SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The first-place Augustana men's basketball team rings in the New Year with an NSIC home matchup against Wayne State. Tip-off is set for 1:30 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 Wildcats
Wayne State was picked to finish 10th in the NSIC poll and are 3-1 after a win over Newman on Thursday. Matt Noll leads three in double figures, averaging 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while leading the team with 30 assists. Andrew Stokes follows with 11.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while JJ Ferrin scores 11.3 points per game and leads the Wildcats with 24 3-pointers.

Last Time Against The Wildcats
Caden Hinker and Tameron Ferguson each recorded a double-double to help lead the Vikings to a 94-86 win at Wayne State to open the NSIC schedule in Rice Auditorium.

The Vikings shot 57.1 percent from the field while going 11 of 21 from deep while leading wire-to-wire. AU dominated inside, outscoring the Wildcats 48-28 in the paint and turned 12 WSC turnovers into 16 points while limiting the Wildcats to eight points off nine Viking turnovers.

Hinker scored 22 points on 7 of 13 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds to close his fourth consecutive double-double. Ferguson scored 20 points and dished a career-high 11 assists for the first double-double of his career.

Six Vikings scored in double figures, including Tanner Te Slaa, who knocked down four 3-pointers and scored 15 points on 5 of 9 from the field. Conner Kraft added 12 points while knocking down all three 3-pointers he attempted. Bennett Fried and Sam Rensch each scored 10 points and recorded a pair of steals. 

Last Time Out
The Augustana men's basketball team closed the 2025 calendar year with a 82-69 wire-to-wire victory over Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday afternoon at the Elmen Center.

The Vikings shot 49.1 percent from the field and knocked down 10 3-pointers while limiting the Golden Bears to 37.5 percent shooting and 8 of 31 shooting from deep.

Tameron Ferguson led the Vikings with 22 points, five assists and two steals. Tanner Te Slaa added 15 points and 10 rebounds, his first double double of the season, and Caden Hinker scored 12 points. Amari Westmoreland-Vendiola was a spark off the bench, scoring seven points and grabbing seven boards while Bennett Fried and Markus Talley each had seven points apiece. 

About the Vikings
Augustana has opened the season 8-4 overall and 6-1 in the NSIC after a pair of home wins to close the calendar year. 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 20.2 points and 6.6 assists per game while shooting 57.0 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from deep. He has tallied at least 20 points in eight of his last 10 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 six of his last 11 games while leading the team with 7.4 rebounds per game, including an NSIC-best 7.0 defensive rebounds per game. He's second on the team with 16.6 points per game and scored a career-high 26 points against Winona State on Nov. 18 while grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds against Northwest Missouri State on Nov. 15.

Senior Sam Rensch is third on the team with 12.0 points per game. He is second on the team with 2.5 assists per game and has grabbed 4.2 rebounds per contest. He has recorded multiple steals in his last seven of 12 contests and scored a season-high 24 points against Sioux Falls in 46 minutes on Dec. 6. He also leads the team with 1.8 steals per game.

Bennett Fried had one of the best games of his young career on Dec. 11, 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 six times in his last eight games, including all four times he got at least nine shots from the field. He's fourth on the team with 9.8 points per game while grabbing 4.3 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 five of his last eight games while knocking down 18 of 32 shots from deep in those five games. On the season, he's averaging 9.9 points per game and shooting 32.9 percent from deep. 

Series History
Augustana and Wayne State match up for the 58th time all-time with the Vikings leading 37-20. Augustana has won four of the last five games in the series and are 20-8 at home in the series. Caden Hinker and Tameron Ferguson each recorded a double-double in the first matchup this season between the Vikings and Wildcats in November.