SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 5 Augustana University men's basketball (20-2, 17-1 NSIC) will play its final two regular season road games this weekend with a pair of South Division clashes. The Vikings will close-out a four-game road swing starting at Southwest Minnesota State (12-11, 8-10 NSIC) at 8 p.m. on Friday at the R/A Facility. Augustana will then return to Sioux Falls on Saturday and head down the road to take on USF (15-9, 10-8 NSIC) at the Stewart Center at 6 p.m.
 
Augustana and USF will play for a half a point in the First Dakota National Bank Mayor's Cup Challenge when the two teams meet on Saturday. Augustana holds a 5.5-0.5 lead over the Cougars in the annual challenge. Augustana swept all five head-to-head contests in the fall.
 
The First Dakota National Bank Mayor's Cup Challenge is a head-to-head competition in 16 common, equally weighted sports at each school with each victory earning points towards the overall series championship. The Mayor's Cup Challenge also recognizes academic success and community engagement. Augustana has won the Mayor's Cup Challenge all three years of competition. The Vikings won the Inaugural Mayor's Cup Challenge by a score of 13-6 before winning 14-5 in 2013-14 and 11.5-7.5 in 2014-15.
 
For more information on the First Dakota National Bank Mayor's Cup Challenge, visit SFMayorscup.com.
 
Storylines
• Augustana was ranked fifth in the latest release of the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll
• Augustana spent the previous two weeks ranked No. 1 in the NABC poll
• Augustana has spent 21 straight weeks in the top 10 of the NABC poll
• The Vikings have been ranked in the top 10 of the NABC poll 28 times in program history
• Augustana has been ranked in the NABC Top 25 for 27 consecutive weeks dating back to Nov. 25 of last season
• Augustana enters the weekend leading the NSIC and ranked sixth in the country averaging 92.2 points per game
• The Vikings have out-scored opponents by 20.3 points which leads the NSIC and ranks third in the nation
• Augustana leads the league and ranks third in the nation averaging 19.8 assists per game
• The Vikings have the best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.96) in the nation
• Augustana leads the NSIC in rebounding averaging 40.4 rebounds per game
• The Vikings lead the NSIC and rank 12th in the country with a rebound margin of +7.8
• Senior forward Daniel Jansen became Augustana's all-time leading scorer last Saturday
• Jansen has scored 1,972 career points putting him 28 points shy of becoming the first player in program history to score 2,000 points
• Jansen currently ranks second all-time in NSIC history having scored 1,438 points in 84 career NSIC games
• Jansen needs just 17 points to pass Cameron McCaffrey who currently holds the NSIC scoring record
• Senior forward Casey Schilling needs just 28 points to move into fifth all-time at Augustana
• Schilling enters the weekend having scored 1,767 career points
• Schilling averaged 27.5 points, 17.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists to earn his eighth career NSIC Player of the Week honor last week
• Schilling put up his sixth career 15-15+ game finishing with 29 points and a career-high 22 rebounds at Northern State last Friday
• Sophomore guard Jordan Spencer went off for a career-high 23 points hitting a career-high seven 3-pointers at MSU Moorhead last Saturday
• Spencer enters the weekend leading the NSIC and ranked fifth in the country averaging 7.0 assists per game
• Senior Alex Richter registered his 15th double-digit scoring effort last Friday at Northern State finishing with 14 points
• Richter enters the weekend averaging 14 points and 3.8 rebounds per game on the season
• Richter is shooting 54 percent from the field and 51.1 percent from behind the arc hitting a team-high 48 3-pointers
• Adam Beyer is averaging 9.3 points, 3.1 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game in 2015-16
 
About Southwest Minnesota State
• Southwest Minnesota State enters the weekend with a record of 12-11 on the season, including 8-10 in NSIC play
• The Mustangs have won two straight games after picking up home wins over Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston last weekend at home
• SMSU is averaging 80.5 points per game while allowing 81.4 points per contest in 2015-16
• The Mustangs are shooting 49.9 percent from the field as a team, including 37.2 percent from 3-point range
• SMSU is shooting 72.1 percent from the free throw line on the season and is averaging 15 made free throws per game
• The Mustangs have grabbed 35.6 rebounds per game and are out-rebounding their opponents by 5.9 boards per game
• The Mustangs average 15.8 assists, 13.3 turnovers, 5.9 steals and 2.0 blocks per game
• Mitch Weg leads SMSU in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (7.3 rpg)
• Joey Bartlett is averaging 11.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game for SMSU
• Brad Bigler is in his seventh season as the head coach at SMSU. Bigler owns a career record of 107-91
 
About USF
• USF enters the weekend with a record of 15-9 on the season, including 10-8 in NSIC play
• The Cougars will host Wayne State on Friday night
• USF has won five of its last six games, including four straight
• USF defeated Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State at home last weekend
• USF is averaging 78.3 points per game in 2015-16 and has out-scored opponents by 7.3 points per game
• The Cougars have shot 47.6 percent from the field, including 39.7 percent from 3-point range
• USF is shooting 70.4 percent from the free throw line and averages 13.7 made free throws per game
• USF averages 35.6 rebounds per game and has out-rebounded its opponents by 2.1 rebounds per game
• The Cougars averaged 14.9 assists, 12.7 turnovers, 6.3 steals and 3.9 blocks per game
• Mack Johnson leads USF in scoring averaging 16.7 points per game having hit a team-high 56 3-pointers
• Daniel Hurtt is averaging 12.3 points and 4.4 rebounds for the Cougars
• Chris Johnson is in his eighth season as the head coach at USF. Johnson owns a career record of 155-116