SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana men's basketball team opens 2022 on Sunday hosting Wayne State at 3:30 p.m. inside the Sanford Pentagon.
 
Complete action can be followed at GoAugie.com/Live and on the GoAugie App, presented by CellOnly. The app can be downloaded in the app store or on Google Play.
 
The Game
Sunday's matinee pits the NSIC South Division preseason favorite Wildcats against the Vikings who have spent much of the year in the national rankings. The contest also features two of the double-double machines in the NSIC in Jordan Janssen from Wayne State and the Vikings' Tyler Riemersma.
 
The Wildcats
Wayne State enters holding a 7-5 overall record while sitting at 4-2 in the NSIC. The Wildcats have been methodical this season, winning multiple games, dropping one, winning multiple more before dropping their next contest. With that, WSC fell 88-76 in its final contest prior to the holiday break at Upper Iowa.
 
The Wildcats are led by NSIC South Division Preseason Player of the Year Jordan Janssen and his 16.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. En route to being named the division's Player of the Year in 2021, Janssen held a double-double average. He is joined in double-digit scoring by Justin Eagins and his 16.1 points per game. From there, the scoring output sees a significant drop where Alec Millender tallies 9.9 points per outing. No one else on the team scores more than 8.7 points per game.
 
Wayne State averages 71.5 points per game while shooting at a .451 clip. Defensively, the Wildcats hold opponents to 67.4 points per game while holding them to a 44.7 shooting percentage.
 
The Vikings
Augustana is 10-2 on the season while holding a 4-2 mark in the NSIC. That places Augustana in a tie for second place in the South Division with Sunday's opponent while sitting third in the overall NSIC standings.
 
Augustana was without the presence of the aforementioned Riemersma in a loss at Upper Iowa to close out the 2021 portion of the schedule. Riemersma leads AU with 18.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per outing. Joining him in double-figure scoring are Isaac Fink (16.3), Dylan LeBrun (11.3) and Adam Dykman (10.9).
 
Jameson Bryan has proven to be steady at the point guard position. To go along with his 8.6 points per game, Bryan ranks 19^th in the nation with a 3.31 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
One Last Thing
Augustana has three players on its roster that are expected to reach 1,000 points scored at Augustana within the next few games. Riemersma will conceivably be the first as he enters Sunday with 979 points. From there, LeBrun has totaled 929 while Dykman is at 921 points. Jordan Spencer is the last Vikings to reach 1,000 points during the 2017-18 season. Under head coach Tom Billeter, the Vikings have had 10 1,000 point scorers.