SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The top-seeded Augustana men's basketball team is set to host the NCAA Division II Regional Tournament Saturday through Tuesday with the Vikings opening play against Southwestern Oklahoma State Saturday at 5 p.m. The tournament is set to take place inside the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. SWOSU enters the tournament as the No. 8 seed.
 
Tickets are available online at Ticketmaster.com, the Sanford Pentagon Box Office or by phone at 605-312-7917. 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.
 
A complete guide to the tournament can be found at GoAugie.com/D2MBBCentral. 
 
The Vikings are making their 15^th trip to the NCAA Tournament and ninth under head coach Tom Billeter.
 
The Tournament
Augustana is playing host to seven other schools in the eight-team regional. On Saturday, No. 3 Northwest Missouri State faces No. 6 MSU Moorhead at noon. At 2:30 p.m., No. 2 Minnesota Duluth faces No. 7 Washburn. Following Augustana's contest, No. 4 Upper Iowa and No. 5 Central Oklahoma tangle with a 7:30 p.m. start.
 
The winner of AU-SWOSU will face the winner of UIU-UCO on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
 
About the Bulldogs
Southwestern Oklahoma State is in the NCAA Tournament after proving to be a Cinderella in the Great American Conference Tournament. The No. 7 seed in the GAC Tournament topped Southern Nazarene in the championship, 66-58, to earn the GAC's automatic bid.
 
SWOSU is in the Big Dance for the first time since 2005 thanks to an MVP performance from Damion Thornton in the tournament. He scored 17 points in the GAC final.
 
For the season, Thornton leads the Bulldogs with 18.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Kamden Gipson joins him in double-figure scoring at 11.3 points per outing while leading the team with 3.5 assists per game. 
 
About the Vikings
Augustana is 24-3 in 2021-22 and the NSIC Champion. The Vikings won the league by two games with a 17-2 NSIC record led by NSIC South Division Player of the Year Tyler Riemersma. He led the league with 11.1 rebounds per game while scoring 18.2 points per outing, proving to be the only player to average a double-double in the NSIC.
 
Riemersma was joined on the All-NSIC First Team by Adam Dykman and his 12.6 points per game. Dykman ranks second on AU with 45 made 3-point field goals, trailing Second Team All-NSIC selection, Isaac Fink, and his 55 made treys at a .433 percent clip. Fink averages 14.7 points per game.
 
Jameson Bryan leads AU with his 4.6 assists per game while ranking third in the nation with his 4.06-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
One Last Thing
Augustana is 1-0 against Southwestern Oklahoma State all-time, with the lone contest on Nov. 11, 2016. That was an 81-57 Vikings' win in the opener of the 2016-17 season.