College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: Zach Edey returns to Canada, Arizona, UCLA/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

Zach Edey returns to Canada
Kudos to Purdue’s Matt Painter for scheduling a game in Edey’s native Toronto after he decided to return to college for another season. The reigning National Player of the Year has been dominant to start the year and should feast today in his home city against an Alabama team that’s really struggled out of the gate defensively. In three games this season against power conference competition, the Crimson Tide are allowing an average of 89.3 points. In six games this season against power conference competition, the 7-4 Edey is averaging 27.3 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks. There’s a lot of season left, but it’s hard to see anyone challenging Edey for National Player of the Year honors, which would make him the first player to win the award in back-to-back seasons since Ralph Sampson did it at Virginia in the early 1980s.

A “December to Remember” gets going for Arizona
The No. 1 team in the ROTHSTEIN 45 begins an arduous stretch of games today in Tucson against Wisconsin, who’s currently on a six-game winning streak after back-to-back victories over both Marquette and Michigan State. This is the start of a brutal 14-day stretch for Tommy Lloyd’s team. After today’s matchup with the Badgers, the Wildcats will play Purdue next Saturday in Indianapolis and then return to the desert for a neutral site game with Alabama on Dec. 20th in Phoenix. Arizona will then play Florida Atlantic in Las Vegas on Dec. 23rd.

UCLA/Villanova
Desperate times call for desperate measures and both of these teams are desperate for a big win entering tonight’s matchup at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Villanova has lost three straight games since winning the Battle 4 Atlantis while UCLA is a major work in progress. The Bruins currently have seven freshmen on their roster. Any chance that UCLA has to pick up a key win on the road will hinge on whether or not Adem Bona can stay on the floor. The 6-10 big man has only played a total of 36 minutes in his last two games due to foul trouble. During that span, Bona has a combined 15 points, eight rebounds, no blocks, and nine fouls.

On The Side

  • Five of Tennessee’s first nine opponents — Kansas, Purdue, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Illinois — were ranked in the Top 25 of this week’s ROTHSTEIN 45. Today’s matchup with the Illini in Knoxville is the first meeting between the two programs since 1988. Tip off is at Noon ET on CBS.
  • Xavier has won four straight meetings in the Crosstown Shootout against Cincinnati entering today’s game at the Cintas Center.
  • We’ll know a lot more about Indiana after the next seven days. The 7-1 Hoosiers will face Auburn today in Atlanta and then host Kansas next Saturday in Bloomington.
  • 34 of LJ Cryer’s last 43 field goal attempts for Houston have been three-point shots. He’s made 15 of those 34 attempts from long distance. The 6-1 Cryer is shooting a whopping 40 percent from three-point range while averaging 17.4 points for the 8-0 Cougars.
  • If Butler beats Cal today at Hinkle Fieldhouse it will likely enter its Big East opener against Georgetown on Dec. 19th with a 9-2 record.

Daily Specials

  • Illinois at Tennessee
  • Alabama/Purdue (Toronto)
  • Wisconsin at Arizona
  • Cincinnati at Xavier
  • UCLA at Villanova

Leftovers