SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Augustana University men's basketball (23-8) will make its 14th NCAA Tournament appearance as the No. 5 seed in the Central Region Tournament on Saturday, March 11, taking on No. 4 seed University of Arkansas at Monticello (23-6) at 8:15 p.m. in Maryville, Missouri. The NCAA Central Region Tournament will be held March 11-12 & 14 at Bearcat Arena on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University. 

THE CENTRAL REGION
• Northwest Missouri State earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Central Region Tournament and will host the regional for the first time in school history
• Augustana is one of four Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams to earn a spot in the NCAA Central Region Tournament
• The Great American Conference qualified three teams for the region tournament while Northwest Missouri State is the lone Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association team in this year' s field
• 12 p.m. - No. 3 East Central vs. No. 6 MSU Moorhead
• 2:15 p.m. - No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State vs. No. 7 Arkansas Tech
• 6 p.m. - No. 1 Northwest Missouri State vs. No. 8 Upper Iowa
• 8:15 p.m. - No. 4 Arkansas-Monticello vs. No. 5 Augustana

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Augustana is making its 14th NCAA Tournament appearance in school history in 2016-17
• The Vikings have been to the NCAA Tournament eight times in the last 10 years, including three straight trips
• Augustana made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1975 and won its first NCAA Tournament game in 1978
• Augustana is 16-15 all-time in NCAA Tournament games
• Augustana has played in three NCAA Central Region Championship games in program history
• The Vikings played for the regional title in 2009 in Marshall, Minnesota and again in 2010 in Mankato
• Augustana hosted the NCAA Central Region Tournament for the first time in school history in 2014-15
• Augustana hosted the regional for the second straight season last year, winning the program's first regional title to advance to the Elite Eight
• Augustana secured the first National Championship in program history last season with a 90-81 win over Lincoln Memorial
• Augustana defeated Tarleton State (86-79) in the quarterfinals of the Elite Eight before advancing to the final with a 74-55 win over Western Oregon

THE 20-WIN SEASON
• Augustana enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 23-8 on the season
• Augustana has won 20 or more games in a season 10 times in school history, including seven times under the direction of 14th-year head coach Tom Billeter
• Augustana has now won 20-plus games in 7 of the last 10 years, including three straight seasons

SPENCER AND BUSACK EARN ALL-NSIC HONORS
• Augustana's Jordan Spencer and Mike Busack were named to the All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference team which was announced Thursday
• Spencer, a two-time All-NSIC South Division honoree, was named to the All-NSIC First Team for 2016-17
• Busack is making his first appearance on the All-NSIC Team, earning Second Team honors
• Spencer earned Second Team honors as a freshman and sophomore. He was also named the league's Freshman of the Year in 2014-15

LAST TIME OUT
• Augustana was last in action on Feb. 27 in the semifinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament
• The Vikings lost a double overtime heartbreaker, 97-89, to eventual tournament champion Southwest Minnesota State
• Augustana held a 70-60 lead with 2:52 left in regulation before SMSU scored eight straight points, including a pair of deep contested 3-pointers, two get within two at 70-68 just a minute later. 
• Adam Beyer got off a contested jumper from the right wing just before the buzzer but it bounced off and the game went into overtime
• SMSU raced out to a five-point lead in the first overtime but the Vikings answered with a 9-2 run, including a 3-pointer by John Warren with 10 seconds left, helping Augustana regain the lead at 83-81
• SMSU's Joey Bartlett cleaned up a miss and the putback tied the game at 83 sending it to a second overtime
• The Mustangs scored eight of the first nine points in the second overtime and held on for the 97-89 win over the Vikings to advance to the championship game
• Mike Busack led Augustana with 26 points and nine rebounds while John Warren added 18 points, hitting 6 of 9 3-pointers
• Jordan Spencer became Augustana's all-time leader in assists in the loss. Spencer finished the game with his sixth career double-double, picking up 12 points and 10 assists
• Augustana finished the game shooting 45.7 percent from the field, including 37.9 percent from 3-point range
• The Vikings were just 3 of 10 from 3-point range in the second half

ABOUT AUGUSTANA
• Augustana is averaging 83.9 points per game, which ranks 41st in the country entering the NCAA Tournament
• The Vikings have out-scored opponents by 10.6 points per game which leads the NSIC and ranks 29th nationally
• Augustana is allowing just 73.2 points per game, which ranks third amongst NSIC teams
• Augustana is shooting 48.3 percent from the field as a team, including 40.5 percent from 3-point range
• The Vikings rank 20th in the country in 3-point field goal percentage
• Augustana averages 12.9 made free throws per game and is shooting 73.2 percent from the line as a team
• Augustana is averaging 37.9 rebounds per game and owns a +5.9 rebound margin on the season
• The Vikings rank second in the NSIC and 16th in the country averaging 17.3 assists per game
• Augustana is averaging 6.3 steals per game which ranks fifth in the NSIC

ABOUT ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO
• Arkansas-Monticello enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 23-6 on the season
• The Boll Weevils advanced to the Great American Conference Tournament championship game after finishing second in the regular season standings
• UAM lost the GAC Tournament Championship game to regular season conference champion, East Central, by a score of 82-67
• UAM is averaging 83.8 points per game and owns a +9.0 scoring margin on the season
• UAM is shooting 48.5 percent from the field as a team, including 34.5 percent from 3-point range
• UAM averages 19.1 made free throws per game and is shooting 72.8 percent from the stripe as a team
• The Boll Weevils average 37.5 rebounds per game and a +3.6 rebound margin on the season
• Derylton Hill leads UAM in scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg)
• Cobe Goosby is averaging 15.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for the Weevils
• Kyle Tolin is in his third season as the head coach at Arkansas-Monticello. He owns a career record of 38-44

SERIES HISTORY
• Saturday's game will be the first ever meeting between Augustana and Arkansas-Monticello
• Augustana will play a team from the state of Arkansas for the third straight season in the NCAA Tournament
• Augustana is 2-0 against teams from Arkansas
• The Vikings defeated Arkansas Tech in the first round of the NCAA Central Region Tournament in 2014-15 and Harding in the first round of last year's regional