SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – SWOSU Men’s Basketball enters the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in division II history on Saturday and will faceoff against top seeded Augustana who is ranked No. 6/8 nationally and is the host of the Central Region Tournament. 

FULL GAME NOTES FOUND HERE (pdf)

COMPLETE TOURNAMENT GUIDE HERE (website)

• SWOSU makes its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2005 as head coach Terry Evans returns to the big dance for the eighth trip of his career, but first as a Bulldog
• The Bulldogs got hot at the right time, making a cinderella run in the GAC Tournament to clinch an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 8 seed
• The appearance in the national tournament is historic, but SWOSU still has aspirations of continuing to win and keep its season alive -- and doing so will be no easy task with nationally ranked #6/8 and host school Augustana paired against the Dawgs
• Augustana clinched the regular season NSIC championship with a conference record of 17-2 (and overall, 24-3) before being upset in the conference tournament semifinals by MSU Moorhead 69-53
• These two teams have only met once in program histories, back in 2016 when Augie defeated SWOSU in Weatherford 81-57 to start the season
• Damion Thornton, a First Team All-GAC selection & SWOSU’s all-time leading D2 scorer, was most recently named GAC Tournament MVP alongside Kamden Gipson who also made the all-tournament team
• Junior Guard Kamden Gipson enters the Central Region Quarterfinal against Augustana needing two points to achieve 1,000 in his career. He averages a team second best 11.3 ppg
• Damion Thornton (18.5 ppg) is SWOSU’s constant and has been all season. He plays nearly 34 minutes per game and ranked second in scoring, sixth in rebounding, and fifth in steals around the GAC this year
• Thornton is a two-time conference player of the week this season and a First Team All-GAC and All-GAC Tournament Team selection
• SWOSU played better away from their home court this year than on it, finishing 4-7 inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center in Weatherford compared to 10-9 when combining neutral sites and road games.
• The Dawgs are currently on a three-game winning streak thanks to their postseason tournament run. It is their second longest win streak of the season behind a four-game stretch they pieced together back in January -- three of which wins came on the road
• SWOSU is 11-2 this season when shooting above 35% from beyond the arc and 3-14 when finishing under that mark
• The above stat starts and ends with team leaders Jaylan Williams (57 makes) and Kamden Gipson (56 makes) -- who account for 44% of SWOSU’s three-point makes this season
• SWOSU became the first school in the Great American Conference to have its men and women’s basketball team win the conference tournament in 2022 
• In wins this season, SWOSU holds opponents to 67.5 points on average and during the GAC Tournament -- held opponents to 58.7 points