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This week
No. 14 Augustana (7-1, 4-0 NSIC) will look to extend its five-game winning streak this weekend at home in a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games, hosting Minnesota, Crookston (4-3, 0-3 NSIC) Saturday at 6:05 p.m. and MSU Moorhead (7-0, 3-0 NSIC) Sunday at 6 p.m.
Television
Midco Sports Network will carry Saturday's contest against Minnesota,Crookston live from the Elmen Center. Tom Nieman will handle play-by-play, while Brad Newitt will provide color commentary. MidcoSN can be found on channels 26 or 622 (HD) for Midcontinent Communications subscribers.
The series
Augustana and Minnesota, Crookston will meet for the 10th time Saturday in a series that began in 2003-04. The Vikings are 8-1 against the Golden Eagles and have won the last seven contests between the two schools. Last season, Augustana beat UMC 81-68 on the road and 90-66 at home Head coach
Tom Billeter is 8-1 against the Golden?Eagles. Sunday will be the 14th meeting between Augustana and MSU Moorhead. The Vikings lead the series, which started in 1966-67, 7-6. The Dragons won both meetings last year, topping the Vikings 64-62 in Moorhead, Minn., and 77-72 in Sioux Falls. Billeter is 4-4 against the Dragons
Last time out
Augustana moved to 4-0 in league play with road wins against U-Mary and Northern State last weekend.
Drae Murray and
Cameron McCaffrey collaborated for 34 points to help Augustana to a 58-45 victory over U-Mary Friday evening in Bismarck, N.D. Murray dropped 19 points on the Marauders while also grabbing seven rebounds. McCaffrey, who entered the game with 999 career points, scored 15. U-Mary was held to just 45 points--the lowest output by an Augustana opponent this season. Augustana kept its flawless conference record intact with a 76-68 victory over Northern State Saturday night in Aberdeen, S.D. Four Vikings scored in double figures in Augustana's fourth-straight win. McCaffrey netted 20 points,
Cody Schilling scored 14,
Yuriy Malashenko had 12 and Murray finished with 11. Schilling and Malashenko each registered six rebounds.
Best since the '70s
At 4-0 in league play, Augustana has registered its best start to a conference season since 1977-78 when the Vikings went 5-0 to open North Central Conference play under Mel Klein. That conference season started with wins over South Dakota State (65-57), Nebraska Omaha (87-61), Northern Iowa (69-64), Morningside (77-58) and South Dakota (79-78, overtime). Augustana would go on to win the NCC and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
It's been awhile
Two wins by Augustana this weekend would give the Vikings their best start to a conference season in the post World War II era. A pair of victories would mean a 6-0 NSIC record. An Augustana men's basketball team hasn't put together such an effort since the 1933-34 season. L.A. “Lefty” Olson's crew strung together 10-straight wins to begin the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference season. The Vikings dropped their final conference game to the University of Sioux Falls (then Sioux Falls College) but still secured the SDIC title with a 10-1 record. Here's how that conference season broke down:
Jan. 11, 1934 USD-Springfield W 36-32
Jan. 12, 1934 Yankton W 44-36
Jan. 16, 1934 Northern State W 41-40
Jan. 23, 1934 Black Hills State W 41-30
Jan. 27, 1934 South Dakota State W 32-30
Jan. 30, 1934 Huron W 39-32
Feb. 2, 1934 Yankton W 42-22
Feb. 5, 1934 Dakota Wesleyan W 34-33
Feb. 13, 1934 Sioux Falls W 35-34
Feb. 17, 1934 South Dakota School of Mines W 42-29
Feb. 20, 1934 Dakota State W 45-30
Feb. 27, 1934 Sioux Falls L 26-33
Members only
Cameron McCaffrey (Portland, Ore.) is the newest member of the Augustana 1,000-point club. The junior's bucket three minutes into last Friday's game at U-Mary pushed him past a grand. McCaffrey entered the game with 999 points. He is the 29th player to score 1,000 career points for Viking men's basketball and second active player on this year's roster who is apart of the elite club. Fellow guard
Cody Schilling (Ellsworth, Minn.) reached 1,000 points last season.
Defense, defense, defense
Augustana's defense held U-Mary to just 45 points last Friday--the lowest by a Viking opponent this season. Augustana also forced 17 Marauder turnovers--the most by an opponent in 2011-12. The Vikings haven't held an opponent to so few points since Dec. 27, 2006, at home against Illinois Tech when the Scarlet Hawks managed just 41 points in a loss to Augustana.
Starts under Billeter
Augustana's 7-1 start to the 2011-12 campaign isn't the best in
Tom Billeter's tenure as a head coach. As the leader of North Dakota State, Billeter went 11-0 to begin the 1996-97 season. Other 7-1 starts in Billeter's career have come in 1994-95 at NDSU and 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2009-10 at Augustana.
Winning streaks
The Vikings are winners of their last five games. Last year, Augustana strung together eight mid-season wins in January. It started with a 75-65 home victory over Concordia University, St. Paul on Jan. 4, 2011, and ended when Minnesota State beat Augustana 92-79 on Feb. 4, 2011, in Sioux Falls.
What the coaches say
Augustana is the favorite to win the conference, according to the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll released Oct. 26 by the conference office. The Vikings received nine first-place votes and 164 points in the poll voted on by the conference's 14 head coaches.
National news
Augustana climbed two spots to No. 14 in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches national poll released Tuesday. The Vikings received 84 points in the rankings voted on by members of the NABC Division II Congress. Metro State (Colo.), which owns a 9-0 record, moved into the top spot in this week's poll. The Roadrunners earned five first-place votes and 197 points. Conference-neighbor Winona State checked in at No. 16. To view the complete poll, turn to page 8.
Schilling closing in
It could be a record-breaking year for
Cody Schilling (Ellsworth, Minn.). The senior is eighth on the career scoring list at Augustana with 1,519 points. He needs 311 points to tie Carl Gonder's career scoring mark of 1,830 points. He scored 572 points last season.
Rk Points Player Years
1. 1830 Carl Gonder 1980-84
2. 1795 Mark Smed 1979-83
3. 1764 Greg Nagel 1974-78
4. 1704 Jason Garrow 1988-92
5. 1681 Scott Beckstrand 1990-94
6. 1642 Arvid Kramer 1975-79
7. 1628 Bill Gross 1969-73
8. 1519
Cody Schilling 2008-12
9. 1510 Brett Szabo 1987-91
10. 1381 Rich Chapman 1973-77
History lesson
Augustana enters its 90th season of men's basketball in 2011-12. The Vikings are 926-1033 all-time and have racked up 37 winning seasons, including the past five seasons under
Tom Billeter.
On the radio
Veteran radio man Jeff Fylling is back as the “Voice of the Vikings” for 2011-12. Join Fylling for each broadcast on KIKN-FM 100.5. You can also stream the broadcast at kikn.com/stream.
Augustana Sportscene
Augustana Sportscene is a 30-minute weekly television show highlighting Augustana athletics and is hosted by Director of Athletics Bill Gross. The show includes Viking highlights, interviews with various coaches and student-athletes and promotion of upcoming Augustana athletic events. Augustana Sportscene airs Monday's at 10:30 p.m. and Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. on Midco Sports Network and at various times on Mediacom's MC22.
Augustana Coaches' Show
Live from Rookies in Sioux Falls, The Augustana Coaches' Show airs On ESPN 99.1 each Monday at 5 p.m. Join Jeffy Fylling and Augustana head coaches as they discuss various topics surrounding Viking athletics. You can also stream the show live at www.ESPN991.com.
