Storylines
• Augustana men's basketball (13-9, 10-6 NSIC) returns to the Elmen Center this weekend to begin a for-game homestand.
• The Vikings open the weekend with Winona State (18-5, 13-3 NSIC) at 8 p.m. on Friday night before hosting Upper Iowa (10-12, 8-8 NSIC) at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
• Augustana has two games remaining against Winona State and Upper Iowa.
• Following this weekend, Augustana will host MSU Moorhead and Northern State on Feb. 14-15.
• The Vikings will close-out the regular season schedule the following weekend, Feb. 21-22, at Winona State and Upper Iowa.
• Augustana enters the weekend sitting alone in seventh-place overall in the NSIC and fourth in the South Division.
Last time out
• Augustana is coming off a weekend split on the road, defeating Minnesota Duluth 82-62 last Friday night and lost 76-70 to St. Cloud State on Saturday.
• Augustana got a balanced attack on Friday night with five players scoring in double-figures.
•
Casey Schilling led the Vikings with 18 points at UMD and was followed by
Ben Shellim (15),
Matthew Brazendale (14),
Yuriy Malashenko (13) and
Ethan Guske (11).
• The Vikings hit a season-high 14 3-pointers against the Bulldogs Friday night, knocking down seven in each half.
• Shellim hit a career-high five 3-pointers against the Bulldogs while Guske and Brazendale each hit three apiece.
• On Saturday night, St. Cloud State went on a 15-2 run beginning at the 9:16 mark of the second half to take its first lead of the game since the midway point of the first half at 65-63.
• Augustana led by 11 when the Huskies began their run.
• Damarius Cruz sparked SCSU's run scoring 16 of his 19 points in the second half while going 6 of 8 from the field.
•
Yuriy Malashenko led Augustana against the Huskies finishing with a career-high 18 points to go along with 13 rebounds.
About Augustana
• Augustana is 13-9 on the season and is has scored 79.5 points per game.
• Augustana has allowed 70.1 points per game this season and holds a +9.4 scoring margin.
• The Vikings have shot 45.7 percent from the field, including 38.5 percent from 3-point range.
• The Vikings are shooting 74.1 percent (392 of 529) from the free throw line as a team.
• Augustana has grabbed 35.9 rebounds per game and holds a +3.1 rebound margin through 22 games.
• The Vikings are averaging 11.5 turnovers and own a +1.9 turnover margin.
• Augustana is averaging 12.9 assists per game and owns an assist/turnover ratio of 1.1
About Winona State
• Winona State enters the weekend tied for first in the overall and South Division standings with Minnesota State at 18-5 on the season, 13-3 in the NSIC.
• Winona State is coming off a road split last weekend after defeating Northern State 64-53 on Friday night and losing a close one, 82-80, at MSU Moorhead.
• All three of Winona State's conference losses this season have come on the road.
• The Warriors enter the weekend averaging 78 points per game, which ranks eighth overall in the NSIC, but Winona State has allowed the fewest points per game in the NSIC at 65.9 ppg.
• Winona State has shot 48.7 percent from the field as a team and enters the weekend ranked third in the NSIC shooting 40 percent from 3-point range.
• Redshirt freshman guard Riley Bambenek leads Winona State in scoring averaging 13.7 points per game and is shooting 47.2 percent from the field.
• Senior guard Taylor Cameron has averaged 12.7 points per game for the Warriors while dishing out a team-high 86 assists on the season.
• Mike Leaf is in his 16th season as the head coach at Winona State.
• Leaf owns a career record of 360-136, including 221-65 in the NSIC.
About Upper Iowa
• Upper Iowa is 10-12 overall on the season and 8-8 in NSIC play.
• The Peacocks are coming off an impressive weekend in which they defeated MSU?Moorhead and Northern State on the road.
• On Friday night, Upper Iowa took MSU?Moorhead to overtime and came away with a 109-107 win behind Joey Woods' career-high 40 points.
• The Peacocks then picked up a 76-70 win at Northern State on Saturday night.
• Woods earned NSIC Player of the Week honors after his 40-point performance at MSU?Moorhead on Friday night.
• Woods leads Upper Iowa in scoring averaging 17.6 points per game and has dished out 101 assists, which ranks second in the NSIC.
• Grant Lang enters the weekend averaging 13 points per game for Upper Iowa and has a team-high 57 3-pointers on the season.
• Lang is shooting 44.9 percent from behind the arc on the season.
• Brooks McKowen is in his first season as the head coach at Upper Iowa.
• McKowen owns a career record of 10-12 after spending the last two seasons (2011-13) as an assistant coach at Southwest Minnesota State.
Series history
• Friday night's game will be the 18th all-time meeting between Augustana and Winona State.
• Augustana is 8-9 all-time agains the Warriors.
• Augustana and Winona State met three times last season, including the semifinal round of the Central Region Championships in Mankato, Minn. last season.
• Augustana is 6-1 all-time against Winona State at home, the only loss coming on Dec. 29, 2004.
• Augustana defeated Winona State 81-78 in overtime at the Elmen Center last season.
• Al Richter nailed a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left in overtime to lift the Vikings to a win.
• Winona State won two of the three meetings between the two teams last season.
• Augustana and Upper Iowa will play for the 15th time in a series that began in 1962.
• Augustana won two of three games against Upper Iowa last season, defeating the Peacocks 71-64 on the road, and 79-65 in the first round of the regional tournament last season.
• Upper Iowa defeated Augustana 77-66 at the Elmen Center on Feb. 22 last season.
• Last year's win over Augustana was the first ever at the Elmen Center for the Peacocks.
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