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The Breakfast Buffet: Reed Sheppard, Tyrese Proctor leads Duke into Bud Walton Arena, Colorado State

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

Reed Sheppard is Kentucky’s best basketball player
The Wildcats may have better long-term prospects in their program, but right now nobody is better as a player than this kid. The 6-3 freshman was the best player on the floor in Tuesday night’s 95-73 win over Miami at Rupp Arena and tallied 21 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals, and just one turnover. How good was Sheppard against the Hurricanes? Kentucky was a whopping plus 35 with him on the floor. This kid is well on his way to becoming a cult hero in Lexington.

Tyrese Proctor leads Duke into Bud Walton Arena
You can’t win big games on the road in college basketball unless you’ve got great point guard play and that’s what the Blue Devils have had lately with Proctor. Since Duke’s loss to Arizona on Nov. 10th at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Proctor has been surgical with his execution. In the four games since that defeat, the 6-5 sophomore is averaging 14.8 points to go with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 21:3. Those are All-American type numbers. The Blue Devils will need that type of production tonight in Fayetteville if they’re going to earn a victory in their first true road game of the season. Arkansas has lost three of its last four games and is desperate for a signature win.

Colorado State is “in position to be in position”
This is where they say “the plot thickens”. The Rams made national waves last week with a 21-point win against Creighton in Kansas City. They can make more tonight by beating Colorado — who is currently ranked 38th in the ROTHSTEIN 45 — in Fort Collins. This is the start of a big week’s for Niko Medved’s squad, who will also play Washington on Saturday in Las Vegas. A pair of wins should put Colorado State — who is currently ranked 14th in the ROTHSTEIN 45 — in prime position to earn an at-large berth to the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Both of the Rams’ games this week can be seen on CBS Sports Network, starting with tonight’s tilt against Colorado at 9 PM ET.

On The Side

  • North Carolina freshman Elliot Cadeau has 11 assists to just one turnover in his last three games. This is the best passing point guard that the Tar Heels have had since Kendall Marshall.
  • In three games this season against power conference opponents, Arkansas is allowing an average of 81.7 points.
  • Sunday’s game between Nebraska and Creighton at Pinnacle Bank Arena is the biggest game that Fred Hoiberg has coached since arriving in Lincoln. The Huskers are off to a 7-0 start and have won every game this season by double figures.
  • La Salle’s Fran Dunphy picked up his 600th career victory over the weekend and will return to Temple tonight in a Big 5 clash. Dunphy coached the Owls from 2006-19 and took Temple to the NCAA Tournament eight times during that span. The Explorers enter tonight’s game at 5-1, with their only loss coming at Duke.
  • One thing that I didn’t think I’d be writing in late November? Saint Mary’s is 3-4.

Daily Specials

  • St. Joe’s at Villanova
  • Texas A&M at Virginia
  • Tennessee at North Carolina
  • Colorado at Colorado State
  • Duke at Arkansas

Leftovers