The Basics
The Mavericks look to continue winning during this homestand when they host North Dakota for their second meeting of the season 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
• Omaha opened the month of February and the second half of conference play with a win last Saturday when they bested Denver 78-69 to sweep the season series and remain in first place in the Summit League.
• Free throws proved to be the deciding factor in the game as the Mavericks shot 28-for-34 (.824), while the Pioneers only went 6-for-10 (.600) in a game that was decided by just nine points.
• With a 33 to 27 edge in rebounding against Denver, the Mavericks have now outrebounded their opponents 16 times in 24 games. Last year, it took until game number 32 to reach this total.
• Marquel Sutton had six of those free throws as he topped 20 points for the fourth consecutive game and scored over 50 points in two games for the first time this season after finishing with a career-high 29 vs. South Dakota on Thursday and 22 vs. Denver.
• Sutton's performance moved him up to 23rd on the all-time list with 1149 points, while his seven rebounds got him to 543, good for 16th place. He also passed two more major milestones on Saturday as he ended the night with a new single-season high of 423 points while also reaching 445 career field goals to put him in 19th place all-time.
• JJ White had another dominant performance on the court last Saturday as well, leading the team with 23 points and shooting 61.5% from the field (8-for-13) and 83.3% from the charity stripe (5-for-6). He ended the week with exactly 300 points, becoming the second Maverick this year to reach that mark and putting him four away from his currently single-season high. He also pulled within three assists of 300 in his career, putting him in 12th on Omaha's all-time list.
• As of the start of this week, Omaha has scored the most points in conference play in the Summit League with 762 and is second behind USD in scoring average at 84.7 ppg. The team's scoring margin of 9.2 ppg is also second in the league behind only South Dakota State (9.8).
• Sutton earned his first career Summit League Preseason honor after being named Second Team All-Preseason in October. In 2023-24, he was second on the team with 12.3 PPG (406 total) and led all Mavericks with 6.3 RPG (208 total boards).
• Lance Waddles (NDSU), Joshua Streit (NDSU), and Isaac Ondekane (Lindenwood) headline the Mavericks' top transfers this year with the trio coming to Omaha with a combined six seasons of Division I basketball under their belts. Also new this year are top JUCO transfers Kamryn Thomas (2024 NJCAA Third Team All-American), Khamani Cooper (465 points as a freshman in 2024), and Valentino Simon (965 career points from 2022-24). 
• Omaha has three captains this year: Marquel Sutton, Tony Osburn, and Lance Waddles.
• Head Coach Chris Crutchfield has a 48-60 career record. This season marks his fourth year as a head coach and third with the Mavericks.

Scouting the North Dakota Fighting Hawks
Since dropping the conference opener to Omaha last month, North Dakota has since compiled a 3-6 league record and 9-15 overall record, beating Denver (95-70), Kansas City (76-72), and just last week South Dakota State (80-75).

Junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff continues to lead the entire league with 438 points and is fourth in ppg at 18.3. His .406 FG% and .804 FT% both rank in the top 10 as well. He has scored in double figures in 23 out of 24 games this year, including his career high of 40 against Alabama back December when he shot 15-for-30 from the field and 8-for-18 from behind the arc.

While Eaglestaff leads the team in overall scoring, sophomore guard Mier Panoam paces the team in conference play with 164 points and 18.2 ppg, both of which rank fifth in the league. In addition to having 330 points and 13.8 ppg on the season as a whole, the Tulane transfer also leads UND with 57 assists and 14 blocks. In addition to this, his 128 rebounds and 5.3 rpg are second on the team behind Amar Kuljuhovic (163 total, 6.8 rpg) and just in front of Eli King (125 total, 5.2 rpg), with all three of them slotting into the league's top 10 in rebounding.

Head Coach Paul Sather is now in his sixth 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 took the first meeting this season 95-85 in the conference opener in Grand Forks to improve to 46-49 moved to 45-49 all-time (14-4 in the Division I era) against UND. Sutton (27) and Osburn (20) each topped 20 points in the game for Omaha, while, Mier Panoam was the Pioneers' top scorer with 24 points.