College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: Kobe Brown, UConn’s bench, Kris Murray returns

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

Missouri has a star in Kobe Brown
The 6-8 forward has tallied back-to-back games with 30 or more points in the Tigers’ last two wins over Illinois and Kentucky. A double figure scorer last season, Brown seems primed to take another step forward this season in Missouri’s first year under Dennis Gates. Smooth, skilled, and ultra confident, Brown’s face up game is tailor made to mesh with the Tigers’ deep arsenal of outside shooters. Brown is averaging 30.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and five assists in his last two games while shooting 20-33 from the field and 7-12 from three-point range during that span. That’s utterly ridiculous.

UConn’s bench continues to be a major weapon
The Huskies have the best interior sub in college basketball in 7-2 freshman Donovan Clingan, but UConn’s options in reserve are much more than just one man. Similar to how Joey Calcaterra came off the bench and sparked a comeback in last week’s win over Georgetown, the Huskies got a major lift from Hassan Diarra in Wednesday night’s 74-66 win over Villanova at the XL Center in Hartford. A bulldog of a point guard, Diarra’s defense was critical down the stretch against the Wildcats as he tallied four steals to go along with six points, three assists, and two rebounds. In three Big East games, UConn’s bench is averaging 17.7 points.

Kris Murray returns for Iowa
The All-American has missed the Hawkeyes’ last four games with a foot injury, but is set to return tonight on the road at Nebraska. The 6-8 Murray — who’s averaging 19.4 points and 10.1 rebounds — has not played since Dec. 6th and it will be interesting to see how much rust is in his game after missing three weeks of game action. This will be Iowa’s first game since an abominable home loss to Eastern Illinois on Dec. 21st.

On The Side

  • Marquette’s Oso Ighodaro (11.9 points, seven rebounds) already has more made field goals this season (76) than he did during all of last year (73).
  • Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. is just 2-22 from three-point range in his last five games. He was 21-49 from long distance during the first seven games of the season.
  • Kudos to the ACC. The league will play three standalone power conference games — North Carolina/Pitt, Miami/Notre Dame, and NC State/Clemson — on Friday afternoon from Noon until 6 PM ET. All three games will be on the ACC Network.
  • Santa Clara currently has more wins (12) than any other team in the WCC. Herb Sendek has done a masterful job with the Broncos following the loss of a lottery pick in Jalen Williams and two other double figure scorers in Josip Vrankic and PJ Pipes. Santa Clara will open league play tonight at home against San Francisco.
  • UConn is expected to play in the 2023 Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, a source told College Hoops Today. North Carolina is also expected to play in the event while the other two teams in the field are TBD.

Daily Specials

  • Providence at Butler
  • Iowa at Nebraska
  • San Francisco at Santa Clara
  • Utah at Cal
  • Colorado at Stanford

Leftovers