This Weekend
The Omaha men's basketball team makes its home debut this Saturday, Nov. 19, welcoming Rice. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at Baxter Arena, and Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2. Fans can stream audio on their smartphones by downloading NRG Media's app “1620 The Zone,” and links to live video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.

Quick Hits
•Omaha opened the 2016-17 season with three games over four days, visiting UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 12), USC (Nov. 13) and Kansas State (Nov. 15).
•Saturday's game vs. Rice marks the second time Omaha will face a team from Conference USA. The Mavericks previously fell 76-52 at Tulane on Nov. 16, 2012.
•Omaha capped the 2015-16 season at 18-14 overall and 10-6 in the Summit League, finishing third in the conference standings. The Mavericks were picked fourth in the league's 2016-17 preseason poll last month.
•Senior guard Tra-Deon Hollins and junior forward Tre'Shawn Thurman were both named Preseason All-Summit, with Hollins on the first team and Thurman on the second team.
•Hollins was the nation's leader in both steals (127) and steals per game (3.9) as a junior.
•Senior guard Marcus Tyus has returned to the lineup after redshirting in 2015-16. Prior to last weekend, Tyus had not played in a game since Feb. 7, 2015 at Denver, when he suffered a season-ending knee injury.
•UNO lost five letterwinners from 2015-16, including second-team All-Summit performers in guard Devin Patterson and forward Jake White.
•Omaha was a perfect 10-0 when shooting 50 percent or better last year, including 4-0 in league play.
•Four different Mavericks have had a double-figure effort over the first three games this year.

Scouting the Rice Owls
Rice is 1-1 (0-0 Conference USA) on the year after a 71-68 loss to Texas Southern in the Owls' home opener Wednesday evening. Marcus Evans, the nation's leading freshman scorer in 2015-16 and defending Conference USA Freshman of the Year, paces Rice with 21.0 points per game. Egor Koulechov also averages 18.5 points per game, and Connor Cashaw leads the Owls on the glass with 5.5 rebounds per game.

Head coach Mike Rhoades is in his third season at Rice with a record of 25-41 and carries a career mark of 222-117 over 13 years.

Saturday marks the first meeting all-time between Omaha and Rice.

Last Time Out: Mavericks Drop 81-68 Decision at K-State
Omaha closed its first road trip of the season Tuesday night, falling 81-68 to Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum. Senior guard Tra-Deon Hollins scored a team-leading 12 points, adding six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Sophomore guard Zach Jackson added 11 points with a team-high eight rebounds, two steals and a block, and junior forward Tre'Shawn Thurman chipped in 10 points and six boards.

Kansas State fired at a .508 clip (32-of-63) for the night while holding the Mavericks to .400 (22-of-55). Four Wildcats finished in double figures: Barry Brown (15 points), Wesley Iwundu (14), Kamau Stokes (14) and D.J. Johnson (11). Carlbe Ervin pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

Breaking and Entering
Senior guard Tra-Deon Hollins enters the weekend with 215 career assists and 134 career steals. He needs three helpers to break into Omaha's top 20 for assists and two thefts to make his way into the top 10 for steals.

Junior forward Tre' Shawn Thurman, who owns 400 career rebounds, needs seven boards to put his name in the top 20 in school history.

Tyus on Track
Though he entered the 2016-17 season having not played a game since Feb. 7, 2015, senior guard Marcus Tyus is the next Omaha player on track to join the prestigious 1,000-Point Club. Over four seasons (2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2016-17), he has amassed 831 career points. If he reaches 1,000, Tyus will be the 37th UNO player to achieve the feat.

Omaha's active career leader for 3-pointers, Tyus also sits at 16th on the Mavericks' career triples chart. After knocking down six 3-pointers en route to 33 points at USC last Sunday, his career total of 99 sits just behind Andy Price (1994-96), who had 101.

Tracking Tre'Shawn
After 30 blocked shots to his credit as a freshman and 35 more as a sophomore, junior forward Tre'Shawn Thurman made his way into the top 10 in school history with 65 career blocks. With his combined five at UC Santa Barbara and USC last weekend, the Omaha Central product now sits at seventh on the list with 70, and his next hurdle is Matt Hagerbaumer (2010-14), who had 79 for sixth.

Thurman's 35 blocks in 2015-16 were the 10th-highest single-season mark in school history, and the total ranked him third in the Summit League. His 21 blocks in league play were also the second-most of any league player last year.

Feelin' Hahn, Hahn, Hahn
Sophomore forward Mitch Hahn made an impression in his Maverick debut last Saturday at UC Santa Barbara, coming off the bench to lead all scorers with 15 points. The Fremont, Neb., native hit 5-of-11 from behind the arc in the performance.

Hahn is the first Maverick to knock down at least five triples in a season opener since former Maverick Jeff Martin did so in 2009-10. In that game, Martin scored 18 points, finishing 6-of-11 from the floor and 5-of-9 from long range.

Stacking Up Nationally
Omaha ranks among the top 50 nationally in five statistical categories: 17th for 3-point attempts (76), 36th for total rebounds (115), 42nd for free throw percentage (.781) and free throws made (50) and 45th for 3-pointers made (22).

Individually, senior guard Tra-Deon Hollins is third for total assists (19), 20th for total steals (seven) and 39th for assists per game (6.3). Junior forward Tre'Shawn Thurman is 19th for double-doubles (one) and 40th for total rebounds (24).

League Leaders
After the first weekend of play, junior forward Tre'Shawn Thurman is the Summit League leader for defensive rebounds (19), while senior guard Tra-Deon Hollins is first for steals (seven) and assists (19).

Action Jackson
Sophomore guard Zach Jackson started 24 games in his freshman campaign in 2015-16, averaging 3.5 points and 2.1 rebounds per contest. A native of Wichita, Kan., he scored in double figures twice, first notching 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting vs. Saint Mary's, then 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting at Montana State.

Jackson was the first Omaha freshman to start a season opener since CJ Carter in 2011. Jackson also had the distinction of making the first basket in Baxter Arena history, nailing a jumper 52 seconds into last year's season opener vs. UC Santa Barbara.

Last Saturday at UCSB, Jackson scored a career-high-tying 14 points and pulled down a career-best and game-high eight rebounds. He matched the rebounding performance Tuesday night at Kansas State, grabbing eight more.

History-Making Hollins
Junior guard Tra-Deon Hollins is Omaha's all-time single-season steals leader, and he joined the top 20 for career steals on Feb. 6, 2016. Now in his senior season, he is 11th in school history with 134 career swipes.

Hollins' 196 assists last season were also the second-highest single-season mark in school history.

Hollins had one of his finest performances of the season vs. Fort Wayne on Jan. 16, 2016, finishing with 23 points, a season-high 13 assists and a season-best eight steals alongside five rebounds. He claimed Omaha's single-season steals record (then 81) in the game, clearing the previous mark of 80 set by Vernon Manning (1981-82). Hollins was also the first Omaha player in six years to record a double-double off points and assists.

What Makes Up the Mavericks
•UNO returns 45 percent of its offensive production from last season, as this year's returners accounted for 1,216 of the Mavericks' 2,729 points. The returners are also credited for 51 percent (581) of last season's 1,132 rebounds.
•Junior forward Tre'Shawn Thurman and senior guard Tra-Deon Hollins are UNO's leading returning scorers after averaging 13.9 and 12.5 points per game, respectively, both of which ranked among the top 15 scorers in the Summit League. Hollins also led the league in steals (127) and assists (196).
•Senior guard Marcus Tyus, who last saw action in 2014-15, averaged 13.0 points per game to rank 12th in the league that season.
•Hollins played the most minutes in 2015-16 of any returner on this year's roster, averaging 32.4 minutes per game.
•UNO's 2016-17 roster has four seniors, four juniors, three sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and one true freshman.
•The Mavericks hail from eight different states. Six are from Nebraska and three are from Minnesota, while Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee, Montana and Colorado are all represented once on the roster.

2016-17 Slate = Tough Test for Mavericks
Omaha's 2016-17 schedule includes 29 games, and the team will play in 13 states against schools from nine other Division I conferences. The schedule has two opponents from both the Big 12 and Big West and one each from the Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC, Conference USA, MAC, Big Sky and WAC. Five opponents – USC, Iowa, Iowa State, Pitt and defending Summit League champion South Dakota State – played in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

Entering the season, the Mavericks have never faced four of their opponents: USC, Rice, Cal State Fullerton and Pitt. They now hold a combined all-time record of 133-172 over all teams on the regular-season slate.

Next Up
Omaha returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 22, welcoming Buena Vista. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Baxter Arena, and Gary Sharp will have the call on 1180 Zone 2. Live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.