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The Breakfast Buffet: A big day in the Big 12, Xaivian Lee, Santa Clara

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

A big day in the Big 12
It feels like we saw that every three or four days, but it’s the utmost truth. Once again, this league has multiple heavyweight matchups as Kansas travels to Iowa State in the afternoon and then in the evening, Texas Tech visits Arizona. Both of those games are Elite Eight caliber tilts. Don’t be shocked if the Big 12 has multiple teams in the 2026 Final Four.

Xaivian Lee is playing at an elite level for Florida
It’s taken Lee some time to adjust to the SEC after transferring to Gainesville from Princeton, but he’s now in the middle of arguably his most effective stretch of the season. During the Gators’ four-game winning streak, the 6-3 Lee has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 21:2 and is averaging 10.0 points, 5.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.8 steals. The ceiling continues to rise for the defending national champions. Florida goes for its fifth straight win today at home against Kentucky.

Santa Clara aims to move the needle against Gonzaga
Herb Sendek has done a tremendous job with this program and has led Santa Clara to four straight 20-win seasons, but he’s never taken the Broncos to the NCAA Tournament. That can change if his team beats the Bulldogs tonight at home. Santa Clara checks in at 22-5 and already owns a win over Saint Mary’s on its resume. The path to an at-large bid for Sendek and the Broncos starts tonight against Gonzaga in Northern California.

On The Side

  • Purdue is 12-1 this season in games where Oscar Cluff scores in double figures.
  • Arkansas’ Darius Acuff is averaging 25.2 points and 6.4 assists in his last five games. The Razorbacks will host Auburn tonight in Fayetteville.
  • Brad Underwood told College Hoops Today on Friday that Andrej Stojakovic’s status for Illinois’ game on Sunday against Indiana is TBD. The 6-7 Stojakovic DNP earlier in the week against Wisconsin due to an ankle injury and currently averages 13.7 points and 4.6 rebounds.
  • Villanova’s Bryce Lindsay (12.7 points) is in the midst of a massive slump. The 6-3 sophomore has scored just 10 points in the Wildcats’ last three games and is just 3-26 from the field and 3-20 from three-point range during that span. This team can’t be near its apex without Lindsay operating at a high level. Kevin Willard’s squad is in Omaha today to face Creighton.
  • Saint Louis’ Josh Schertz was Friday’s guest on INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOW. To watch the full interview, click HERE.

Daily Specials

  • Clemson at Duke
  • UCLA at Michigan
  • Kansas at Iowa State
  • Kentucky at Florida
  • Texas Tech at Arizona

Leftovers