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The Breakfast Buffet: Shorthanded UConn gets back in the ring against Baylor, Kam Jones leads Marquette into Hilton Coliseum, a big night on Tobacco Road

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

Shorthanded UConn gets back into the ring against Baylor
Dan Hurley is singularly focused on getting the Huskies’ season back on track and that begins tonight against the Bears at Gampel Pavilion. It will have to happen without All-American candidate Alex Karaban (15.9 points, 4.1 rebounds), who will miss his second straight game due to a head injury. This is the start of a massive week for UConn, who will also travel to Austin on Sunday to take on Texas. The Huskies’ 0-3 mark in last week’s Maui Invitational marks the first time since early 2023 that they’ve shown any type of mortality. To earn its first signature win of the season tonight in Storrs, UConn needs to get capable guard play from Hassan Diarra, Solo Ball, and Aidan Mahaney as well as quality team defense against Baylor’s Norchad Omier (15.9 points, 10.4 rebounds), who’s currently leading the Bears in both scoring and rebounding.

Kam Jones leads Marquette into Hilton Coliseum
The best guard in college basketball leads the Golden Eagles into one of the sport’s best environments. Marquette has been one of the biggest surprises of the first month of the 2024-25 season, mostly because Jones has reached a level without Tyler Kolek that many didn’t know he was capable of. The crafty southpaw enters tonight’s game at Iowa State averaging 19.6 points, 6.3 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.5 steals while shooting 65.3 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from three-point range. Every game moving forward for Shaka Smart’s team will be against high-level competition as Marquette will close non-conference play with Wisconsin at home and Dayton on the road prior to the start of Big East play on Dec. 18th against Butler at Fiserv Forum.

A big night on Tobacco Road
Two high level games will take place just a few miles from each other as Duke hosts Auburn and North Carolina entertains Alabama. Both games are part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. The Tigers have been college basketball’s most impressive team and can add to their already strong resume which currently includes a road win at Houston and neutral site victories against Iowa State, North Carolina, and Memphis. It will be interesting to see how the Tar Heels defend the Crimson Tide at home as Hubert Davis’ team surrendered an average of 89.7 points in three games last week at the Maui Invitational. Alabama enters tonight’s matchup in Chapel Hill averaging 88.6 points.

On The Side

  • Is this the most balanced team that Dana Altman has had since he’s been at Oregon? The 8-0 Ducks currently have six different players — Nate Bittle, TJ Bamba, Brandon Angel, Keeshawn Barthelemy, Jackson Shelstad, and Jadrian Tracey — averaging between 9.3 points and 14.3 points entering tonight’s Big Ten opener at USC.
  • Ole Miss’ trajectory in its second season under Chris Beard feels comparable to Texas Tech in its second season under Beard in 2017-18. The Red Raiders advanced to the Elite Eight that season and lost to eventual national champion Villanova. The Rebels are now 7-1 after Tuesday night’s win at Louisville.
  • Florida has won its first eight games by an average of 20.8 points. The Gators will host Virginia tonight in Gainesville as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge.
  • Remember VCU’s loss to Seton Hall a few weeks ago in the Charleston Classic? That could wind up hurting the Rams’ at-large chances for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. That’s going to be at best a Quad 3 defeat on Selection Sunday.
  • West Virginia’s Amani Hansberry already has more points (88) and rebounds (53) than he did last season when he was at Illinois. Remember the name.

Daily Specials

  • Baylor at UConn
  • Alabama at North Carolina
  • Marquette at Iowa State
  • Kansas at Creighton
  • Auburn at Duke

Leftovers