Breakfast Buffet: Baylor delivers Northwestern a reality check

1. The way visiting Baylor pounded Northwestern 69-41 on Sunday suggests the Wildcats' 7-0 start may have been a product of suspect competition. Northwestern had beaten the likes of Georgia Tech, LSU and Seton Hall in November, but the size, depth and athleticism of undefeated Baylor bothered the Wildcats' shooters and proved to be an instant reality check. Said Northwestern coach Bill Carmody: "We got smacked pretty good."

2. It's hard to understate the significance of Sunday's 89-60 shellacking of No. 20 UNLV for Wichita State because the Shockers desperately needed a marquee non-league win. Wichita State had lost to Alabama and Temple in Puerto Rico next month and its most significant remaining non-conference game comes next Saturday against struggling Utah State.

3. Less than a week after USC announced DeWayne Dedmon would miss up to six weeks with a stress fracture in his right foot, the freshman center was back in the Trojans' starting lineup on Saturday night. Dedmon's two points and four rebounds couldn't prevent a 55-40 loss to Minnesota, but USC coach Kevin O'Neill told the Los Angeles Times that Dedmon "didn't look like he was in pain in any way."

4. Sophomore forward Richard Solomon's indefinite suspension for an undisclosed violation of team rules leaves Cal shorthanded in the frontcourt and forced the Bears to start four guards in a 64-63 loss at San Diego State on Sunday. "He let his teammates down," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. "Kids are lazy and do stupid stuff. As an adult, as someone who's supposed to help kids make the right decisions, I felt like I needed to take a stand."

5. The nation's highest-scoring player from a major-conference team? Believe it or not, it's Maryland's Terrell Stoglin. The sophomore guard lit up Notre Dame for 31 points on 11 of 20 shooting in a 78-71 Terps win on Sunday, elevating his scoring average to 22.4 points per game, double what he produced as a freshman. "He's like the microwave of College Park," Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey said.

Nebraska was within two points of in-state foe Creighton midway through Sunday's second half when a brief loss of composure cost the Huskers a chance at an upset. A foul on Christopher Neimann and back-to-back technicals on Toney McCray and coach Doc Sadler enabled Creighton to hit six straight free throws, extending its lead to eight and enabling the Bluejays to earn a relatively routine 10-point victory.

"Coach said to keep wearing them down. He told us if we keep hitting them with screens, they'll stop running through them." — Texas guard J'Covan Brown on UCLA after the Longhorns 69-59 victory on Saturday. (Los Angeles Times)

• St. John's at Detroit, 7 p.m. EST

• Charleston Southern at Florida State, 7 p.m. EST

• Wisconsin Milwaukee at DePaul, 9 p.m. EST