STATESBORO, Ga—The Augusta University men's basketball team began its 2023-24 season with an upset exhibition win over Georgia Southern, 82-77, on Friday, Oct. 20, at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Coming into this initial game, there were plenty of question marks about the Jaguars, who lost four key seniors to graduation—four players who had led AU to the national championship game two seasons ago. And it's safe to say, a lot of those questions were answered tonight. From efficient shooting to pressure defense, the Jaguars played a complete game against an NCAA Division I opponent.
Augusta Coach Dip Metress was surprised with the shooting performance of his team, which in the last two seasons had lost sharpshooters Troy Cracknell and Miguel Arnold to graduation.
"We haven't shot the ball that well in practice, and we really weren't prepared with a lot of stuff offensively," said Metress, who is still building his offense step by step in practice.
The Jaguars made nine 3-pointers in the contest, and all five starters scored in double digits. Demitri Gardner was the most efficient shooter, shooting over 70 percent, en route to his career-high 17 points.
Early in the contest, the Jaguars came out shaky and the Georgia Southern crowd was alive, but Ja'Queze Kirby was able to quiet them down with an early three-pointer on an assist from point guard Chris Britt. With senior David Viti leading the way, the Jaguars would go on an impressive run and found themselves up, 42-33, with two minutes to go before halftime.
To the dismay of AU, Georgia Southern responded with a run of their own, scoring 10 unanswered to take the lead at the half, 43-42. The break couldn't have come at a better time for the Jaguars. They regrouped, refocused and came out a different team in the second half.
Georgia Southern had no answer in the final 20 minutes for Augusta's offense. The Jaguars were shooting the ball exceptionally well and on top of that readjusted their game plan to drive the ball inside more—which both Britt and Kirby excel at.
This opened everything for the Jaguars, and the efficiency they were shooting with, made them nearly unstoppable. Britt stepped up in the second half with 10 points. The sophomore also recorded a career-high with six assists in the game.
The Jaguars never lost their poise; the more the game went on the better they got. In the final two minutes, the Jags scored nine points on only free throws to put the game away and secured their first win over Georgia Southern since 1990. This was a huge win for the Jaguars over an NCAA Division I school, but no one enjoyed this win more than senior Viti, who started his career at GSU.
"This means a lot," said Viti, the senior from Buford who is a fan favorite of the Jaguars. "They didn't want me. I wanted to come back and show them what they're missing out on. That was the goal."
Viti did exactly that with a 17-point performance as well as playing his career high in minutes with 37. Viti stepped as a leader tonight, and it showed on the court. And even after the game when he went into the crowd and thanked the AU fans who made the trip down U.S. 25.
Another huge performance came from Kirby, who led the team with 20 points and added nine rebounds. Yet Kirby feels like he could've done more.
"I feel like that wasn't my best game," said AU's outstanding junior from Hazelhurst (Ga.). "I missed some shots that I should've made, but I'm glad we all came back ready to get this season rolling."
Georgia Southern had tremendous size in the paint, but it never showed as centers Max Amadasun and Timmy Sellers controlled the paint and were able to make tough shots, combining for 13 points and eight rebounds.
"It was a decent performance, but definitely not our best," said Amadasun, the transfer from St. Bonaventure.
For Metress and his program, it was another exhibition upset victory over a DI program. In October 2018, Augusta went up to Columbia, S.C., and edged the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, 77-72.
The Division II No. 10 Jaguars look to build from this impressive win. Their next game will be at Emory University on Tuesday, Oct. 31.
In the meantime, Metress will keep working the Jags hard in practice as he teaches a roster full of newcomers the Jaguar Way—a way of playing basketball that works both at the D2 and D1 level.
Written by Justin Gray
The Bell Ringer
