ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — With four starters and a host of key reserves back from last year's NCAA Division III national runner-up squad, there should be plenty of excitement surrounding Coach Grey Giovanine's Augustana men's basketball program this winter. Adding to the anticipation is today's announcement of a contest versus the University of Illinois. The Vikings and Illini will square off at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois on Wednesday, November 22 with game time scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CST. The game will be video streamed via BTN Plus.
 
Giovanine's outfit finished 24-9 a year ago, earning a share of its eighth CCIW title in the last 15 seasons and advancing all the way to the championship game of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Augustana came up one basket short of its first national title, falling 79-78 to Babson.
 
First-year Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood welcomes back two starters—6' 7" Leron Black and 6' Te'Jon Lucas—from last year's 20-15 club. Black averaged a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game a year ago, along with 8.1 points. Lucas (4.8 ppg) was second on the team with 95 assists in 2016-17. Underwood's top newcomers include 6' 4" freshman Mark Smith from Edwardsville, Illinois—the reigning Mr. Basketball in the state—and 6' 5" graduate transfer Mark Alstork, who averaged 19.0 points per game at Wright State last year.
 
The Vikings and Illini have met twice on the hardwood—surprisingly, both times in the Quad-Cities. During the 1933-34 season, Illinois prevailed 37-26 at Wharton Field House in Moline, Illinois behind 13 points from Frank Froschauer. Merwin Horton dropped in a dozen for Augustana. Four years later, Coach Shorty Almquist's Vikings held All-American and future Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau to seven points, but fell 43-27 at the Rock Island Armory.
 
This will be Augustana's eighth game against a Division I opponent during Giovanine's tenure and the first since a 58-56 exhibition win at Bradley in 2014. The Vikings have faced D1 opponents in three regular season games, including a 76-71 win at Western Illinois—where Underwood was an assistant—in 2000-01. Augustana also played regular season contests at Southern Illinois (L, 83-59) in 2004-05 and Gonzaga (L, 79-40) in 2009-10. In addition to the Bradley win, the Vikings have also faced D1 opponents in exhibition—or "exempted"—games at Northern Illinois (L, 77-63) in 2007-08, Valparaiso (L, 74-65) in 2011-12 and Iowa (L, 87-65) in 2013-14. Southern Illinois, Gonzaga, Valparaiso and Iowa all went on to play in the NCAA Tournament during those respective seasons. With a full slate of 25 games versus Division III opponents, the contest versus Illinois will be an exempted contest for the Vikings, but will count as a regular season game for the Illini.

In addition to the game with Illinois, which Giovanine calls "a great challenge and memorable experience for our team," Augustana's schedule features several intriguing non-conference contests, as well as the always-tough 16-game CCIW minefield. Following a neutral-site game versus Heidelberg in Crawfordsville, Indiana to open the season on November 15, the Vikings, along with conference mate Illinois Wesleyan, will be hosting the Illinois/Michigan Challenge on November 17-18. Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association members Calvin and Alma, respectively, will visit Carver Center on those dates, with alternate trips to the Shirk Center at IWU.
 
Augustana faces tough road dates at UW-Oshkosh (December 2), Central (December 16) and Washington University (December 29), as well as a neutral-site game versus perennial power UW-Stevens Point at the Wisconsin Dells on December 22. Rockford and MacMurray will be the Vikings' other non-conference opponents at home. Giovanine called the non-conference slate "as ambitious as any we've played during my tenure."
 
The CCIW slate, which the Augustana head coach says "will be as tough as ever," opens on December 6 with a home date against 2017 CCIW Tournament champion North Central. Three days later, the Vikings travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin to face Carthage—one of three teams, along with Augustana and North Park, who shared the conference title a year ago.
 
As usual, it will be CCIW play exclusively after the first of the year, starting with a January 3 date at Illinois Wesleyan. Unlike last season, when the Vikings played their final 11 games on the road, Augustana will close the 2017-18 regular season with a pair of home contests versus North Park and Elmhurst.
  
2017-2018 AUGUSTANA MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

DATE	OPPONENT	SITE	TIME
November 15	Heidelberg	Crawfordsville, Ind.	6:00 pm
November 17	Calvin	HOME	7:00 pm
November 18	Alma	HOME	7:00 pm
November 22	Illinois	Champaign, Ill.	6:00 pm
November 26	MacMurray	HOME	3:00 pm
December 2	UW-Oshkosh	Oshkosh, Wis.	7:00 pm
December 6	*North Central	HOME	7:00 pm
December 9	*Carthage	Kenosha, Wis.	7:00 pm
December 13	Rockford	HOME	7:00 pm
December 16	Central	Pella, Iowa	3:00 pm
December 22	UW-Stevens Point	Wisconsin Dells, Wis.	7:00 pm
December 29	Washington University	St. Louis, Mo.	7:00 pm
January 3	*Illinois Wesleyan	Bloomington, Ill.	7:00 pm
January 6	*Millikin	HOME	7:00 pm
January 10	*Wheaton	HOME	7:00 pm
January 13	*Carroll	HOME	7:00 pm
January 17	*Elmhurst	Elmhurst, Ill.	7:00 pm
January 20	*North Park	Chicago, Ill.	7:00 pm
January 24	*Wheaton	Wheaton, Ill.	7:00 pm
January 27	*Carthage	HOME	7:00 pm
January 31	*Illinois Wesleyan	HOME	7:00 pm
February 3	*Carroll	Waukesha, Wis.	4:00 pm
February 7	*North Central	Naperville, Ill.	7:00 pm
February 10	*Millikin	Decatur, Ill.	7:00 pm
February 17	*North Park	HOME	7:00 pm
February 20	*Elmhurst	HOME	7:00 pm
February 24	CCIW Semifinal	TBA	TBA
February 25	CCIW Championship	TBA	TBA

* College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin game