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
Marquette/UConn
The two best teams in the Big East meet for the first time this season in what could be the first of three games between these two programs between now and Selection Sunday. The Huskies won the national title last year in dominant fashion, but the Golden Eagles won both the Big East regular season and tournament titles. This game is personal for UConn and for Dan Hurley, who has openly spoke about his quest to win both the Big East regular season and tournament titles in addition to attempting to win a second consecutive national title. Keep an eye on Marquette’s Tyler Kolek — the reigning Big East Player of the Year — who’s averaging 25.8 points and 7.5 assists in his last four games. This is the first time that the Huskies have been ranked in the top-five of the AP Top 25 and hosted an opponent that’s also ranked in the top-five of the AP Top 25 since 2009.
Kentucky visits The Jungle
Bruce Pearl is 5-1 in home games against the Wildcats since he took the Auburn job in 2014 and he’ll look to improve on that record today. The Tigers haven’t just been good at home this season —- they’ve been dominant. Entering today’s game against Kentucky, Auburn is 13-0 at Neville Arena with an average margin of victory of 22.1 points. This is quickly becoming one of the best home court advantages in college basketball.
Pelle Larsson is quietly playing the best basketball of his career
All five of the Wildcats’ starters average in double figures, but Larsson is starting to separate himself. The 6-6 senior has emerged as a scorer in addition to already being an all-around threat, averaging 20.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in his last three games while shooting 64.1 percent from the field and 45.4 percent from three-point range during that span. He’s never played better. Known as a “blend guy” for much of his career, Larsson is now displaying that he’s more than capable of making big baskets when they’re needed. The better he plays, the more formidable Arizona will be next month in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats will host Arizona State tonight in Tucson.
On The Side
- Michigan State is now 12-4 this season in games where Malik Hall scores in double figures and 4-5 when he does not. The Spartans will visit Michigan tonight in Ann Arbor.
- Looking forward to today’s annual NCAA March Madness Men’s Bracket Preview show on CBS! The program will begin at 12:30 PM ET and continue at 1 PM ET on CBS Sports Network.
- Villanova’s Brendan Hausen is 15-30 from three-point range in his last four games.
- Utah State has never won an outright regular season title since it joined the Mountain West. The Aggies are currently in first place in the league standings entering today’s game at Colorado State. Tip off is at 5:30 PM ET on CBS Sports Network.
- Yale will take a 10-game winning streak into tonight’s game at Princeton and the Bulldogs have a star in big man Danny Wolf, who’s averaging 21 points and 10.5 rebounds in his last four games.
Daily Specials
- Texas Tech at Iowa State
- Creighton at Butler
- Marquette at UConn
- Kansas at Oklahoma
- Kentucky at Auburn
Leftovers
- The Breakfast Buffet: Kansas/Iowa State, Jaxson Robinson, Mike White
- The Breakfast Buffet: Indiana eyes a signature win against Illinois, St. John’s bench, SEC needs to a better job spacing out games
- Episode 481 — Ole Miss’ Chris Beard
- The Breakfast Buffet: Jeremy Fears, UCLA is desperate for a win against Rutgers, the Mountain West
- The Breakfast Buffet: Cooper Flagg is taking things to another level, Kentucky, RJ Luis
