College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: UCLA needs its best defense against Arizona, Kentucky’s SEC losses have come shorthanded, Will Richardson

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

UCLA will have to play its best defensive game against Arizona
The Bruins may have been the team from the Pac-12 that entered this season as a Final Four favorite, but the Wildcats are the ones who have been playing like a juggernaut. Arizona enters tonight’s game at Pauley Pavilion at 16-1 and is second nationally in scoring, first in assists, and first in rebounds. 14 of the Wildcats’ wins have come by double figures. Arizona is averaging 87.3 points in six Pac-12 games. This is the first time that Tommy Lloyd — who is a strong candidate to be National Coach of the Year — has ever faced UCLA as a head coach. The Bruins will need a special effort defensively to beat a team that resembles a top four seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky’s SEC losses have come shorthanded
If we’re going to highlight how Wisconsin has lost one game without Johnny Davis and another without Tyler Wahl, then we need to point out the circumstances that Kentucky has dealt with in SEC play. The Wildcats have lost two games thus far in their conference —- one at LSU and one at Auburn. They weren’t at full strength for either. At LSU, Sahvir Wheeler was leveled with a screen early in the game and only played four minutes due to a neck injury. Then last Saturday at Auburn, TyTy Washington left early with an ankle injury and did not return after logging just nine minutes. The duo combined for just four points in both games. The normal combined average for Wheeler and Washington is 24.4 points, six rebounds, and 11.3 assists. Kentucky (15-4) is better than its record indicates. The Wildcats will host Mississippi State (13-5) tonight at Rupp Arena.

Will Richardson has spearheaded Oregon’s turnaround
This is what a Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate looks like. The 6-5 Richardson began the season with high expectations, but his struggles in November directly coincided with Oregon’s slow start to the season. Times have changed. During the Ducks’ six-game winning streak, Richardson has been at the epicenter of things, averaging 20 points and 3.5 assists while shooting 57.4 percent from the field and 49.6 percent from three-point range. Oregon is 12-6 and will next entertain Colorado tonight in Eugene.

On The Side

  • Gonzaga transfer Oumar Ballo is a piece to monitor for Arizona in tonight’s game at UCLA. The 7-foot, 260 pound big man is starting to emerge and is averaging 17.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in his last two games. Ballo only scored in double figures once last season at Gonzaga.
  • Auburn (18-1) was ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the first time program history on Monday and only has one conference road game remaining against a team that’s currently ranked in the AP Top 25 — Tennessee on Feb. 26th. Things are aligned for the Tigers to be a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament.
  • Kelvin Sampson believes that Cal State Bakersfield transfer Taze Moore has been a major reason for Houston’s 17-2 start. The 6-5 guard is averaging 7.8 points and has been pressed into extended minutes following season-ending injuries to both Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark. “He’s still developing,” Sampson said of Moore on this week’s edition of the College Hoops Today Podcast. “He’s a better player today than when he got here.”
  • This is quietly a massive week for Jamie Dixon and TCU (13-3). The Horned Frogs host Texas tonight in Fort Worth and then will host LSU on Saturday as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The door is open for this program to become a national topic of discussion.
  • Six teams from the Mountain West Conference — Fresno State, New Mexico, Wyoming, Boise State, Nevada, and Colorado State — are all playing at the same time tonight in the 9 PM ET window. I totally understand that COVID has made scheduling more difficult, but having six teams from the same league playing at once — especially when four of them — Fresno State, Wyoming, Boise State, and Colorado State — are in the at-large discussion is not ideal marketing for a non power conference.

Daily Specials

  • Michigan State at Illinois
  • Auburn at Missouri
  • Kansas State at Baylor
  • Mississippi State at Kentucky
  • Arizona at UCLA

Leftovers