Antanas Kavaliauskas

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Antanas Kavaliauskas
Position Power forward
Height 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Weight 250 lb (113 kg)
League A1 Ethniki
Team Panionios BC
Born September 9, 1984 (1984-09-09) (age 23)
Flag of the Soviet Union Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality Flag of Lithuania Lithuania
College Texas A&M
Draft Not drafted, 2007
Pro career 2007–present

Antanas Kavaliauskas (born September 9, 1984 in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union; modern-day Lithuania) is a former Texas A&M University basketball player who now plays for Panionios BC in the Greek league.

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[edit] Early years

Antanas Kavaliauskas was born September 9, 1984 in Vilnius, Lithuania to Birutė Kavaliauskienė.[1] After his parents divorced when he was eleven, Kavaliauskas lived with his mother, grandmother, and younger sister Eglė in a small apartment in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania. His mother is a former volleyball player who spent years working as a hairdresser before supporting her family with a job as a security guard. When Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Birutė Kavaliauskienė sent her son away for several weeks to protect him from the Soviet troops who were occupying the city. Once the situation became safer, Antanas returned home, but remembers seeing Soviet troops for several more months before they finally left the country.[2]

Despite the fact that he was neither a very good student nor an exceptional basketball player (averaging only 5 minutes per game for his club team), Kavaliauskas's height (6' 10") brought him to the attention of a scout, who recommended him to the coach of the basketball team at Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kansas.[2]

[edit] Barton County Community College

Kavaliauskas entered the United States on September 4, 2003 knowing only three words of English: Yes, no, and OK. A fellow international teammate, Brazilian J. P. Batista,[3] became Kavaliauskas's mentor. Within three months Kavaliauskas was fluent in English, his fourth language (after Lithuanian, German, and Russian). During his first year at school he gained 45 pounds eating McDonald's double cheeseburgers, bringing his weight to a more respectable 245 pounds. [2]

In his second year at the school, he earned first-team all-region and all-conference honors for averaging 17.6 points per game. He led the region in rebounds (10 per game), and offensive rebounding (3.9 per game). In his sophomore season he completed 50.9 percent of his attempts from the field, leading his team and ranking fifth in the region, and also led the team in blocked shots (29). His career field goal percentage (58) ranks second in the history of Barton County Community College.[4]

After being recruited by South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech, Kavaliauskas chose to attend Texas A&M University to play under coach Billy Gillispie.[4] Gillispie had originally intended to recruit another player on the Barton County team, but after watching several practices he was very impressed with the mobility of such a large man as Kavaliauskas.[2]

[edit] Lithuanian Junior National Team

Before joining the Aggies for the 2005-2006 season, Kavaliauskas spent the summer playing with the Lithuanian Junior National Team.[4] He led the team to the gold medal at the 2005 FIBA Under 21 World Champiionship in Argentina, scoring nine points with five rebounds in a close 65-63 victory over Greece in the championship game. He also participated in the Lithuanian Junior National Team's bronze medal run at the Global Games in Dallas, Texas, in which their only loss was to Team USA. In the bronze medal game, Kavaliauskas scored 22 points with seven rebounds.[1]

[edit] Texas A&M University

[edit] Junior Year (2005-2006)

In his first 21 games with Texas A&M, Kavaliauskas averaged only 5.4 points, and his team had compiled only a 4-6 record in the Big 12. Over the last ten games, however, he improved to an average of 8.6 points per game.[2] Overall, Kavaliauskas averaged 6.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game and was the team leader in field goal percentage (.584). Twice scoring a career-high fifteen points, against Iowa State and Savannah State, Kavaliauskas also posted a career-high nine rebounds against Colorado in the Big 12 Tournament.[1] He also earned a spot on the media Big 12 All-Newcomer Team. He played in 30 games during the season,[1]

As their record improved throughout the second half of the season, the Aggies earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1987.[5] During the tournament, Kavaliauskas averaged 10.5 points and 4.0 rebounds.[1] After winning their first round match-up against Syracuse, the Aggies appeared poised to reach the Sweet 16 when, with 18 seconds left in their second-round game against LSU, teammate Acie Law hit a jumper, giving the Aggies a 57-55 lead. The dream was dashed fifteen seconds later, however, when Darrell Mitchell completed a three-point shot for LSU over the head of Kavaliauskas. Convinced that he was the reason the team lost, Kavaliauskas found a photo of Mitchell's game-winning shot and hung it in his locker as a daily reminder of what he needs to work on.[2]

[edit] Senior Year (2006-2007)

Shortly after beginning play in the 2006-2007 season, the Aggies reached Number 6 in the rankings, the highest rank the school had ever achieved.[6] The team had their best start since opening 16-2 in the 1959-1960 season, as well as their best conference opening since the inception of the Big 12.[7]

In a historic moment on February 3, 2007, the Aggies became the first Big 12 South team (in 32 attempts) to ever beat the then-Number 6 Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse. Less than two days later the team beat then-Number 25 Texas, their twenty-first straight home win, making them the sole leader of the Big 12.[8]

After a Dallas Morning News article profiled Kavaliauskas, mentioning that he had only seen his mother twice since he moved to the USA, many Texas A&M fans inquired about raising money to reunite the family temporarily. Texas A&M discovered that the NCAA-financed Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund could be used, and paid for Birute Kavaliauskiene to travel to the US for the first time to see her son play in his last home game for A&M.[9] In the Aggies 94-78 win over Missouri, Kavaliauskas scored a career-high 26 points on 11-of-12 shooting. The win assured the Aggies of a second-place finish in the Big 12 regular season, the highest the team has ever finished in this conference.[10]

For the season Kavaliauskas ranks first in the Big 12 in field goal percentage (58.0). He has averaged 12.5 points per game, and was awarded second-team All Big 12 honors.[11]

Although the Aggies were the number two seed for the Big 12 Conference Tournament, they played poorly in their first game in the quarterfinals of the tournament and were eliminated in a loss to Oklahoma State.[12]

On Selection Sunday, however, the Aggies were rewarded for their regular-season play with a Number 3 seed in the South region of the 2007 NCAA Tournament.[12] The Aggies won their first-round game against Penn to advance to the second round of the tournament.[13]The team's 72-69 victory over Louisville earned them a berth in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1980. [14]

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e Antanas Kavaliauskas. Texas A&M University Athletic Department (2006). Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Cohen, Rachel (January 20, 2007). Goal closer for Ags' Kavaliauskas. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  3. ^ Ironically, Batista would end up playing professional basketball in Kavaliauskas' hometown of Vilnius, signing with Lietuvos Rytas after two successful years at Gonzaga.
  4. ^ a b c Gillispie Signs JUCO Big Man. Texas A&M University Athletic Department (April 28, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  5. ^ Cohen, Rachel (March 16, 2006). Gillispie turned moribund A&M around. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  6. ^ Caplan, Jeff (December 5, 2006). Acie Law has No. 6 A&M ready to show it belongs. Dallas Star-Telegram. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  7. ^ Graham, Pat (January 14, 2007). Aggie men survive cold trip to Colorado. AggieSports.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  8. ^ Rieken, Kristie (February 6, 2007). Law leads No. 6 Texas A&M past Texas. Associated Press. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  9. ^ Cohen, Rachel (February 28, 2007). Fund helps Aggies reunite with mothers. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  10. ^ Cohen, Rachel (March 4, 2007). Seniors have their day for A&M. The Denton Record Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  11. ^ King, Jason (March 5, 2007). Big 12 Notes: Handing out the awards. Athlon Sports. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  12. ^ a b Jackson, Scoop (March 12, 2007). Law and Order. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  13. ^ McMurray, Jeffrey (March 15, 2007). 'Captain Clutch' and A&M get by Penn. Yahoo! News. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  14. ^ Mandell, Stewart (March 17, 2007). Closer Look: Texas A&M-L'ville. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.

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