SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – An NSIC Championship is on the line for No. 5 Augustana men's basketball as the Vikings travel the two blocks to face USF on Thursday to close out the road portion of the season. On Saturday, Augustana hosts Southwest Minnesota State inside the Sanford Pentagon.
 
A single win over the two contests give AU its first NSIC Championship since 2016, while the same win would give Augustana the South Division title for the first time in four years.
 
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 Games
The contest with USF is slated for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff in the Stewart Center. Advanced ticket purchase is preferred and can be purchased here. On Saturday, the Vikings host the Mustangs in a 5:30 p.m. game. The game will be Senior Night for the Viking men honoring seven exhausting their athletic eligibility: Jameson Bryan, Adam Dykman, Dylan LeBrun, Tyler Riemersma, Zach Scholten, Eric Tiedman and Tayton Vincent. In addition, the contest is also Alumni Night where many Vikings will gather to watch Bodey Behrends, Levi Jansen, Beau Keeve and Carter Rynda receive their banner.
 
About the Cougars
Sioux Falls enters this weekend 11-12 on the season and 7-10 in the NSIC. It dropped both contests last weekend with a one-point loss to Winona State, 75-76, and a loss to Upper Iowa, 58-82. Their biggest win of the season comes as an upset, 83-77, win over then-No.1 Northwest Missouri State. The Cougars are scoring 71.7 points per game while shooting 40.4 percent from the field this season. They're fourth in the league in rebounding at 37.0 rebounds per game.
 
The Cougars place three players in double-figure scoring including Jack Thompson at 12.9 points per game while leading the team with assists at four per outing. Chase Grinde is the active leader in rebounds at 6.5 per outing.
 
Augustana has won four-straight against USF while Tom Billeter has a record of 19-6 against the school just two blocks apart.
 
About the Mustangs
The Mustangs come into the weekend at 13-10 on the season and a 9-9 NSIC record. Prior to playing the Vikings, SMSU hosts Wayne State Thursday night. They come into the weekend after splitting last weekend's games with a loss to Upper Iowa, 56-67, then toppling beat Winona State, 79-71. They average 71.4 points per game on the season with a 47.1 percent shooting.
 
Senior guard Kenny Byers leads the Mustangs in points this season averaging 14.7 points per game. He ranks second on the team with 6.0 rebounds per game. Sophomore center Jake Phipps leads the Mustangs in rebounds at 6.4 per game while averaging 13.0 points per game.
 
About the Vikings
Augustana is 21-2 on the season and 15-2 within the NSIC. It is in control of its own chances to win the NSIC by simply winning a game. A sweep over USF and SMSU would give AU the outright title and overall No. 1 seed heading into the NSIC Tournament.
 
The Vikings are coming off a weekend road sweep with wins at Concordia-St. Paul (88-72) and Minnesota State (85-74). Tyler Riemersma did Tyler Riemersma things and earned his fifth NSIC Player of the Week award after averaging 21 points and 13 rebounds over those two contests. He was joined in the 20-point average club by Isaac Fink and his own average of 21 points over the two contests.
 
For the year, it is Riemersma who leads AU in points and rebounds in what should be the leading candidate for the NSIC Player of the Year. He pours in 18.2 points and secures 11.0 rebounds per game. The rebounds are tops in the NSIC while the points are sixth all while shooting at a 58.7 percent clip.
 
In all, Augustana places four players in double-digit scoring with Fink at 15.7 points, Adam Dykman at 13.2 points and Dylan LeBrun with 11.3 points per game. Jameson Bryan has enjoyed a senior campaign that has seen him average 4.6 assists per game, a figure that jumps to 5.2 per game in NSIC action, ranking second.
 
One Last Thing
In his career, Tom Billeter has captured a National Championship and three conference titles ranging from the NCC and the NSIC as a head coach during his 450 plus wins. He hopes to add a fourth conference title, and third at Augustana, with a win over the final two regular-season games. He won his first conference title as a head coach at North Dakota State in 1995. He added two at Augustana in 2014-15 and 2015-16 with the latter culminating in a National Championship.