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The Breakfast Buffet: Duke is about more than Paolo Banchero, Kentucky, Ochai Agbaji

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

Duke is about much more than Paolo Banchero
The potential number one pick in the 2022 NBA Draft had a sensational college debut in Tuesday night’s 79-71 win over Kentucky in Champions Classic, but there’s much more to this group of Blue Devils than their superstar freshman. Beyond Banchero’s 22-point, seven-rebound performance, Duke got a major lift from 6-4 freshman Trevor Keels — who finished with 25 points — and also displayed impressive rhythm and chemistry for the first game of the season. Wendell Moore (12 points, four rebounds) looked confident and composed as a junior while big men Mark Williams and Marquette transfer Theo John both served as quality enforcers at the rim. There’s a lot to like about this group moving forward.

Kentucky will be fine
This rendition of Wildcats is much different than most teams we’ve seen since John Calipari has been in Lexington, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be formidable. Kentucky does not have surefire NBA caliber talent — at least not yet — like they’ve had in past years under Calipari and that talent discrepancy was on full display when Banchero at times made Madison Square Garden his own personal sanctuary. Nevertheless, three of the Wildcats’ key offseason transfers — Sahvir Wheeler (Georgia), Kellan Grady (Davidson), and Oscar Tshiebwe (West Virginia) — all produced at a high level. Wheeler finished with 16 points and 10 assists while Tshiebwe tallied a double-double with 17 points and 19 rebounds. Grady had nine points and was 3-7 from three-point range. This team doesn’t have what it normally has, but still has enough to be the team to beat in the SEC.

Ochai Agbaji looks primed for a big senior season
Playing at Madison Square Garden often brings out the best in special players and that was the case with Agbaji on Tuesday night against Michigan State. Confident, aggressive, and under control, the 6-5 senior finished with a career-high 29 points and was clearly the best player on the floor in Kansas’ 87-74 victory. “He was terrific,” Kansas coach Bill Self said of Agbaji following the game. “He really shined under the bright lights.” The victory was especially impressive considering the fact that the Jayhawks were without starting forward Jalen Wilson, who was serving the initial part of a three-game suspension. Agbaji had previously only scored 25 or more points just once in his college career.

On The Side

  • The bright spot in Michigan State’s loss to Kansas on Tuesday night? Sophomore point guard A.J. Hoggard. The broad shouldered floor general — who is 20 pounds lighter than last season — came off the bench to score 17 points to go with four assists. “I was really happy with A.J.,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said after the game. “I thought he took a step tonight.” The Spartans’ starting point guard — Tyson Walker — was in foul trouble all night and finished with just two points and three assists.
  • Tuesday was not a good day for the totality of the ACC. Three of the conference’s 15 teams — Virginia, Georgia Tech, and Pitt — lost “buy” games on the first night of the season. Yikes!
  • Chris Holtmann had major concerns about Ohio State’s perimeter during the preseason. Those concerns were reiterated in Tuesday night’s one-point win over Akron. The Buckeyes had 11 assists and 11 turnovers as a team in the victory and needed a layup from Zed Key with under a second to play to escape with the triumph.
  • Michigan has a dangerous opener on its hands tonight against Buffalo. The Bulls were picked first in the MAC Preseason Poll and have two players — Josh Mballa and Jeenathan Williams — who were named to the All-MAC Preseason First-Team. This is the game of the night in college basketball.
  • Texas Tech’s decision to keep Terrence Shannon Jr. out of the lineup for precautionary reasons shouldn’t have a major effect on the Red Raiders until their game on Dec. 1st game at Providence as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle. The first six games on Texas Tech’s schedule are all against non power conference competition. Shannon went through the NBA Draft process last spring and the school said in a statement earlier this week that it just wants to make sure everything is on point before he returns to the lineup. A 6-6 wing, Shannon averaged 12.9 points and four rebounds last season and should be one of the top players in the Big 12 in 21-22.

Daily Specials

  • Buffalo at Michigan
  • Lehigh at Rutgers
  • Fairleigh Dickinson at Seton Hall
  • Youngstown State at Penn State
  • Penn at Florida State

Leftovers