College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: Murderer’s Row begins for Alabama, Kam Jones, Gonzaga’s bench

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

Murderer’s Row begins for Alabama
This is where they say “the plot thickens”. Starting with tonight’s tilt against McNeese in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide will embark on a vicious eight-game stretch against some of the best teams in the country. Following tonight, Alabama will travel to face Purdue on Friday at Mackey Arena and then return to its home state next week to take on Illinois in Birmingham. Those games are followed by three games in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving Week which features matchups with Houston and Rutgers as well as a third opponent that’s currently TBD. Nate Oats’ squad will then face North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Dec. 4th as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge and then return home to host Creighton on Dec. 14th. To quote Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption, “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

Kam Jones is playing like an All-American
We still don’t know just how good Marquette will be this season without both Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro, but we do know that Jones is playing at an elite level. Through two games, the 6-5 lefty is averaging 28 points and 5.5 assists, but the way that he’s achieving those numbers is exceptionally impressive. Jones is currently shooting 76.7 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from three-point range while boasting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 11:1. That’s an efficiency rate that’s simply incredible. The Golden Eagles will next host Central Michigan tonight in Milwaukee.

Gonzaga’s bench is its most underrated attribute
The Bulldogs had a terrific opening week, beating Baylor by 38 at Spokane Arena and holding off an improving Arizona State team by eight points on Sunday at The Kennel. One of the biggest reasons for Gonzaga’s strong start is the strength of its primary reserves. Mark Few’s first three players off the bench — Braden Huff, Michael Ajayi, and Dusty Stromer — combined to average 35.5 points in the Bulldogs first two games all while providing the look of a capable starter. The 6-6 Stromer was a combined 5-8 from three-point range in two games while Ajayi provided some of the intangibles that Gonzaga lost with Anton Watson’s departure to the NBA. The Pepperdine transfer averaged nine points and 10 rebounds last week and showed signs of being a tremendous physical defender. And Huff? He’ll be a national name by Thanksgiving, if not sooner. The Bulldogs were 14-1 last season when he scored in double figures. In two games this season, he’s averaging 17.5 points and shooting 16-24 from the field during that span. Gonzaga essentially has eight starters.

On The Side

  • Arkansas is 9-39 from three-point range in its first two games.
  • Purdue freshman big Daniel Jacobsen will have surgery this week to repair a fractured tibia in his right leg and is expected to miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season, Matt Painter announced on Sunday. The 7-4 big man — who was starting at center for the Boilers — had 13 points and seven rebounds in the season opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
  • UCLA can’t get back to being UCLA unless it gets more consistent point guard play from Dylan Andrews. The 6-2 junior had 14 points, six assists, and no turnovers in the Bruins’ opener against Rider. In Friday’s loss against New Mexico, he had four points, two assists, and six turnovers. This guy needs to find a middle ground somewhere fast.
  • Ryan Conwell is 8/16 from three-point range in Xavier’s first two games. He made 109 three-point shots last season at Indiana State. Remember the name.
  • Virginia transfer Jalen Warley told College Hoops Today on Sunday that he plans to visit Gonzaga, Iowa State, and Texas A&M. The 6-7 guard will redshirt this season and averaged 7.5 points last year at Florida State.

Daily Specials

  • McNeese at Alabama
  • Grambling at Florida
  • Yale at Purdue

Leftovers