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The Breakfast Buffet: Purdue, North Carolina, Xavier’s defense

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

Purdue‘s product has had no drop-off
That’s an impressive feat considering this program lost Jaden Ivey, Trevion Williams, and Sasha Stefanovic from last season’s team that reached the Sweet 16. Purdue (6-0) isn’t just holding its own, it’s beating quality opponents by a significant margin each time that it plays. After coming back to beat Marquette last week at Mackey Arena in the Gavitt Games, the Boilers won three games in Portland in the PK85 against three legitimate teams — West Virginia, Gonzaga, and Duke — by double figures en route to a tournament title. Purdue had 53 assists on 79 made field goals in those three games. The years change, but this program’s product under Matt Painter does not.

The gauntlet will only continue for North Carolina
The Tar Heels lost back-to-back games to Iowa State and Alabama at this weekend’s PK85 and their difficult schedule will only continue this week. North Carolina (5-2) will visit Indiana on Wednesday as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and then travel to Virginia Tech on Sunday in its first ACC game of the season. Hubert Davis’ squad really misses the outside shooting that Brady Manek provided last season from the power forward position as North Carolina is just 10-41 from three-point range in its last two games. This team has yet to beat a power conference opponent.

If Xavier tightens its defense, look out
The Musketeers have the requisites to be one of the best teams in the Big East this season, but they have to get significantly better defensively. That’s a weird thing to write about a team that’s coached by Sean Miller. In three games this weekend at the PK85, Xavier (4-3) surrendered an average of 80.7 points. That’s simply not going to allow this team to beat quality opponents on a regular basis. The Musketeers have everything else that’s needed, including four potential All-Big East players in Colby Jones, Jack Nunge, Zach Freemantle, and UTEP grad transfer Souley Boum. The improvement of this team defensively is something to monitor closely between now and the start of conference play in a couple of weeks.

On The Side

  • North Carolina’s four-overtime loss to Alabama on Sunday was the first time in the last two seasons that it’s lost when Caleb Love has scored 20 or more points.
  • Injuries to both Malik Hall (foot) and Jaden Akins (foot) have allowed Pierre Brooks to carve out a place in Michigan State’s rotation. The 6-6 sophomore averaged 11.7 points in three games over the weekend at the PK85 while shooting 8-19 from three-point range during that span.
  • The Big East needs to have a strong couple of weeks before conference play begins to put itself “in position to be in position”. The league has lost several games against mid-majors and isn’t getting near the mileage that it normally gets out of Villanova (2-5).
  • TCU’s 13-point win over Iowa on Saturday came with two starters — Damion Baugh (suspension) and Emmanuel Miller (back) — out of the lineup. The Horned Frogs are big, physical, and old. This is a carbon copy of the teams that Jamie Dixon had when he spent 13 seasons as Pitt’s head coach from 2003-16.
  • Sherif Gross-Bullock’s game-winning shot for Bryant on Saturday against Syracuse was a highlight in what has been a tremendous start to the season for the 6-4 point guard. Gross-Bullock — who was known as Sherif Kenney — when he previously played at La Salle is currently averaging 17.5 points, 4.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals for the Bulldogs, who are currently 5-1 overall.

Daily Specials

  • Minnesota at Virginia Tech (ACC/Big Ten Challenge)
  • Omaha at Mississippi State
  • Texas Southern at Kansas
  • Troy at Arkansas
  • Pitt at Northwestern (ACC/Big Ten Challenge)

Leftovers