College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: North Carolina wins a classic against Duke, Flory Bidunga, Bennett Stirtz

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

North Carolina won a classic against Duke
College basketball’s most fabled rivalry added another classic installment on Saturday night in Chapel Hill as the Tar Heels’ erased a 13-point deficit to stun the Blue Devils 71-68 thanks to a buzzer-beater by Seth Trimble. The win added to a bounce back season for North Carolina, who improved to 19-4 with the victory and has won five straight games. Hubert Davis’ squad now owns home wins over both Duke and Kansas as well as road wins over both Virginia and Kentucky. Don’t discount this team from being one of the top 16 seeds in the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday.

Flory Bidunga is playing the best basketball of his career
There’s been so much attention on Darryn Peterson recently that Bidunga’s production has slipped into the shadows. It won’t stay that way for long. The 6-9 sophomore is having the type of breakout season that many expected him to have all while emerging as a major focal point inside on both sides of the floor. In Kansas’ last five games, Bidunga is averaging 15.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks while shooting an astronomical 80.5 percent from the field. The Jayhawks have won seven straight games.

Bennett Stirtz is quietly on a ridiculous tear for Iowa
There’s no player in college basketball that’s more valuable to his team than Stirtz and that’s been reiterated over the past few weeks. In the Hawkeyes’ last five games, the 6-4 Stirtz is averaging 24.2 points and 4.8 assists while shooting an impressive 41.9 percent from three-point range. That’s surgical execution. Iowa is 17-5 in its first season under Ben McCollum and will host Northwestern today in Iowa City.

On The Side

  • Michigan’s average margin of victory in Big Ten play is 17.5 points entering today’s game against Ohio State in Columbus. Tip off is at 1 PM ET on CBS.
  • Arizona’s 23-0 start is the best start in Big 12 history.
  • Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson (illness) is expected to be available for today’s game against West Virginia, Grant McCasland told College Hoops Today. The 6-3 guard did not play in Monday’s loss against Kansas and averages 19.6 points and 7.5 rebounds.
  • 44.9 percent of NC State’s field goal attempts this season are from three-point range.
  • St. John’s is 21-2 at MSG over the past two seasons.

Daily Specials

  • USC at Penn State
  • Michigan at Ohio State
  • Texas Tech at West Virginia
  • UCF at Cincinnati
  • Northwestern at Iowa

Leftovers