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The Breakfast Buffet: Wisconsin/Purdue, Keegan Murray, Malaki Branham breaks out against Nebraska

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

Wisconsin/Purdue
Four of the last six meetings between these two programs have been decided by four points. Is another nail biter on the horizon tonight at Mackey Arena? It all depends on how Wisconsin handles one of the best atmospheres in the sport. The Badgers only average 8.2 turnovers as a team, which is best among power conference programs and second nationally only behind New Hampshire. Poise will be one of the biggest keys to Greg Gard’s squad staying in this game. The other is defense. Purdue (12-1) is currently averaging 91.8 points this season when it plays in West Lafayette.

Keegan Murray feels underappreciated nationally
That might be a crazy thing to say about a player who’s currently leading college basketball in scoring, but it’s ultimately the truth. At least as of now. After losing both Luka Garza and Joe Wieskamp to the NBA following last season, Iowa entered this season as an afterthought from a national perspective. Murray has changed that. The 6-8 forward enters tonight’s game against Maryland in Iowa City averaging 23.7 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting a blistering 58.2 percent from the field. With all due respect to the Hawkeyes’ program, how would people be talking about Murray if he played for Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan, or Michigan State? It will be interesting to see if Murray’s high level of production can continue over the next few months in the guts of Big Ten play. He’s averaging 28 points and nine rebounds in last three games.

Malaki Branham broke out against Nebraska
Prior to Sunday’s game against the Cornhuskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena, Branham — a freshman for Ohio State — had scored a total of 63 points this season. Then he dropped 35 on Nebraska. The 6-4 guard played like a redshirt senior on Sunday, operating with the precision of a surgeon and the focus of a hired assassin. Branham was 13-19 from the field and 6-10 from three-point range in the 87-79 overtime victory. It was only the second time this season that he scored in double figures. College basketball is indeed where the unexpected becomes the ordinary.

On The Side

  • Arizona is currently leading the nation in assists (21.3) as a team. The Wildcats are 11-1 and will return to action tonight in Tucson against Washington. Arizona hasn’t played since Dec. 22nd after its games last week against UCLA and USC in Los Angeles were postponed due to COVID.
  • Kellan Grady has been a different player for Kentucky since the Wildcats lost to Notre Dame in South Bend on Dec. 11th. The Davidson transfer is averaging 18 points in his last four games and is shooting 64.5 percent from three-point range during that span. Prior to Kentucky’s loss to the Irish, Grady averaged just 9.1 points and was shooting 40 percent from long distance.
  • Creighton’s Ryan Hawkins is an under-the-radar transfer nationally. The 6-7 forward is averaging 14.3 points and 11 rebounds over his last three games for the Jays, who are surprisingly 10-3 after losing five starters from last season’s team that reached the Sweet 16. Hawkins previously played at Northwest Missouri State (Division II).
  • Miami (11-3) is averaging 91.5 points over its last two games and 76.4 points for the entire season. The most that the Hurricanes have ever averaged under Jim Larranaga is 75.6 points, which occurred during the 2015-16 season — the same year that Miami advanced to the Sweet 16 and lost to eventual national champion Villanova.
  • Earlier this season, Tulane lost a buy game against Southern. Last week, it beat Memphis at home and won against Cincinnati at Fifth Third Arena. Anarchy? Nope. Just college basketball.

Daily Specials

  • Wisconsin at Purdue
  • Washington at Arizona
  • Maryland at Iowa
  • Colorado at Oregon

Leftovers