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Late Night Snacks: Omar (Strong) comin’, yo

Josh Scott, Fred Sturdivant

Colorado forward Josh Scott, left, goes up for a basket as Texas Southern forward Fred Sturdivant reaches in to foul Scott in the second overtime period of Colorado’s 85-80 double overtime victory in an NCAA college basketball game in Boulder, Colo., on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

AP

Games of the Night

No. 19 Colorado 85, Texas Southern 80 2OT: Double overtime against a team that was 1-5 on the season with four losses by more that 18 points is not impressive. Winning despite the fact that someone named Omar Strong goes for 39 and your star player -- Andre Roberson -- fouls out at the end of regulation is. So take this for what it is worth: a terrific basketball game. Texas Southern tied the game with a three with 13 seconds left at the end of the first overtime, after Askia Booker his a tough, shot clock-beating three from the corner 20 seconds earlier. Regulation ended as Strong missed a decent look at a step-back three.

No. 3 Michigan 79, No. 18 NC State 72: We talked about this game plenty here, so I want to get into Lorenzo Brown a little bit. He entered this game averaging 11.4 points and 4.4 assists, which isn’t bad but certainly comes no where near the expectations he had coming in to the season. Brown solved his distribution issues on Tuesday, improving his nearly 1:1 assist-to-turnover ration by handing out ten assists while committing just a single turnover. His scoring, however, is a different issue. Brown lowered his 34.8% shooting from the floor with a 3-10 performance against Michigan, and is now just 1-10 from beyond the arc this season. That’s a problem because he’s not finishing around the rim well at all. A disappointing start, without a doubt.

Important Outcomes

No. 1 Indiana 83, No. 14 UNC 59: Indiana looked superb. UNC? Not so much. Not sure what else needs to be said here.

Southern Miss 61, Denver 50: Denver, the WAC’s one-year rental that was supposed to come in and potentially win the league, is now off to a 1-4 start after losing an ugly affair with the Golden Eagles. The score was 23-15 at the half, and USM used a 14-5 run early in the second half to open up a 17 point lead. Dwayne Davis had 22 points to lead the way, as Southern Miss won their 24th straight home game, the sixth best streak in the country. Chris Udofia had just six points on 3-6 shooting.

Virginia Tech 95, Iowa 79: Erick Green had 24 points, five boards and five assists as the Hokies ran through an Iowa team that was supposed to be pretty good this season. The Hokies have no problem putting up points. This is the third game they’ve scored at least 95, something they didn’t do once a season ago. Jarell Eddie and Robert Brown have proven to be solid complimentary pieces. If the Hokies had Dorian Finney-Smith and Montrezl Harrell this year, they might actually be a tournament team.

Starred

Sandro Carissimo, Vermont: Carissimo went for 25 points and six assists in a win at Harvard.

Trey Burke, Michigan: Burke was absolutely dominant in a win over No. 18 NC State. He finished with 18 points, 11 assists and no turnovers in the win. He went scoreless in the first half, handing out nine of his assists, while taking the game over in the second half as a scorer.

Omar Strong, Texas Southern: 39 points. Double OT. At No. 19 Colorado. While cramping. With 52 points on the season coming in. Omar. Strong.

Struggled

James Michael McAdoo, North Carolina: No. 14 North Carolina got embarrassed by No. 1 Indiana on Tuesday night as their star, McAdoo, was put into his place by Cody Zeller. He finished shooting 4-15 with just 10 points.

Drew Crawford, Northwestern: Northwestern suffered their first loss of the season, but it was a bad one, losing at home to Maryland by 20. Crawford was 4-14 from the floor and finished with just 10 points. As a team, the Wildcats were 6-25 from three.

Michael Snaer, Ian Miller and Devon Bookert, Florida State: Michael Snaer: 3-9, 12 points. Ian Miller: 1-7, 2 points. Devon Bookert: 0-1, 0 points, 10 minutes. That ain’t gonna cut it. FSU lost to Minnesota 77-68.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.