SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana men's basketball team heads into the weekend with a pair of home games to close its 2025 slate. On Thursday, the Vikings will take on Winona State at 5:30 p.m., on Thursday before a 1:30 p.m., Saturday tip-off at the Concordia-St. Paul. 
 
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 selected to finish ninth in the NSIC Preseason Poll. The Warriors are 3-7 on the season and 2-3 in the NSIC after beating Sioux Falls and falling to Southwest Minnesota State. Gavyn Hurley is scoring 13.7 points and grabbing 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 57.3 percent from the field while Tyler Mason adds 11.8 points per game and Ryan Heise pours in 11.7 points a game. 

About the Golden Bears
Concordia-St. Paul was selected to finish fourth overall in the NSIC Preseason Poll. The Golden Bears have started 8-3 overall and 3-2 in the NSIC after a home win in overtime agianst Sioux Falls.  Ben Kopetzki has powered the offense, scoring 21.6 points per game. Owen Carlson is an energizer off the bench, scoring 13.2 points per game while knocking down an incredinle 26 of 49 from deep. 

Last Time Out
The Augustana basketball team delivered a poised road performance Saturday evening, knocking off Minnesota State 76-68 on Saturday night in the Taylor Center. 

The Vikings led for nearly the entire contest and answered every Minnesota State push, improving to 4-1 in league play while handing the Mavericks their fourth conference loss.

Caden Hinker led all scorers with 24 points on 7-of-10 shooting, adding 10 rebounds for a double-double. Tameron Ferguson finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and five steals, while Sam Rensch contributed nine points, five rebounds and four assists. Augustana shot 45.6 percent from the field and went 18-of-23 at the free-throw line, including 14-of-18 in the second half.

About the Vikings
Augustana has opened the season 6-4 overall and 4-1 in the NSIC after a road win against Minnesota State. They did that after playing a tough non-conference slate, with two of their three losses coming by four points or less. 

Tameron Ferguson has been strong to open his sophomore campaign, leading the team with 20.4 points and 6.3 assists per game while shooting 57.8 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from deep. He has tallied at least 20 points in seven of his last nine games, including a 28-point performance against Sioux Falls on Dec. 6. He is also the first Viking to record multiple point-assist double doubles since Jordan Spencer in 2017-18. 

After missing all of last season, Caden Hinker has been a dominant force in his return. The redshirt junior has recorded double-doubles in five of his last nine games while leading the team with 7.5 rebounds per game, including an NSIC-best 7.0 defensive rebounds per game. He's second on the team with 14.9 points per game and scored a career-high 22 points against Wayne State on Nov. 26 while grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds against Northwest Missouri State on Nov. 15.

Senior Sam Rensch is third on the team with 12.9 points per game. He is second on the team with 2.3 assists per game and has grabbed 4.4 rebounds per contest. He has recorded multiple steals in his last six of 10 contests and scored a season-high 24 points against Sioux Falls in 46 minutes on Saturday. He also leads the team with 1.7 steals per game.

Bennett Fried had one of the best games of his young career on Friday, tying a career high with 20 points and 12 rebounds while shooting 9 of 13 from the field against St. Cloud State. He has scored in double-figures five times in his last seven games, including all four times he got at least nine shots from the field. He's fourth on the team with 10.1 points per game while grabbing 4.6 rebounds per game. 

After a slow start, 2024-25 All-NSIC Second Team selection Tanner Te Slaa is finding his groove. The senior has scored at least 15 points in four of his last six games while knocking down 14 of 24 shots from deep and 20 of 34 from the field in those four games. On the season, he's averaging 11.3 points per game and shooting 37.5 percent from deep. 

Series History
Augustana and WSU will meet for the 42nd time with the Warriors leading the series 21-20. The Vikings have lost six consecutive matchups, including three straight at home. All-time, AU is 12-8 at home in the series. 

The Vikings are 31-7 all-time against Concordia-St. Paul and had a three-game win streak snapped on the road last season. AU has won 17 consecutive matchups in Sioux Falls and are 18-1 all-time at home. 

Ferguson Named South Player of the Week For Second Consecutive Week
For the second time in as many weeks, sophomore Tameron Ferguson has been named the NSIC South Division Player of the Week. Ferguson helped Augustana to another perfect week, highlighted by a double overtime thriller against Sioux Falls.

Ferguson averaged an NSIC-best 27.0 points and 9.0 assists to go with 3.5 rebounds in a pair of wins while shooting an NSIC-best 71.9 percent from the field, connecting on 23 of 32 attempts. He opened the weekend with 26 points and 11 assists on 12 of 13 shooting in a 97-75 win over SMSU and added 28 points, seven assists and two steals in a double overtime road win against Sioux Falls