The Basics
The Mavericks close out January and begin the second half of conference play this week when they continue their road trip with a 3 p.m. (CT) game at Denver on Saturday.

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 began their final road trip of the month with 74-67 loss at Oral Roberts on Thursday. Omaha has now lost three games in a row to drop to 10-12 on the year and 3-4 in the Summit League.
• At one point on Thursday, the Mavericks found themselves down by 15 points with just over 10 minutes left in the second half. That deficit shrunk to just five points with three minutes to go, but that was as close as Omaha could get it.
• Though ORU outshot Omaha in every category, the Mavericks were able to stay in it thanks to superior turnover numbers, giving the ball away just seven times to ORU's 11. Also, while Omaha only led nine to eight in offensive boards, they had a huge edge in second chance points at 13 to two.
• Frankie Fidler extended his double-digit points streak to 16 games after leading Omaha with 19 on Thursday. He did so despite not making a field goal in the first half. He also had two steals, making him the first Maverick this year to reach 30 on the season.
• Marquel Sutton was again Omaha's leading rebounder against ORU, pulling down eight boards, including three more offensive rebounds to bring his career total to 98. He also set a new career high with three steals on Thursday.
• For the first time in his career, JJ White recorded multiple blocks in a game, stopping two shots at ORU. 
• Nick Davis recorded his ninth multi-block game of the season with two more against the Golden Eagles, on top of scoring 10 points.
• 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 29-44 career record. It marks his third season as a head coach and second with the Mavericks.

Scouting the Denver Pioneers
The Pioneers are coming off a last second 111-110 double-overtime victory over South Dakota on Thursday that brought them to 13-8 on the year and 4-2 in the Summit League.

Fifth-year guard and four-time Athlete of the Week Tommy Bruner continues to lead the conference by a wide margin in scoring, owning 26.3 ppg (6.0 more than second place) and 553 total points (148 more than second) after his 49-point performance against USD. His 176 FGM are by far the most in the conference and he ranks in the top 10 in FG% (44.6%), 3-PT FG% (42.0%), and FT% (83.0%). Overall, Bruner has yet to score less than 14 points in a game and has already racked up 15 games with 20+ points, including six with at least 30. He led the Pioneers with 25 points and eight assists the first time Omaha and Denver met this year. 

Also notable is junior forward Touko Tainamo, the league's fifth leading scorer with 17.6 ppg and 369 total points. He is also second in the conference with 8.8 rpg and 185 total boards. Tainamo recorded a double-double with 20 points and 12 boards at Omaha in December.
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 is dead even with Denver all-time at 12-12 after falling 80-95 to them in the Summit League opener this season. Frankie Fidler scored 32 points in the contest, while Marquel Sutton just missed a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds.