Omaha Men's Basketball Opens 2023-24 Campaign vs. Doane

Monday, November 6

Omaha, Neb.

7:35 p.m.

Omaha

Doane

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Photo by: Omaha Athletics

Omaha Men's Basketball Opens 2023-24 Campaign vs. Doane

Nov 5, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

The Basics
The Mavericks officially opens their 2023-24 season this Monday at Baxter Arena as they host the Doane Tigers in a non-conference game at 7:30 p.m.

Gary Sharp will have the call on 1180 The Zone and links to live stats, audio, and video can be found at OMavs.com.

Quick Hits

In the official Summit League Preseason Poll, Omaha was ranked seventh out of nine teams in the conference. South Dakota State, Oral Roberts, and North Dakota State paced the league as the top three vote getters.
Omaha sees seven starters return this season: Frankie Fidler, JJ White, Luke Jungers, Tony Osburn, Jaeden Marshall, Ja'Sean Glover, and Marquel Sutton.
Fidler was Omaha's lone All-Summit honoree last season, earning an Honorable Mention. He led Omaha in scoring (14.7 ppg), rebounding (5.8 rpg), steals (1.2 spg), and free throw percentage (.887), with his FT% in particular ranking in the NCAA's top-25 for most of the season.
JJ White ended the regular season ranked third in the Summit with 4.0 apg as he totaled 13 games with at least five assists. He recorded a career-high nine assists against South Dakota, narrowly missing a double-double with 12 points.
Jungers returns as the team's deadliest threat from beyond the arc this. In 2022-23, he shot over 38.6 percent from three-point range and made a team-high 44 three-pointers.
Osburn was another deep threat for Omaha in 2022-23, finishing second on the team with 30 three-pointers and third in 3-PT FG% at .357. He had three games last year with at least three field goals made from beyond the arc, including a perfect 3-for-3 at North Dakota.
Marshall excelled down the stretch after returning to the court on January 26 last season, shooting over 40% over his final 10 games. He capped off his season with a career day in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Tournament, dropping a career-high 19 points on seven field goals, including five from behind the arc.
Glover also saw great improvement in the second half of the season, becoming a fixture in the starting lineup and ending the year shooting .465 from the field and .345 on threes.
Omaha eclipsed the 100-point mark once in 2022-23, dropping 104 at home vs. Midland. Sutton, Omaha's second leading scorer (10.3 ppg) and rebounder (5.0 rpg) behind Fidler, paced the team with a career-high 29 points in this game.
Nine newcomers join the Mavericks this season: Grant Stubblefield, Sebastian Perry, Tucker Mills, Landon Braun, Marcel Bryant, Nick Davis, Madelo Deng, Biko Johnson, and Lincoln Palbicki.
Stubblefield, Bryant, Davis, and Johnson lead the group of newcomers and all look to see significant playing time this season. Stubblefield was named 6A Player of the Year and First Team All-State while at Blue Valley Northwest and Bryant was named the Austin Area Player of the Year at Cedar Ridge. Johnson is coming off his second season at Western Nebraska CC where he was named All-Conference and All-Nebraska, while Davis is fresh off winning GAC Defensive Player of the Year and a trip to the Sweet 16 of the Division II NCAA Tournament with Southern Nazarene.
Head Coach Chris Crutchfield has a 19-32 overall record. It marks his third season as a head coach and second with the Mavericks.

Scouting the Doane Tigers
The Tigers finished the 2022-23 regular season campaign 11-17 overall and 8-12 in the GPAC as they just missed qualifying for the conference tournament. As a team, they averaged 70.5 ppg and shot .450 from the field, while their opponents put up 74.6 ppg and shot .471. They are currently 2-1 to start their 2023-24 campaign, including a 104-38 win over Union in the season opener.

Doane's top returner is junior guard Brady Timm. Last season he was named First Team All-GPAC after leading the team with 20.3 ppg and 201 field goals to end the year with 568 points. He currently has 30 points and 10.0 ppg. Defensively, senior forward Cooper Sheldon paced Doane with 171 total rebounds and 6.1 rpg last year and enters the week with 27 boards and 9.0 rpg.

Head Coach Ian McKeithen enters his eighth season at the helm of the Tigers, owning 81-129 record since taking over the program for the 2016-17 season.

All-Time Against Doane
Omaha leads the all-time series at 42-10, most recently beating the Tigers 100-60 in 2017-18.