Tuesday, November 14
Albuquerque, N.M.
8 p.m.
Omaha
at
New Mexico
Sophomore JT Gibson and the Omaha men's basketball team play their third game in five days Tuesday at New Mexico.
Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann
Omaha Set for Tuesday Tilt at New Mexico
Nov 13, 2017 | Men's Basketball
This Week
The Omaha men's basketball team continues its opening road trip this Tuesday, Nov. 14, visiting New Mexico as part of the Emerald Coast Classic. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT at Dreamstyle Arena in Albuquerque, N.M. The game will be broadcast live on Mountain West Network, and Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
Quick Hits
• Omaha's last opponent from the Mountain West was Wyoming on Dec. 19, 2015.
• Omaha came a shot shy of its first NCAA Tournament bid in the Division I era last season, falling 79-77 to South Dakota State in the Summit League Championship. The Mavericks were 18-14 (9-7 Summit League) en route to their second straight third-place finish in the regular-season standings.
• The Mavericks return a pair of double-figure scorers in juniors Mitch Hahn (11.7 ppg) and Zach Jackson (10.8).
• Omaha returns seven letterwinners from its 2016-17 squad, including a Summit League All-Newcomer pick in Hahn.
• The current Maverick roster totes a combined 78 career starts.
• Head coach Derrin Hansen enters his 13th year at Omaha in 2017-18 and needs just three wins to reach 200 career victories.
• Omaha ranked 13th nationally with 83.9 points per game last season.
• Omaha has had at least one scorer tally 20+ points in 18 of its last 19 games dating back to Jan. 4, 2017.
• Omaha went 7-6 in non-conference play in 2016-17, marking its fourth straight season finishing .500 or better against non-conference opponents.
Scouting the New Mexico Lobos
New Mexico is 1-0 (0-0 Mountain West) entering the week and was picked ninth in the MWC Preseason Poll released last month. The Lobos opened the season Saturday at home with a 147-76 win over Northern New Mexico, which set a school record for points scored in a single game. Eight players scored in double digits, led by 19 points from Troy Simons.
Head coach Paul Weir is in his first season at UNM and carries a career record of 29-6 over two years.
Tuesday's game marks the first meeting all-time between Omaha and New Mexico.
Last Time Out: Omaha Falls 108-89 at Oklahoma
Omaha took on Oklahoma for the first time Sunday afternoon, falling 108-89 at the Lloyd Noble Center. Junior Zach Jackson led a contingent of four Mavericks in double figures, scoring a career-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting and a 7-of-8 effort at the free throw line. He added six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
Sophomore JT Gibson also had a career-best scoring performance, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting with three 3-pointers alongside four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Junior Mitch Hahn chipped in 13 points with another trio of triples, as well as four rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block. Senior Daniel Norl rounded it out with 11 points, six boards, two assists and two steals.
The Mavericks shot 43.8 percent (32-of-73) to Oklahoma's 55.7 percent (39-of-70). After making just two 3-pointers in their season debut Friday night, they hit 12 against the Sooners and finished at a 54.5 percent (12-of-22) clip from long range. OU had the advantage on the glass, 46-31, and outscored Omaha 50-32 in the paint.
Road Warriors
Omaha plays 18 of its 30 games on the road in 2017-18, including seven straight to open the season while its home facility, Baxter Arena, plays host to the U.S. Olympic Curling Trials. The Mavericks begin with three games in one continuous seven-day trip at Montana State (Nov. 10), Oklahoma (Nov. 12) and New Mexico (Nov. 14). Following a short return home, they set out again for Louisville (Nov. 17), and after another short trip back to Omaha, visit TCU (Nov. 20). A Thanksgiving trip to Niceville, Fla., caps it off with two games in the Emerald Coast Classic, Nov. 24-25.
Final Four Foes
Omaha faces three teams with NCAA Final Four appearances on their resumes in the last decade. Oklahoma last made the Final Four in 2016, while Kansas went in 2012 and 2008, and Louisville earned a trip in 2012.
Six of the Mavericks' 2017-18 opponents have earned at least one NCAA Tournament berth over the last four years: Kansas (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), Louisville (2014, 2015, 2017), Oklahoma (2014, 2015, 2016), North Dakota State (2014, 2015), South Dakota State (2016, 2017) and New Mexico (2014).
Feelin' Hahn, Hahn, Hahn
Junior Mitch Hahn averaged 11.6 points per game in his debut season in 2016-17, appearing in 31 games before earning his first start in the Summit League Championship Game. For the year, Hahn had 20 double-figure scoring games, including two with 20 or more points, and canned at least five 3-pointers three times. The Fremont, Neb., native ranked sixth in the league for free throw percentage (.838) and 10th for 3-point percentage (.420) and blocks (22), and he capped the year with Summit League All-Newcomer Team recognition.
Hahn scored in double figures in seven straight games from Jan. 7 to Feb. 1 and had 12 games of 15+ points last year. In games when he scores in double figures, Omaha is 12-10.
Action Jackson
Junior Zach Jackson is in his third year as a starter, averaging 18.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. The Wichita, Kan., native is shooting 90.9 percent from the free throw line over the first two contests, and he scored a career-high 24 points Sunday at Oklahoma.
Jackson had 10.8 points per game last season and scored in double figures in 21 games, including two 20-point performances. He was instrumental in Omaha's road upset of Iowa, posting a then-career-high 21 points and a career-high-tying eight rebounds. Jackson strung together six straight double-figure scoring games from Nov. 19 to Dec. 3, 2016, then had another six-game stretch from Feb. 11 to March 6, 2017.
What Makes Up the Mavericks
• UNO returns 43 percent of its offensive production from last season, as this year's returners accounted for 1,153 of the Mavericks' 2,685 points. The returners are also credited for 40 percent (464) of last season's 1,149 rebounds.
• Juniors Mitch Hahn and Zach Jackson are UNO's leading returning scorers after averaging 11.7 and 10.8 points per game, respectively.
• Seniors Renard Suggs and Lamar Wofford-Humphrey both tote previous Division I experience. Suggs last played in 2015-16 at Washington State, then sat out the 2016-17 season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules. Wofford-Humphrey is a graduate transfer after spending the last two years at Eastern Michigan.
• Jackson played the most minutes in 2016-17 of any returner on this year's roster, averaging 27.6 minutes per game.
• UNO's 2017-18 roster has five seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and six freshmen.
• The Mavericks hail from eight different states. Six are from Nebraska, three are from Kansas and two are Minnesota natives, while Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Montana and Tennessee are all represented once on the roster.
PROmaha
Eight former Mavericks have gone on to play professionally in the last three years: Mike Rostampour (Slovakia/Canada), CJ Carter (Macedonia), Devin Patterson (Lithuania) and Tim Smallwood (Italy), Randy Reed II (Tunisia), Tra-Deon Hollins (Poland/NBA G League), Marcus Tyus (Slovakia) and Alex Welhouse (Spain).
Carter and Rostampour, both 2014-15 graduates, won league championships with their respective clubs in 2015-16. Carter's MZT Skopje Aerodrom team captured the Prva Liga title, while Rostampour's BC Prievidza squad won the Slovak Extraliga crown. Rostampour also played for the Cape Breton Highlanders in the National Basketball League of Canada in 2017.
Three members of the 2015-16 class signed professional contracts following graduation. Patterson joined BC Šiauliai, which plays in the Lithuanian Basketball League and Baltic Basketball League, while Reed signed with Jeunesse Sportive d'El Mensah in Tunisia's Ligue 1. Smallwood played with Manerbio GoodBook in Italy's Serie C Gold league.
Hollins joined AZS Koszalin in Poland's Polska Liga Koszykówki in July, then returned to the United States and was the first-round draft pick of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBA G League on Oct. 21. Tyus signed with MBK Baník Handlová in the Slovak Extraliga in July, and Welhouse, who completed his Maverick career in 2012-13, was added to the roster for Club Baloncesto Villarrobledo in Spain's Liga EBA in September.
More on Meyer
Senior Daniel Meyer made his second collegiate appearance in his home state Friday night with Omaha's season opener at Montana State. Meyer and the Mavericks previously visited MSU on Dec. 6, 2015, when they won 100-97 on a buzzer beater in Bozeman.
Meyer has been mainstay for Omaha over the last few seasons. He appeared in every game in 2015-16 and 2016-17, making 11 starts as a junior and finishing the year with 2.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He had one of his best performances in league play, pulling down a season-high nine rebounds with two blocks vs. Oral Roberts.
Meyer is Omaha's active career leader for offensive rebounds (80), blocks (26) and games played (87).
Robinson's Ready
Sophomore KJ Robinson appeared in all but one game last season, averaging 2.5 points and 0.7 assists over 8.8 minutes per contest off the bench. He has now assumed a starting role over the first two games of the season.
A native of Blue Springs, Mo., Robinson had his first career double-figure scoring game with a season-high 13 points vs. Buena Vista last year, shooting 4-of-6 with three 3-pointers, two rebounds, a season-high three assists and a steal. He matched his three-assist effort at Eastern Michigan, then added a season-high three rebounds with six points and a pair of helpers at Cal State Fullerton. Robinson also standout efforts at Pitt (eight points) and South Dakota State (nine points, three assists, one steal).
Norl Off to a Strong Start
Senior Daniel Norl has had a standout start to his senior season, pacing Omaha with 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game over the first two games. The Clarksville, Tenn., native earned his first career start at Montana State on Friday, exploding for career highs of 29 points, nine rebounds and two steals while shooting 13-of-18. He followed with another double-figure scoring performance at Oklahoma, collecting 11 points, six boards, two assists and two steals.
Norl made his Maverick debut in 2016-17, appearing in 29 contests and averaging 5.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 15.6 minutes per game. He had eight double-figure scoring performances as a junior, including a season-high 14 points with four 3-pointers in Omaha's quarterfinal win over Fort Wayne in the Summit League Tournament. He accounted for 10 performances with at least two 3-pointers.
Gibson Back at Full Strength
Sophomore JT Gibson was one of two Mavericks to achieve a career high in scoring Sunday at Oklahoma. The Brooklyn Park, Minn., native tallied 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting with three 3-pointers, adding four rebounds, and career bests of four assists and three steals.
Gibson had a second go at his freshman campaign in 2016-17. In 2015-16, he appeared in eight games off the bench before suffering a season-ending elbow injury that led to a medical redshirt.
2017-18 Slate = Tough Test for Mavericks
Omaha's 2017-18 schedule includes 30 games, and the team will play in 16 states against schools from 11 other Division I conferences. The schedule has three opponents from the Big 12 and one each from the ACC, Pac-12, Mountain West, MVC, Big West, Sun Belt, Big Sky, OVC, SWAC and MEAC. Three opponents – Kansas, Louisville and defending Summit League champion South Dakota State – played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, with the Jayhawks reaching the Elite Eight.
Up Next
Omaha visits No. 16 Louisville on Friday, Nov. 17, with tipoff set for 6 p.m. CT at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. The game will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra, and Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1620 The Zone. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
The Omaha men's basketball team continues its opening road trip this Tuesday, Nov. 14, visiting New Mexico as part of the Emerald Coast Classic. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT at Dreamstyle Arena in Albuquerque, N.M. The game will be broadcast live on Mountain West Network, and Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
Quick Hits
• Omaha's last opponent from the Mountain West was Wyoming on Dec. 19, 2015.
• Omaha came a shot shy of its first NCAA Tournament bid in the Division I era last season, falling 79-77 to South Dakota State in the Summit League Championship. The Mavericks were 18-14 (9-7 Summit League) en route to their second straight third-place finish in the regular-season standings.
• The Mavericks return a pair of double-figure scorers in juniors Mitch Hahn (11.7 ppg) and Zach Jackson (10.8).
• Omaha returns seven letterwinners from its 2016-17 squad, including a Summit League All-Newcomer pick in Hahn.
• The current Maverick roster totes a combined 78 career starts.
• Head coach Derrin Hansen enters his 13th year at Omaha in 2017-18 and needs just three wins to reach 200 career victories.
• Omaha ranked 13th nationally with 83.9 points per game last season.
• Omaha has had at least one scorer tally 20+ points in 18 of its last 19 games dating back to Jan. 4, 2017.
• Omaha went 7-6 in non-conference play in 2016-17, marking its fourth straight season finishing .500 or better against non-conference opponents.
Scouting the New Mexico Lobos
New Mexico is 1-0 (0-0 Mountain West) entering the week and was picked ninth in the MWC Preseason Poll released last month. The Lobos opened the season Saturday at home with a 147-76 win over Northern New Mexico, which set a school record for points scored in a single game. Eight players scored in double digits, led by 19 points from Troy Simons.
Head coach Paul Weir is in his first season at UNM and carries a career record of 29-6 over two years.
Tuesday's game marks the first meeting all-time between Omaha and New Mexico.
Last Time Out: Omaha Falls 108-89 at Oklahoma
Omaha took on Oklahoma for the first time Sunday afternoon, falling 108-89 at the Lloyd Noble Center. Junior Zach Jackson led a contingent of four Mavericks in double figures, scoring a career-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting and a 7-of-8 effort at the free throw line. He added six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
Sophomore JT Gibson also had a career-best scoring performance, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting with three 3-pointers alongside four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Junior Mitch Hahn chipped in 13 points with another trio of triples, as well as four rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block. Senior Daniel Norl rounded it out with 11 points, six boards, two assists and two steals.
The Mavericks shot 43.8 percent (32-of-73) to Oklahoma's 55.7 percent (39-of-70). After making just two 3-pointers in their season debut Friday night, they hit 12 against the Sooners and finished at a 54.5 percent (12-of-22) clip from long range. OU had the advantage on the glass, 46-31, and outscored Omaha 50-32 in the paint.
Road Warriors
Omaha plays 18 of its 30 games on the road in 2017-18, including seven straight to open the season while its home facility, Baxter Arena, plays host to the U.S. Olympic Curling Trials. The Mavericks begin with three games in one continuous seven-day trip at Montana State (Nov. 10), Oklahoma (Nov. 12) and New Mexico (Nov. 14). Following a short return home, they set out again for Louisville (Nov. 17), and after another short trip back to Omaha, visit TCU (Nov. 20). A Thanksgiving trip to Niceville, Fla., caps it off with two games in the Emerald Coast Classic, Nov. 24-25.
Final Four Foes
Omaha faces three teams with NCAA Final Four appearances on their resumes in the last decade. Oklahoma last made the Final Four in 2016, while Kansas went in 2012 and 2008, and Louisville earned a trip in 2012.
Six of the Mavericks' 2017-18 opponents have earned at least one NCAA Tournament berth over the last four years: Kansas (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), Louisville (2014, 2015, 2017), Oklahoma (2014, 2015, 2016), North Dakota State (2014, 2015), South Dakota State (2016, 2017) and New Mexico (2014).
Feelin' Hahn, Hahn, Hahn
Junior Mitch Hahn averaged 11.6 points per game in his debut season in 2016-17, appearing in 31 games before earning his first start in the Summit League Championship Game. For the year, Hahn had 20 double-figure scoring games, including two with 20 or more points, and canned at least five 3-pointers three times. The Fremont, Neb., native ranked sixth in the league for free throw percentage (.838) and 10th for 3-point percentage (.420) and blocks (22), and he capped the year with Summit League All-Newcomer Team recognition.
Hahn scored in double figures in seven straight games from Jan. 7 to Feb. 1 and had 12 games of 15+ points last year. In games when he scores in double figures, Omaha is 12-10.
Action Jackson
Junior Zach Jackson is in his third year as a starter, averaging 18.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. The Wichita, Kan., native is shooting 90.9 percent from the free throw line over the first two contests, and he scored a career-high 24 points Sunday at Oklahoma.
Jackson had 10.8 points per game last season and scored in double figures in 21 games, including two 20-point performances. He was instrumental in Omaha's road upset of Iowa, posting a then-career-high 21 points and a career-high-tying eight rebounds. Jackson strung together six straight double-figure scoring games from Nov. 19 to Dec. 3, 2016, then had another six-game stretch from Feb. 11 to March 6, 2017.
What Makes Up the Mavericks
• UNO returns 43 percent of its offensive production from last season, as this year's returners accounted for 1,153 of the Mavericks' 2,685 points. The returners are also credited for 40 percent (464) of last season's 1,149 rebounds.
• Juniors Mitch Hahn and Zach Jackson are UNO's leading returning scorers after averaging 11.7 and 10.8 points per game, respectively.
• Seniors Renard Suggs and Lamar Wofford-Humphrey both tote previous Division I experience. Suggs last played in 2015-16 at Washington State, then sat out the 2016-17 season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules. Wofford-Humphrey is a graduate transfer after spending the last two years at Eastern Michigan.
• Jackson played the most minutes in 2016-17 of any returner on this year's roster, averaging 27.6 minutes per game.
• UNO's 2017-18 roster has five seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and six freshmen.
• The Mavericks hail from eight different states. Six are from Nebraska, three are from Kansas and two are Minnesota natives, while Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Montana and Tennessee are all represented once on the roster.
PROmaha
Eight former Mavericks have gone on to play professionally in the last three years: Mike Rostampour (Slovakia/Canada), CJ Carter (Macedonia), Devin Patterson (Lithuania) and Tim Smallwood (Italy), Randy Reed II (Tunisia), Tra-Deon Hollins (Poland/NBA G League), Marcus Tyus (Slovakia) and Alex Welhouse (Spain).
Carter and Rostampour, both 2014-15 graduates, won league championships with their respective clubs in 2015-16. Carter's MZT Skopje Aerodrom team captured the Prva Liga title, while Rostampour's BC Prievidza squad won the Slovak Extraliga crown. Rostampour also played for the Cape Breton Highlanders in the National Basketball League of Canada in 2017.
Three members of the 2015-16 class signed professional contracts following graduation. Patterson joined BC Šiauliai, which plays in the Lithuanian Basketball League and Baltic Basketball League, while Reed signed with Jeunesse Sportive d'El Mensah in Tunisia's Ligue 1. Smallwood played with Manerbio GoodBook in Italy's Serie C Gold league.
Hollins joined AZS Koszalin in Poland's Polska Liga Koszykówki in July, then returned to the United States and was the first-round draft pick of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBA G League on Oct. 21. Tyus signed with MBK Baník Handlová in the Slovak Extraliga in July, and Welhouse, who completed his Maverick career in 2012-13, was added to the roster for Club Baloncesto Villarrobledo in Spain's Liga EBA in September.
More on Meyer
Senior Daniel Meyer made his second collegiate appearance in his home state Friday night with Omaha's season opener at Montana State. Meyer and the Mavericks previously visited MSU on Dec. 6, 2015, when they won 100-97 on a buzzer beater in Bozeman.
Meyer has been mainstay for Omaha over the last few seasons. He appeared in every game in 2015-16 and 2016-17, making 11 starts as a junior and finishing the year with 2.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He had one of his best performances in league play, pulling down a season-high nine rebounds with two blocks vs. Oral Roberts.
Meyer is Omaha's active career leader for offensive rebounds (80), blocks (26) and games played (87).
Robinson's Ready
Sophomore KJ Robinson appeared in all but one game last season, averaging 2.5 points and 0.7 assists over 8.8 minutes per contest off the bench. He has now assumed a starting role over the first two games of the season.
A native of Blue Springs, Mo., Robinson had his first career double-figure scoring game with a season-high 13 points vs. Buena Vista last year, shooting 4-of-6 with three 3-pointers, two rebounds, a season-high three assists and a steal. He matched his three-assist effort at Eastern Michigan, then added a season-high three rebounds with six points and a pair of helpers at Cal State Fullerton. Robinson also standout efforts at Pitt (eight points) and South Dakota State (nine points, three assists, one steal).
Norl Off to a Strong Start
Senior Daniel Norl has had a standout start to his senior season, pacing Omaha with 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game over the first two games. The Clarksville, Tenn., native earned his first career start at Montana State on Friday, exploding for career highs of 29 points, nine rebounds and two steals while shooting 13-of-18. He followed with another double-figure scoring performance at Oklahoma, collecting 11 points, six boards, two assists and two steals.
Norl made his Maverick debut in 2016-17, appearing in 29 contests and averaging 5.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 15.6 minutes per game. He had eight double-figure scoring performances as a junior, including a season-high 14 points with four 3-pointers in Omaha's quarterfinal win over Fort Wayne in the Summit League Tournament. He accounted for 10 performances with at least two 3-pointers.
Gibson Back at Full Strength
Sophomore JT Gibson was one of two Mavericks to achieve a career high in scoring Sunday at Oklahoma. The Brooklyn Park, Minn., native tallied 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting with three 3-pointers, adding four rebounds, and career bests of four assists and three steals.
Gibson had a second go at his freshman campaign in 2016-17. In 2015-16, he appeared in eight games off the bench before suffering a season-ending elbow injury that led to a medical redshirt.
2017-18 Slate = Tough Test for Mavericks
Omaha's 2017-18 schedule includes 30 games, and the team will play in 16 states against schools from 11 other Division I conferences. The schedule has three opponents from the Big 12 and one each from the ACC, Pac-12, Mountain West, MVC, Big West, Sun Belt, Big Sky, OVC, SWAC and MEAC. Three opponents – Kansas, Louisville and defending Summit League champion South Dakota State – played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, with the Jayhawks reaching the Elite Eight.
Up Next
Omaha visits No. 16 Louisville on Friday, Nov. 17, with tipoff set for 6 p.m. CT at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. The game will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra, and Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1620 The Zone. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
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