Leading Off
The Omaha men's basketball team opens Summit League play this Friday, Dec. 28, welcoming Denver to Baxter Arena at 7:30 p.m. Gary Sharp and John Karhoff will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
The game is also High School Night, and high school students presenting a valid school ID will receive free admission.
Quick Hits
• Omaha's three-game win streak to close non-conference play is its longest since a five-game streak Feb. 16 - March 6, 2017.
• The Mavericks kick off league play with a three-game home stand against Denver, Oral Roberts and North Dakota State. The last time Omaha had three straight conference games at home was Feb. 6-13, 2016.
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Zach Jackson will make his 100th career start Friday. He has 63 consecutive starts since Dec. 29, 2016.
• Omaha shot .524 as a team last Friday at Rice, its second straight and fourth overall shooting performance of .500 or better.
• The Mavericks have led for 33 minutes or more in three straight games: 33:05 at Rice (Dec. 21), a season-long 37:30 vs. UC Santa Barbara (Dec. 19) and 35:15 at Idaho (Dec. 15).
• Five Mavericks are averaging nine or more points per game: Jackson (18.4 ppg),
JT Gibson (13.5 ppg),
KJ Robinson (10.5 ppg),
Matt Pile (9.4 ppg) and
Mitch Hahn (9.4 ppg).
• Five Mavericks have made at least four triples in a single game this season: Gibson (five times), Jackson (twice) and Robinson, Hahn and
Ayo Akinwole (once each).
• Omaha has had five double-figure scorers four times this season, most recently all five starters at Rice (Dec. 19).
• The Mavericks, who rank 32nd nationally for fewest turnovers per game, have had single-digit turnovers in five straight games: nine at Seattle (Dec. 6), eight at Oregon (Dec. 8), seven at Idaho (Dec. 15) and vs. UCSB (Dec. 19) and eight at Rice (Dec. 21).
• Omaha has had two players with 20 or more points on the same night twice this season: Gibson (21) and Jackson (20) at Bethune-Cookman (Nov. 20) and Jackson (33) and Akinwole (20) vs. Montana State (Nov. 24).
• The Mavericks were 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 are both team captains for the second straight year.
Scouting the Denver Pioneers
Denver is 5-9 (0-0 Summit League) after a 101-40 loss at No. 9 Gonzaga last Friday. Tory Stewart-Miller finished with a team-best 10 points.
DU, which finished 15-15 (8-6 Summit League) a year ago, was voted third in the conference's preseason poll. Joe Rosga was a first-team Preseason All-Summit selection after earning first-team all-league honors last season.
Head coach Rodney Billups holds a career record of 36-38 in two seasons at Denver.
All-Time Against Denver
Friday marks the 14th meeting between Omaha and Denver, with the Pioneers leading the all-time series, 8-5. DU won the most recent matchup, 94-78, on Feb. 14 at Magness Arena, while Omaha won the last meeting at Baxter Arena, 86-80, on Jan. 18. Last season,
Zach Jackson averaged 18.5 points and 5.5 rebounds over two games against the Pioneers, while
JT Gibson had 14.5 points per contest.
The Mavericks have a 3-2 advantage against DU at home since the Pioneers joined the Summit League in 2013-14.
Summit League Openers
Omaha is 2-4 in Summit League openers since joining the conference in 2012-13. The Mavericks last opened league play at home in 2015-16.
Last Time Out: Omaha Downs Rice 83-66 for Three-Game Win Streak
Omaha struck for its third straight win to close non-conference play Friday night, downing Rice 83-66 at Tudor Fieldhouse. All five Maverick starters scored in double figures, led by a double-double from
Mitch Hahn, who had 18 points and a season-high-tying 11 rebounds with 7-of-15 shooting.
Zach Jackson hit 8-of-12 from the field en route to 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and
JT Gibson was 6-of-10 for 13 points, three boards and three helpers.
KJ Robinson added 12 points, three rebounds and four assists, and
Matt Pile had 11 points and seven caroms.
Omaha shot .524 (33-of-63) as a team and held Rice to a .351 (20-of-57) effort. The Mavericks had a 42-33 rebounding edge and limited themselves to eight turnovers, marking their fifth straight game with fewer than 10 miscues.
Action Jackson
Over the first 13 games this season,
Zach Jackson has a team-best 18.4 points with 3.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He ranks 49th nationally for total points (239), is the fourth-best scorer in the Summit League and also ranks third among league players for free throws made (48).
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. Jackson's 10 straight games in double figures from Nov. 6 to Dec. 8 is the longest of any Omaha player this season.
JT's Junior Year
JT Gibson has scored in double figures in all but two games this season, including a nine-game streak, Nov. 14 - Dec. 15. He has scored 15 or more points in a night on five occasions this season, highlighted by a career-high-tying 21 points with two rebounds, three assists and three steals at Bethune-Cookman (Nov. 20). He has five games with four or more 3-pointers, led by a five-triple effort at Oregon (Dec. 8).
Gibson, who has scored in 45 straight games, is Omaha's active career leader for threes made (125) and assists (132).
JT for Three
JT Gibson is the only Omaha player to hit a three in all 13 games this season. Last year, he knocked one down in a career-long 19 straight games from Nov. 20, 2017 to Jan. 25, 2018.
With a team-high 33 treys, he ranks third among Summit League players this year. The Brooklyn Park, Minn., native broke into Omaha's top 15 for career triples Dec. 6 at Seattle and now ranks 13th (125).
Experienced Mavericks
Omaha's six returners averaged 64.8 points per game in non-conference play, shooting .483 (307-of-635) from the field and .394 (103-of-261) from long range.
Zach Jackson and
JT Gibson are both hitting over 40 percent from three -- Jackson coming in at .455 (25-of-55) and Gibson at .413 (33-of-80).
The Mavericks' returning corps owns 85 percent (842-of-991) of Omaha's scoring, 71 percent (273-of-386) of its rebounding, 86 percent of its assists (146-of-386) and 91 percent of its steals (70-of-77).
The Evolution of Zach Jackson
Zach Jackson has been a four-year starter, averaging 11.5 points and 4.1 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. Jackson has scored in 60 straight contests.
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 15th all-time for scoring with 1,231 points. Nov. 26 at Iowa State, he passed former Maverick and current assistant coach
Tyler Bullock (2009-11) to move into the top 20.
Jackson also has 441 rebounds over his career, needing 59 to become the 12th player in school history with at least 1,000 points and 500 boards.
Feelin' Hahn, Hahn, Hahn
Mitch Hahn has been a major factor in Omaha's three-game surge, as the senior has averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game with .543 shooting from the field and .400 from distance. The figures are up from his previous 10 games, during which Hahn had 7.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game and shot .308 from the floor and .229 from three.
Hahn scored in double figures in three straight games to open the season, totaling 14 points at Minnesota (Nov. 6), 11 vs. Buena Vista (Nov. 9) and 10 vs. Northern Arizona (Nov. 14). He put up his first double-double of the year at Rice (Dec. 21) on 18 points and 11 boards.
The Fremont, Neb., native also owns three games with a trio of 3-pointers, hitting three apiece against Minnesota (Nov. 6) and Northern Arizona (Nov. 14) and a season-best four at Idaho (Dec. 15), where he scored a season-high 21 points.
The Pile Driver
Dec. 19 vs. UC Santa Barbara, sophomore
Matt Pile grabbed his fifth career double-double -- and his fourth of the season -- with 13 points and a career-high-tying 11 rebounds. Pile has three double-doubles in the last five games, during which time he has averaged 9.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest. He set a career high for assists in back-to-back games with four at Idaho (Dec. 15) and five vs. UC Santa Barbara (Dec. 19).
The Goddard, Kan., native has scored in double digits eight times this year, including a season-high 15 points with five boards, an assist, a steal and two blocks at Arizona State (Nov. 28).
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. He ranked third in the Summit League for blocks (32) last year and is Omaha's active career leader in the category with 42.
Here's to You, Mr. Robinson
KJ Robinson returned to the Mavericks' starting five Dec. 6 at Seattle, playing his first game since Nov. 20. He hit five 3-pointers en route to a season-high 17 points and has since averaged 11.2 points, 1.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game in that five-game stretch. With a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio this year, he ranks second among league players.
A native of Blue Springs, Mo., Robinson had a career performance vs. Tennessee Tech last season, going off for a career-high 25 points while hitting seven 3-pointers and adding five rebounds, five assists and a block. It was the most threes in a game by any Maverick since
Marcus Tyus had eight at South Dakota State (Jan, 7, 2017).
Compared to the Opposition
Over its 13 contests this season, Omaha has:
•More or equal field goals made compared to its opponent eight times
•More or equal 3-point field goals made compared to its opponent eight times
•More or equal free throws made compared to its opponent three times
•More or equal rebounds compared to its opponent four times
•More or equal assists compared to its opponent six times
•More or equal steals compared to its opponent nine times
•Fewer or equal turnovers compared to its opponent 10 times
•More or equal blocks compared to its opponent six times
Home Sweet Homaha
Omaha played 12 games at home in 2017-18, and eight of its nine wins came at Baxter Arena. It won five straight in their own facility to start before South Dakota State snapped the streak on Jan. 6.
This season, the Mavericks are 3-1 at home. They average 83.5 points per game and have an average margin of victory of 19.5 points at Baxter.
Up Next
Omaha hosts Oral Roberts on Sunday, Dec. 30, with tipoff set for 4:30 p.m. at Baxter Arena. Gary Sharp and John Karhoff will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2, and links to live video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.
