SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana men's basketball team opens its home NSIC schedule at the Sanford Pentagon, hosting Winona State and Minnesota State. The Vikings will take on the Warriors at 7:30 p.m., on Friday before welcoming the Mavericks at 5:30 p.m., on Saturday.

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. 

About the Warriors
Winona State was picked to finish 11th in the NSIC and has opened the season 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the NSIC after defeating Concordia-St. Paul in its conference opener last week. Luke Haertle is second in the NSIC with 21.9 points per game while shooting 55.2 percent from the field. He is one of four averaging in double figures. Connor Drew adds 13.6 points per game while Isaiah Thompson is scoring 12.9 points and grabbing 8.9 rebounds per game while shooting 70.6 percent from the field. 

About the Mavericks
The defending national champions were picked to repeat as NSIC Champions and has opened the season 4-4. The Mavericks are winners of three straight and open their NSIC schedule at Wayne State on Friday night. Kyreese Willingham is averaging 15.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while Justin Eagins added 12.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game

About the Vikings
Augustana is 3-4 after falling in a pair of home games last weekend.

Akoi Akoi leads the Vikings with 15.1 points per game while shooting 51.1 percent from the field. He has scored at least 20 points in four of the last five games. Sam Rensch adds 13.7 points per game and adds 2.6 steals per game while providing havoc to a defense that forces the second most turnovers in the NSIC.

Tanner Te Slaa is third on the team with 12.3 points per game while leading the team with 6.6 rebounds per game. He has corralled a pair of double doubles and also leads the team with a 40.6 3-point percentage.

In his collegiate debut on Nov. 8, Tameron Ferguson scored 13 points while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing six assists to help lead the Vikings to victory. He is fourth on the team with 5.9 points per game and has facilitated well, holding a 18/7 assist/turnover ratio. In his first season of action,

Bennett Fried has already shown growth. The redshirt freshman is averaging 4.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. In his first career start last Saturday, he scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds while adding a steal and a block.

Series History
Augustana and Winona State will match up for the 40th time all-time with the Vikings leading 20-19. AU has dropped four straight in the series and are 12-7 at home.

The Vikings are 63-68 against Minnesota State and have won four of their past six games. AU is 42-24 at home in the series and are 3-1 in the last four games in Sioux Falls

NSIC Preview
The Vikings were selected to finish sixth in the NSIC Preseason Poll after finishing seventh a season ago. Akoi Akoi was tabbed the Preseason Player to Watch.

Viking Preview
Augustana welcomes plenty of fresh faces to a team that features five returning letterwinners. Leading the charge is Akoi Akoi. The senior averaged 7.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game a year ago while shooting 45.9 percent from deep. Caden Hinker also returns after adding 7.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while playing all 30 games. 

Four newcomers have seen NCAA action and look to make an immediate impact. Tanner Te Slaa is the most experienced of the bunch after playing 43 games and making a start over two seasons at SDSU. Te Slaa scored 86 points and knocked down 19 3-pointers. 

Kelton Coleman enters the mix after earning All-Freshman Team and All-SCAC honorable mention honors at the University of Dallas. He averaged 14.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in 19.7 minutes per game while shooting 44 percent from 3-point range. He was an energizer off the bench for the Crusaders, averaging 27.9 points per 40 minutes.

In all, Augustana returns one starter from last season and four student-athletes that saw action in at least 28 games. Sam Rensch and Brady Helgren were the two others outside of Akoi and Hinker to join that list. 

Roster Breakdown
Augustana's roster features one senior, five juniors, four sophomores, three redshirt freshmen and two true freshmen