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The Breakfast Buffet: Providence, Duke, Texas/Stanford

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

Providence sends a message
Don’t call the Friars a Big East sleeper anymore. Saturday’s 57-53 win over UConn at the XL Center in Hartford was a statement victory for Ed Cooley’s team, who has now won six straight. Providence won this game with defense and completely stifled the Huskies, holding them to just 31.1 percent shooting from the field on their home floor. The Friars now own wins over four power conference teams — Wisconsin, Northwestern, Texas Tech, and UConn — and is an impressive 11-1 overall. Providence will next host Georgetown on Wednesday at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

Duke does not appear to have a challenger at the top of the ACC
That doesn’t mean that the Blue Devils can’t lose a few games in conference play this season, but it does mean that it’s hard to see another team legitimately pushing Duke for an ACC regular season title. Entering Saturday, the only other ACC team that was pushing for a place in the AP Top 25 was North Carolina and then the Tar Heels lost by 29 to Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas. Another thing to remember: Duke has not won a share of the ACC regular season title since the 2009-10 season — the year it won its fourth national title under Mike Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils’ last outright ACC regular season title was in 2005-06.

Texas/Stanford
This matchup in Las Vegas may not have tremendous appeal for people from the periphery, but the real college basketball junkies know that this game is another barometer for Texas (7-2). The Longhorns have yet to beat a team from a power conference this season and will only get one other opportunity to play a team outside of the Big 12 after today when it hosts Tennessee in January as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Stanford (6-3) is on a two-game winning streak and is led by five-star freshman Harrison Ingram, who is averaging 12.6 points and 6.9 rebounds. This is a major opportunity for the Pac-12 to pick up a quality win on a neutral floor.

On The Side

  • Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd is the first Pac-12 head coach to win the first 11 games of his career since Walter Powell did it at Stanford during the 1920-21 season. The 11-0 Wildcats will next visit Tennessee on Wednesday night in Knoxville.
  • North Carolina’s three losses against Kentucky, Tennessee, and Purdue have come by an average of 18.3 points. How good are the Tar Heels? We still don’t truly know. This team’s best wins have come against Michigan, Georgia Tech, and Furman, three teams whose combined overall record is 19-13.
  • UConn freshman Jordan Hawkins could ultimately be the Huskies’ X-Factor. Dan Hurley’s squad is 4-0 when the 6-5 Hawkins scores in double figures and 3-3 when he does not. Hawkins missed the first two games of the year due to injury. He didn’t have a made field goal in Saturday’s loss against Providence.
  • Houston’s Jamal Shead is averaging 15.3 points and 5.3 assists over his last three games. This an emerging perimeter piece to monitor for Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars.
  • Western Kentucky isn’t just good enough to make the 2022 NCAA Tournament — it’s good enough to advance in the 2022 NCAA Tournament: Remember: Saturday’s 82-72 win over Louisville came without Cincinnati transfer Keith Williams, who is still awaiting clearance from the NCAA. The 6-5 Williams averaged 14.3 points and 4.1 rebounds last season with the Bearcats.

Daily Specials

  • Colgate at Monmouth
  • Old Dominion at Richmond
  • Stanford/Texas (Las Vegas)
  • Kansas State at Nebraska
  • San Francisco at Arizona State

Leftovers