The Basics
Omaha returns to Baxter Arena Thursday, Jan. 6. The Mavericks host the visiting Fighting Hawks of North Dakota and look to even their league record at 2-2 with a win. North Dakota cancelled its games last week due to COVID. The Fighting Hawks are 0-1 in league play and still on the hunt for their first road win of the season.

Gary Sharp will have the call on 1180 KZOT, and links to live stats, audio, and video can be found at OMavs.com.

Quick Hits
• Omaha dropped a league game to Oral Roberts last week after canceling a game with Kansas City.
• Frankie Fidler led the Mavericks with 15 points. It marked his third straight game in double-figures and sixth on the season.
• Marco Smith grabbed a career-high 6 rebounds in the game, while Kyle Luedtke tallied a personal best four assists.
• Felix Lemetti hit two three-pointers at ORU Saturday night. He sits 75th in the country with 35 three-pointers made this season. He's also in the top-100 shooting 38.5 percent from deep.
• The Mavericks snapped an 11-game losing streak vs. Western Illinois last week with an 84-78 win. It also ended a six-game win streak for the Leathernecks.
• Four players put up double-figure scoring efforts led by Felix Lemetti who scored 22. It was just one point shy of his career-high and marked the fifth consecutive game with at least 10 points for the junior guard.
• Fidler poured in a career-high 19 points. He finished 10-for-10 at the foul line. Darrius Hughes added 12 points, while Nick Ferrarini scored 10 in his first game back from injury.
• Omaha dropped a close battle with St. Thomas in the league opener last week. Once down 29 points, the Mavericks rallied to get within five of the Tommies in the second half. The comeback fell short, 80-73.
• Three players scored double-figures for Omaha. Smith set a new career-high with 19 points to lead the team. Fidler added another 18 points, while Lemetti scored 16. 
• Lemetti scored a career-high 23 points at UNLV earlier in December. He was 7-of-10 from three-point range. The seven made threes ties second in the single-game record for most threes in a game.
• Hughes scored double-figure in four straight games. Most recently, Hughes scored 10 at UNLV on 5-of-7 from the field. Prior to the road trip, he recorded a career-high 19 points vs. A&M - Corpus Christi, 15 points vs. Drake, and 12 vs. Eastern Washington. 
• Omaha has used eight starting lineups this season. Lemetti is the lone player to start every game this year. The lineup of Lemetti, Smith, Fidler, Dylan Brougham, and Akol Arop led Omaha to their second win of the season vs. Western Illinois. It marked Arop's first career start for the Mavericks.
• Head coach Derrin Hansen enters his 17th season at the helm. He has a 250-247 career record leading the Mavericks.
• The 2021-22 season is the 109th overall in program history and the 11th of the Mavericks' Division I era. All-time, the program is 1,204-1,334.

Scouting the North Dakota Fighting Hawks
North Dakota is 4-10 overall and 0-1 in league play heading into the third week of Summit League action. UND's win this season were to Montana, Troy, Presentation College, and North Central (Minn.). The Fighting Hawks dropped their lone league game to NDSU, 86-76, before canceling two last week due to COVID.

Paul Bruns leads UND with 13.6 points per game. He is averaging oer 43 percent from the field and has 32 three-pointers made this season. Caleb Nero adds 12.1 ppg, while Mitchell Sueker scores 11.9. 

Paul Sather is in his third season at the helm. He has a record of 28-45 with the Hawks. Sather has 17 years coaching experience with a record of 310-196 overall.

All-Time Against North Dakota
North Dakota leads the all-time series 46-41. The teams split last season's meetings. In the 72-62 Omaha win, Nick Ferrarini and Marco Smith tallied eight points each. Smith had another eight in the loss.