No. 2 seed Augustana University men’s basketball (31-2) is set to open play in the NCAA Elite Eight against No. 7 seed Tarleton State University (24-8) Wednesday night.
The Vikings and Texans will tip-off at 6 p.m. (CT) from Dr Pepper Arena. Augustana is making its first ever appearance in the Elite Eight after winning the program’s first region championship on March 15.
The Vikings defeated Northwest Missouri State 80-78 in the Central Region Championship game to earn a berth to the Elite Eight. Augustan has played in three NCAA region championship games in program history (2009, 2010 and 2016).
Tarleton State won the South Central Region picking up wins over Colorado School of Mines, Lubbock Christian and Angelo State.
Augustana enters the Elite Eight riding a 12-game winning streak. The Vikings are averaging 90.9 points per game while allowing just 72.7 points per contest. The Vikings scoring margin of +18.2 ranks third in the country, including third amongst all eight teams in the Elite Eight.
Augustana is shooting 51 percent from the field as a team, including 42.5 percent from 3-point range. The Vikings are shooting 72.9 percent from the free throw line as a team, averaging 17.5 made free throws per game. Senior forward Daniel Jansen, the two-time Central Region Player of the Year, enters Wednesday night’s game averaging 20.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while shooting 53.8 percent from the field. Casey Schilling is averaging 19.7 points and a team-high 9.4 rebounds per game for the Vikings. Tarleton State enters the Elite Eight averaging 78.5 points per game while shooting 46.4 percent from the field, including 32.2 percent from 3-point range. The Texans have allowed just 66 points per game in 2015-16. EJ Reed leads Tarleton State in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game to go along with 6.7 rebounds per contest. Wednesday night’s game will be the first ever meeting between Augustana and Tarleton State.
