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The Breakfast Buffet: UCLA can win a Pac-12 regular season title with a win today at Colorado, Oscar Tshiebwe, Villanova

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

UCLA can win a Pac-12 regular season title with a win today at Colorado
Desmond Cambridge’s miracle shot at the buzzer for Arizona State on Saturday at Arizona didn’t just put the Sun Devils in a better position to reach the NCAA Tournament — it also opened the door for the Bruins to win a conference title today in Boulder. UCLA (24-4) has not won a Pac-12 regular season title since the 2012-13 season, but that’s what is on the line today against Colorado (15-14). Mick Cronin’s squad won the first meeting between these two teams earlier this year in Westwood, but trailed by eight midway through the second half and needed a strong finish to earn the victory. Tip off for today’s game is at 4 PM ET on CBS.

Oscar Tshiebwe has turned back the clock
Over the past two weeks, we’ve again seen the guy who was the unanimous choice last season for National Player of the Year. During Kentucky’s current four-game winning streak, the 6-9 Tshiebwe is averaging 20.2 points and 9.8 rebounds. He had 22 points and 17 rebounds in Saturday’s 32-point win over Auburn at Rupp Arena. That’s a first-team All-American caliber performance. The Wildcats have won six of their last eight games.

Villanova is surging
Ask yourself this question: Do you think there’s any coaching staff in America that wants to match up with the Wildcats’ starting five of Justin Moore, Caleb Daniels, Brandon Slater, Cam Whitmore, and Eric Dixon now that Moore is fully healthy? I didn’t think so either. Villanova just completed its best week yet under Kyle Neptune thanks to back-to-back wins over Xavier and Creighton. The Wildcats are just 15-14 overall and are a long way from earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, but are starting to resemble a team that’s going to be an awfully tough out in the Big East Tournament. In the Wildcats’ two wins this week, Moore averaged 16.5 points and 5.5 assists while shooting an astronomical 68.4 percent from the field. He also had 11 assists to just two turnovers during that span.

On The Side

  • UConn’s Donovan Clingan — the best backup center in America — has 22 points, 11 rebounds, and seven blocks in his last 41 minutes.
  • Rutgers (17-11) is just 1-4 since losing Mawot Mag to a season-ending knee injury entering today’s game against Penn State (17-11) in State College.
  • Dylan Andrews is emerging for UCLA. The 6-2 freshman has scored 16 points in his last two games and hasn’t committed a turnover in his last four games.
  • Xavier’s Jerome Hunter is averaging 10.9 points and 6.9 rebounds since Zach Freemantle (15.2 points, 8.1 rebounds) went out of the lineup due to a foot injury.
  • The sleeper game of the day in college basketball is in the Missouri Valley as Drake (24-6) visits Bradley (22-8). The winner of this game will clinch a regular season title and the No. 1 seed in Arch Madness next week in St. Louis. Both teams are currently tied for first place in the conference standings.

Daily Specials

  • Northwestern at Maryland
  • Wisconsin at Michigan
  • Drake at Bradley
  • UCLA at Colorado
  • Rutgers at Penn State

Leftovers