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The Breakfast Buffet: Kansas’ interior defense is about to be tested, Creighton/Marquette, David Singleton

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

Kansas’ interior defense is about to be tested
The Jayhawks’ next three opponents — Indiana, Harvard, and Oklahoma State — all feature talented and capable front court players in Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana), Chris Ledlum (Harvard), and Moussa Cisse (Oklahoma State). It will be interesting to see how Kansas responds as the tallest player in its rotation is 6-7 sophomore K.J. Adams (8.2 points 4.5 rebounds), who’s masquerading as this team’s starting center. The Jayhawks have really struggled on the glass this season against bigger teams and were out rebounded by 29 in a pair of games against Duke and Tennessee. Jackson-Davis (16.8 points, 8.4 rebounds), Ledlum (19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds), and Cisse (8.8 points, 10.4 rebounds) all have the potential to put up big numbers against Kansas’ lack of size.

Creighton/Marquette
A Big East conference game in mid-December? Sounds delicious. Creighton enters tonight’s tilt in Milwaukee on a five-game losing streak, but still possesses enough talent to beat anyone in the Big East. Marquette meanwhile, has won five of its last six games and plays an aggressive, frenetic style that could exploit the Bluejays’ lack of quality depth. The Golden Eagles have eight different players averaging 14.5 minutes or more while Creighton has just six and one of those players — Ryan Kalkbrenner (15.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.6 blocks) — has missed the last two games due to illness. This game is appointment television for any college basketball junkie.

David Singleton is emerging as one of college basketball’s best sixth men
This is a subjective thing for many people, but you can’t ignore the facts. Singleton — a fifth-year senior — is now essentially a sixth starter for UCLA and is unequivocally playing the best basketball of his career. The 6-4 guard is averaging 10.6 points and 3.3 rebounds — which are both career highs — while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range. Singleton also has 18 assists to just five turnovers for the entire season and tallied 18 points in 24 minutes in Wednesday night’s win at Maryland. This guy is firmly in the conversation as one of the best sixth men in the sport with guys like UConn’s Donovan Clingan, Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler, and others.

On The Side

  • Arizona State (10-1) has held six of its first 11 opponents to 60 points or fewer and nine of its first 11 opponents to 65 points or fewer. Along with Utah, the Sun Devils have been the early surprise in the Pac-12.
  • Virginia Tech’s Grant Basile has already made 26 three-point shots this season. He made 39 shots from long distance during all of last year at Wright State. The 6-9 big man — who has gotten himself into terrific shape — has stabilized the center spot for the Hokies. Basile is averaging 14.6 points and 5.6 rebounds for Virginia Tech, who is 10-1 entering Saturday’s game in Blacksburg against Grambling.
  • Georgetown (5-6) opens Big East play tonight at home against Xavier (8-3). The last time that the Hoyas beat a conference opponent? March 13th, 2021 against Creighton in the finals of the 2021 Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
  • UCF has quietly won eight its last nine games and is starting to look like the third-best team in the American Athletic Conference behind Houston and Memphis. The Knight’s only loss during that span? A two-point defeat at home against Miami.
  • Wake Forest’s Tyree Appleby (ankle) is questionable for Saturday’s game against Rutgers, Steve Forbes told College Hoops Today. Appleby — who is averaging 18.7 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.5 rebounds — hurt his ankle on Monday in practice and then reinjured it in Wednesday night’s win over Appalachian State. The Demon Deacons will also host Duke next Tuesday in Winston Salem.

Daily Specials

  • Xavier at Georgetown
  • Florida Gulf Coast at St. Bonaventure
  • Creighton at Marquette

Leftovers