BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team will gear up for another challenging road test on Saturday, January 15 when they visit the No. 3 ranked Illinois Wesleyan Titans for the second of two straight on the road against
d3hoops.com Top 25 teams.
The Vikings are riding a three-game win streak after pulling off a road upset win over No. 10 Wheaton on Wednesday by a score of 79-73. Augie and Wheaton played an evenly-match game for a majority of the contest, but for the second consecutive game, the Vikings used a late surge to pull ahead and hang on late.
Justin Bottorff led a balanced scoring attack for Augustana, tallying 11 of his season-high 16 points in the first half. Joining him in double figures was
Tyler Knuth, who was next in line with 13 points off of the bench on 50 percent shooting.
Dan Carr and
Luke Johnson also added 12 points apiece, while Carr also hauled in 16 rebounds.
Matt Hanushewsky contributed 10 points and five assists. As a team, the Vikings shot 48.5 percent from the floor and were 6-13 from behind the arc and held Wheaton to just 43 percent shooting and an 11-30 mark from downtown.
Illinois Wesleyan enters Saturday's matchup with a 10-2 overall record and 3-1 mark in the CCIW. The Titans have been ranked within the top five all season and have wins over two teams currently ranked in the top six nationally, including a road-win over Yeshiva, who was ranked No. 1 at the time of the contest. Illinois Wesleyan is coming off of a 78-67 home victory over Millikin in which they saw four players score in double figures. Matthew Leritz led the way with 20 points and is leading the Titans in scoring this season with 16.4 points per outing. The Vikings and Titans have played several common opponents up to this point, including three in the non-conference portion with UW-Oshkosh, Calvin, and Alma. The Titans' two losses this year came at Washington University in St. Louis and at Wheaton. They are undefeated at home with a 6-0 record.
Illinois Wesleyan leads the all-time series between the two 96-78. The two teams have not met since the 2019-20 season in the CCIW Tournament, which resulted in a 74-70 Titans victory in Naperville. The Vikings have won the last two meetings in Bloomington and are victorious in seven of the last nine games against the Titans.
Tip is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. At this time, Illinois Wesleyan is not allowing visiting fans. Their spectator policy can be found
here.
Game coverage at Illinois Wesleyan
Follow @augieathletics on Twitter for in-game updates
