Leading Off
The Omaha men's basketball team concludes the regular season this Saturday, March 2, traveling to Denver. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. CT at Magness Arena in Denver, Colo., and the game will be broadcast on Altitude. Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2, and links to video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.
Quick Hits
• Omaha (12-3) sits in second place in the Summit League standings, a game behind South Dakota State (13-2). A win Saturday at Denver coupled with an SDSU loss to Western Illinois would give the Mavericks the regular-season title.
• The Mavericks have assured themselves of a top-two seed for next week's Summit League Tournament.
• Omaha's 12 league wins are a Division I program record. The only other Maverick squad with double-digit league wins was the 2015-16 team (10).
• Omaha received votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll for the second straight week. The last time the Mavericks received votes was six straight weeks from Jan. 11-Feb. 15, 2016.
• Omaha has lost just three times since Dec. 15, winning 15 of its last 18 games and six of its last seven.
•
Zach Jackson is just the second player in program history to reach 1,500 points and 500 rebounds, joining Dennis Forrest (1973-77), who had 1,660 points and 557 boards.
• The Mavericks have outrebounded 10 of their last 13 opponents.
• Omaha is the only team in the league to have all five starters averaging double figures: Jackson (18.4 ppg),
JT Gibson (13.3 ppg),
Mitch Hahn (13.3 ppg),
KJ Robinson (11.8 ppg) and
Matt Pile (10.9 ppg).
• The Mavericks rank fourth nationally for fewest total turnovers and fifth for fewest turnovers per game. They have had single-digit turnovers in seven straight games since Feb. 3.
•
KJ Robinson carries a 5.0 assist-to-turnover ratio over the last 10 games.
• Omaha hit two century marks Feb. 14: its 100th win since gaining membership in the Summit League in 2012-13 and
Derrin Hansen's 100th career conference win since taking the reins of the Maverick program in 2005-06.
• 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 8-21 (3-12 Summit League) after a 74-46 win over Western Illinois Thursday night to snap a seven-game losing skid. David Nzekwesi finished with a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds, while Joe Rosga added 19 to surpass the 1,600 career points milestone. Ade Murkey chipped in 10 points off the bench.
DU, which finished 15-15 (8-6 Summit League) a year ago, was voted third in the conference's preseason poll. 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 39-50 in three seasons at Denver.
All-Time Against Denver
Saturday marks the 15th meeting between Omaha and Denver, with the Pioneers leading the all-time series, 8-6. Omaha won the most recent matchup, 91-84, on Dec. 28 at Baxter Arena, while DU won the last meeting at Magness Arena, 94-78, on Feb. 14, 2018.
The Pioneers have a 4-2 advantage against Omaha at home since 2012-13 and a 7-6 lead in the series in the Mavericks' Division I era.
Last Time Out: Hahn's Career Night Not Enough As Omaha Falls at ORU, 84-80
Omaha saw its six-game win streak snapped Thursday night, falling 84-80 to Oral Roberts at the Mabee Center.
Mitch Hahn scored a career-high 35 points on 15-of-21 shooting with four 3-pointers to lead all scorers, hitting 10-of-13 from the floor for 22 points in the second half alone. The senior torched his previous career mark of 24 set against Western Illinois on Jan. 14, 2017.
Zach Jackson added 13 points, seven rebounds and two assists on the night. The performance makes him just the second Maverick in program history with 1,500 career points and 500 career rebounds to his credit and pushes him into fifth all-time for scoring in the Omaha record books.
Matt Pile added 11 points, a team-leading eight boards and three blocks.
JT Gibson had eight points, four rebounds, a career-high-tying eight assists and a steal.
Omaha shot .486 (35-of-72) to ORU's .534 (31-of-58) from the floor and .500 (5-of-10) to the Golden Eagles' .882 (15-of-17) at the line. The two teams were even on the glass, 34-34, and were nearly identical on points in the paint, with a slight Omaha edge, 34-32. The Mavericks committed a season-low three turnovers.
Scoring Notables
• Omaha has shot .500 or better in six of its last 11 games and gone 9-2.
•
Zach Jackson is the first player since current Maverick assistant coach
Tyler Bullock (2009-11) and the only player in the Division I era to have back-to-back 500-point seasons. Jackson scored 547 points as a junior and has 516 as a senior.
• Jackson has seven 20-point scoring performances in the last 11 games: 22 at Western Illinois (Jan. 17), 21 vs. South Dakota (Jan. 20), 25 at Purdue Fort Wayne (Jan. 24), 22 vs. North Dakota (Feb. 3), 27 at South Dakota (Feb. 7), 27 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (Feb. 16) and 21 vs. Western Illinois (Feb. 20).
• Over the last five games,
Mitch Hahn (13),
Zach Jackson (nine),
JT Gibson (nine) and
KJ Robinson (eight) have combined for 39 of Omaha's 41 threes.
• Hahn has shot .591 (13-of-22) from deep in the last five games.
• Five Mavericks have made at least four triples in a single game this season: Gibson (eight times), Hahn (five times), Jackson (four times), Robinson (twice) and
Ayo Akinwole (once).
• Omaha has had at least five double-figure scorers nine times, most recently vs. Western Illinois (Feb. 20). All five starters have scored in double figures simultaneously on five occasions this year.
• The Mavericks counted six double-figure scorers on the same night once this season -- at South Dakota (Feb. 7). Six Mavericks have finished in double figures seven times in the Division I era and 12 times in the
Derrin Hansen era.
• The Mavericks have shot .500 or better as a team 12 times, including 10 of the last 16 games. They are undefeated when shooting at least .500.
Threes, Please
Omaha ranks 11th nationally with a .393 shooting percentage from distance and 71st as a team with 251 3-pointers made. The Mavericks have 12 games with double-digit triples this season.
Protecting the Rock
Omaha ranks fourth nationally for fewest total turnovers and fifth for fewest turnovers per game. They have had single-digit turnovers in 16 of the last 20 games, including seven straight since Feb. 3. Thursday night at Oral Roberts, they committed a season-low three miscues.
KJ Robinson has limited himself to 24 turnovers in 25 games this season. In league play,
JT Gibson has 10 and
Ayo Akinwole has 11 in 15 contests.
League Leaders
Omaha ranks in the top third of the Summit League for scoring (third at 79.7), field goal percentage (third at .479), field goals made per game (second at 30.0), 3-point percentage (second at .393) and fewest turnovers per game (first at 9.5).
Action Jackson
Over 28 games in his senior campaign,
Zach Jackson has a team-best 18.4 points with 4.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 0.8 steals per game. He ranks 83rd nationally for scoring and 85th for total points (516), is the fourth-best scorer in the Summit League and also ranks fourth among league players for free throws made (102) and field goals made (181). Jackson's 1,508 points are 86th among the NCAA's Division I active career leaders for scoring.
Jackson had 10 straight games in double figures from Nov. 6 to Dec. 8, and he had another nine-game streak from Dec. 19 to Jan. 24. He carries a streak of seven straight double-digit performances into Saturday's game at Denver.
Milestones in the Making for Jackson
Zach Jackson came into his final season on the brink of major milestones in scoring and rebounding. Nov. 9 at Minnesota, he became the 39th 1,000-point scorer in program history and sits in fifth all-time for scoring with 1,508 points. He needs 49 points to pass Michael Jenkins (2005-09), who had 1,556.
Jackson also has 515 rebounds over his career, which ranks 19th all-time.
Jackson is the 12th player in school history with at least 1,000 points and 500 boards, and on Thursday night, he became just the second player to reach 1,500 points and 500 rebounds.
Additionally, Jackson joined the top 20 in school history for career field goals on Jan. 2 and is now eighth with 513 made. He moved into 20th for career steals on Feb. 3 and has since moved up to 17th with 105.
Feelin' Hahn, Hahn, Hahn
Mitch Hahn has been a major factor in Omaha's success, as the senior has averaged 16.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game with .537 shooting over the last 18 games. The numbers are up from his previous 10 games, during which he 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 a team-long 16 games from Dec. 15 to Feb. 20 before his streak was halted Feb. 23 at North Dakota State.
The Fremont, Neb., native also owns seven games with at least three 3-pointers, hitting a season-best four at Idaho (Dec. 15), vs. North Dakota State (Jan. 2), vs. South Dakota State (Feb. 14) and at Oral Roberts (Feb. 28). He has four double-doubles on the year: at Rice (Dec. 21) with 18 points/11 rebounds, at North Dakota (Jan. 10) with 17 points and 11 rebounds, at Purdue Fort Wayne (Jan. 24) with 23 points/15 rebounds and at South Dakota State (Jan. 26) with 14 points/15 rebounds.
The Pile Driver
Matt Pile is shooting at a .600 clip in his sophomore campaign, ranking second among Summit League players. He is the league leader for offensive rebounds (84) and also ranks fifth for total rebounds (214) and rebounds per game (7.6). Pile is 43rd nationally for offensive rebounds per game (3.0).
The Goddard, Kan., native has scored in double digits 19 times this year, including seven straight since Feb. 3. He delivered back-to-back double-doubles vs. North Dakota State (Jan. 2) with 19 points/12 rebounds and at North Dakota (Jan. 10) with a career-best 20 points/10 rebounds. Over the last 19 games, Pile has seven double-doubles and has averaged 11.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists per contest.
Just a year and a half into his career, Pile's is Omaha's active career leader in for blocks (57). He joined the top 15 in school history with a season-best four-block performance Jan. 20 vs. South Dakota.
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 17 points that night and has since averaged 12.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in the 20-game stretch. Robinson put up a season-best 23-point performance Jan. 26 at South Dakota State, canning four triples and adding five rebounds and four steals.
Robinson's 3.5 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks sixth nationally. He is Omaha's active career leader for assists (179).
Compared to the Opposition
Over its 28 contests this season, Omaha has:
•More or equal field goals made compared to its opponent 19 times
•More or equal 3-point field goals made compared to its opponent 14 times
•More or equal free throws made compared to its opponent 12 times
•More or equal rebounds compared to its opponent 15 times
•More or equal assists compared to its opponent 12 times
•More or equal steals compared to its opponent 20 times
•Fewer or equal turnovers compared to its opponent 22 times
•More or equal blocks compared to its opponent 11 times
Up Next
Omaha awaits the release of the final bracket for next weekend's Summit League Championship, March 9-12, at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.
