College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: Colorado’s weird weekend, Saint Louis has a massive week, Gavitt Games

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

Colorado had a weird weekend
On Friday, the Buffaloes lost at Grambling by nine points as part of the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series. On Sunday, Colorado (2-1) beat Tennessee by 12 in a neutral site game in Nashville. Anarchy? Nope. Just college basketball. The Buffaloes’ loss to Grambling will follow them all the way to Selection Sunday, but Tad Boyle’s team deserves immense credit for the way it defended Tennessee on Sunday. In addition to holding the Vols to just 66 points, Colorado also held Tennessee to just 25.4 percent shooting from the field and 27 percent shooting from the three-point line. Next up for the Buffaloes is the Myrtle Beach Invitational, where they’ll hope to continue to bolster their resume after the loss at Grambling.

Saint Louis has a massive week
There’s only one way to say this: If Saint Louis (2-0) wants to have a chance to earn an at-large bid to the 2023 NCAA Tournament, it needs to do something with its next three games. The Billikens will host Memphis on Tuesday (9 PM ET, CBS Sports Network) and then face Maryland on Saturday in the first round of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun. Saint Louis will then play either Miami or Providence on Sunday. Following this three-game stretch, the Billikens will only have one remaining game on their schedule against a power conference team this season as Saint Louis travels to Auburn on Nov. 27th.

The start of the Gavitt Games
The annual series between the Big East and the Big Ten gets going tonight as DePaul visits Minnesota and Butler travels to Penn State. More matchups between the two leagues will occur as the week progresses with Friday’s games — Indiana at Xavier and Villanova at Michigan State — serving as the headliners. This is the seventh season of the Gavitt Games, as it did not occur in 2020 due to COVID. The Big East has a 24-22 head-to-head record with the Big Ten in the event.

On The Side

  • Something to monitor: Creighton’s Arthur Kaluma has attempted 28 shots in his first two games. No one else on the Bluejays’ roster has attempted more than 20. Creighton will look to go 3-0 tonight when it hosts Holy Cross (9 PM ET, CBS Sports Network) in Omaha.
  • Indiana’s Miller Kopp is 6-8 from three-point range in the Hoosiers’ first two games. He only made 39 shots from long distance during all of last season.
  • Missouri transfer Javon Pickett is averaging 12 points and 13 rebounds for Saint Louis. The Billikens’ are getting plenty of attention because of Yuri Collins (13.5 assists) and the return of Javonte Perkins (17 points) — who missed all of last season with a knee injury — but the 6-5 Pickett is also having a major impact for Travis Ford’s squad.
  • St. John’s big man Joel Soriano (12.5 points, 10.5 rebounds) has had back-to-back games with double-figure rebounds — that didn’t happen once last season. The Red Storm need Soriano to be a consistent presence on the glass if they want to wind up in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
  • If Louisville (0-2) loses on Tuesday to Appalachian State, an 0-10 start for the Cardinals isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Following Tuesday night’s game, Louisville will play three games in the Maui Invitational and then return home to host Maryland (ACC/Big Ten Challenge) and Miami back-to-back. The Cardinals will then travel to Florida State and host Western Kentucky. Yikes!

Daily Specials

  • DePaul at Minnesota
  • Oral Roberts at Houston
  • Northern Iowa at Virginia
  • Butler at Penn State
  • Norfolk State at UCLA

Leftovers