The Basics
The matchup is set. In the first NCAA Division I tournament game in program history, #15 Omaha will take on #2 St. John's in the first round this Thursday at 8:45 p.m. CT/9:45 p.m. ET in Providence, R.I.

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

Key Storylines
• Talkin' Trash – On Dec. 21, 2024, associate head coach Kyan Brown needed to fire up the team before the Mavericks' matchup against Cal Poly after five-straight losses. He kicked and yelled at a trash can to get the team going and after the win beat the can up again, thus starting a new tradition. Since then, Omaha is 18-3 and has deployed the people's elbow, steel chairs, belts, baseball bats and even AEW professional wrestlers The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum). Omaha even held a "Bring Your Own Can Night" on Feb. 1 where fans were encouraged to bring their own plastic trash cans to fill with popcorn for $5. Chancellor Joanne Li even got in on the action, popping out of a trash can on the court after the team won the Summit League regular season title outright while holding the AEW championship belt.
• Against All Odds – Initially picked eighth out of nine in the Summit League Preseason Poll and narrowly avoiding ninth place by just a single vote, the Mavericks soon silenced all doubters when they won a record-breaking seven consecutive games to open conference play. They would go on to tie the school record with 13 conference wins to claim the Regular Season title, before winning the program's first ever Summit League Championship title.
• The Core Four - Marquel Sutton, JJ White, Tony Osburn, and Ja'Sean Glover all arrived in coach Crutchfield's first season in 2022-23. Through several ups and downs in the first two years, the quartet had full confidence in the process that coach Crutchfield had in place and chose to remain in Omaha instead of testing the transfer portal.
• Dynamic Duo - Marquel Sutton and JJ White, the top duo in the Summit League and members of the 1000-Point Club, both came to Omaha on the same recruit visit in 2022. Both agreed by the end of the visit to commit.
• Back and Better than Ever – Last year, Ja'Sean Glover suffered a blood clot in his arm that hospitalized him and prematurely ended his season at the beginning of February 2024. After making a full recovery and steadily ramping up production throughout the summer, Glover was back in time for the season opener and posted the best stats of his career, even making the Summit League All-Defensive Team.
• Going International – For the first time in program history, the Mavericks feature three international players on the roster: Valentino Simon (Nassau, Bahamas), Isaac Ondekane (Kinshasa, Congo), and Pablo Soumare (Dakar, Senegal). Isaac, who has started almost every game this year, was a self-taught player back in the Congo, practicing all on his own with makeshift equipment and never even shooting on an actual hoop until coming to America at the age of 14.
• Native Pride – Lance Waddles was one of two offseason pickups this year from rival North Dakota State and he brought with him one of the most unique origins on college basketball. A member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (Hunkpapa Lakota), Waddles used a portion of his scholarship money as a high school recruit to give back to his reservation where he has spent time as a mentor for the tribe's at-risk youth.

Quick Hits
• The Mavericks enter their first NCAA tournament on a six-game winning streak, including three wins in the Summit League Championship. Four of those wins have come with double-digit leads, including their Semifinal win over South Dakota (100-75) and the Final win over St. Thomas (85-75).
• This streak has propelled the 2024-25 Mavericks to 22 wins, the most ever in the team's Division I history.
• First Team All-Summit selections JJ White and Marquel were both named to the All-Tournament team, with White scoring 57 points with a 52.4 FG% and 18 assists, while the latter had 69 points with a 54.4 FG% and 37 boards. 
• Sutton, the conference Player of the Year and Tournament MVP, is now third on Omaha's all-time single-season scoring list with 651 points. He is just 13 points shy of tying Frankie Fidler for the Division I record.
• Also posting impressive numbers in the tournament were Tony Osburn (39 points, 77.7 3-PT FG%), Ja'Sean Glover (22 points, 45.0 FG%), Lance Waddles (22 points, 14 rebounds), and Isaac Ondekane (20 points, 14 rebounds).
• On the season, Omaha is averaging 78.1 ppg while allowing 75.0, shooting 46.6% from the field while its opponents are shooting 44.8%, and pulling down 35.6 rpg vs. 32.7 by the opposition.
• In the final College Inside Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, Omaha was ranked for the first time in the Crutchfield era, earning 104 votes and placing 22nd.
• Of the 13 Mavericks to appear in a game this season, 12 set a new personal best in single-season scoring.
• During the NCAA Division II era, the Mavericks previous won conference tournament titles in 2004, 2008 and 2010 and qualified for 12 NCAA Division II National tournaments with the last one coming in 2010.
• Omaha has three captains this year: Marquel Sutton, Tony Osburn, and Lance Waddles.
• 2024-25 Summit League Coach of the Year Chris Crutchfield has a 56-62 career record. This season marks his fourth year as a head coach and third with the Mavericks.

Scouting the St. John's Red Storm
Making its 30th NCAA tournament appearance, #2 St. John's claimed its sixth ever Big East Regular Season title and fourth ever Big East Championship title after posting a 30-4 record this season and defeating Creighton 82-66 in the title game. This marks the first time since 1986 the Red Storm won the Big East Regular Season and Tournament Championship in the same season. St. John's comes into the tournament as the #6 ranked team in the country.

The Red Storm is led by Big East Player of the Year and Tournament MVP RJ Luis Jr. The junior guard averages 18.4 ppg (606 total) along with 7.2 rpg (236 total), racking up 10 double-doubles on the season. Fellow First Team All-Big East selection Zuby Ejiofor was second on the team in scoring with 14.6 ppg (495 total) and paced the Red Storm with 8.0 rpg (272 total), FG% (57.8), and 47 blocks. Rounding out St. John's top trio is Second Team selection Kadary Richmond who posted 12.7 ppg (433 total) and 6.4 rpg (218 total) and leads the team with 183 assists and 72 steals while recording their only triple-double this year at Marquette on March 8.

 In his second year leading the program is Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Pitino who recently picked up his sixth league coach of the year honor and fourth with a different team. Pitino has now led six teams to the NCAA tournament across his 24 total appearances, posting the third highest winning percentage in tournament history at .720 (54-21).

All-Time Against St. John's
This will be the first ever meeting between Omaha and St. John's.