Night Court: Jahlil Okafor has missed five shots in three games

Matt Costello, left, tries to slow Jahlil Okafor at the Champions Classic. (USATSI) Everything you ought to know from college basketball's marathon Tuesday ...

Duke takes care of Michigan State, 81-71. The Blue Devils' 81-71 win was never really in doubt, but MSU did get it to a three-point game with less than seven minutes to go.

So, takeaways? How about Jahlil Okafor only missing two shots Tuesday night and currently sitting at 82 percent on the season from the field? He's missed five shots so far in his college career. Yeah. Guy might finish around 68 percent this season. And he had some bogus offensive foul calls on him. Officials may need to adjust how they call the game; college basketball hasn't had a true low-post/big man talent like Okafor in some time.

Tyus Jones went off in the second half, and it was essentially his play, combined with a couple of sick plays from Justise Winslow, that sealed Duke's win.

Justise Winslow. OK. https://t.co/fErf9CV21h

- Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) November 19, 2014

Also, Jones and Quinn Cook combined for zero turnovers. Together, they had 26 points and were perfect from the line.

Michigan State had some good play from Travis Trice, Denzel Valenting and Branden Dawson (he had 18), but this is very much a work-in-progress Spartans team.

Game of the Day: Tough call, but we're going with Northern Iowa-Stephen F. Austin.

I wrote about that game, and how great it was to get some really exciting morning hoops, here. It'll take two minutes to read. Give it a gander.

Hey, that's a good win: San Diego State plays to its strengths in 53-49 win against Utah.

It wasn't pretty, but San Diego State has seldom won pretty in recent years. The Aztecs, undeniably a top-15 team right now, just squeezed Utah to a loss. This is a Utes team that should make the NCAAs this season with room to spare. The win will wind up looking for for the Aztecs, who should probably be chasing a No. 3 seed, in the big picture.

Utah made a rally in the closing minute, but it had to play like that for the final 10 in order to steal this one on the road. Credit to the Utes coaching staff for scheduling this kind of game. Don't be afraid of the tough ones -- go play them. This needs to happen more in college hoops.

Offense was rough to come by (only one player reached double figures in scoring), but in the postgame SDSU coach Steve Fisher swore this year's team will be good on offense ... in time.

Oh, that's a bad loss: Florida State drops home game to Northeastern.

The Huskies win 76-73 on the road. The basketball team proves it can't do what its football counterparts are capable of: getting out of every game with a win. David Walker had 24 points; Northeastern sank nine 3s. I'm doubting FSU as an NCAA Tournament team.

TONIGHT'S TOP PLAYERS

1. Tonight's leading scorer is Anthony Beane of Southern Illinois. Put up 32 points in SIU's 84-67 road win against Tennessee State.

2. Briante Weber played his first game of the season and was an absolute force. The VCU senior guard -- who should shatter the NCAA record for all-time steals this season -- finished with 18 points, nine steals, eight boards, seven assists and no turnovers. WHAT.

VCU's Briante Weber's line tonight: 18 pts-8 reb-7 ast.-9 stl. Last D-I player to do that: UT-Martin's Lester Hudson (25-12-10-10, 11/13/07)

- Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) November 19, 2014

3. I think Ohio State will be just fine with Shannon Scott running point this season. Went for 14 assists and eight points.

4. Ron Baker had 21 points, six rebounds and five assists in Wichita State's methodical (and ugly) dismantling of a broken (as of now) Memphis team.

5. I was bullish on Cady Lalanne coming into this year. On Tuesday the UMass big men scored 23 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in the team's overtime win against Manhattan.

6. Tekele Cotton, purely for this:

Numbers to figure

33: Straight regular season wins for Wichita State. Wondering if this will bloat to 40.

24: Turnovers for Memphis against WSU, more today than in any game for Josh Pastner's team last season.

Other outcomes blipping the radar: We saw a play Tuesday that probably won't be duplicated this season. Maybe for another five years. I was able to keep one eye on Marquette-Ohio State. I've been huge on D'Angelo Russell, and I think he'll be All-Big Ten. But I won't shy away from when he has a bad game. Tonight? Six points and seven turnovers. Not-uh good. OSU won 74-63 and kept MU at arm's length all night. Melvin Johnson (22 points) canned a 3 with 2:27 to go to give VCU a 78-72 lead on Toledo. The final was 87-78. The Rockets kept in interesting for more than 37 minutes. So tough to win in Richmond, though, and VCU turned this game on its ear near the end. A flurry, sparked by Johnson and Weber. Credit to Tod Kowalczyk's team to playing VCU to nine ties and 12 lead changes before giving way. Remains to be seen how much of a threat Baylor is in the Big 12 this season, but getting a win at South Carolina is good insomuch as the Bears didn't flop against a worse team. A 69-65 final, the Bears were paced by Kenny Chery's 20. Barely hitting the radar, but Saint Louis winning 69-56 against Indiana State is worth the mention. ISU should win more than 20 games by the end of March. Miscellanea, etc. ...

-- North Carolina continues to pay in the millions to fight public percepetion and the NCAA in its acadamic scandal case.

-- Regarding Memphis' awful play Tuesday, my colleague Sam Vecenie did a good job here. Give it a read.

-- How you do, Sam Thompson?

I'M FINISHED http://t.co/D2RAadHJsR

- Land-Grant Holy Land (@Landgrant33) November 19, 2014

-- ESPN is creating a 30 for 30 doc entitled ' I Hate Christian Laettner.'

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