SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana men's basketball season gets underway Friday with a 5:30 p.m. contest at Missouri Western followed by a 1 p.m. game vs. Southeastern Oklahoma State. Both contests are taking place as part of the Tip-Off Classic in St. Joseph, Missouri.
 
Complete action can be followed on GoAugie.com/Live and the GoAugie app, presented by The Original Pancake House. The app can be downloaded in the App Store or Google Play. The live stream is provided through the MIAA Network and has a per-game fee.
 
About the Griffons
Missouri Western, the tournament host, was picked to finish seventh in the MIAA after a 14-16 season in 2022-23. The Griffons return All-MIAA selections in Julius Dixon and Taye Fields. The honorable mention selections averaged 13.6 points (Dixon) and 8.1 rebounds (Fields).
 
Missouri Western played a single exhibition game this year, an 83-71 win over Benedictine. JaRon Thames led all scorers with 15 points while redshirt freshman Josh Book dumped in 14 points off the bench.
 
About the Savage Storm
Southeastern Oklahoma State was picked as the preseason favorite by the Great American Conference coaches with nine of 11 first place votes. The Savage Storm return All-GAC First Team honoree Jett Sternberger and second team selection Brennen Burns.
 
Southeastern was one of a handful of teams across the country to open a week early and hold a 1-1 record with a win over Northern Michigan and a loss to No. 7 West Texas A&M. Burns went off for an average of 26 points over the two games while shooting 60 percent from the field. Kody Clouet joined in 20-plus points with an average of 21.5 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds.
 
About the Vikings
Augustana welcomes back its core from 2022-23 including leading scorer and rebounder Isaac Fink. The graduate student averaged 14.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per outing while also making 49 3-point baskets at a 38.3 percent clip. Jadan Graves dished out 122 assists while starting all 29 games and averaging 12.7 points per game. Joining those two in double-digit scoring a year ago was Akoi Akoi and his 10.5 points per contest.
 
In all, Augustana returns all but one starter from last season and five student-athletes who saw action in all 29 games. The freshman class is a year older as Caden Hinker, Sam Rensch and Brady Helgren were three of those that played in all 29 games.
 
The Vikings welcome in five true freshmen while adding Hayden Brown into the mix as a redshirt freshman.
 
Within the NSIC, Augustana was picked to finish fifth in the league after posting a 15-14 record.
 
One Last Thing
Neither opponent has much history with Augustana as the Vikings have only faced the Griffons just twice while having never met on the hardwood with Southeastern. Augustana won the first meeting with Missouri Western, an 80-64 win in 2002. The second meeting came in 2013 where MWSU squeaked out a 65-64 win.