The St. Thomas men’s basketball team received an at-large bid and will face Augustana College (Ill.) in the first round of the NCAA tournament at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Whitewater, Wis.

The Tommies’ (22-5, 18-5) bid marks the team’s eighth-straight NCAA appearance. The Vikings (19-7) also received an at-large bid after falling 66-55 to Wheaton College (Ill.) in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin semifinals Friday.

The Vikings offense is led by guard Hunter Hill (12.8 ppg) and forward Tayvian Johnson (10 ppg). Forward Ben Ryan (6.5 rpg) and center Kevin Schlitter (5 rpg) control the glass for the Vikings. Earlier in the season, Augustana lost 87-65 in an exhibition game to the Division I Iowa Hawkeyes team that some analysts predicted can make a deep NCAA run this season. The Hawkeyes used a 39-of-50 performance from the free-throw line to pull away from the Vikings.

The St. Thomas versus Augustana winner will face the winner of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Northwestern (Minn.) at 7 p.m. Saturday. Whitewater won the national championship in 2012 while St. Thomas won in 2011.

Seniors Zach Riedeman, Erik Tengwall and Josh Pella each played in the final minute in the Tommies’ NCAA championship 78-54 win over Wooster (Ohio).

MIAC foe St. Olaf (22-5) earned an automatic bid to the 2014 NCAA tournament after defeating St. Thomas 63-53 Sunday in the conference tournament. The Oles are the only other MIAC team to grab a NCAA playoff spot and will play Central College (Iowa) Friday in Stevens Point, Wis.

Kyle Jonas and Briggs LeSavage contributed to this report.