SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 20 Augustana men's basketball team returns home to the Sanford Pentagon on Friday and Saturday hosting Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State, respectively.
 
The Games
It'll be yet another Top-25 showdown for Augustana on Friday as the UMD Bulldogs are ranked No. 9 in the latest NABC poll. Friday's contest is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start. On Saturday, the Vikings and Huskies will tip at 5:30 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear gold on Saturday as part of the Be Bold, Wear Gold game in support of Augiethon and their efforts to raise money for Sanford Children's Hospital.
 
About the Bulldogs
Minnesota Duluth enters the contest after suffering its first loss of 2021-22 at Upper Iowa. The Bulldogs are now 16-1 on the season and 9-1 in the NSIC while holding a No. 9 national ranking. Nationally, UMD is No. 2 in the nation with a 52.7 field-goal percentage, No. 7 in scoring margin at +18.3 and No. 9 in scoring offense at 88.6 points per game.
 
The first loss of the season came at the hands of then-No. 16 Upper Iowa in a 94-85 in Fayette, Iowa. All five starters scored in double figures led by Charlie Katona with 20 points. In fact, all five starters have started all 17 games and average double-figure scoring. UMD is led by Austin Andrews at 18.4 points but is followed closely by Drew Blair with 18.2 points per outing.
 
Following 14.3 points from Joshua Brown, 12.8 from Katona and 10.9 from Jack Middleton, the Bulldogs' bench contributes just 15.2 points per game with the most coming from Jacob Shields and his 4.5 points.
 
Andrews marks the team lead in rebounds at 9.9 per game, which sits second in the NSIC behind Augustana's Tyler Riemersma.
 
About the Huskies
St. Cloud State owns an 8-8 record on the season while sitting at 4-5 in the NSIC. The Huskies have lost two-straight games with a 108-85 setback at Upper Iowa last week Friday and followed with a 94-72 loss at Winona State on Saturday.
 
Anthony Roberts leads SCSU with 19.6 points per game, a mark that ranks second in the NSIC while playing a league-best 27:21 minutes per game. He is joined in double-digit scoring by Caleb Donaldson at 17.3 points, Matthew Willert at 13.0 points, Ryan Bagley at 10.9 points and Josh Tomasi at 10.9 points per game.
 
St. Cloud State pours in 82.19 points per game but gives up 82.6 points per game. On opposite ends of the spectrum, the scoring offense is 46^th in the nation while the scoring defense is 275^th.
 
About the Vikings
Augustana jumped to No. 20 in the latest NABC Top-25 and owns a 13-2 overall record while sitting at 7-2 in the NSIC. The Vikings have not played two games in a weekend since Dec. 10 and 11 when they swept Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul inside the Sanford Pentagon.
 
The Vikings are coming off an 80-59 win at UMary this past Saturday that saw Isaac Fink tally 23 points and Adam Dykman 20.
 
For the year, Tyler Riemersma is the leading scorer with 16.4 points per outing. He is followed by Fink with 16.1 points while Dylan LeBrun and Adam Dykman each average 11.5 points per outing. Riemersma is also the leading rebounder at 10.4 boards per game, an NSIC best.
 
One Last Thing
The weekend pits two of the league's best scoring offenses against the NSIC's best scoring defense. Minnesota Duluth leads the league with 88.6 points per game while St. Cloud State is at 82.6. The Vikings' defense? It gives up 62.5 points per game. That pits opposite strengths with one surely to win out. As the old adage goes, defense wins championships.