Omaha Athletics

This Weekend
The Omaha men's basketball team welcomes South Dakota on Saturday, Jan. 20, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. at Baxter Arena. The game will be televised live on YurView Cox Channel 1013, and Gary Sharp and John Karhoff will have the radio call on 1620 The Zone. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
 
Quick Hits
• Four Mavericks are averaging double-figure scoring: Zach Jackson (18.5 ppg), Daniel Norl (13.0 ppg), Mitch Hahn (12.2 ppg) and JT Gibson (11.6 ppg).
• Over the last 14 games, Jackson has averaged 19.8 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting .571 from the field, .489 from 3-point range and .842 from the free throw line.
• Jackson led the Mavericks in scoring in six straight games from Nov. 25 to Dec. 13 and has tallied in double figures in 15 consecutive contests.
• Over the last five games, Norl has averaged 16.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per contest while shooting .500. He has collected 22 assists with just five turnovers.
• As a team, Omaha ranks 37th nationally for 3-pointers made (185), while Jackson is 30th nationally for points (388).
• Ayo Akinwole's 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio is second among Summit League players.
• Four Mavericks have had at least one 20-point scoring performance this season.
• Head coach Derrin Hansen earned his 200th career victory Dec. 17 vs. Cornell College.
• By Dec. 3, Omaha had played in all four time zones in the contiguous United States.
• The Mavericks shot .500 or better as a team in four straight games from Nov. 20-29 and nine times overall this year.
• Omaha came a shot shy of its first NCAA Tournament bid in the Division I era last season, falling 79-77 to South Dakota State in the Summit League Championship. The Mavericks were 18-14 (9-7 Summit League) en route to their second straight third-place finish in the regular-season standings.
• Omaha returned seven letterwinners from its 2016-17 squad, including a Summit League All-Newcomer pick in Hahn.
 
Scouting the South Dakota Coyotes
South Dakota is 16-5 (4-1 Summit League) after an 82-70 win over Oral Roberts on Wednesday. Five Coyotes scored in double figures, led by Matt Mooney's 19 points, and USD shot .551 as a team.
 
Head coach Craig Smith is in his fourth season with the Coyotes, carrying a record of 69-51 and a career mark of 141-80 over seven years.
 
Saturday's game marks the 102nd meeting all-time between Omaha and South Dakota, with the Coyotes leading the series, 54-47. The two teams last met on Feb. 1, 2017 at Baxter Arena, where the Mavericks prevailed 91-83.
 
Last Time Out: Omaha Downs Denver 86-80 in Double OT Thriller
Omaha gutted out a double-overtime win Thursday night, taking down Denver 86-80 at Baxter Arena. Daniel Norl banked a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send the game to the second overtime period, finishing with 15 points with a trio of threes, two assists and three steals. Zach Jackson tallied game-high 26 points with a team-leading eight rebounds, shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 7-of-9 at the line and adding an assist and two steals.
 
JT Gibson matched Norl with 15 points and three more triples, as well as two rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Matt Pile rounded it out with scoring efforts with 10 points, seven boards and a game-high and career-best six blocks.
 
Omaha shot .509 (29-of-57) from the field, .471 (8-of-17) from long range and .690 (20-of-29) at the line. Denver finished at .453 (34-of-75) from the floor, .375 (6-of-16) from deep and .667 (6-of-9) at the stripe and had the edge on the glass, 41-32.
 
Action Jackson
Junior Zach Jackson is in his third year as a starter, averaging a team bests of 18.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game with a .540 shooting percentage. The Wichita, Kan., native has scored in double figures in all but one game, including eight 20-point scoring performances.
 
Jackson ranks in the top 10 in the Summit League in multiple categories: third for points (388), field goals made (135), and free throws made (88), fourth for points per game (18.5), fifth for field goal percentage (.540), 3-point percentage (.441) and defensive rebounds (105), sixth for total rebounds (144) and steals (23), seventh for free throw percentage (.807) and offensive rebounds (39) and eighth for rebounds per game (6.9).
 
Against high major opponents this season, Jackson averaged 18.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.7 blocks in six games. Combined against Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisville, TCU, Washington and Kansas, he has shot .507 from the field and .763 at the stripe.
 
Gibson at Full Strength
Sophomore JT Gibson, who assumed a starting spot Dec. 9, is fourth on the team for scoring with 11.6 points per game. The Brooklyn Park, Minn., native has 10 double-figure scoring efforts this season. Omaha's triples leader, he has hit at least one 3-pointer in 17 straight games since Nov. 20 and owns 13 performances with two or more treys this season. Additionally, he is a perfect 21-of-21 at the free throw line since beginning his streak Nov. 14 at New Mexico.
 
Gibson ranks sixth in the Summit League for steals (23), eighth for 3-pointers (43) and 10th for assists (62).
 
Gibson had a second go at his man campaign in 2016-17. In 2015-16, he appeared in eight games off the bench before suffering a season-ending elbow injury that led to a medical redshirt.
 
Norl Off to a Strong Start
Senior Daniel Norl has had a strong start to his senior season, ranking second on the team for scoring with 13.0 points per game. The Clarksville, Tenn., native earned his first career start at Montana State (Nov. 10), exploding for career highs of 29 points, nine rebounds and two steals while shooting 13-of-18. He posted his second 20-point effort with a game-high 23 points, three boards, a career-high-tying seven assists and a career-best three steals at Oral Roberts (Dec. 30).
 
With 93 assists to his credit, he is Omaha's active career leader in the category, and he is eighth in the league for assists (64) this season.
 
Norl made his Maverick debut in 2016-17, appearing in 29 contests and averaging 5.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 15.6 minutes per game. He had eight double-figure scoring performances as a junior, including a season-high 14 points with four 3-pointers in Omaha's quarterfinal win over Fort Wayne in the Summit League Tournament. He accounted for 10 performances with at least two 3-pointers.
 
Wofford-Humphrey Making a Difference
Senior Lamar Wofford-Humphrey had a standout effort at No. 18 Louisville (Nov. 17), tallying his first double-double as a Maverick with 14 points, a team-high 12 rebounds, three steals, a block and an assist.
 
The transfer from Eastern Michigan has eight double-figure scoring games to his credit, including his most recent with a career-high 18 points at Western Illinois (Jan. 11) on 7-of-9 shooting with a trio of 3-pointers. He has the team lead and ranks fourth in the Summit League for offensive rebounds (43).
 
The Pile Driver
Freshman Matt Pile averaged 6.3 minutes per game over the first three contests this season but has seen his court time increase to 17.4 minutes per game since then. In that stretch, Pile has boosted his averages to 7.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game off the bench.
 
Pile notched his first career double-double vs. Doane (Jan. 2) with career highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds and 9-of-11 shooting. He put together a six-block performance vs. Denver (Jan. 18), which marked the most of any Maverick since Adam Wetzel's six in 2002. Pile ranks third in the Summit League for blocks (25) this season.
 
Welcome Back, Renard
Senior Renard Suggs made his Maverick debut vs. Montana State (Dec. 21) and has quickly moved up to average double-digit minutes off the bench. The Washington State transfer scored in double figures in back-to-back games with 14 points at Oral Roberts (Dec. 30) and 13 vs. Doane (Jan. 2), and he has averaged 6.4 points over his first seven games.
              
Suggs is the son of former Maverick standout Rickey Suggs. The elder Suggs played basketball at UNO from 1980-85, was part of three Omaha squads to play in the NCAA Tournament (1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84) and went on to a professional football career in the Canadian Football League.
 
Double OT Dub
Thursday night's 86-80 double-overtime victory over Denver marked Omaha's first double-OT game at Baxter Arena since moving into the facility in 2015-16. The Mavericks' last double-overtime game was Feb. 28, 2015 at IUPUI.
 
Omaha is 3-0 all-time in double overtime during the Derrin Hansen era.
 
More on Meyer
Senior Daniel Meyer made his second collegiate appearance in his home state Nov. 10 with Omaha's season opener at Montana State. The Billings, Mont., native is Omaha's active career leader for games played (103) and blocks (29).
 
Meyer has been mainstay for Omaha over the last few seasons. He appeared in every game in 2015-16 and 2016-17, making 11 starts as a junior and finishing the year with 2.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He had one of his best performances in league play, pulling down a season-high nine rebounds with two blocks vs. Oral Roberts.
 
Off the court, Meyer is a fully-rated instrument and private aircraft pilot.
 
Home Sweet Homaha
Omaha had a record of 8-4 at home last season, and the Mavericks averaged 90.9 points per game with a 12.6 margin of victory at Baxter Arena.
 
The Mavericks play 12 games at home in 2017-18, and six of their seven wins have come at Baxter. They won five straight in their own facility to start before South Dakota State snapped the streak on Jan. 6.
 
2017-18 Slate = Tough Test for Mavericks
Omaha's 2017-18 schedule includes 30 games, and the team will play in 16 states against schools from 11 other Division I conferences. The schedule has three opponents from the Big 12 and one each from the ACC, Pac-12, Mountain West, MVC, Big West, Sun Belt, Big Sky, OVC and SWAC. Three opponents – Kansas, Louisville and defending Summit League champion South Dakota State – played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, with KU reaching the Elite Eight.
 
Up Next
Omaha visits North Dakota State on Thursday, Jan. 25, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. in Fargo, N.D. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and Midco, and Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.