This Week
The Omaha men's basketball team welcomes Buena Vista this Tuesday, Nov. 22, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. at Baxter Arena. Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2, and fans can stream audio on their smartphones by downloading NRG Media's app “1620 The Zone.” Links to live video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.

Quick Hits
•Omaha scored a season-high 87 points vs. Rice last Saturday. In their first three games of the season, the Mavericks had not scored more than 74 points.
•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.
•Six different Mavericks have had a double-figure effort over the first three games this year.

Scouting the Buena Vista Beavers
Buena Vista enters Tuesday's game with a record of 2-0 after defeating Gustavus Adolphus, 81-60 on Friday, and Augsburg, 67-65 on Saturday. Kennedy Drey averages a double-double for the Beavers with 19.5 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, while Thomas Wisecup (12.0 ppg) and Sean Morgan (11.0 ppg) also average double-figure scoring.

Head coach Brian Van Haaften is in his 21st season at Buena Vista with a career record of 385-167. He ranks in the top 10 in all-time winning percentage among active NCAA Division III coaches with at least 10 years of experience.        Omaha leads the all-time series with Buena Vista, 4-1. The two teams last met in 1970-71, when the Mavericks won 88-81 for their fourth straight victory against BVU.

Last Time Out: Rice Spoils Mavericks' Home Opener, 100-87
Omaha made its home debut Saturday afternoon, falling 100-87 to Rice at Baxter Arena. Senior guard Tra-Deon Hollins paced UNO with a season-best 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, adding nine assists, four steals and two rebounds.

Sophomore forward Mitch Hahn finished with a season-high-tying 15 points off the bench, hitting 5-of-7 from the field with a pair of threes. Junior guard Daniel Norl canned three 3-pointers of his own in reserve to add a season-high 11 points, and sophomore guard Zach Jackson had 10 points with three boards. Junior forward Daniel Meyer led the Mavericks on the glass, tallying season bests of six caroms and eight points.

Rice was led by 29 points from Marcus Evans, who hit four 3-pointers. Marcus Jackson added 19 points with another four 3-pointers, and Egor Koulechov and Connor Cashaw added 15 points apiece. Koulechov also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

As a team, the Owls shot .633 (31-of-49) from the field -- the highest of any opponent since Omaha moved into Baxter Arena in 2015-16 -- and .667 (14-of-21) from long range.

Breaking and Entering
Senior guard Tra-Deon Hollins entered last weekend with 215 career assists and 134 career steals. With his nine helpers and four swipes vs. Rice on Saturday, he moved into Omaha's top 20 all-time for assists and top 10 for steals.

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 836 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. His career total of 100 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 is averaging 9.8 points per game, the most of any Maverick coming off the bench.

The Fremont, Neb., native made an impression in his Omaha debut Nov. 12 at UC Santa Barbara, leading all scorers with 15 points in reserve with five 3-pointers. Hahn was the first Maverick to knock down at least five triples in a season opener since former Maverick Jeff Martin did so in 2009-10.

Hahn matched his season best of 15 points last Saturday vs. Rice, shooting 5-of-7 with two 3-pointers.

Looking to the Bench
Omaha's bench outscored Rice's 43-18 last Saturday. The last time the Mavericks' bench enjoyed a scoring margin of 25 or more was Nov. 15, 2015, when UNO outscored St. Mary's (Minn.) reserves 62-37.

The Mavericks are averaging 26.5 points per game by bench scorers, the highest of any Derrin Hansen-coached team. The next highest average is courtesy of the 2013-14 squad, which had 24.9 bench points per game.

Norl Notches in Double Figures
Junior guard Daniel Norl, a transfer from Mineral Area CC who began his collegiate career at Eastern Kentucky in 2014-15, put together his first double-figure scoring effort last Saturday. The Clarksville, Tenn., native posted a season-best 11 points off the bench vs. Rice, which also marked his highest-scoring Division I game. Norl's previous Division I high was eight points for EKU vs. Cincinnati Clermont College on Nov. 22, 2014.

Hollins Stacking Up Nationally and in the Summit League
Senior guard Tra-Deon Hollins ranks 10th nationally for total assists (28), 15th for total steals (11) and assists per game (7.0) and 18th for steals per game (2.8). He also leads the Summit League in assists for the second straight year.

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.

In Omaha's season opener, Nov. 12 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 Nov. 15 at Kansas State, grabbing eight more. Jackson owns three double-figure scoring performances this season.

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 133-173 over all teams on the regular-season slate.

Next Up
Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 26, visiting Eastern Michigan. Tipoff is set for Noon CT at the EMU Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, Mich., and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3. Gary Sharp will have the call on 1180 Zone 2, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.