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The Breakfast Buffet: Tramon Mark, Purdue steps back into the Gladiator Pit, USC aims for a big win against UCLA

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

Tramon Mark is a player to monitor moving forward for Houston
Everyone knows about Marcus Sasser and five-star freshman Jarace Walker, but Mark could ultimately be the player that determines the Cougars’ ceiling over the next three months. The 6-5 junior is shooting a career-high 40.2 percent from three-point range and also had 19 points and six rebounds in Saturday’s six-point win over UCF. This guy has the requisites to be an all-conference caliber player. Houston is 19-1 over the past three years in games where Mark scores in double figures. The Cougars will host SMU tonight.

Purdue steps back into the Gladiator Pit
Approximately 72 hours after the Boilers suffered their first loss of the season against Rutgers, Purdue will resume play tonight in Columbus against Ohio State. This is the start of an extremely difficult four-day stretch for Matt Painter’s team, who will also visit Penn State on Sunday. The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are two of the better offensive teams in the Big Ten and are certain to put all sorts of pressure on Zach Edey defensively. The 7-4 Edey only played 28 minutes in Monday’s loss against Rutgers due to foul trouble, but still finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks.

USC aims for a big win against UCLA
The Trojans don’t have what they had during the past couple of seasons, but they still have enough to reach the NCAA Tournament. Earning a few more big wins would certainly help, starting with tonight’s game against the Bruins in Westwood. USC (11-4) currently does not have a Quad 1 win and missed two key opportunities in the Battle 4 Atlantis when it lost to Wisconsin and Tennessee on back-to-back days by a combined 12 points. UCLA (13-2) enters tonight’s game on a 10-game winning streak, but Mick Cronin told reporters on Wednesday that freshman guard Amari Bailey will miss his third straight game due to a foot injury. The 6-5 Bailey is a starter and averages 9.5 points. The Bruins have won two straight against the the Trojans.

On The Side

  • Since Dec. 1st, Kansas’ K.J. Adams is 35-49 from the field. That’s 71.4 percent for those of you who are keeping score at home!
  • The most impressive part of Pitt’s recent surge? The Panthers have played since Dec. 10th without John Hugley, who is out of the lineup due to personal reasons.The 6-9 Hugley averaged 14.8 points and 7.9 rebounds last season. Pitt has won five straight games, including back-to-back victories over North Carolina and Virginia.
  • Kevin Willard was 4-3 in games against Rutgers in Piscataway during his tenure as Seton Hall’s head coach. He returns to New Jersey tonight to face the Scarlet Knights for the first time with Maryland.
  • Creighton (9-6) is allowing an average of 65.6 points this season in the 12 games when Ryan Kalkbrenner (15.3 points, seven rebounds, 1.9 blocks) has been in the lineup. In the three games that he’s missed, the Bluejays are allowing an average of 74 points. The 7-1 Kalkbrenner is the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year.
  • The sleeper game of the night in college basketball is in Conference-USA as Florida Atlantic (12-1) hosts UAB (12-2). As of Thursday, the Owls were ranked 11th in the NET.

Daily Specials

  • Maryland at Rutgers
  • Purdue at Ohio State
  • USC at UCLA
  • Indiana at Iowa
  • Washington at Arizona

Leftovers