South Dakota State (20-6, 10-1) vs. Nebraska Omaha (14-9, 8-2)
Baxter Arena, Omaha, Nebraska; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: SD State looks for its sixth straight win in the head-to-head series over Nebraska Omaha. South Dakota State has won by an average of 10 points in its last five wins over the Mavericks. Nebraska Omaha's last win in the series came on Jan. 7, 2017, a 101-93 win.
SAVVY VETERANS: Senior leadership could play a big role in the outcome of this game. Zach Jackson, JT Gibson and Mitch Hahn have combined to account for 56 percent of Nebraska Omaha's scoring this season and 60 percent of the team's points over its last five games. For South Dakota State, Mike Daum, Skyler Flatten and Tevin King have combined to score 59 percent of the team's points this season, including 77 percent of all Jackrabbits points over their last five.
SUMMIT LEAGUE IMPROVEMENT: The Mavericks have scored 86.7 points per game against Summit League opponents so far, an improvement from the 74.8 per game they managed against non-conference opponents.
DOMINANT DAUM: Daum has connected on 35.5 percent of the 141 3-pointers he's attempted and has made 9 of 30 over his last five games. He's also made 82.7 percent of his foul shots this season.
WINLESS WHEN: Nebraska Omaha is 0-6 this year when it scores 73 points or fewer and 14-3 when it scores at least 74.
WINNING WHEN: Nebraska Omaha is a perfect 6-0 when its defense holds opponents to a field goal percentage of 42.1 percent or less. The Mavericks are 8-9 when allowing opponents to shoot any better than that.
DID YOU KNOW: The South Dakota State offense has scored 84.8 points per game this season, ranking the Jackrabbits ninth among Division I teams. The Nebraska Omaha defense has allowed 79 points per game to opponents (ranked 297th overall).
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
