Jump to content
SiouxSports.com Forum

UND (4-10, 0-1) @ Omaha (2-12, 1-2) 1/6 7 PM


Recommended Posts

Posted

Well after having two games wiped out due to COVID issues on the team (however, they have been since been rescheduled), UND looks to be healthy and ready as they head down to take on Omaha to start their road trip.

About Omaha:

5 minutes left, 2017 Summit League Championship.  Omaha was up 72-70 and battling the top seeded Jackrabbits.  It looked all possible that the Mavs were going to break through and make their first NCAA tournament appearance.  Unfortunately, they came up a little bit short that day.  Things continued to progress a couple of years later with a 2nd place finish and a 13-3 conference record.  Perhaps the breakthrough was coming.

Well after a 4th place finish in 2019-2020... things came crashing down.. hard.  Injuries, COVID, and everything in-between led them to a 5 win season and a 4-10 Summit record, and the dubious position of not making it to Sioux Falls.  Low finishes have happened before to Omaha, but they have bounced back the following season.  So there was some hope for this...

Nope.

This season has been even rougher than the previous one.  Other than a win against Western Illinois, the only other win they have is against a non D1.  They have again suffered injuries, but they have certainly have struggled this year.  They have fallen behind in many first halves this year, only to try and rally back in the 2nd half.  

There is still plenty of season to go, but Omaha is trying to avoid being one of the teams that doesn't make it to Sioux Falls again..... only this time, it could lead to a change.  Omaha expects to compete with their new facilities and if they feel that Hansen can't get it done, they won't hesitate to make a move.

So with all that said... should UND be with worried?  UM YEAH!

History has NOT been on UND side (see last year for instance).  Omaha has won 12 out of their last 13 against UND.  

About Derrin Hansen (17th season, 248-245 record)

 Hansen has been around the Mavs program for close to 25 years now and unfortunately is having another rough go at it.   He certainly has had some modest success at Omaha at both the D2 and the D1 level.  However, another rough season might finally be the moment where a change is made.

Key Player: Frankie Fidler (6'7 Freshman)

The freshman from Bellevue has certainly has stepped up nicely in the first 3 conference games, averaging 17 ppg.  He is a player that can mix it up down low and shoot it from 3.  He also loves to get to the free throw line.  He can grab a few rebounds, but his primary threat right now is scoring.

Series History:

While UND leads the all time series (55-43). Omaha has won 12 out of their last 13 against UND and in the Summit League, they are 1-6 against the Mavs.  

Other Game:

ORU (3-1) @ UST (2-1):

The other game will be down in St. Paul, as the upstart Tommies look to build off of their big win against Western Illinois.  ORU took care of business against Denver and Omaha at home.  This is a big test for the Tommies, who can certainly shoot with any team in the conference, but will they be able to handle the ORU bigs?  UST is known for the fast starts, can ORU slow them down?

USD and SDSU are off until Saturday.  NDSU/DU has been pushed to Monday.  UMKC and WIU are off because of COVID issues in the UMKC program.

Keys:

1) How healthy is UND?

2) Who gets off to a better start?

3) Will the layoff hurt UND?

The Call:

Omaha can certainly feel confident in the fact that their recent ownage of UND and this certainly won't change until UND changes it.  Despite their shortcoming, UND cannot underestimate this squad.  They painfully learned this lesson last year in Omaha getting blown out on Friday Night and then needed a strong 2nd half to beat them.  Questions about health is going to be on both sides.  I hope to see at least Nero back for this series because that will be a big boost to the UND Backcourt.  I think this will be a close one, but UND finds a way to gut it out with another strong night from Bruns

UND 82-77

Free stream here:

https://omavs.com/watch/?Live=5642&type=Live 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...