Breakfast Buffet: Terrence Jones, Kentucky bounce back
Pull up a chair and sit down at the breakfast buffet, an assortment of all the freshest newsworthy college hoops stories on the net. To make a submission, contact me via email or Twitter.
• Terrence Jones deserves plenty of credit for his 27-point, 17-rebound masterpiece in a 72-58 victory over Notre Dame, but an equally important development for Kentucky was the defensive switch John Calipari made in the second half. Calipari went to a box-and-1 style defense, taking Notre Dame sharpshooter Ben Hansbrough out of the game and holding the Irish to 6-of-30 shooting in the second half.
• Lost amid the panic about Kyrie Irving's toe injury on Wednesday was this excellent if ill-timed piece from ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil on the Duke point guard. The story describes the relationship between Irving and close friend and high school teammate Jeremiah Green, who nearly died of the same heart ailment that felled Hank Gathers almost two decades ago.
• Playing in front of friends, family and hometown fans can often cause a player to put too much pressure on himself, yet Jimmer Fredette shined Wednesday evening in his return to Glens Falls, N.Y. The BYU guard left the floor at the Glens Falls Civic Center to a lengthy, rousing ovation after scoring 26 points on 9-of-19 shooting to lead his team to a rout of Vermont.
• Why is Syracuse's Rick Jackson a double-double machine so far this season? Well, it certainly doesn't hurt that he lost 25 pounds after swearing off cupcakes and other sweets this offseason. He scored 17 points and grabbed 16 boards against Michigan State on Tuesday night, his seventh double-double in nine games after having just three all last season.
• If there is any doubt remaining who the best team in California is this season, San Diego State once again strengthened its hold on that title. The Aztecs turned a two-point halftime advantage at Cal into a 77-57 blowout, rolling past the same Bears team that had previously destroyed Mountain West contender New Mexico when the Lobos visited Berkeley last month.
• Texas coach Pat Knight has to be regretting declaring this a make-or-break season for himself, doesn't he? Mike Singletary's attempt at a go-ahead 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining was off the mark Wednesday night and Texas Tech fell 81-77 to TCU, dropping the senior-laden Red Raiders to a miserable 5-5 record on the season.
• In a rare season in which both Colorado and Colorado State have postseason aspirations in basketball, the Buffaloes and Rams treated fans to an entertaining game Wednesday in Boulder. Colorado State tied the score in regulation on a layup with less than a second remaining, but Colorado scored eight of the final nine points in overtime to leave with a 90-83 victory.
• It's going to be difficult for Boston College to enter ACC play under the radar if the Eagles keep playing as well as they have of late. They played without starting center Courtney Dunn (suspension) and leading rebounder Corey Raji (concussion) yet survived a furious late rally from Providence on Wednesday night to take an 88-66 victory, remaining unbeaten since a surprising early loss to Yale.
• A crowd of more than 12,000 fans packed Evansville's Roberts Stadium on Wednesday night to watch North Carolina make a rare appearance at a much smaller school in a game scheduled so Tyler Zeller could play in front of fans in his home state. Zeller scored a game-high 18 points and also posted eight rebounds to lead the Tar Heels to a routine 76-49 victory.
