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As the leaves begin to fall outside, so will the jump shots in the Kohl Center as the No. 21 men’s basketball team begins its non-conference schedule Saturday night in an exhibition game against Augustana.

Although their regular season does not begin for another few weeks, the Badgers use their preseason games to adjust to playing opponents other than themselves and, more importantly, getting the freshmen used to playing Division I basketball.

“I think we need to make a statement,” senior forward Marcus Landry said. “We have a lot of freshmen who are capable of playing right away, and [this game is] for them to make a statement.”

This game will be the first full-length game the Badgers have played this season, other than their annual Red/White scrimmage at the Kohl Center Wednesday. But the team was still able to make some judgments about their team before playing against another opponent.

“It’s hard to gauge [where we’re at] from one [scrimmage],” senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft said. “You don’t want to overlook something or look past something in a red and white scrimmage. It was the first opportunity for guys to make an impression, and guys did that. It was all positives out there, and even the negatives were turned into positives.”

Even though their game against the Vikings does not count against their standings in the conference, it still means a lot to the players and coaches in terms of determining who will start the season and who is going to get a majority of the playing time.

“There have been some great battles in terms of who is going to get minutes, and that’s all going to be determined over the next two weeks when we hit the regular season,” assistant coach Greg Gard said. “We use the exhibition games to try to decide who is ready for the amount of minutes they are going to get.”

The exhibition game also gives the coaches a chance to see how the freshmen have developed in the few weeks of practice leading up to their first game. So far, both coaches and players agree they are becoming acclimated to the college game and have begun to gel with the team.

“Everyone is going to get the opportunity to get in there and play against someone else in a different situation than we are used to in practice,” Krabbenhoft said. “It’s an opportunity to show what [the freshmen] can do and show the fans why they got recruited here.”

According to Gard and the players, they do not have a starting lineup ready for Saturday’s game. But there is sure to be a solid rotation of players coming off the bench, particularly freshmen who are trying to get used to playing in front of a crowd on game nights.

“The first thing is just trying to get everyone adjusted, especially with 11 of the 17 being freshmen or sophomores, just getting adjusted to playing in a game where the lights are on and people are in the stands,” Gard said.

The exhibition season also gives players an opportunity to play against an opponent and get ready for the long season ahead of them.

“It’s been a couple weeks now banging against each other, and we are looking forward to putting the hurt on someone else instead of each other,” Krabbenhoft said.

Although it is an exhibition game, the team still prepares like they do for any other opponent. Augustana, a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, is returning three starters from last year. They are picked to finish fourth in the NSIC coaches’ poll.

The Vikings may not be the most formidable opponent on the Badgers’ schedule this year, but they will provide fans and coaches an opportunity to see the new UW squad get into action on its way to defending the Big Ten crown.

“Once we all put on the same color jersey for game nights, it’s going to be 17 guys all rooting for each other,” Gard said. “At that point, you draw the line in competition. It’s not going against yourselves anymore; it’s about putting the best group out on the floor who can give us the best chance to be successful.”