The Basics
The Mavericks open their final homestand of the season on Thursday when South Dakota comes to town for a 7 p.m. game on Military Appreciation Night.

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

• The Mavericks went 0-2 in their North Dakota road trip last week, falling 99-78 to UND, before nearly beating NDSU on a would-be buzzer-beater but coming just short in an 81-79 loss. Omaha is now tied with four other teams in the Summit League at 5-6 in conference play and 12-14 overall.
• Despite dropping both games last week, the Mavericks actually outrebounded both teams by a combined 70 to 69, as well as besting them on steals (14 to 10), FTM (33 to 30), and second-chance points (26 to 13).
• The loss to NDSU marked the seventh time this year Omaha has lost by five points or less, as well as being the fifth time the team has lost by two points.
• Frankie Fidler added another 35 points last week, bringing him to 12th all-time and 3rd in the D1 era in the Mavericks' scoring leaderboard with 1342 career points. He also enters the week with 499 points on the season, putting him the door step of becoming the first Maverick since Zach Jackson in 2018-19 to reach the 500-point mark and the seventh in the D1 era.
• Marquel Sutton also had another great week, earning his team-leading third double-double of the year on Thursday with 15 points and 11 rebounds. With another six boards on Saturday, he is now seventh in the league in rpg (6.5) and fourth in total rebounds (168).
• Tony Osburn became the fifth Maverick this year to reach 200 points on the season with 201. He joins Fidler (499), Sutton (324), Nick Davis (240), and JJ White (211).
• Omaha's bench had an impressive weekend as well, with Jaeden Marshall (15 points) and Marcel Bryant (12 points) setting new season-highs in points at UND, and Grant Stubblefield recording his third game in double figures on Saturday with 10 at NDSU. Jamal Ambrose also had 11 points and a couple of rebounds during the weekend.
• 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 31-46 career record. It marks his third season as a head coach and second with the Mavericks.

Scouting the South Dakota Coyotes
The Coyotes ended a five-game losing streak on Saturday when they came back to beat Denver 92-86 in overtime. South Dakota is currently in last in the Summit League at 10-15 with a 3-7 conference record.

Senior forward Lahat Thioune is one of the top defensive players in the league this year, currently pacing all players in rebounds (236) and rpg (9.8), as well as placing 14th in blocks with 11. In addition to this he is also 12th in ppg with 13.5 and second in FG% at .560. Other notable Coyotes are junior guard Kaleb Stewart, who leads the team in points (330) and ppg (15.7), and senior guard Bostyn Holt, who leads USD with 73 assists.

Head Coach Eric Peterson is in his second season at the helm of the Coyotes after previously serving as an assistant coach with them from 2014-18. In between his two stints at USD, Peterson spent three seasons as an assistant at Utah State, helping guide the team to the NCAA Tournament in all three seasons.

All-Time Against South Dakota
Omaha improved to 48-54 all-time against South Dakota and 12-13 in the Division I era. Their first meeting this year was a New Year's Eve spectacle in Vermillion that saw the Mavericks dominate the Coyotes all game en route to a 67-51 win. Fidler dropped 27 points and Tony Osburn grabbed eight boards for Omaha, while Lahat Thioune had a double-double for USD with 12 points and 15 rebounds.