeley has demonstrated the comfort and intestinal fortitude necessary to be the Huskies’ clear secondary offensive option alongside Alex Karaban. UConn has won six straight games since going 0-3 in the Maui Invitational.

On The Side

  • At what point does Hubert Davis insert Ian Jackson into North Carolina’s starting lineup? The 6-4 freshman has played tremendous basketball over the past month and is averaging 13.1 points in his last seven games. Whatever “it” is, Jackson possesses.
  • Georgetown is above .500 in Big East play for the first time since Jan. 2, 2019. That’s 2,180 days ago! The Hoyas will play their first Big East road game of the season tonight against Seton Hall in Newark.
  • Oklahoma will aim to extend its record to 12-0 today against Central Arkansas. An underrated part of the Sooners’ undefeated start? Porter Moser’s team is 4-0 in games decided by five points or fewer.
  • In UCLA’s last two games against power conference opponents, junior point guard Dylan Andrews has scored a combined six points and has just two assists and six turnovers. The Bruins can’t be anywhere near the team that they’re capable of until they start getting more consistent play at the most important position on the floor.
  • Xavier’s last four losses have come by a combined 14 points.

Daily Specials

  • Kent State at Alabama
  • Illinois/Missouri (St. Louis)
  • Brown at Kansas
  • Georgetown at Seton Hall
  • Utah State at Saint Mary’s

Leftovers