Omaha Athletics

This Weekend
No. 7 seed Omaha takes on No. 2 seed South Dakota this Saturday, March 3 in the quarterfinal round of the Summit League Championship. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3, Midco and locally on YurView Cox Channel 1013. Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1620 The Zone, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
 
Quick Hits
• Zach Jackson collected second-team All-Summit accolades on Wednesday. Since Omaha joined the Summit League in 2012-13, 10 Mavericks have combined for 12 All-Summit awards.
• Omaha enters the Summit League Tournament with its overall strength of schedule at 122nd nationally, while its non-conference slate is 89th. Both are the toughest of any Summit League team this season.
• Four Mavericks average double-figure scoring: Jackson (17.4 ppg), Daniel Norl (12.9 ppg), Mitch Hahn (12.2 ppg) and JT Gibson (10.3 ppg).
• Jackson has scored in double figures in all but three games this season.
• Norl has scored in double figures in 14 of his last 15 games.
• Ayo Akinwole's 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio is third among Summit League players.
• Hahn turned in 14.7 points per game at last year's Summit League Tournament.
• Five Mavericks have had at least one 20-point scoring performance this season.
• Omaha's Feb. 10 attendance of 4,106 vs. Fort Wayne marked the largest men's basketball crowd in Baxter Arena history.
• 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 11 times overall this year.
 
Scouting the South Dakota Coyotes
South Dakota is 24-7 (11-3 Summit League) after finishing as regular-season runner-up in the conference standings. Matt Mooney was named first-team All-Summit, while Trey Burch-Manning and Tyler Hagedorn earned spots on the second team. Triston Simpson was also an honorable mention all-league pick, and Nick Fuller was selected to the all-newcomer team.
 
Head coach Craig Smith is in his fourth season with USD, carrying a record of 77-53 and a career mark of 149-82 over seven seasons.
 
Saturday's game marks the 104th meeting all-time between Omaha and USD, with the Coyotes leading the series, 56-47. In the Mavericks' Division I era, the series is tied at 6-6.
 
The two teams last met on Feb. 17 in Vermillion, S.D., where USD prevailed 79-64.
 
Last Time Out: Mavericks Drop Home Finale to North Dakota State, 84-62
The regular season came to a close for Omaha last Saturday, as the Mavericks fell 84-62 to North Dakota State at Baxter Arena. Sophomore KJ Robinson turned in a team-leading 20 points for his second 20-point performance of the season, shooting 7-of-12 from the field with four 3-pointers. Junior Mitch Hahn registered his fourth double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds alongside four assists and two steals.
 
Sophomore JT Gibson and senior Daniel Norl also added 10 points apiece, with Gibson chipping in three boards, two assists and a steal.
 
NDSU, which led the entire game, shot .552 (32-of-58) as a team while holding Omaha to .357 (20-of-56). The Bison hit 13 threes for the day, bolstered by five from Cameron Hunter, and they held a 35-29 advantage on the glass.
 
2018 Summit League Men's Basketball Championship Field Set
The field is set for this weekend's 2018 Summit League Men's Basketball Championship, with eight teams competing March 3-6 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. The tournament champion advances to the NCAA Tournament as the league's automatic bid. Tickets for the event may be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations, online at Ticketmaster.com or in person at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center Box Office.
 
2018 SUMMIT LEAGUE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Saturday, March 3 • Quarterfinals
               Game 1 (6 p.m.) - No. 1 South Dakota State vs. No. 8 Western Illinois
               Game 2 (8:30 p.m.) - No. 2 South Dakota vs. No. 7 Omaha
 
Sunday, March 4 • Quarterfinals
               Game 3 (6 p.m.) - No. 4 Fort Wayne vs. No. 5 North Dakota State
               Game 4 (8:30 p.m.) - No. 3 Denver vs. No. 6 Oral Roberts
 
Monday, March 5 • Semifinals
               Game 5 (6 p.m.) - Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 3
               Game 6 (8:30 p.m.) - Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner Game 4
 
Tuesday, March 6 • Championship
               Game 7 (8 p.m.) - Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6
 
Tourney Time
Saturday marks Omaha's third appearance in as many years eligible for the Summit League Tournament, and the Mavericks are 2-2 all-time at the event.
 
Omaha made its tournament debut as the No. 3 seed in 2016, when they were bounced 78-70 in the quarterfinals by No. 6 seed Denver. In 2017, Omaha again entered the tournament seeded third and defeated Fort Wayne in the quarterfinals, 84-80, and IUPUI in the semifinals, 90-62. They came within a shot of the NCAA Tournament, falling 79-77 to South Dakota State in the championship game.
 
Action Jackson
All-league guard Zach Jackson ranks in the top 10 in the Summit League in 10 categories: third for free throws made, fifth for scoring, total points and field goals made, sixth for defensive rebounds, seventh for total rebounds and rebounds per game, eighth for steals and 3-point percentage and ninth for free throw percentage. He tallied in double figures in 21 straight games from Nov. 24 to Feb. 14, and in that span averaged 18.9 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting .557 from the field, .457 from 3-point range and .838 from the free throw line.
 
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.
 
Feelin' Hahn, Hahn, Hahn
Junior Mitch Hahn is back in the lineup after more than seven weeks out due to injury. Since Jan. 25, the Fremont, Neb., native has averaged 12.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, and his effort against Oral Roberts (Feb. 22) included a season-high 23 points with 9-of-14 shooting and five 3-pointers.
 
To start the season, Hahn scored in double figures in three straight games with 12 points at Montana State (Nov. 10), 13 at Oklahoma (Nov. 12) and a season-high 16 at New Mexico (Nov. 14). After missing three games from Nov. 17-25, he returned to the lineup vs. Drake (Nov. 29), posting four points, five rebounds and two assists. He followed up with a double-double on 15 points and 10 rebounds at Washington (Dec. 3) and another with 13 points and 13 rebounds at UC Santa Barbara (Dec. 5). After suffering an injury late in the game Dec. 5 at UCSB, he was out of commission until returning Jan. 25 at North Dakota State.
 
Gibson at Full Strength
Sophomore JT Gibson is fourth on the team for scoring with 10.3 points per game and has 16 double-figure scoring efforts this season. Omaha's triples leader, he owns 17 performances with two or more treys, including a perfect 3-of-3 showing Feb. 14 at Denver.
 
With 107 career assists to his credit, Gibson is also Omaha's active career leader in the category.
 
Here's to You, Mr. Robinson
Sophomore KJ Robinson has assumed a starting role in 2017-18, averaging 9.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He scored in double figures in three straight league games against North Dakota State (Jan. 25), South Dakota State (Jan. 30) and Western Illinois (Feb. 8).
 
A native of Blue Springs, Mo., Robinson had a standout performance vs. No. 18 Louisville (Nov. 17) with a then-career-high 14 points, three rebounds, five assists and three steals. He followed by dishing out a career-best eight assists at TCU (Nov. 20) while adding 11 points, four rebounds and a steal. Against Tennessee Tech (Nov. 24), Robinson went 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).
 
Norl's Senior Campaign
Senior Daniel Norl has been strong in his senior season, ranking second on the team for scoring with 12.9 points per game alongside 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest. The Clarksville, Tenn., native has hit at a .900 clip at the free throw line in Summit League play, which leads the conference.
 
Norl 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 a game-high 23 points, three boards, a career-high-tying seven assists and a career-best three steals at Oral Roberts (Dec. 30), then achieved his third 20-point game at Denver (Feb. 14) with 21 points.
 
The Pile Driver
Freshman Matt Pile averaged 6.3 minutes per game over the first three contests this season but quickly saw his court time increase, as he has 18.4 minutes per game since then. In that stretch, Pile has boosted his averages to 6.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game and has joined Omaha's starting five.
 
Pile ranks third in the Summit League for blocks (32) this season and is Omaha's active career leader in the category. He more than doubled his blocking average from non-conference (0.7 bpg) to league play (1.5 bpg). The Wichita, Kan., native put together a six-block performance vs. Denver (Jan. 18), which marked the most of any Maverick since Adam Wetzel's six in 2002.
 
Welcome Back, Renard
Senior Renard Suggs made his Maverick debut vs. Montana State (Dec. 21) and has 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).
 
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.
 
More on Meyer
Senior Daniel Meyer is Omaha's active career leader for games played (111). The Billings, Mont., native was on fire in the Mavericks' homestand vs. Western Illinois (Feb. 8) and Fort Wayne (Feb. 10), averaging 8.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game in reserve while shooting .667 (8-of-12). Against the Leathernecks, he posted eight points, then followed with season highs of nine points and seven boards against the Mastodons.
 
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.
 
Wofford-Humphrey Making a Difference
Senior Lamar Wofford-Humphrey returned to the lineup last Saturday for Senior Day vs. North Dakota State (Feb. 24), marking his first appearance since playing Jan. 25 on the road against the Bison.
 
Earlier this year, 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 in his first career start. The transfer from Eastern Michigan owns nine double-figure scoring games this season, including a career-high 18 points at Western Illinois (Jan. 11) on 7-of-9 shooting with a trio of 3-pointers.
 
Road Warriors
Omaha played 18 of its 30 games on the road in 2017-18, including seven straight to open the season while its home facility, Baxter Arena, was the host site of the U.S. Olympic Curling Trials.
 
The Mavericks began with three games in one continuous seven-day trip at Montana State (Nov. 10), Oklahoma (Nov. 12) and New Mexico (Nov. 14). Following a short return home, they set out again for Louisville (Nov. 17), and after another short trip back to Omaha, visited TCU (Nov. 20). A Thanksgiving trip to Niceville, Fla., capped it off with two games in the Emerald Coast Classic, Nov. 24-25.
 
Up Next
With a win Saturday night, Omaha advances to the Summit League semifinal round on Monday, March 5 to face the winner of No. 3 seed Denver and No. 6 seed Oral Roberts. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3, Midco and YurView Cox Channel 1013. Gary Sharp will also have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.