OMAHA, Neb.  — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team hits the road on Sunday, heading to the University of Nebraska Omaha for a 4 p.m. exhibition game against the NCAA Division I Mavericks.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-0 Overall) at Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks (0-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals got double-figure scoring from four different players and used a 17-1 run over the game's final four minutes in handing Crossroads an 83-66 nonconference setback Friday at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
• Nebraska-Omaha: Despite a late second-half rally, Omaha dropped a season-opening 60-59 heartbreaker to UC Santa Barbara at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb.  | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Nebraska-Omaha—Their Last Meeting:
• Sunday's game between the Cardinals and Mavericks is the first in program history.
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals play their second exhibition game of the season on Thursday, heading to Sioux Falls, S.D., for a 7 p.m. contest against the University of Sioux Falls.
• Nebraska-Omaha: The Mavericks are back on their home court on Tuesday, hosting UMKC in a 7 p.m. nonconference contest in Omaha, Neb.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015-16 Roster | 2015-16 Statistics | 2015-16 Schedule
• Sunday's game is the first of two exhibition games for the Cardinals, who face the University of Sioux Falls on Thursday. … Sunday's contest at UNO is also the first of five straight road games for the Cardinals, who do not return home until Dec. 5, when they entertain Macalester in a 1 p.m. MIAC contest. … Quashingm Smith-Pugh (St. Paul, Minn.) made an impressive Cardinal debut against Crossroads, knocking down 5 of 9 field goals and adding a 5-for-8 showing from the free throw line en route to his game-high 15-point effort against Crossroads. … Smith-Pugh was one of four Cardinals to score in double figures vs. the Knights Friday—Connor Kaiser (Rockland, Wis. / 14), Mark Schumacher (Perham, Minn. / 13), and Kai Endahl (Mendota Heights, Minn.  / 12) were the others. … Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) recorded a team-best 13 rebounds vs. Crossroads—including 12 on the defensive end. … Swiggum's 13-rebound showing was just one shy of his collegiate best. … With his 13-point effort vs. Crossroads Friday, Schumacher has now scored in double figures in six of the Cardinals' last nine games—including a career-high 20-point effort against Illinois Institute of Technology on Feb. 2, 2015. … Swiggum and Kaiser each had career nights against Martin Luther last season, as Swiggum equaled his career high with 24 points, while Kaiser chipped in a career-best 22 points. The efforts by Swiggum and Kaiser marked the first time the Cardinals had two 20-point scorers in a game since Jan. 21, 2013. … Swiggum heads into Sunday's exhibition game vs. Omaha owning six games of 20 or more points in his collegiate career. … Saint Mary's had five players who scored 20 or more points last season. … Swiggum notched his first double-double of the season—and eighth of his collegiate career—with 13 points and 11 rebounds against Macalester on Jan. 17. … As a team, Saint Mary's netted 134 3-pointers last season, including a season-high 10 treys in a game twice—vs. Saint John's on Feb. 11 and vs. North Park on Dec. 30. … The Cardinals' 83 points against Crossroads Friday, equaled their highest offensive output of a year ago—an 83-73 win over Martin Luther on Jan. 26. … Saint Mary's netted 70 or more points in a game seven times a year ago.
 
Scouting The Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks:
2015-16 Roster | 2015-16 Statistics | 2015-16 Schedule
• Sunday's game against Saint Mary's is the second of three straight home games for the Mavericks, who went 7-6 on their home court a year ago. … The last time the Mavericks began the season with three straight home games was 2002-03, when they hosted Mary, Rockhurst and Bellevue. … Omaha's one-point loss to UC-Santa Barbara Friday was just its second season-opening loss in 11 season openers under coach Derrin Hansen. … Friday's loss to UC-Santa Barbara also snapped the Mavericks' three-game season-opening winning streak. … UNO was picked to finish seventh in the 2015-16 Summit League Preseason Poll. … UNO returns nine letterwinners from its 2014-15 team, including three starters in senior guards Marcus Tyus and Devin Patterson, and sophomore forward Tre'Shawn Thurman. … UNO has four returning players who averaged 7.0 or more points-per-game last year—Tyus (13.0), Patterson (11.7), Thurman (9.5) and Jake White (7.3). … Randy Reed netted a team-best 14 points against the Gauchos Friday, while Thurman (10) and Patterson (10) also scored in double figures. … Thurman missed a season-opening double-double by one rebound, finishing with 10 points and nine boards. … UNO finished last season on a three-game road winning streak, defeating Fort Wayne (73-67), IUPUI (87-80, 2 OTs), and North Dakota (80-78). … Thurman started all but three games in his freshman season a year ago, becoming the first UNO freshman to earn a start since CJ Carter in 2011-12. … Thurman finished with career bests of 18 points and five blocks against Nevada last year—the most blocks by any Maverick since Gabe Zweiner tallied five against Nebraska-Kearney on Dec. 3, 2005. …  In his first three seasons, Tyus amassed 787 career points, and if he reaches 1,000, Tyus will be the 36th UNO player to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Tyus is also 16th on Omaha's career 3-pointers chart, as his 92 treys sit just behind Charles Box, who had 94 from 1995-98. … As a team, Omaha led the Summit League with 8.2 steals per game last year—led by Patterson's league-high 59 steals. … The Mavericks were also first in the conference for points per game (76.8), field goals made per game (26.4) and free throws made per game (17.7). … Omaha finished the 2014-15 season—its fourth and final year of reclassification to NCAA Division I—with a record of 12-17 (5-11 in the Summit League) … The 2015-16 season marks Omaha's first with full NCAA Division I and Summit League postseason eligibility. The Mavericks competed the last four seasons as a reclassifying Division I school, joining the Summit League in 2012-13. During the reclassification period, UNO was ineligible for the league tournament and NCAA postseason play, but played a full regular-season conference schedule for its last three transitional years.