Complete Release
Live Video
Live Stats
Live Audio
TV: Midco Sports Network
Radio: 1620 AM
The Omaha men's basketball team returns to conference play this week, hosting South Dakota State on Thursday, Feb. 28. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Ralston Arena, and links to live stats, video and audio will be available on OMavs.com. The game will also be broadcast live on 1620 AM with Gary Sharp on the call, as well as televised on Midco Sports Network, which is not available in the Omaha metro area. Tom Nieman will have play-by-play duties, while Brad Newitt will handle color commentary for the broadcast.
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 132-104.
Mavs Plan “Blackout” for Thursday, Senior Day for Saturday
Omaha's final two games of the season will be highlighted by a special promotion and celebration of UNO's three seniors. For the South Dakota State game on Thursday, fans are encouraged to wear black shirts as part of UNO's “blackout” promotion. Even the Maverick basketball team will participate by wearing black uniforms usually reserved for road games.
Ralston Arena will also offer $1 hot dogs and $1 beers in the hour before Thursday's tipoff, and a halftime performance will feature dance crew i.aM.mE, which won Season 6 of “America's Best Dance Crew” on MTV.
On Saturday, March 2, Omaha will honor seniors Alex Welhouse, Tyler Egli and Jacques Coleman before the North Dakota State game.
Quick Hits
•Omaha enters the week on a three-game win streak, its second such streak of the year.
•The Mavericks have won three straight games at home against the Bison, dating back to the Sapp Fieldhouse era. North Dakota State last won in Omaha on Dec. 30, 2000 by a tally of 76-69.
•UNO has shot .500 or better from the field in eight of its last 13 games dating back to Jan. 3. In that span, the Mavericks have shot a combined .506 as a team, highlighted by a season-high .627 against Fort Wayne on Jan. 31. That game held Omaha's highest shooting percentage since beginning the transition to Division I and bested its previous season best of .623 against IUPUI (Jan. 10).
•Omaha enjoys a 7-4 advantage when playing at Ralston Arena and is 6-3 when leading at halftime.
•Omaha is 4-0 when a player records a double-double. Junior guard Justin Simmons had one against Benedictine (32 points, 11 rebounds), senior forward Alex Welhouse has had two: vs. Kansas City (10 points, 10 rebounds) and at IUPUI (17 points, 12 rebounds), and junior center John Karhoff had the most recent vs. North Dakota (17 points, 10 rebounds).
•UNO's .468 field goal percentage ties with Michigan State, Idaho and Kansas for 33rd nationally through games of Feb. 24.
•The Mavericks outrebounded IUPUI, 40-26, on Feb. 9, marking their largest rebounding margin of the year.
•Omaha's .783 second-half shooting against Fort Wayne on Jan. 31 was its highest since an .840 second-half effort against Hastings College on Dec. 31, 2002.
•UNO won three straight Summit League contests between Jan. 24 and Jan. 31 before the streak was snapped by Oakland on Feb. 2. The streak was the Mavericks' first with three victories over all Division I opponents.
•UNO had five players score in double figures in back-to-back contests at CSU Bakersfield (Jan. 19) and at South Dakota (Jan. 24). Previously, the Mavericks did not have a game with five double-figure scorers.
•The Mavs have had four games this season in which two players score 20 or more points on the same night.
Scouting South Dakota State
South Dakota State (21-9, 12-3 Summit League) last took the court on Feb. 23 during ESPN's BracketBusters series, falling 73-62 at Murray State in Murray, Ky. All-league guard Nate Wolters led a trio of Jackrabbits in double figures with 18 points, tying for game-high honors with five assists. Chad White added 13 points and led the Jacks with seven rebounds, while Brayden Carlson finished with 12 points.
Head coach Scott Nagy (Delta State, 1988) is in his 18th year with a career record of 337-207. SDSU leads the all-time series over UNO, 36-27, having taken a 78-63 win in Brookings, S.D. earlier this season.
Last Time Out
In what proved to be a back-and-forth battle, the Omaha men's basketball team pulled out an 83-75 thriller over North Dakota in the Mavericks' first ESPN Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters appearance on Saturday afternoon at Ralston Arena. Junior center John Karhoff nabbed the third double-double of his career with 17 points and 10 rebounds, as well as three assists and a career-best three blocks. The effort marked Karhoff's first double-double since his redshirt freshman season in 2010-11, and UNO is now 4-0 on the season when a player records a double-double.
Junior guard Justin Simmons finished with a team-high 20 points for his 10th 20-plus point performance of the year. Simmons added three rebounds and a pair of assists, and he finished 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Senior forward Alex Welhouse also had a double-figure effort with 13 points with two 3-pointers, seven boards and a steal, while sophomore guard CJ Carter finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Six of Carter's boards came on the offensive end, and his total on the glass matched his career best.
In addition, junior guard Alex Phillips notched nine points, and junior guard Caleb Steffensmeier chipped in six points, two rebounds, three assists and career-high-tying four steals off the bench.
As a team, UNO shot .448 (30-of-67) to UND's .420 (30-of-70). The Mavericks came in at a .750 (18-of-24) clip at the free throw line, while North Dakota finished at .474 (9-of-19). Omaha also outrebounded UND, 42-40.
Rewind With the Bison
Omaha officially opened the Summit League era on Nov. 29, falling 95-51 to North Dakota State at Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse. Junior guard Justin Simmons put up a team-leading 14 points with a pair of threes, along with three rebounds, two steals and an assist.
Junior forward Matt Hagerbaumer had a solid night off the bench with a career-high nine points on 4-for-5 shooting, as well as three rebounds and two blocks. Junior guard Alex Phillips added eight points and a team-best four boards, while senior guard Tyler Egli and freshman guard Marcus Tyus finished with an ideal six points on two 3-pointers each.
NDSU's Taylor Braun had a record performance, hitting 7-for-9 from 3-point range to finish with 26 points and tie the NDSU school mark for threes in a single game. Braun added nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block for the night.
Four other Bison scorers finished in double figures: Marshall Bjorklund (14), TrayVonn Wright (14), Lawrence Alexander (13) and Chris Kading (10).
A 15-for-25 effort from long range was the name of the game for NDSU, who finished 36-for-62 from the floor. UNO was 4-for-11 from beyond the arc and 21-for 53 overall. The Bison also battled on the glass, outrebounding the Mavs 39-19.
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 ninth all-time on UNO's career 3-pointers chart with 145 threes made. Welhouse stands 16 from matching Michael Jenkins for eighth (161).
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 7-4 at home after downing North Dakota during BracketBusters play on Feb. 23.
Simmons Steps Up for Starting Role
Junior guard Justin Simmons 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 16.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest over 29 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: third in field goals made (181), fourth in total points (479) and scoring (16.5 points per game), eighth in steals (34) and free throw percentage (.776) and ninth in free throws made (76). He has had 10 20-plus point performances, including four straight from Jan. 24 to Feb. 2.
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.
Karhoff Named to Capital One Academic All-District 7 Team
Junior center John Karhoff has earned Capital One Academic All-District 7 distinction, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Jan. 31. Karhoff's inclusion on the team marks his first academic all-district honor. Karhoff is Omaha's fifth academic all-district selection in school history and the first to garner such recognition as a Division I student-athlete. He is the first Maverick named academic all-district since Denny Johnston earned back-to-back awards in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
A native of Omaha and a product of Creighton Prep, Karhoff has been a three-year starter at center. He has averaged 12.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game as a junior in UNO's first year as a member of the Summit League.
Karhoff carries a 3.64 grade-point average with a journalism major and physical education minor, and he is a member of the UNO Dean's List.
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
In mid-December, 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 his first season as a Maverick, averaging 8.4 points per contest. Phillips has shot .404 from beyond the arc and .475 from the field. He is fourth on the team in scoring behind fellow juniors Justin Simmons and John Karhoff and sophomore CJ Carter.
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.
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 132-104 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.
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.
Up Next for the Mavericks
Omaha returns to action on Saturday, March 2, hosting North Dakota State with a 7 p.m. tipoff at Ralston Arena. Links to live stats, video and audio will be available on OMavs.com, and the game will be broadcast on 1620 AM with Gary Sharp on the call. UNO-NDSU action is also set for TV broadcast on Fox College Sports Central and Midco Sports Network.
The Mavericks will hold Senior Day festivities before the game to honor the careers of seniors Alex Welhouse, Tyler Egli and Jacques Coleman.
