Omaha men’s basketball won its lone exhibition of the 2024-25 season 101-62 over NAIA York University Tuesday.
Omaha led nearly wire-to-wire as Marquel Sutton put on a show. The 6-foot-7 senior scored a game-high 27 points, 14 of those in the first half.
Coach Chris Crutchfield played every available player, and 10 of the 14 players for Omaha saw double-figure minutes.
Despite losing the rebounding battle by 13 (50-37), the Mavs controlled the game and came out of it healthy with their first regular season game coming up on Monday against another NAIA team in Mid-America Christian.
Fast Start
Omaha started off shooting 9-of-13 from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range in the first 8:10 of the game. The Mavs made seven of their first 10 3-point shots in the first 12 minutes and shot over 70% from the field in the first 15:56 of the first half.
Defensively, the Mavs forced seven turnovers in York’s first 14 possessions.
“The way we are playing, we are keeping the ball out of the middle of the floor, forcing people down, and sometimes when you cut the floor in half, some teams panic,” Omaha coach Chris Crutchfield said. “They don’t know how to handle that. We are long and we are athletic and try to pressure you a little bit and try to do those kinds of things when we can. It was good to see we can force some turnovers tonight.’
At the half, the Mavs held a 58-36 lead while shooting 21-of-36 (58.3%) from the field and 9-of-19 (47.4) from behind the arc.
Go-To Guy Sutton
Returners Marquel Sutton and Tony Osburn and junior college transfer Kamryn Thomas are the three likely candidates to fill the shot-taking (438 field goal attempts) and scoring (20.3 points per game) left by Frankie Fidler’s transfer to Michigan State.
Sutton’s team-high 27 points was a game-high, as was his 15 attempts and 10 made field goals. His four made 3-pointers on six attempts was a game-high as well. In the first half, Sutton paced the Mavericks with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 4-of-5 from deep.
“I just took what the defense gave me,” Sutton said. “I worked on my 3-ball all summer. That is just the work I put in.”
Sutton was a plus-29 and chipped in four assists and five rebounds. His four 3-pointers came in the first 11 minutes of the game.
“That is part of the game that we emphasized all year that he needs to work on, to be a four that can spread the floor and shoot 3s, because he didn’t do a great job last year of doing that and that is the thing that we wanted to try and develop and he’s worked at it,” Crutchfield said. “For a guy that was out all summer with an elbow injury — his right elbow, he missed all summer. In fall camp, he worked his butt off and he’s in better shape, he’s stronger, he’s done an unbelievable job in fall camp and you probably saw his work today.”
Depth
The Mavs would like to play at a faster pace this season and developing depth with the roster was a key area of emphasis in the offseason. Monday night, the Mavericks played every available player and 10 of the 14 saw more than 10 minutes of game action.
“Early in the year, we are going to try and play as many guys as we can,” Crutchfield said. “I think we have depth with this team. We have a bunch of guys that can give us minutes, especially 10 or 11 for sure that can give us minutes.”
The Mavs are longer and more athletic than they have been in Crutchfield’s first two seasons as the head coach.
Kamryn Thomas, a Junior College All-American last season at Hutchison Community College in Kansas, started in his first appearance, playing 19:17. Two North Dakota State transfers in Lance Waddles and Joshua Streit along with Osburn were the three other starters.
Waddles adds another trusty ball handler to the mix with senior JJ White and sophomore Grant Stubblefield.
The Mavs won’t be able to play double-figure players all season, but an exhibition game is a great time to do so.
“I liked our pace of play… Thought we did a great job of sharing the basketball.”@MikeSautter_ caught up with @CoachCrutchUNO after @OmahaMBB downed York 101-62 in an exhibition. pic.twitter.com/lCqTroAZ8U
— Hurrdat Sports (@HurrdatSports) October 30, 2024
