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The Breakfast Buffet: Isaiah Stevens, Jahvon Quinerly meets his old team, Baylor/Florida

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

Isaiah Stevens is playing like an All-American
If you don’t believe me, ask Creighton. The 6-foot point guard was surgical in his dissection of the Bluejays on Thursday in Kansas City, tallying 20 points, seven assists, and six rebounds all while just committing one turnover in a 21-point win for Colorado State. The 69-48 rout was one of the more surprising results that we’ve seen so far this season and it firmly put the Rams on the national map. Stevens is currently averaging 17 points and 7.8 assists while shooting 57.6 percent from the field and 52.6 percent from three-point range. His assist-to-turnover ratio is 47:12. There’s not many players in the sport playing better than this guy.

Jahvon Quinerly meets his old team
The finals of the Battle 4 Atlantis is a delicious matchup between Memphis and Villanova. It presents a unique dynamic with Quinerly — who started his career with the Wildcats before transferring to Alabama — against his old team. The veteran point guard left the Crimson Tide in the offseason and committed to Memphis as a graduate transfer. He’s a much different player now than he was during his one season with the Wildcats, which occurred in 2018-19. Quinerly’s ball security has been elite over the past few days as he’s tallied 12 assists and zero turnovers in two games in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Baylor/Florida
This is what Todd Golden and his staff have been waiting for. For the past two years, the Gators have been seeking a return to national relevance. With a win tonight at the Barclays Center in the finals of the Preseason NIT, they’ll get it. Florida’s offense has been exceptionally explosive this season, averaging 85.4 points, but the Gators are going to have to find a way to slow down Baylor freshman Ja’Kobe Walter. The 6-5 guard enters tonight’s game averaging 19.2 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 41.9 percent from three-point range.

On The Side

  • Purdue’s Zach Edey is averaging 26 points, 15 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks this season in four games against power conference opponents. This guy has the inside track to be the National Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons for the first time since Ralph Sampson did it at Virginia in the early 1980s.
  • Gonzaga’s Anton Watson had a career-high 32 points in Wednesday night’s win over UCLA. Watson had only scored 20 points or more in a game twice previously during his five-year career. Anarchy? Nope. Just college basketball.
  • Alabama will play its first power conference opponent of the season today when it faces Ohio State in the first round of the Emerald Coast Classic. The Crimson Tide are 4-0 and averaging 101.8 points while shooting 48.9 percent from three-point range. Tip off is at 7 PM ET on CBS Sports Network.
  • Cincinnati hasn’t truly helped or hurt itself yet, but the Bearcats deserve credit for winning all the games on their schedule so far by double figures. Barring something unforeseen, this team should be 7-0 when it visits Xavier for the Crosstown Shootout on Dec. 9th.
  • This is the deepest that the Ivy League has been in recent memory. In addition to Princeton and Yale at the top of the conference, Penn has already beaten Villanova and Harvard has won games at both UMass and Yale.

Daily Specials

  • Arkansas/North Carolina (Battle 4 Atlantis)
  • Memphis/Villanova (Battle 4 Atlantis)
  • Baylor/Florida (Preseason NIT)
  • USC/Oklahoma (San Diego)
  • Alabama/Ohio State (Emerald Coast Classic)

Leftovers