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The Omaha men's basketball team will play its second home game in three days, hosting Western Illinois on Saturday, Jan. 12. Tipoff is set for 11:30 a.m. at Ralston Arena, and links to live video and live stats will be available on OMavs.com.
UNO is in its second year as a reclassifying Division I school in 2012-13 and officially joined The Summit League in July 2012 with a full regular-season conference schedule ahead. The Mavericks are led by head coach Derrin Hansen, who is in his eighth year at the helm of the UNO program with a career record of 126-100.
Scouting the Western Illinois Leathernecks
Western Illinois (13-3, 5-0 Summit League) last took the court on Jan. 9, defeating Greenville College 95-48 in in Macomb, Ill. Terell Parks' fifth double-double of the season led the way for the Leathernecks, as he connected on 11-of-11 shooting for 22 points, and pulled down 10 rebounds. Ceola Clark III also had a career night, dishing out 12 assists to go along with his six points and six rebounds. Three other Leathernecks finished in double figures: Michael Ochereobia (18), Jordan Foster (14) and Don McAvoy III (11).
Head coach Jim Molinari (Illinois Wesleyan, 1977) is in his fifth year with a record of 60-78 and a career mark of 283-264. WIU leads the all-time series with Omaha 5-3, with the Leathernecks taking the last game 72-51 in Macomb on Feb. 29, 2012.
Quick Hits
•UNO's 62 percent shooting effort and 33 field goals made against IUPUI were both season bests.
•The Mavs' shooting percentage on Thursday was their highest since beginning the transition to Division I. UNO has shot 50 percent or better in three straight games.
•The Mavericks enjoy a 4-2 advantage when playing at home this season.
•Omaha is 2-0 when a player records a double-double. Junior guard Justin Simmons had one against Benedictine (32 points, 11 rebounds), and senior forward Alex Welhouse had one against Kansas City (10 points, 10 rebounds).
•The Mavs have had two games this season in which two players score 20-plus points on the same night. Simmons and sophomore guard CJ Carter did so against UMKC, followed by Simmons and freshman guard Marcus Tyus at IPFW. The last time Omaha had two players with at least 20 points apiece in the same game was Jan. 8, 2012, with junior center John Karhoff and Mitch Albers at Johnson & Wales.
•Omaha ranks third among Summit League teams with 7.0 steals per game and third in field goal percentage at .455.
Last Time Out
Omaha nabbed its second conference win of the year Thursday night, defeating IUPUI 90-79 at Ralston Arena. Junior center John Karhoff led Omaha with a season-high 20 points, shooting 7-of-9 from the field and a flawless 6-of-6 at the free throw line. The Omaha native added five rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals.
Sophomore guard CJ Carter added 19 points with four boards, two assists and a pair of steals. Junior guard Justin Simmons chipped in 16 points, and junior guard Alex Phillips had 15 points, with the duo pulling down a team-leading six rebounds each.
As a team, Omaha shot a season-best 62 percent (33-of-53) from the field, while IUPUI came in at a 48 percent (30-of-63) clip. The Jaguars shot 46 percent (10-of-22) from 3-point range, and UNO finished at 35 percent (6-of-17). The Mavericks were also 86 percent (18-of-21) at the free throw line.
Welhouse Continues Climb Up Career 3-Pointers List
Forward Alex Welhouse entered his senior season as one of UNO's most experienced returners, having averaged 10.4 points and a team-leading 6.7 rebounds per game as a junior. A three-year starter, he is 10th all-time on UNO's career 3-pointers chart with 130 threes made and needs just one to tie Troy Kloewer for ninth (131).
Home Sweet Home
The 2012-13 season marks UNO's inaugural season playing at newly constructed Ralston Arena, which will serve as the new home of Maverick men's basketball, Omaha Lancers hockey and Omaha Beef indoor football. The Mavs begin a full Summit League schedule this year, and they will host 13 games at Ralston, including a game for the ESPN Sears BracketBusters series.
On Nov. 9, Omaha hosted its first game in the facility, defeating Northern Illinois 77-64 in front of 2,224 fans. After a five-week, 10-game span of away games, the Mavericks returned to Ralston on Dec. 18 to host Benedictine. UNO is now 4-2 at home after defeating Kansas City on Dec. 31.
Simmons' Nabs Mavs' First Double-Double of 2012-13
Omaha played its first home game in over five weeks on Dec. 18, rallying for a 74-70 victory over Benedictine. Junior guard Justin Simmons paced the Mavericks with a double-double on a career-high 32 points and 11 rebounds. The Milwaukee, Wis., native shot 12-of-18 from the floor and added four assists and a steal. His scoring performance marked the most points since Tyler Bullock had 32 against Southwest Baptist on Feb. 20, 2010, and he is the Mavs' first player to cross the 30-point threshold since Mitch Albers had 31 at Avila on Feb. 2, 2012.
Road Warriors
Last month, the Mavericks closed a challenging 10-game away schedule that kept them on the road from Nov. 14 to Dec. 15. Omaha traveled to Texas Tech on Nov. 14, Tulane on Nov. 16 and Nebraska on Nov. 18. The Tulane and Nebraska contests were part of the Joe Cipriano Nebraska Classic, which continued with games against Bethune Cookman (Nov. 23) and Chicago State (Nov. 24).
After two Summit League games at North Dakota State (Nov. 29) and South Dakota State (Dec. 1), as well as a mid-week game at Wisconsin (Dec. 4), Omaha visited Iowa State (Dec. 9) and closed with Denver (Dec. 15).
Phill-ing In
Junior guard Alex Phillips has been a major contributor in the first half of the season, averaging 8.8 points per contest with .472 shooting from beyond the arc and a .487 clip from the field, which ranks ninth in the league. He is third on the team in scoring behind only fellow juniors Justin Simmons and John Karhoff.
Phillips scored in double figures in three consecutive games early in the year-- vs. Saint Mary (16), at Texas Tech (10) and at Tulane (13) -- and his season-high 17 points led the Mavs against Chicago State on Nov. 24. He chipped in 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers at Iowa State.
Simmons Steps Up for Starting Role
Junior guard Justin Simmons has made an impression early in his Omaha career, stepping into an immediate starting role for the Mavericks after transferring from Butler Community College. He has averaged 14.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per contest over 19 games, and he finished with a season-high 32 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double against Benedictine on Dec. 18.
Simmons ranks among the top 10 in the Summit League in a variety of categories: second in field goals made (108), seventh in steals (25), fourth in total points (278), sixth in scoring (14.6 points per game) and 10th in free throw percentage (.759). He has had four 20-plus point performances, including three straight from Dec. 31 to Jan. 5.
Simmons is playing essentially just his third year of organized basketball. He played for South Division High School as a senior, then became an All-American long jumper at Concordia University in Wisconsin. In 2011-12, Simmons returned to the basketball court at Butler CC, where he averaged 16.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 assists per game, which drew the attention of the UNO staff and prompted him to join the Maverick program in 2012-13.
Welcome to The Summit League
The 2012-13 season marks UNO's first year with a full regular-season Summit League schedule. UNO will play all eight Summit League foes twice, once in Omaha and once on the road. Although the Mavericks will appear in the Summit League standings, they cannot qualify for the Summit League Championship or the NCAA Tournament, and Maverick student-athletes are not eligible for all-conference awards until 2015-16.
Mixed Schedule Takes Mavericks Around the Nation
Omaha's 2012-13 schedule includes 31 games against 20 different Division I opponents, and the team will play in 13 states and all four time zones across the country. UNO will match up with opponents from eight different conferences: Big 12, Big Ten, Conference USA, Great West, Mid-American (MAC), Mid-Eastern Athletic (MEAC), Summit League and Western Athletic (WAC).
Three foes were 2012 NCAA Tournament qualifiers: defending Summit League champion South Dakota State, Wisconsin and Iowa State. UW had the longest postseason run, falling 64-63 to Syracuse in the Sweet 16.
The Mavericks have never faced five of their 2012-13 opponents -- Tulane, Bethune-Cookman, Valparaiso, Oakland and IUPUI -- and they hold a combined all-time record of 165-107-1 over all opponents on the slate this season.
Mavericks Add Five for 2012-13
Head coach Derrin Hansen and his staff added five new players to the 2012-13 roster: junior guards Alex Phillips and Justin Simmons, junior forward Mike Rostampour and freshman guards Jalen Bradley and Marcus Tyus.
Phillips and Simmons are the Mavs' two junior college transfers. Simmons began his career in track & field at Concordia (Wis.), then transferred to Butler Community College and returned to the basketball court. Phillips played two years at New Mexico Junior College, earning first-team all-conference accolades as a sophomore and averaging 10.3 points per game, including 17.8 points per contest in league play.
Bradley and Tyus, both true freshmen, begin at UNO with outstanding prep experience. Tyus was a two-time all-conference pick at Anoka High School in Ramsey, Minn. As a senior, he averaged 27 points and four assists per game, and as a junior he broke the Anoka school record with 46 points in a single game. Bradley, a Norfolk High School product, was a two-time all-state selection and was part of the NHS team that was state runner-up in 2010. He led the state of Nebraska in scoring two straight seasons, averaging 21.1 points per game as a junior and 21.9 as a senior. Bradley finished as Norfolk's all-time leading scorer and the fifth-best scorer in Class A history with 1,638 career points.
Rostampour comes from St. Cloud State, where he averaged eight points and five rebounds per game as a starter and led the Huskies with .530 shooting from 3-point range.
Summit League Preseason Poll Announced
The Summit League released its annual preseason men's basketball coaches' poll on Oct. 17, with newcomer Omaha picked ninth for its first year of conference play. The poll was conducted with a vote of the league's head coaches, media and media relations personnel.
South Dakota State was the favorite to win the 2012-13 Summit League Basketball Championship, receiving 30 of 31 first-place votes after claiming the 2012 Summit League Tournament title and representing the league in the NCAA Tournament. North Dakota State, which earned the remaining first-place vote, finished second in the poll with 321 points. Oakland placed third with 310 points, followed by 2012 Tournament runner-up Western Illinois in fourth. IUPUI edged Fort Wayne by two points for fifth while Kansas City, South Dakota and league newcomer Omaha rounded out the poll.
Hansen In Eighth Year With Mavericks
Head coach Derrin Hansen is in his eighth season at the helm of the Omaha men's basketball program in 2012-13, boasting a career record of 126-100 over his head coaching career. He took the job after serving as an assistant coach for seven years with former Maverick head coaches Kevin McKenna and Kevin Lehman. Hansen has the second-most victories of any coach in program history, behind only Bob Hanson, and Hansen hit the century mark for wins on Jan. 12, 2011.
Hansen has coached or assisted teams that have earned five trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament, while also garnering two regular-season league titles and three tournament crowns. In 2007-08, his squad recorded a school-record 25 wins in its final season of North Central Conference play, and the Mavs won their final NCC Tournament to advance to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time since 2004-05. In 2009-10, UNO earned an NCAA Tournament berth by capturing the MIAA Tournament crown in just its second year as a member of the league.
As a player at Nebraska Wesleyan, Hansen's 1988 squad advanced to the NCAA Division III semifinals, and while serving as a student coach, the 1990 Plainsmen advanced to the final 16.
Hansen is assisted by assistant coaches Randall Herbst, Pat Eberhart and Tyler Erwin.
Albers Leaves a Legacy
UNO's most notable loss from the 2011-12 lineup is former Maverick Mitch Albers, who closed his career as the No. 2 all-time scorer in school history. As a senior, he averaged 18.3 points per game to rank 32nd nationally in scoring. In the Omaha career record books, Albers is also third in field goals made (633), third in 3-pointers made (187), 14th in assists (230), 16th in steals (101) and 18th in blocks (35).
Kids Growing Up In the Heartland
The 2012-13 UNO roster is loaded with local talent, with five of the 14 players hailing from three Nebraska cities. Three come from Omaha: juniors John Karhoff and Caleb Steffensmeier (Creighton Prep) and sophomore CJ Carter (Benson). Junior Matt Hagerbaumer is a product of Lincoln Southeast, and freshman Jalen Bradley (Norfolk) is a native of Norfolk, Neb.
2011-12 Mavs Finish in Nation's Top 25 in Assists
The 2011-12 UNO men's basketball team finished the season tied for ninth nationally with Buffalo with 16.5 assists per game, as well as 26th nationally in a tie with Temple with a 1.23 assist-to-turnover ratio. Individually, sophomore Caleb Steffensmeier was second in the country with a 3.40 assist-to-turnover ratio, and former Maverick Mitch Albers was 32nd nationally in scoring with 18.3 points per game.
Welhouse, Karhoff, Carter Earn All-Independent Recognition
Following the 2011-12 season, Alex Welhouse, John Karhoff and CJ Carter each earned postseason recognition from College Sports Madness. Welhouse and Karhoff were both named second-team all-independent, while Carter was honored as independent freshman of the year.
Welhouse was the Mavericks' leading rebounder with 6.7 boards per game, had a team-best 50 3-pointers made and ranked third on the team with 10.4 points per contest. Karhoff averaged 12.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, both of which were second on the squad. He also shot .529 (146-276) from the field and .741 (80-108) at the line.
Carter averaged 10.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game in his inaugural campaign. He was the first true freshman to start for UNO since 2006-07, and his 34 steals led the Mavericks. Carter totaled 17 double-figure scoring efforts and was UNO's third-best scorer over 29 games.
Up Next for the Mavericks
Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 19, traveling to CSU Bakersfield. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif., and links to live stats will be available on OMavs.com.
