The Basics
The Mavericks play one last game at Baxter in 2023 when they host Denver this Friday at 7 p.m. in the Summit League opener.

Gary Sharp will have the call on 1290 KOIL and links to live stats, audio, and video can be found at OMavs.com.

Quick Hits

• The Mavericks dropped back under .500 at 6-7 last week after a hard-fought loss at Cal Poly.
• Though Cal Poly outshot Omaha 41.4% to 33.9%, the Mavericks still came away with the edge in second-chance points (17 to 11), points in the paint (32 to 22), and bench scoring (26 to 6), as well as out-rebounding the Mustangs 42 to 39.
• Frankie Fidler led the team with 18 points at Cal Poly, giving him an even 200 on the season. He enters Summit League play sixth in points and ppg (15.4), 10th in total rebounds (51) and steals (13), second in free throws made (68), and fourth in FT% (.850) after making 11 straight dating back to December 9 at Texas A&M - Corpus Christi.
• Marquel Sutton is right behind Fidler on the team in scoring with 129 points and 9.9 ppg, both of which rank in the top 25 in the conference. As the team's leading rebounder, he 75 total boards and 5.8 rpg place him at seventh and eighth in the Summit, respectively.
• Biko Johnson made it back-to-back double-digit scoring games last week as he followed up his season-high 15 points vs. Stetson with a 14-point effort against the Mustangs after shooting 5-for-8 with a trio of three-pointers.
• Nick Davis notched another block last week to bring his team-leading total to nine, good for 10th in the conference. 
• Tony Osburn has found his way onto the Summit League leaderboards too, as his 24 three-pointers rank 13th in the league. 
• Grant Stubblefield, Marcel Bryant, Nick Davis, and Biko Johnson are Omaha's top newcomers coming into this season. 
• Stubblefield was named 6A Player of the Year and First Team All-State while at Blue Valley Northwest and Bryant was named the Austin Area Player of the Year at Cedar Ridge. Johnson is coming off his second season at Western Nebraska CC where he was named All-Conference and All-Nebraska, while Davis is fresh off winning GAC Defensive Player of the Year and a trip to the Sweet 16 of the Division II NCAA Tournament with Southern Nazarene. 
• Fidler was Omaha's lone All-Summit honoree last season, earning an Honorable Mention. He led Omaha in scoring (14.7 ppg), rebounding (5.8 rpg), steals (1.2 spg), and free throw percentage (.887), with his FT% in particular ranking in the NCAA's top-25 for most of the season.
• Head Coach Chris Crutchfield has a 25-39 career record. It marks his third season as a head coach and second with the Mavericks.

Scouting the Denver Pioneers
Denver enters conference play tied for first in the Summit League at 8-5 and is coming off back-to-back wins over Adams State and Northern new Mexico last week. With 83.5 ppg (1085 points), the Pioneers are the league's top scoring team.

Fifth year guard Tommy Bruner and junior forward Touko Tainamo are arguably the league's top players through non-conference play, slotting in at first and second in the league in scoring at 314 points (24.2 ppg) and 229 points (17.6 ppg), respectively. Tainamo is also second in rebounds (106) and rpg (8.2), and third in FG% (.487), while Bruner is first in FT% (.883) and assists (48), and second in 3-PT FG% (.407). Meanwhile, sophomore forward Isaiah Carr leads the league with 28 blocks.

Head Coach Jeff Wulbrun is in his third year with the Pioneers and has led them to back-to-back double-digit win seasons. Prior to Denver, he worked as an assistant coach at Stanford, California, Illinois State, and UAB, helping the latter three to the NCAA Tournament.

All-Time Against Denver
Omaha owns a 12-11 record against the Pioneers after splitting the season series with them last year. The Mavericks took the first meeting 83-66, before falling in the regular season finale 72-61. Frankie Fidler, Luke Jungers, and JJ White all recorded 25 points across both games last year.