Leading Off
The Omaha men's basketball team begins a five-game road swing this Monday, Nov. 26 with a visit to Iowa State. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa, 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.
Quick Hits
• Four Mavericks are averaging nine or more points per game to start the season:
Zach Jackson (21.8),
JT Gibson (13.2),
KJ Robinson (9.8) and
Matt Pile (9.0).
• Omaha leads the Summit League with 30.0 field goals made per game, and Gibson is the league leader for steals (12) and steals per game (2.0).
• The Mavericks have had two players with 20 or more points on the same night in back-to-back games: Gibson (21) and Jackson (20) at Bethune-Cookman (Nov. 20) and Jackson (33) and
Ayo Akinwole (20) vs. Montana State (Nov. 24).
• Omaha was picked eighth in the 2018-19 Summit League's Preseason Poll, and Jackson was a first-team Preseason All-Summit selection.
• Jackson collected second-team All-Summit accolades as a junior. Since Omaha joined the Summit League in 2012-13, 10 Mavericks have combined for 12 All-Summit awards.
• Jackson and Hahn will both serve as team captains for the second straight year.
Scouting the Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State is 5-1 (0-0 Big 12) after a 2-1 showing over three straight days at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational last week. The Cyclones opened with a 71-66 loss to Arizona, then topped Illinois, 84-68, and San Diego State, 87-57. In the finale with SDSU, three players scored in double figures: Marial Shayok (21), Michael Jacobson (19) and Terrence Lewis (16). Jacobson and Tyrese Haliburton each grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
ISU, which finished 13-18 (4-14 Big 12) a year ago, was picked sixth in the conference's preseason poll. Lindell Wigginton earned Preseason All-Big 12 recognition, and Cameron Lard was an honorable mention selection. Shayok ranks second in the Big 12 for scoring (20.0 ppg), and Michael Jacobson's .667 field goal percentage is second in the league and 21st nationally.
Head coach Steve Prohm is in his fourth season at ISU and has a record of 65-42 and a career mark of 169-71 over eight years.
All-Time Against Iowa State
Iowa State holds a 5-2 advantage in the all-time series with Omaha, having won four straight. The two teams last met on Dec. 5, 2016 -- their second meeting of Omaha's Division I era -- with the 25th-ranked Cyclones picking up a 91-47 win in Ames, Iowa.
The only Mavericks to have previously faced ISU are
Zach Jackson,
JT Gibson,
Mitch Hahn and
KJ Robinson.
Last Time Out: Jackson, Akinwole Lift Omaha to 89-65 Win Over Montana State
Led by career-high scoring efforts from
Zach Jackson and
Ayo Akinwole, Omaha cruised to an 89-65 victory over Montana State Saturday afternoon at Baxter Arena. Jackson tallied a career-high 33 points on 10-of-14 shooting with a career-best six 3-pointers and a 7-of-7 showing at the free throw line. The senior added four rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block.
Akinwole, making his first start of the season, had a perfect shooting day, finishing 8-of-8 from the field, including 4-of-4 from deep for a career-high 20 points. He chipped in four boards, a season-high six assists and a career-high-tying three steals.
JT Gibson hit another four 3-pointers en route to 14 points, and
Wanjang Tut also finished in double figures with 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting with a game-high eight rebounds and three assists.
Omaha shot a season-high .579 (33-of-57) and knocked down season-best 14 triples as a team, while MSU came in .421 (24-of-57) from the field with seven threes.
Battling the Big 12
Monday's meeting with Iowa State marks the ninth meeting of Omaha's Division I era against Big 12 competition. Omaha is 0-8 against members of the conference since 2011-12.
Action Jackson
Zach Jackson ranked in the top five in the Summit League in 2017-18 for scoring, field goal percentage, field goals made and free throws made, averaging 17.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Over the first six games this season, he has a team-best 21.8 points with 4.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He ranks as the second-best scorer in the Summit League and is third for steals (11) and points (131) and fifth for field goals made (44).
The Wichita, Kan., native opened the 2018-19 campaign with back-to-back 20-point performances, and he led the Mavericks in scoring in three straight games to start the year.
Stepping Into the Spotlight
Against 17 high major opponents in the last four seasons,
Zach Jackson has averaged 11.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Over the last three years, his numbers have been 15.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.1 apg and 1.4 spg in 11 games.
The Evolution of Zach Jackson
Zach Jackson has been a four-year starter, averaging 11.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game for his career. The Wichita, Kan., native scored in double figures in all but three games in 2017-18, including 12 performances with 20+ points and four double-doubles. From his freshman campaign to his junior year, Jackson evolved into an all-league player and last year became the sixth Maverick in the Division I era to score 500+ points in a single season.
Milestones in the Making for Jackson
Zach Jackson entered his final season on the brink of with two major milestones. Nov. 9 at Minnesota, he became the 39th 1,000-point scorer in program history and is now 21st all-time for scoring with 1,123 points. He needs two points Monday to pass former Maverick and current assistant coach
Tyler Bullock (2009-11) and move into the top 20.
Jackson also has 418 rebounds over his career, needing 78 to become the 12th player in school history with at least 1,000 points and 500 boards.
JT's Junior Year
JT Gibson has been on a tear in the last three games, averaging 17.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals per contest. At Colorado (Nov. 16), he had 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting with six boards, three assists and two steals, then followed with a career-high-tying 21 points with two rebounds, three assists and three steals at Bethune-Cookman (Nov. 20). Gibson has scored in double figures in four straight games, leading Omaha in two of those.
In 2017-18, Gibson was fourth on the team for scoring with 10.2 points per game and had 16 double-figure scoring efforts. He finished the year as Omaha's triples leader with 57, and he owned 18 performances with two or more treys.
With 117 career assists to his credit, Gibson is Omaha's active career leader in the category.
The Pile Driver
Nov. 9 vs. Northern Arizona, sophomore
Matt Pile grabbed his second career double-double with 10 points and a season-high 11 rebounds. The Goddard, Kan., native has scored in double digits three times this year, including a season-high 14 points with nine boards at Bethune-Cookman (Nov. 20).
Pile had an impactful freshman season in 2017-18, averaging 6.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game and joined the Maverick starting five for the final eight games of the season. Pile ranked third in the Summit League for blocks (32) last year and is Omaha's active career leader in the category with 37.
Welcome, Wanjang
Wanjang Tut has enjoyed a solid debut for the Mavericks, averaging 7.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in reserve over the first six contests. The Omaha native opened the year with 13 points, three rebounds and two assists at Minnesota (Nov. 6), and he was the first off the bench vs. Buena Vista (Nov. 9) for 12 points and eight boards. Saturday against Montana State, Tut came up for 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Ayo!
Ayo Akinwole made his first start of the season Saturday vs. Montana State, and the Papillion-LaVista product came to play. Akinwole had a perfect shooting day, finishing 8-of-8 from the field, including 4-of-4 from deep, en route to a career-high 20 points. He also had four rebounds, a season-high six assists and a career-high-tying three steals.
Akinwole's 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked third among Summit League players last season, and six games into 2018-19, he is second on the list at 5.7. He appeared in all 31 games as a freshman, including four starts, and averaged 3.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists over 15.5 minutes per game.
Compared to the Opposition
Over its six contests this season, Omaha has:
•More or equal field goals made compared to its opponent five times
•More or equal 3-point field goals made compared to its opponent three times
•More or equal free throws made compared to its opponent two times
•More or equal rebounds compared to its opponent three times
•More or equal assists compared to its opponent three times
•More or equal steals compared to its opponent five times
•Fewer or equal turnovers compared to its opponent six times
•More or equal blocks compared to its opponent two times
Up Next
Omaha travels to Arizona State on Wednesday, Nov. 28. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz., and the game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks. Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2, and links to live video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.
