SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The 2026-27 regular season will kick off for the Augustana men's basketball team at the upcoming NSIC/GAC Challenge in Little Rock, Ark. with a pair of neutral site games. Friday's tip-off will mark the official season opener in a 1 p.m. contest against Arkansas-Monticello before a 3 p.m. game on Saturday against Ouachita Baptist will conclude the opening weekend.
 
The challenge will be played at Warrior Arena at Little Rock Christian Academy, a neutral site location in Little Rock. LRCA will provide a livestream for the weekend for free while UAM will provide live stats.
 
The Vikings
Augustana was picked to finish sixth in both the South Division and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in the 2026-27 Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll. The results saw the Vikings sitting sixth in the division with 22 points and one first-place vote while in the conference as a whole, Augustana again finished sixth with a first-place vote and 144 points. The same release also named Bennett Fried as the Vikings' Preseason Player to Watch.
 
It was a season ago that the Vikings finished with a 19-10 overall record alongside a 16-6 conference showing, finishing second in the South Division and second overall in the NSIC. In just his second season manning the sidelines, head coach Cody Schilling helped guide Augustana to a third-straight Sanford Pentagon appearance at the conference tournament. AU earned itself the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in its most recent run, eventually falling in overtime in the tourney semifinals.
 
The Weevils
Arkansas-Monticello has already begun its season, collecting a win over Lyon College on Monday, 92-59. UAM also faced Louisiana Tech in an exhibition game that ended in a 76-17 loss.
 
Now with a 1-0 record to start, Justice Moore leads the Weevils with 27.0 points per game while Marvin Schindler follows with 16.0 points per game and Aiden Cilladi and Landen Hill average 10.0 points per game. Hill also leads the rebounding effort for Arkansas-Monticello with an average of 9.0 boards per game while Moore leads with four total assists on the year.
 
The preseason coaches' poll for the Great American Conference picked the Weevil basketball program to finish 12^th overall.
 
The Tigers
OBU is coming off a second consecutive 20-win season under head coach Dennis Nutt, who enters his 16^th season at the helm of the program. The Tigers finished second in the Great American Conference with a 23-7 overall record and a 18-4 record in league play, narrowly missing the conference championship game.
 
The GAC preseason coaches' poll ended with Ouachita Baptist atop the standings, picked as the preseason favorite with 115 total points and seven first-place votes.