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The Breakfast Buffet: Denzel Aberdeen, Tarris Reed, Gonzaga needs to get healthy

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

Denzel Aberdeen is stepping up for Kentucky
Jaland Lowe’s season-ending shoulder surgery opened the door for Aberdeen to have a significantly bigger role for the Wildcats at the point of attack. He’s now thriving with the expanded responsibility. In the three games since Lowe was lost for the season, the 6-5 Aberdeen is averaging 18.3 points while shooting an impressive 17-28 from the field. He’s got to play close to this level moving forward if Kentucky is going to have a chance to be a factor in the NCAA Tournament. Mark Pope’s team has won three straight games and will next host Texas on Wednesday at Rupp Arena.

Tarris Reed’s rim protection is something to monitor
When the 6-11 Reed stays on the floor, he’s one of the most physical interior forces in the sport. He also gives UConn an incredibly massive presence to protect the front of the rim. We saw evidence of that this past week. In back-to-back road wins against Seton Hall and Georgetown, Reed averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds, but he also tallied three blocks in each of those games. In games this season where Reed logs 30 minutes — as he did in each of the Huskies’ games last week — he’s averaging 2.8 blocks. Keeping this guy on the floor for long stretches could be one of the biggest keys to UConn advancing to its third Final Four in the last four years.

Gonzaga needs to get healthy
The Bulldogs are without Braden Huff (17.8 points, 5.6 rebounds) for the next 4-8 weeks due to a knee injury and didn’t have Graham Ike (18.1 PPG, 8.8 RPG) in the lineup on Saturday night against Seattle due to an ankle issue. The resources are really limited right now in Spokane. The good news for Mark Few’s team? It’s next three games are at home and it won’t play on the road until Feb. 4th at Portland.

On The Side

  • Darryn Peterson’s 26-point performance on Friday night against Baylor — while shooting 11-13 from the field in 23 minutes — was one of the most ridiculous performances I’ve seen in 20 years on this beat. The Jayhawks will play back-to-back road games this week at Colorado and Kansas State.
  • Nebraska (18-0) has not had a single-digit loss season since 1991.
  • Florida is 7-1 this season when Urban Klavzar scores in double figures.
  • Arkansas is giving up an average of 90.7 points in three SEC road games.
  • Two losses from ACC teams on Saturday that will likely linger all the way to Selection Sunday: NC State’s home loss to Georgia Tech and Syracuse’s overtime defeat at Boston College.

Daily Specials

  • Oakland at Green Bay
  • Arizona State at Houston
  • Washington State at San Francisco

Leftovers