Complete Game Notes

The Mavericks will look to bounce back from just their second loss this season as they play a pair of road games this week, including one against another ranked opponent. Thursday Nebraska-Omaha will play No. 16 Southwest Baptist in the Meyer Sports Center at 7:30 p.m. and then Saturday UNO will take on Missouri Southern at 3:30 p.m. at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

The Mavericks won their sixth straight when they defeated Truman last Wednesday before then-No. 1 Central Missouri beat the Mavs on Saturday. UNO now sits at 12-2 overall and tied for third in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association with a 5-2 mark.

Southwest Baptist suffered a 102-89 loss at then-No. 10 Fort Hays State on Saturday.  Prior to that, SBU had won seven straight. The Bearcats are 14-3 overall and tied with UNO and Missouri Western for third in the league at 5-2. The Lions also most recently lost to Fort Hay State in an 87-81 setback this Monday. MSSU won twice last week with victories against Emporia State and at Washburn. The Lions are 9-6 overall and tied for seventh in the conference at 3-5.

Junior guard Tyler Bullock continues to lead UNO in scoring. He's tied for fifth in the MIAA with 17.8 points a game and he's fifth with a .553 field goal percentage. Senior guard Andrew Bridger leads the MIAA with 6.5 assists a game and junior guard Jeff Martin is first with 2.9 made 3-pointers a game.

Following The Mavericks
Thursday's game at Southwest Baptist will be broadcast on 90.7 KVNO FM or online at omavs.com/KVNO. Saturday's game against Missouri Southern will be on 90.7-2 KVNO HD or online at omavs.com/kvnoHD2. Fans can find a link to live video for both games at omavs.com/LiveVideo and fans can find free live stats at sbubearcats.com for Thursday's game or at mssu.edu/athletics for Saturday's game.

Most games throughout the year will be available through 90.7 KVNO FM or 90.7-2 KVNO HD. Live stats and video will be available for the remainder of the home games and many away games. Fans can find links to all live video, audio and stats through omavs.com/wbb on the schedule page.

The Coaches
UNO head coach Derrin Hansen is in his fifth year at Nebraska-Omaha and overall as a head coach. He is 81-52 with a .609 winning percentage. His winning percentage ranks fourth all-time among UNO coaches with at least four years at the school. Hansen served as the assistant coach at UNO from 1998-2005 before taking over for the 2005-06 season.

Hansen is a 1991 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan. He played for the Plainsmen and helped lead them to the Division III semifinal in 1987-88. He coached high school for two seasons after graduating and then spent two years at Nebraska-Kearney from 1993-95 as a graduate assistant and two years at Mid-Plains CC from 1995-98.

Southwest Baptist coach Jeff Guiot is 121-46 (.725) in his sixth season with the Bearcats. He's led SBU to three MIAA regular season titles and last year his squad went to the NCAA South Central Region final. Prior to working at SBU, Guiot was the head coach at Bemidji State for three seasons. He led the Beavers to a 54-33 record and overall, he's 121-46 (.725) coaching four-year schools. Prior to the BSU job, he was the head coach at Neosho County Community College from 1993-94 to 1999-00. He's a graduate of Pittsburg State and he earned All-America honor with the Gorillas.

Missouri Southern coach Robert Corn is in his 21st season with a 319-265 (.546) record. He led the Lions to the NCAA Elite Eight with an MIAA title in 1999-00 and he was named national coach of the year that season. Corn graduate from Missouri Southern in 1978 and he helped lead the Lions to the NAIA quarterfinal. He coached at Alabama-Birmingham for 10 years as an assistant before coming to MSSU.

The Series
- The SBU-UNO series is tied at 1-1 after the two faced off last year for the first time in school history.
Each team won its home game and neither went into overtime.
- The Mavericks lead the Missouri Southern series, 2-1. Each team also won its home game in this series.
- The two also met 1989-90 in a UNO win.
- The series has never gone into overtime.

Mavs Remain in MIAA Log Jam
The Mavericks moved from fourth place in the MIAA last week to a tie for third this week. Nebraska-Omaha is tied with Southwest Baptist and Missouri Southern at third with a 5-2 conference mark. Fort Hays State is first at 8-0 and Central Missouri is second at 6-1.

The Mavericks can pull ahead of the Bearcats with a win. SBU already lost a game this week to FHSU. The UNO-SBU game is the only remaining matchup of top-five MIAA teams this week.

Mavericks Earn Votes Again In National Poll
For the second straight week, the Mavericks earned votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches national poll. Nebraska-Omaha earned six points in the poll released Tuesday afternoon, putting the Mavs three points shy of cracking the top 25.

The Mavericks will play their second straight ranked opponent this week when they travel to No. 16 Southwest Baptist. Last Saturday they fell to then-No. 1 Central Missouri. The Mules dropped to eighth while Fort Hays State moved to sixth.

Rebounds Well Distributed
Three different Mavericks are averaging over six rebounds a game and all three of those players are in the top 11 in the MIAA. Eugene Bain is first on the team and fifth in the MIAA with 7.4 rebounds a game. Matt Newman is second on the team and 10th in the MIAA with 6.3 and Dion Curry is third on the team and 11th in the conference with 6.1 a game.

These three players have coupled big scoring nights with big rebound nights to give them at least three double-doubles each. Bain had 14 points and 13 rebounds last Saturday against Central Missouri four his team-leading fourth double-double of the year. Newman and Curry each have three double-doubles.

Bridger Nears Big Career Milestone
Winding down his career, senior guard Andrew Bridger is currently 63 points away from joining the 1,000 point club. If he gets to 1,000, he will become just the third Maverick to score at least 1,000 points with at least 400 assists and 100 steals. Dean Thompson (1980-84) and Calvin Kapels (2002-06) are the two Mavs in the 1,000 points/400 assists/100 steals club. Bridger is currently sixth at UNO with 404 assists and seventh with 139 steals. Two more assists will move him into the top five.

Bridger Leads MIAA in Assists
Andrew Bridger has four double-figure assist games this year and he leads the MIAA with 6.5 assists a game. His assists average was ninth best in the nation through January 10. He had a career-high 13 on January 2 against Missouri Western and he had 12 on November 27 against Chadron State.

Bridger is fourth on the team averaging 11.4 points a game. He's leading the team and he's fourth in the MIAA with an .840 free throw percentage.

Bullock Near The Top In Shooting, Scoring
Senior guard Tyler Bullock is shooting .553 from the field, fifth best in the MIAA. He's leading the team and he's tied for fifth in the conference with 17.8 points a game. Bullock has led UNO in scoring 10 times and he's reached double figures 12 times. The Mavericks are 6-0 when he scores 20 or more points.

Minus the two games he didn't reach double figures, he's averaging 19.9 points a game and shooting 56 percent. In those other two games he's averaging 5.0 points and shooting 40 percent.

Curry Keeps On Scoring Inside For UNO
Senior forward Dion Curry has scored in double figures in 11 of the 14 games this year and he's second on the team with 12.5 points a game. He's third with 6.1 rebounds a game and he has three double-figure rebound games, all resulting in double-doubles. Curry is second on the team shooting 57 percent for UNO.

Bain Strong Off The Boards And To The Hoop
Junior forward Eugene Bain leads the team with 7.4 rebounds a game and he's fifth with 9.1 points a game. His rebounding total is fifth in the MIAA. Bain has five double-figure rebound games this year and four double-doubles. He had 14 points and 13 rebounds against then-No. 1 Central Missouri last Saturday.

Newman Strong Off The Boards And Strong Off The Bench
Senior forward Matt Newman is UNO's leading scorer off the bench with 110 points and 8.5 a game and he's also the leading rebounder off the bench with 77 and 5.9 a game. Newman has five double-figure scoring games, four double-figure rebounding games and three double-doubles.

In his one start this year, Newman had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Nebraska-Kearney on December 18. He followed that with another double-double, this time off the bench against Emporia State.

Martin Continues Hot Shooting
Junior guard Jeff Martin is shooting 51 percent from the field and averaging 13.2 points a game in the last six UNO contests. He's shooting 56 percent from 3-point range in that stretch and averaging just over three makes a game from long range.

Overall, Martin is averaging 12.4 points a game and shooting 44 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3-point range. He leads the MIAA with 2.9 made 3-pointers a game and his long-distance shooting percentage is fifth best in the conference.

Coming Up
UNO will play return home to host Pittsburg State Wednesday, January 20, at 7:30 and then play at Washburn on Saturday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m. The PSU game will mark the end of the first half of the MIAA season.