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The Breakfast Buffet: Arkansas, NC State, Donovan Dent

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

Arkansas looks like the most complete team in the SEC
That doesn’t mean that it’s the best team, but in a year where the conference doesn’t look like it has a truly great unit, the Razorbacks have as good of a chance as any program in the league to win an SEC regular season title. John Calipari’s squad picked up its most significant win of the season on Wednesday night against Louisville and on display was its plethora of options both inside and out. Arkansas out rebounded Louisville 46-36 and also got a 17-point, 10-assist, five-rebound effort from freshman point guard Darius Acuff. With Acuff and Meleek Thomas — who also had 17 points against the Cardinals — on the perimeter, the Razorbacks have the type of perimeter pop needed to complement their frontcourt troika of Nick Pringle, Trevon Brazile, and Malique Ewin. Alabama has great guards, but questions up front. Florida has great bigs, but consistency issues at the guard spot. And every other team has yet to look the part of a conference title contender. Vanderbilt remains undefeated, but it’s only power conference wins are against UCF and SMU. This is ONLY December.

NC State is putting tremendous pressure on itself
Remember when the Wolfpack were a trendy pick to finish near the top of the ACC? Well, they’re running out of opportunities to build a resume. Will Wade’s squad came up short in yet another non-conference opportunity on Wednesday night against Auburn and only has two games of note remaining before ACC play begins. NC State — who’s currently 5-3 overall — will host Kansas on Dec. 13th and then face Ole Miss — who’s been a bit of a disappointment — in a neutral site game on Dec. 21st. The Wolfpack are giving up an average of 90.0 points in their three losses.

Donovan Dent get back on track
UCLA’s prized transfer finally lived up to the billing against a power conference opponent. After dealing with nagging injuries during the first few weeks of the season, Dent played his best game yet as a Bruin against a power conference opponent, tallying 17 points and eight assists in Wednesday’s 82-80 win at Washington. UCLA still has things to clean up, as evidenced by how close the game was down the stretch after the Bruins let a big lead slip away late, but getting its All-American back on track is a major step in the right direction. UCLA is now 6-2 and will next host Oregon on Saturday.

On The Side

  • Michigan State is 38-7 in its last 45 games. At 70 years young, Tom Izzo is doing some of the best work of his Hall-of-Fame career.
  • UConn freshman big man Eric Reibe is averaging 11.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks this season in games where he’s logged 20 minutes or more.
  • Kyan Evans is just 7-26 from the field and 4-19 from three-point range in North Carolina’s last four games. Now we know why Hubert Davis went with freshman point guard Derek Dixon down the stretch in Tuesday night’s win at Kentucky. Dixon finished with nine points in 24 minutes and made several key shots in the closing minutes.
  • Utah State quietly has a big week. The 7-0 Aggies will travel to South Florida tonight and Charlotte on Sunday. This program a combined 33-8 in two seasons under Jerrod Calhoun.
  • Former Xavier guard Trey Green has found a home at Saint Louis. The 6-foot guard is a whopping 18-34 from three-point range in the Billikens’ last four games. Josh Schertz’s squad is 7-1 and will play its next six games at Chaifetz Arena. This could very well be the team to beat in the Atlantic 10.

Daily Specials

  • Utah State at South Florida

Leftovers