The Basics
Only seven games remain in the regular season as the Mavericks open their second-to-last road trip of the year up north when they face first-place North Dakota on Thursday at 7 p.m.

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 won their first ever game against St. Thomas in their lone game last week when they held on to win 69-65 and improve to 12-12 overall and 5-4 in the Summit League. These five conference wins are the team's most since 2019-20. 
• In one of the closest games of the season, both the Mavericks and Tommies shot over 50%, but while UST held a 36.4% to 21.4% edge in three-pointers, Omaha bested them in FT% at 82.4% to 52.4%. Both teams were also tied in rebounds at 25 each.
• Omaha now has seven games this season with a team FG% above 50%, tying the team with the 2022-23 squad.
• Jaeden Marshall proved to be the late-game hero on Thursday as he drew a crucial foul with 10 seconds left and nailed both free throws to fend off overtime and effectively ice the game at 68-64.
• Frankie Fidler had yet another 20-point game as he led the Mavericks with 24 points, bringing his season total to 464, topping his 456 mark from last year as the most he has ever scored in a single season. He comes into the road trip with 19.3 ppg, the third most in the conference, and remains top five in FG% (46.8%), and FT% (87.1%). He also reached 200 career assists with two more in the contest.
• Marquel Sutton passed a couple major career milestones against St. Thomas as well, pulling down one offensive board to reach 100 in his career, and finishing with eight total rebounds to get him past 200 career defensive boards and 300 career total boards. Sutton is currently tied for sixth in the league with 6.3 rpg.
• With his 25th career double-digit scoring game, JJ White totaled 17 points last week to get him over 200 on the season, joining Fidler, Sutton (301), and Nick Davis (223) as the four Mavericks to reach the mark.
• 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 31-44 career record. It marks his third season as a head coach and second with the Mavericks.

Scouting the North Dakota Fighting Hawks
The Fighting Hawks currently own the longest winning streak in the Summit League at six-straight victories as they begin the week in first place at 14-10 overall and 6-3 in the conference. Last week they narrowly defeated South Dakota on the road 95-81, before coming from behind to beat NDSU 60-58 at home. UND's last loss was against Omaha back on January 11.

Sophomore forward B.J. Omot comes into the week as a top-five scorer in the conference with 17.2 ppg (412 points). Omot saw his eight-game double-digit scoring streak (including five straight with 20+ points) come to an end on Saturday when he scored nine vs. the Bison. His 19 blocks also ranked in the top 10 in the conference. 

Meanwhile, sophomore guard Treysen Eaglestaff is just outside the conference top 10 in scoring with 13.4 ppg (322 points), as well as slotting in at fifth overall in 3-PT FG% at .370. Defensively, junior forward Amar Kuljuhovic is third in the league in rebounding with 7.9 rpg and 182 total rebounds.
Head Coach Paul Sather is now in his fifth year leading the Fighting Hawks. He brought UND to the Summit League Tournament Championship in his first season (2019-20) and logged a victory over the Huskers. During his nine-year tenure with Northern State, he made it all the way to the NCAA Division II Title game in the 2017-18 season.

All-Time Against North Dakota
Omaha improved to 44-48 all-time and 12-3 in the Division I era against UND with its 79-61 win over them at home back on January 11. Fidler paced the Mavericks with 29 points, six assists, and was tied with Sutton for the team lead with seven boards. Treysen Eaglestaff was North Dakota's top scorer with 15 points, while Amar Kulijuhovic had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.