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The Breakfast Buffet: Zakai Zeigler, North Carolina, Ed Cooley again has Providence thriving

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

Zakai Zeigler is taking his game to another level for Tennessee
Championship teams are normally anchored by elite point guard play. That’s what Zeigler has recently given the Vols. In his last three games, the 5-9 floor general is averaging 15 points, but maybe more importantly, has handed out 27 assists to just four turnovers. Zeigler is also 8-21 from three-point range during that span. This is the type of play that Tennessee (18-3) is going to need from the most important position on the floor if it’s going to have a chance to get Rick Barnes to the Final Four for the second time in his career as a head coach. Barnes previously went to the Final Four with Texas in 2003. The Vols will visit Florida (12-9) tonight in Gainesville.

North Carolina begins a difficult February
Hubert Davis’ team has won 10 of its last 12 games, but the weight class will get raised over the next three weeks. The Tar Heels host Pitt (15-7) tonight in Chapel Hill in what is the start of a critical six-game stretch. After tonight’s matchup with the Panthers, North Carolina (15-6) will play back-to-back road games at Duke and Wake Forest which will be followed by home tilts against Clemson and Miami. Those games are followed a road matchup with NC State. All six of these opponents were projected to be in the NCAA Tournament in last week’s BRACKET BREAKDOWN.

Ed Cooley again has Providence thriving
The Friars lost five starters — Al Durham, A.J. Reeves, Justin Minaya, Noah Horchler, and Nate Watson — from last season’s team that won the Big East regular season title and advanced to the Sweet 16, but are still somehow 17-5 entering tonight’s game against Xavier (17-5) at the Cintas Center. With all due respect to the Friars’ program, they’re not viewed as a blue blood that is expected to annually replenish elite talent on annual basis. A pair of transfers — Bryce Hopkins (Kentucky) and Devin Carter (South Carolina) — have had a major hand in Providence’s success, but a big key is also Cooley. He’s not getting nearly the attention that he received a year ago, but he’s doing just as good of a coaching job as he did last season when he was one of the primary candidates for National Coach of the Year.

On The Side

  • Is Rodney Terry going to write a book in crisis management following this season? He should. Texas is now 11-3 under Terry since he became the Longhorns’ acting head coach. I’m not sure anyone else could have handled this situation any better.
  • One big thing to keep an eye on for Xavier with Zach Freemantle out of the lineup with a foot injury? A small ball lineup with 6-6 junior Colby Jones at power forward.
  • Penn State’s Andrew Funk has made 21 three-point shots in his last five games and is shooting 41.9 percent from three-point range on the entire season. The 6-5 Funk — who was a grad transfer from Bucknell — has been an incredible get out of the transfer portal for the Nittany Lions, who visit Purdue tonight at Mackey Arena.
  • Seton Hall (13-9) can put itself “in position to be in position” if it wins this both of its games this week. The Pirates will visit St. John’s tonight (8:30 PM ET, CBS Sports Network) and then host DePaul on Sunday. Shaheen Holloway’s team has won five of its last six games and already owns wins over Rutgers, Memphis, and UConn.
  • Syracuse is 92-82 in regular season conference games since joining the ACC. 

Daily Specials

  • Penn State at Purdue
  • Providence at Xavier
  • Tennessee at Florida
  • Pitt at North Carolina
  • New Mexico at Utah State

Leftovers