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The Breakfast Buffet: Jahvon Quinerly, UConn/Providence, Georgia Tech’s big week

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

Jahvon Quinerly has found a home at Alabama
This is the player that I remember seeing on the AAU circuit in high school prior to starting his college career at Villanova. Quinerly has regained the form that he displayed a few years ago when he was a five-star prospect, playing with confidence and thriving in Nate Oats’ high-octane system. The New Jersey native entered Tuesday night’s game against South Carolina averaging 11.2 points, 2.9 assists, and two rebounds in 23.4 minutes while shooting 38.6 percent from three-point range. Quinerly had 13 points on eight shots in the three-point win over the Gamecocks. He averaged 3.2 points in 9.1 minutes two years ago at Villanova.

UConn’s trip to Providence
Desperate times call for desperate measures and both of these teams are desperate entering today’s game in Rhode Island. Every game that UConn plays for the rest of the regular season will either have a positive or negative effect on its hopes to reach the NCAA Tournament in March. And Providence? The Friars have been limping ever since they lost Jared Bynum to a groin injury in early January and haven’t been the same team since. The Huskies could get All-American guard James Bouknight back today from an elbow injury. The 6-5 guard hasn’t played since Jan. 5th and was averaging 20.3 points and 5.3 rebounds prior to being sidelined. 

This is a make or break week for Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets are a good basketball team. Are they a team that will hear its name called on Selection Sunday? We’ll have a much better idea after the next 80 minutes. Georgia Tech opened the season with back-to-back losses to Mercer and Georgia State, partly due to the fact that Josh Pastner opted to stop doing contact drills in practice in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It wasn’t a good idea. It backfired. Since resuming a normal practice schedule, the Yellow Jackets are 9-4 with wins over Florida State, Clemson, and North Carolina. Georgia Tech can play its way into the NCAA Tournament picture with a win tonight at home against Virginia and a road win on Friday at Clemson. A make or break week for this program begins tonight in Atlanta. 

On The Side

  • Geo Baker is averaging 14.5 and shooting 52.2 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from three-point range during Rutgers’ current four-game winning streak. The Scarlet Knights will go for five straight tonight at Iowa.
  • North Carolina currently has 272 assists to 271 turnovers as a team. All four of the Tar Heels’ top scorers — Armando Bacot, Caleb Love, Garrison Brooks, and Day’Ron Sharpe — have more individual turnovers than assists. 
  • Boise State has quickly gone from potential mid-major darling to bubble team. After losing three of its last four games, the Broncos will now have to do major damage down the stretch to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Boise State’s final six regular season games include series’ with UNLV, Utah State, and San Diego State.
  • It’s been 46 days since Northwestern has won a game. The Wildcats are on a nine-game losing streak since beating Ohio State on Dec. 26th. Chris Collins’ squad will host Indiana later today in Evanston
  • Bellarmine is in its first season in Division 1 and is currently in sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Sun. Kudos to Knights coach Scotty Davenport, who prior to taking his current post was an assistant at Louisville under Rick Pitino. 

Daily Specials

  • UConn at Providence
  • Houston at South Florida
  • Virginia at Georgia Tech
  • Rutgers at Iowa
  • Marquette at Villanova

Leftovers: