College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: DePaul/Creighton, Northwestern’s D, Boogie Ellis

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

DePaul/Creighton
A Big East conference game on Christmas Day? Sounds delicious. Murphy’s Law has hit DePaul (6-6) as two projected starters — Caleb Murphy (wrist) and Nick Ongenda (wrist) — have yet to play this season while another key reserve — Yor Anei (foot) — has not played since Nov. 14th. That combined with a vicious non-conference schedule that saw the Blue Demons play four out of their last five games on the road has Tony Stubblefield searching for answers in his second season. Creighton is still trying to get back on track after Ryan Kalkbrenner’s return to the lineup on Thursday against Butler. The Bluejays are 7-3 when the 7-1 Kalkbrenner — the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year — is in the lineup and 0-3 when he is not.

Northwestern’s defense has been elite
The Wildcats gave up 87 points on Nov. 28th in a 29-point home loss to Pitt and seemed all out of sorts. They haven’t lost since. Northwestern — who is currently 9-2 overall — is on a four-game winning streak and playing elite defense through its first 11 games of the season. The Wildcats are only giving up an average of 55.5 points and are currently ranked eighth in total defense according to the analytics website KenPom.com. Northwestern gave up an average of 69.9 points last season. Chris Collins’ squad will wrap up its non-conference schedule on Thursday against Brown in Evanston.

Boogie Ellis has regained All-Pac-12 form
USC (10-3) fell off the national radar when it lost at home to Florida Gulf Coast on opening night, but a recent six-game winning streak has reiterated that the Trojans are still very capable of being a factor in the Pac-12. A big reason for that is Ellis. The 6-3 senior is averaging 23.5 points in his last two games while shooting an impressive 55.2 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range during that span. In the four games prior, Ellis averaged just 7.3 points while shooting 24.4 percent from the field and .09 percent from three-point range. For USC to again reach the NCAA Tournament, it needs Ellis to consistently play like one of the best players in the Pac-12.

On The Side

  • North Carolina is 6-1 this season in games where Leaky Black scores seven points or more. The one defeat during that stretch? A four-overtime loss to Alabama in the PK85.
  • K.J. Adams has 13 steals in Kansas’ last six games. He had just two steals in the Jayhawks’ first six games. This is a burgeoning Glue Guy to monitor moving forward.
  • Kentucky freshman Chris Livingston has quietly had a very productive December. The 6-6 wing is averaging 9.7 points in his last three games while shooting 64.7 percent from the field and 66.6 percent from three-point range during that span.
  • Six teams in the WCC — Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara, and BYU — already have 10 or more wins.
  • SMU’s Zhuric Phelps looks like the third-best guard in the American Athletic Conference behind Memphis’ Kendric Davis and Houston’s Marcus Sasser. The 6-3 Phelps — who averaged just 3.8 points last season as a freshman — is averaging 19.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists entering tonight’s matchup with Hawaii in the finals of the Diamond Head Classic. Phelps has scored 19 or more points in eight consecutive games.

Daily Specials

  • Seattle/George Washington (Diamond Head Classic)
  • Iona/Pepperdine (Diamond Head Classic)
  • DePaul at Creighton
  • Washington State/Utah State (Diamond Head Classic)
  • SMU at Hawaii (Diamond Head Classic)

Leftovers