SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 2 Augustana University men's basketball (28-2) is set to open NCAA Tournament play hosting eighth-seeded Harding University (20-10) in the Central Region Tournament on Saturday, March 12 at the Sanford Pentagon. The Vikings enter the NCAA Central Region Tournament as the No. 1 seed and will host the event for the second straight season.
 
The Vikings and Bisons will tip-off at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in the first game of the second session. For the tournament website, click HERE.
 
Augustana is making its 13th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, including its seventh under the direction of 13th-year head coach Tom Billeter. Augustana is making its second straight NCAA Tournament trip in 2015-16.
 
Augustana owns an all-time record of 10-14 in the NCAA Tournament. Harding University won a share of the Great American Conference regular season championship in 2015-16 and is making the program's sixth NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
Harding enters Saturday's game averaging 80.1 points per game while allowing 72.7 per contest. The Bisons are shooting 47.1 percent from the field as a team and average 10.4 3-pointers per game while shooting 39.4 percent from behind the arc.
 
The Bisons are averaging 35.2 rebounds per game and are led by Adraz Kavas who is averaging 20.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
 
Augustana is currently riding a nine-game winning streak and enters the NCAA Tournament averaging 91.4 points per game which ranks seventh in the country. The Vikings rank third in the nation out-scoring opponents by 19.3 points per game, allowing just 72.3 points per contest.
 
Senior forward and back-to-back NSIC Player of the Year Daniel Jansen enters the NCAA Tournament averaging 20.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game for the Vikings. Casey Schilling, who was recently named MVP of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament, is averaging 19.7 points and a team-high 9.7 rebounds per game.
 
Schilling had a strong showing at the NSIC Tournament averaging 21.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks over the last four games.
 
Sophomore guard Jordan Spencer is averaging 9.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and a team-high 6.7 assists per game which ranks sixth in the country. Spencer ranks second in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.57 and is 40 assists away from the single season record at Augustana. He has dished out 200 assists in 2015-16 which is two shy of his personal best in a single season.
 
Tickets for the NCAA Central Region Tournament are on sale at the Sanford Pentagon Box Office or online at Ticketmaster.com.