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The Breakfast Buffet: Purdue/Penn State, Markquis Nowell, Kentucky’s road woes

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/Penn State at The Palestra
For the third time since 2017, the Nittany Lions are giving up a Big Ten home game in State College to play in Philadelphia at one of college basketball’s most hallowed venues. Tonight’s tilt against the Boilers at The Palestra features a unique contrast in styles. Penn State regularly uses a spread offense with five shooters on the floor while Purdue is much more traditional with National Player of the Year favorite Zach Edey (21.3 points, 13.2 rebounds, two blocks) in the pivot at 7-4. Expect a chess match between Matt Painter and Micah Shrewsberry, who worked for Painter as an assistant before becoming Penn State’s head coach in 2021.

Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell is playing like an All-American
That is not hyperbole. Confidence is the greatest performance enhancing drug and Jerome Tang has instilled it in Nowell, who averaged 34 points and 11.5 assists in a pair of wins on the road this week over Texas and Baylor. The 5-8 point guard is averaging 27.8 points and 11 assists over his last four games. Kansas State is one of the great stories of the 2022-23 season and Nowell is a major reason why. After averaging 12.4 points and five assists a year ago, Nowell is now performing like one of the top players in the sport.

Kentucky’s road woes are palpable
The Wildcats haven’t just been a bad team in true road environments this season — they’ve been abominable. Following Saturday’s 26-point loss at Alabama, Kentucky has now lost all three of its road games this season by an average of 18.7 points. The Wildcats’ other two road opponents were Missouri and Gonzaga. Things will not get any easier. After it hosts South Carolina on Tuesday at Rupp Arena, Kentucky will be back on the road next Saturday to take on Tennessee. The Wildcats do not currently have a win over a team that was projected to make the NCAA Tournament in last week’s BRACKET BREAKDOWN.

On The Side

  • Houston (15-1) has won four straight meetings against Cincinnati (11-5) by an average of 22.8 points entering today’s game at Fifth Third Arena.
  • I like small ball North Carolina much more than I like North Carolina with two big men on the floor at the same time. The Tar Heels — who are 11-5 — have better rhythm, chemistry, and flow over the past couple of games with either Leaky Black or Puff Johnson at power forward.
  • Steve Pikiell has Rutgers (11-4) on pace to have its fourth consecutive winning season for the first time since the Scarlet Knights did it under Bob Wenzel from 1988-92. Rutgers will host Iowa (9-6) this afternoon in Piscataway.
  • Marquette’s Tyler Kolek had 15 assists and zero turnovers in Saturday’s win over Georgetown. Kolek has 39 assists and just three turnovers in his last four games.
  • Stanford is officially one of college basketball’s most disappointing teams after Friday night’s 22-point loss at Cal. The Cardinal are now just 5-10 in their seventh season under Jerod Haase.

Daily Specials

  • Northwestern at Indiana
  • Ohio State at Maryland
  • Iowa at Rutgers
  • Houston at Cincinnati
  • Purdue at Penn State (Philadelphia)

Leftovers