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The Breakfast Buffet: Saturday’s Crosstown Shootout is Wes Miller’s biggest game yet at Cincinnati, Indiana visits Pinnacle Bank Arena, Eric Dailey

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

Saturday’s Crosstown Shootout against Xavier is the Wes Miller’s biggest game yet at Cincinnati
The Bearcats haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019 and haven’t beaten the Musketeers since Dec. 8th, 2018 — that’s 2,197 days ago. If Cincinnati is going to return to its place as a national factor this season, it needs to beat Xavier on Saturday at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats’ best win so far in 2024-25 is a road victory at Georgia Tech on Nov. 23rd. They were outplayed from nearly tip to finish in an eight-point loss at Villanova last week in Philadelphia. With his team now at full strength thanks to the return of Dan Skillings (9.5 points, 7.0 rebounds), Miller is now firmly in the spotlight. He had Cincinnati cemented in the bubble picture a season ago before losing five of his final six games in February. Taking a step towards a return to March Madness in 2025 begins with beating Xavier tomorrow in what is unequivocally the biggest non-conference game of the year for this program.

Indiana visits Pinnacle Bank Arena
How did Nebraska get back to the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2014? One of the great home court advantages in college basketball had a lot to do with it. The Huskers were 18-1 a year ago at Pinnacle Bank Arena and posted a 10-0 record in Lincoln against Big Ten opponents. Can the Hoosiers end Nebraska’s home streak against conference foes tonight? Mike Woodson’s team is 8-2 and on a four-game winning streak. A victory tonight on the road against the Huskers would be Indiana’s best win yet this season. Nebraska is 6-2 and coming off a 37-point loss last Saturday at Michigan State.

Eric Dailey has been UCLA’s most consistent player
He wasn’t the most highly touted transfer that the Bruins added during the offseason, but the 6-8 Dailey has had a major hand UCLA’s 8-1 start. After spending his first year of college basketball at Oklahoma State, Dailey has quickly found a home in Westwood under Mick Cronin. A multi positional defender who plays ridiculously hard on each and every possession, the 6-8 forward knows what he’s good at and is good at what he knows. Through nine games, Dailey is averaging 12.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.4 steals while shooting an impressive 59.2 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from three-point range.

On The Side

  • St. John’s big man Zuby Ejiofor is averaging 18.3 points and 8.7 rebounds in his last six games. This is one of the breakout players in the Big East.
  • UCLA has lost three straight meetings with Arizona entering Saturday’s game in Phoenix.
  • Butler has now lost buy games to both Austin Peay and North Dakota State. The Bulldogs are going to have to rip through the rest of their schedule to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament with those types of blemishes on their resume.
  • Illinois’ Ben Humrichous has attempted 67 field goals this season — 56 have been three-point shots.
  • Which conference in college basketball is going to start regularly scheduling games either late in the morning on the weekend or late in the afternoon during the week? There’s a real market there for somebody to own, especially if you’re not a part of a power conference.  

Daily Specials

  • Indiana at Nebraska
  • South Dakota State at Colorado

Leftovers