College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: The plot thickens for Villanova, Jimmy V Classic, Illinois/Ohio 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

The plot is about to thicken for Villanova
Kevin Willard has led the Wildcats to seven straight double-digit wins over non-power conference opponents since an opening night loss to BYU in Las Vegas, but the caliber of competition is about to amplify exponentially. Villanova will face Michigan tonight in Ann Arbor and then host Pitt on Saturday at Finneran Pavilion. The Wildcats will then face Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Dec. 19th before beginning Big East play at Seton Hall on Dec. 23rd. We’ll know a lot more about Villanova after the next two weeks.

Jimmy V Classic
This annual December tradition happens tonight at Madison Square Garden and features four teams — BYU, Clemson, Florida, and UConn — who are on track to play in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Cougars will face the Tigers in the first game of the doubleheader, which will be highlighted by the presence of freshman star AJ Dybantsa (19.4 points, 6.3 rebounds). The Gators will take on the Huskies in the nightcap in what will be a battle of the last two national champions. Tip offs for tonight’s games are at 6:30 PM ET and 9:00 PM ET respectively.

Illinois/Ohio State
The great thing about conference games in December is you get top tier league tilts just one month into a season. That’s exactly the case tonight in Columbus when the Buckeyes host the Illini, who are coming off a convincing win over Tennessee on Saturday in Nashville. Keep a close eye on the point guard matchup in this one as Illinois’ Kylan Boswell (17.0 points, 4.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds) and Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton (20.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists) are two of the most underrated players in the sport at their respective position. Both are playing at an All-Big Ten First-Team caliber level.

On The Side

  • Florida’s Todd Golden is Tuesday’s guest on INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOW. To watch the full interview, click HERE.
  • Michigan State’s starting backcourt — Jeremy Fears and Kur Teng — were a combined 0-15 from the field in Saturday’s loss against Duke.
  • UCLA currently has six different players — Tyler Bilodeau, Skyy Clark, Donovan Dent, Eric Dailey, Xavier Booker, and Trent Perry — averaging between 9.9 points and 15.6 points.
  • Texas Tech may have two potential All-Americans in JT Toppin (20.8 points, 11.5 rebounds) and Christian Anderson (19.1 points, 7.0 assists, 3.1 rebounds). Don’t forget about this team at the top of the Big 12.
  • Virginia is averaging 87.4 points through nine games under Ryan Odom. The Cavaliers never averaged more than 71.8 points under Tony Bennett.

Daily Specials

  • Villanova at Michigan
  • Clemson/BYU
  • Illinois at Ohio State
  • Penn State at Indiana
  • Florida/UConn

Leftovers