Complete Release

The Mavericks will play at Missouri Western, the team directly in front of them in the standings, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. before returning home to host Truman Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Sapp Fieldhouse

UNO is now 15-6 overall and 8-6 in the MIAA after a split last week. The Mavericks fell at home to Northwest Missouri on Wednesday before winning on the road at Emporia State Saturday.

Nebraska-Omaha will look for a pair of season sweeps after the Mavs beat these two teams earlier in the year. Two wins this week could move the Mavs as high as a tie for third as they seek to lock up an MIAA tournament berth.

The Griffons played just once last week, falling at Missouri Southern on Saturday. They are 14-8 overall and 9-6 in the league. The Bulldogs lost twice last week to Washburn and at Southwest Baptist to fall to 4-18 overall and 2-13 in the MIAA.

Junior guard Tyler Bullock is averaging 20.3 points a game in UNO's eight away games and he's scoring 17.7 a game overall, the fifth best average in the MIAA. He and Bridger led UNO with 22 points each at ESU last Saturday and UNO improved to 8-1 when Bullock scores 20 or more.

Following The Mavericks
Wednesday's game at Missouri Western will be broadcast on 90.7 KVNO FM and online at omavs.com/KVNO. Saturday's game against Truman will be broadcast on 90.7-2 KVNO HD and 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 www.gogriffons.com/xlive_MBB.asp for Wednesday' game and at omavs.com/LiveStats 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/mbb 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 84-56 with a .600 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.

Missouri Western coach Tom Smith is in his 35th season as a head coach and 22nd at MWSU. He's 583-409 (.588) overall and 413-225 (.647) with the Griffons. He's led the Griffons to 10 NCAA tournaments, five MIAA titles and four MIAA postseason titles. He started his career at  Central Missouri from 1975-80 and then he went to Valparasio for eight years. He is a 1967 graduate of Valparasio where he earned All-America honors as a player.

Truman coach Jack Schrader is 157-250 (.386) in 15 years with the Bulldogs. He has led TSU to seven MIAA tournaments in 14 years and in 1998-99 he led the team to the MIAA postseason tournament title and to the NCAA semifinal. The Arizona State graduate was an assistant at Truman before being named head coach in 1995-96.

The Series
- Nebraska-Omaha leads the all-time series with Missouri Wester, 7-5 after winning at home earlier this season, 82-62.
- The two teams split the series last year with the road team winning each time.
- The series began in 1978-79.
- The Mavs won earlier this year against Truman to tie that all-time series at 8-8.
- UNO swept the Bulldogs last year and will look to do the same this year.
- The series dates back to 1955-56.

Bridger Climbing Charts as Career Winds Down
Senior guard Andrew Bridger became UNO's 31st member of the 1,000 point club with his fifth point last week against Northwest Missouri, a free throw at 18:52 of the second half. He became just the third player to score 1,000 points with at least 400 assists and 100 steals. Dean Thompson (1980-84) and Calvin Kapels (2002-06) are the two other Mavs in the 1,000 points/400 assists/100 steals club.

Bridger is now 26th at UNO with 1,030 points and he's 18 away from moving into the top 25. He's fourth in career assists with 443 and four away from catching Thompson for third. He's seventh in steals with 152 and three away from sixth. Bridger is also in the top 10 in 3-point field goals (sixth with 143).

Rebounds Well Distributed
Three different Mavericks are in the top 12 in rebounding in the MIAA, each averaging 5.7 a game or better. Eugene Bain is first on the team and sixth in the MIAA with 7.2 rebounds a game. Dion Curry is second on the team and 11th in the MIAA with 6.0 a game and Matt Newman is third on the team and 12th in the league with 5.7 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 12 points and 11 rebounds at FHSU for his team-leading fifth double-double of the year. Newman and Curry each have three double-doubles.

Mavs Drop to Sixth in Latest NCAA Region Poll
The Mavericks fell to No. 6 in the first NCAA South Central Region ranking released on February 3 by the NCAA office. The three winners of the conference postseason tournaments will receive automatic bids to the tournament then the five at-large berths will be decided by the regional ranking.

The MIAA and the Lone Star Conference each have five teams in the ranking. From the MIAA, Fort Hays State is No. 1 while Central Missouri is No. 2. Southwest Baptist is No. 4 and Missouri Western No. 8 in the region. The Heartland Conference is the third league in the South Central Region.

Bridger Leads MIAA in Assists
Andrew Bridger has five double-figure assist games this year and he leads the MIAA with 6.2 assists a game. His assists average was 12th best in the nation through January 31. The Mavericks are 5-0 when Bridger gets 10 or more assists and 8-2 when he gets six or more. The Mavericks are 6-5 when he's held to five or less assists.

Bridger is third in the MIAA with a 2.0 assist/turnover ratio and he's only had more turnovers than assists twice this year. Last week he had 11 assists and just two turnovers in two games.

Bridger is third on the team averaging 12.0 points a game. He's leading the team and he's third in the MIAA with an .864 free throw percentage. He's made 28-30 (.933) free throws in the final five minutes of games this year.

Bullock Near The Top In Shooting, Scoring
Senior guard Tyler Bullock is shooting .492 from the field, ninth best in the MIAA. He's leading the team and he's fifth in the conference with 17.7 points a game. Bullock has led UNO in scoring 14 times and he's reached double figures 17 times.

Bullock scored a team season-high 32 points on January 27 in an 82-80 loss to No. 3 Fort Hays State. He shot 52 percent (11 for 21) from the field and 89 percent (8 for 9) from the free throw line. He was UNO's first 30-point scorer since Michael Jenkins on February 4 in last year's win against Northwest Missouri State. The 32 points scored by by Bullock is the most for a Mav since Jenkins scored 35 on November 17, 2007 against Bemidji State.

Bullock has scored 20 or more points nine times and six of those times have come on the road. He averages 20.3 points a game and shoots 48 percent in UNO's eight road contests. In UNO's road opener at Rockhurst he was 12 for 13 from the field for 28 points.

Bain Strong Off the Boards and Strong to the Hoop
Junior forward Eugene Bain leads the team with 7.2 rebounds a game and he's fifth with 8.4 points a game. His rebounding average is sixth in the MIAA. Bain has six double-figure rebound games this year and five double-doubles.

Bain scored 12 points with 11 rebounds against Fort Hays State for his team-leading fifth double-double. He leads the team with a .569 field goal percentage but he hasn't attempted enough shots to rank in the MIAA standings.

Curry Scoring Big Inside For UNO
Senior forward Dion Curry scored in double figures in 11 of the first 13 games this year and was averaging 13.0 points a game at that time. Since then he's been kept to single figures in each of his last seven games but he's still fourth on the team with 10.8 points a game. He's second with 6.0 rebounds a game and he has four double-figure rebound games with three resulting in double-doubles. Curry is second on the team shooting 54 percent for UNO.

Martin Continues Hot Shooting
Junior guard Jeff Martin is first in the MIAA with 2.9 made 3-pointers a game and he's eighth in the conference shooting .415 from long range. Overall, Martin is averaging 12.1 points a game and shooting 42 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3-point range.

Martin opened the year by reaching double figures in scoring in each of the first five games. After two games in single digits, he's since scored 10 or more in six of the last eight and 11 of the last 14. Overall, he  is second on the team lead with 16 double-figure scoring games.

77 percent of Martin's field goals are 3-point attempts and he has more than twice as many 3-point makes than Andrew Bridger, second on the team from long range.

Newman Strong Off the Boards and Strong Off the Bench
Senior forward Matt Newman made his second start of the year last Saturday at ESU. He had six points and six rebounds in the game.

Newman is UNO's leading scorer off the bench with 153 points and 8.1 a game and he's also the leading rebounder off the bench with 103 and 5.4 a game. Newman has six double-figure scoring games, four double-figure rebounding games and three double-doubles.

In his first 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.

Harris Strong Off The Bench and Strong On the Road
Junior guard Torrian Harris is averaging 7.2 points a game and he's scored in double figures in four of the last seven games. During that stretch he's averaging 8.4 points a game and shooting 54  percent.

Harris has six total double-figure scoring games this year and four of them have come in MIAA games on the road. In those games he scored 20 points at NWMSU, 12 at SBU, 10 at Washburn and 11 at Emporia State. Overall, he's averaging 9.1 points a game on the road and shooting 59 percent.

Coming Up
Just two weeks of play and four games will remain on UNO's schedule after this week. Next week the Mavs will play a pair of teams currently ranked ahead of them in the region. Wednesday, February 17, the Mavs will play at second-ranked Central Missouri and Saturday, February 20, the Mavs will host No. 4 Southwest Baptist.