This Weekend
The Omaha men's basketball team (2-2, 0-0 Summit League) returns home this weekend, hosting Nevada on Saturday, Nov. 29. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at Ralston Arena. 1180 Zone 2 will carry the radio broadcast live with Gary Sharp and former Maverick Grant Nieland calling the action, and fans can stream the audio on their smartphones by downloading NRG Media's app “1620 The Zone.” Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.

Fans are encouraged to arrive early, as Ralston Arena will offer a special for $1 beers, sodas and hot dogs for one hour before tipoff.

Scouting the Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada enters the weekend with a record of 2-3 (0-0 Mountain West), having last taken the court on Monday, Nov. 24 in a 59-56 loss to Weber State at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It marked the Wolf Pack's third straight loss, as it dropped all three games at the tournament. Michael Perez scored a team-leading 15 points, and Marqueze Coleman contributed 12. AJ West finished with a double-double on 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Wolf Pack is led by sixth-year head coach David Carter, who has a career record of 91-78.

The all-time series between Nevada and Omaha is tied at 1-1, as the two programs have previously met in 2011-12 and 2013-14 in Reno, Nev. In the most recent meeting on Dec. 14, 2013, the Mavericks earned an 82-80 road win on a last-second driving layup by CJ Carter with .8 seconds on the clock. John Karhoff led all scorers in the game with 25 points, while four other UNO players joined him in double figures: Devin Patterson (18), Carter (13), Alex Phillips (12) and Mike Rostampour (11).

Quick Hits
•Omaha got out to its fastest start of the season Tuesday night at Nebraska, surging ahead 23-7 in the first five minutes of play.
•Junior guard Devin Patterson tallied his third 20-point performance in four games. Senior guard CJ Carter swiped a career-high five steals against the Huskers.
•According to kenpom.com, UNO leads the country in adjusted tempo, which estimates of the possessions per 40 minutes a team would have against a team that wants to play at an average Division I tempo. Omaha's adjusted tempo is listed at 78.0 (possessions per 40 minutes).
•UNO earned its first win over a power-six conference last weekend with a 97-89 triumph at Marquette.
•The Mavericks shot a season-best .571 at Marquette. In the last three years, Omaha is 15-5 when shooting .500 or better as a team, including a perfect 11-0 last season.
•UNO tallied double-digit offensive rebounds in each of their first three games: 26 vs. Central Arkansas, 11 at Seattle and 11 at Marquette.
•Carter made at least two 3-pointers in his first three games of the season, including a career-high-tying four triples at Marquette.
•Since the 2012-13 season, Omaha is 17-8 when Carter scores 15 or more points in a game.
•Omaha leads the Summit League in points per game, field goals made per game, total rebounds per game, rebounding margin and steals per game.
•The Mavericks were picked sixth in this year's Summit League preseason poll.

Last Time Out: Nebraska Takes Down Mavericks, 80-67
Omaha finished a three-game road swing Tuesday night, falling 80-67 to Nebraska in front of a crowd of 15,889 at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Junior guard Devin Patterson led the Mavericks in scoring for the second straight game, posting 20 points, five rebounds, three steals and an assist. Senior guard CJ Carter added 13 points, three rebounds, a career-high five steals and two assists. Junior guard Marcus Tyus also finished in double figures, notching a season-high 12 points, two boards, a trio of steals and an assist.

Senior forward Mike Rostampour led UNO on the glass, pulling down eight caroms alongside two points, two assists and two steals.

Shavon Shields made all the difference for Nebraska, finishing with 35 points and eight rebounds with a pair of steals. Terran Petteway had a double-double with 20 points and a game-high 12 boards, along with three assists and three steals. Tai Webster rounded it out with 10 points and four assists.

As a team, Omaha shot .411 (23-of-56) from the field, .333 (6-of-18) from long range and .682 (15-of-22) at the line. Nebraska came in at .428 (28-of-53) from the floor, .316 (6-of-19) from beyond the arc and .581 (18-of-31) at the charity stripe. The Huskers also outrebounded Omaha, 42-28.

Stacking Up Nationally
Three Mavericks have jumped into the top 50 in the national statistical rankings, led by senior guard CJ Carter's standing as the 44th-best scorer in the country with 19.3 points per game. Junior guard Devin Patterson is also 50th nationally with a .917 free throw percentage, and senior forward Mike Rostampour is 50th with 9.0 rebounds per game.

As a team, Omaha's 84.5 points per game ranks 17th among Division I programs. Additionally, the Mavs are 44th with 8.8 steals per game.

Home Sweet Home
The 2014-15 season marks UNO's third and final season playing at Ralston Arena, which serves as the home of Maverick men's basketball, Omaha Lancers hockey and Omaha Beef indoor football. The Mavs will play a full Summit League schedule this year with eight conference games, and in total they have 13 games on the slate at Ralston. In 2015-16, Omaha will move its games to the on-campus UNO/Community Arena, which is currently being constructed just south of Aksarben Village between 64th and 67th streets on Center Street.

Last season, Omaha was 11-4 at Ralston Arena. UNO's 11 home wins came at an average margin of 21.4 points, and the Mavs scored an average of 82.3 points per game on their home court while holding their opponents to 69.8.

On Nov. 16, UNO opened its season at Ralston Arena, defeating Central Arkansas by a 100-75 tally.

Thurman Makes Immediate Impact
Freshman forward Tre'Shawn Thurman has made three straight starts at Seattle, Marquette and Nebraska, and he is the first UNO freshman to earn a start since CJ Carter in 2011-12. Thurman finished with a season-best 12 points and seven rebounds against the Golden Eagles last Saturday.

Thurman has averaged 9.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game in his debut season, tallying two double-digit scoring efforts. He also led the Mavericks with a season-high eight rebounds at Seattle on Nov. 19.

Mixed Schedule Takes Mavericks Around the Nation
Omaha's 2014-15 schedule includes 29 games, and the team will play in 11 states across the country. The schedule also features games against three 2014 NCAA Tournament teams -- Kansas State, Nebraska and defending Summit League champion North Dakota State. In total, UNO will square off with opponents from seven other conferences.

The Mavericks have never faced two of their opponents: Marquette and Kansas State. They hold a combined all-time record of 183-224 over all teams on the regular-season slate.

No Longer the Newcomers
Omaha is in its fourth and final year as a reclassifying Division I school in 2014-15 and its third as a member of the Summit League. UNO is ineligible for the Summit League Tournament and NCAA/NIT postseason play until 2015-16 but will play a full regular-season conference schedule through last transitional year. It is, however, eligible for the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) in the postseason. Omaha played in the first and second rebounds of the 2014 CIT, and it was the first reclassifying school to receive an at-large bid in the tournament's history.

Up Next
Omaha returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 2, traveling to Kansas State for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan. Gary Sharp will have the call of the game on 1620 The Zone, and the game will be televised on FOX Sports Kansas City. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.