| Game day with the Eagles by mike unger
Photo by Larry French
Men’s basketball coach Jeff Jones |
The AU men’s basketball team’s season ended Sunday in Lewisburg, Pa., with a 64-50 loss to Bucknell in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. It was a trying year for the young Eagles, who bounced back from an 0-6 start to finish 12-17, with a .500 conference record. What follows is a chronicle of the team’s Feb. 23 tussle against Navy, beginning at the afternoon shootaround and ending in the postgame locker room. Linas Lekavicius strolls from the men’s basketball locker room onto the Bender Arena court at two past two, the sound of the basketball he’s dribbling echoing throughout the empty gym. The junior guard is the first Eagle at practice, but minutes later a handful of his teammates emerge one-by-one from the depths of the arena and follow him onto the floor. Five hours remain until the team’s critical Patriot League showdown with Navy, but for the players and coaches, countdown to tipoff begins now. Weeknight games usually are held on Wednesdays, so players’ class schedules are set accordingly. But tonight’s has been shifted to a Thursday to accommodate College Sports TV, the cable network that is broadcasting the contest live. Because of the change a number of players can’t make the shootaround; they’re in class. At one end of the court Craig Weinstein drains three-pointer after three-pointer. A co-captain, Weinstein is the team’s lone senior, and tonight during the final home game of the season he will start, a rarity for the little-used guard. Other players practice foul shots, layups, and jumpers, while head coach Jeff Jones and assistants Greg Lyons, Jason Williford, and Kieran Donohue look on. Despite the significance of tonight’s game, the team appears loose. AU is jockeying with Navy for seeding in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, and the Midshipmen defeated the Eagles earlier this season in Annapolis. “This gives them a chance to do a little shooting, get the blood flowing,” Jones says. “You’re trying to focus on whether they’re showing energy or dragging. It’s always a little tough to predict how you’re going to play, but it’s even more difficult with this team because we’re just so young.” It’s been a rocky road for the Eagles this year. A brutal schedule led to an 0-6 start, but as of late the team has played much better basketball, winning two of its last three to improve to 5-7 in the conference. A win tonight and one Saturday at Lafayette would mean avoiding a first-ever losing league record. “The two days leading up to the game we’ll start watching film and go over the scouting report in practice,” Jones says while leisurely watching his guys shoot. “We’ll meet at 10 the night before the game to go over the film for the last time. By then it should all be review.” Under normal circumstances the team would walk through a few plays and scenarios on the court following the shootaround, but with only six players available Jones cancels the exercise, tells his men to shower up and report to TDR for the pregame meal. At 3 p.m. sharp the team gathers in a private TDR room to dine on chicken, pasta, potatoes, rice, broccoli, and orange juice. Seated at three circular tables, the players chat while scarfing down packed plates of food. From the coaches’ table Williford urges junior Brayden Billbe to eat some broccoli, but Billbe’s facial expression makes it clear he won’t be having any. “We try to tell them that you’re eating basically to get your body ready to play,” Jones says. “What we’re looking for is for them not to be too quiet, but not too loud or silly. There’s a happy medium.” One that appears to have been met today. At 3:20 Lyons distributes scouting reports and commences with a detailed rundown of the strengths and weaknesses of every Navy player. Then, Jones addresses his team. “We’ve talked about how important this game is,” he says. “It means a lot in terms of the standings, and it’s Craig’s last home game. It’s going to be pushing, shoving, fouling, grabbing, and we’ve got to make sure that we don’t back off from it. Last time we played them their coach yelled out ‘we can out-tough them.’ We can’t let that happen on our home court. We need to play smart, hard-nosed basketball for 40 minutes.” With that the players and coaches disperse; they’re on their own until 5:30. Some go directly to the gym, others to their dorm rooms. Williford sneaks home to catch a quick shower; Jones heads to his office. Two hours after eating, the players are suiting up in the locker room to the deafening sounds of rap and metal blasting through the audio system. It’s too loud for almost anyone over 25, so Jones and the other coaches stay outside. At 5:45 the team heads onto the court for pregame warm-ups. “Yes Weiny!” Williford calls out to Weinstein. “We’re counting on you tonight.” Behind the basket at the far end of the court Jones sits in solitude in row H, watching Navy in the foreground and his team in the distance. As before every game, his stomach is churning. Tonight he’s concerned about Navy’s physical toughness. “We’ve got to be able to match that,” he says. “To some degree you can control what we do shooting the ball and what they do shooting the ball, through our defense, but toughness is something you can’t really control.” At 6:15 both teams assemble into layup lines; the energy level is noticeably rising. Five minutes later, the squads retreat to their respective locker rooms. Written on a dry-erase board inside AU’s room are four keys to a victory: team defense, attack under control, get the ball inside, and go all out for the win. AU also is particularly concerned with Navy’s Greg Sprink, the Mids leading scorer who posted 27 points in the teams’ first meeting. Williford circles the room, slapping hands with each player, firing them up. “Let’s send Weiny out in style!” he yells. In walks Jones to deliver his pregame speech. His voice is measured but intense. “This is going to be an emotional game,” he says to his players, some of whom look nervous, some of whom appear relaxed. “Let’s be sure to channel that emotion in a positive way. They’re going to make some good plays, we’re going to make some mistakes—but we want this game more!” Minutes before tip, Weinstein escorts his mother to midcourt where he receives a framed picture of himself in action, an annual Senior Night tradition. At 7:08 one of the three refs throws up the jump ball, and the battle begins. The first five minutes are just as predicted, tough and physical, with neither team breaking away. AU takes a 5-2 lead after a three-point play by Andre Ingram. Following another Ingram jumper, Navy calls time with 5:11 left and AU leading 18-13. The Eagles are doing a good job of getting back on defense, one of the keys Lyons stressed in the locker room before the game. By the end of the half AU has established control. Navy’s Sprink has yet to make a field goal and as the Eagles run off the court, the roar of the crowd fading into silence, they hold a 28-19 lead. Yet Jones is far from satisfied. “We gutted that half out,” he says. “I don’t think we played particularly sharp. What we’ve gotta do in the second half is turn it up. Everything we do, let’s make it count.” Jones reviews a host of technical items with the team, furiously scribbling on the dry-erase board. He especially wants his wing players to do a better job of feeding the ball to the “bigs” in the post. By the end of his talk, Jones looks like he wants to suit up and play. “Let’s make the extra-effort plays,” he screams. “Strength with the ball and toughness defensively. Twenty minutes now guys!” AU comes out of the half a bit tentative, going scoreless until Lekavicius tallies with 16:54 left. But after that AU turns up its defensive pressure and goes on a scoring run, pushing its lead to 35-21. Jones, coughing constantly into a red towel, continues barking orders to his players even as they widen the margin. At the 8:53 mark AU opens a 20-point lead, and from that point on the game never is in doubt. “Weinstein! Weinstein! Weinstein!” With about two minutes left students behind the bench begin to chant the name of AU’s only senior, who played just a few minutes at the start of each half. The crowd erupts as the 5-foot-11-inch guard walks to the scorer’s table and enters the game.
Photo by Larry French
AU coach Jeff Jones was pleased with his team’s effort against the Midshipmen. |
The outcome is decided, yet most of the 1,620 spectators in attendance are on their feet. With a minute left, Weinstein spots up behind the three-point arc directly in front of the AU bench and lets a shot fly. It swishes perfectly through the net, eliciting a thunderous cheer from the fans. The night is complete. The final is 65-48. “Guys, you busted your asses defensively,” Jones says in the upbeat locker room. “That’s the leading-scoring team in the Patriot League. Obviously, we’re really happy to send Craig off with a win. We’ve got more games to play, but enjoy this one and make sure all of you guys take a second to thank Craig for everything he’s done for the program.” After Jones lays out tomorrow’s schedule for the road trip to Lafayette, every member of the team approaches Weinstein to offer congratulations. Outside in the hall, Jones, his voice nearly lost, discusses the victory with reporters from the Washington Post, (Annapolis) Capital, and Eagle. But already, mentally he has moved on. “It’s done,” he says of the win, the clock approaching 10. “I’ve got a whole stack of articles and tape on Lafayette sitting on my desk upstairs.” |
