Jaguar men's hoops team opens season in Hall of Fame Classic
By Nolan Turner | Sports writer
Tipoff time time is here.
The Augusta University men’s basketball team opens this weekend in Lakeland, Fla., in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at Florida Southern College.
The opener will be against second-ranked Washburn university at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday , Nov. 1, and the second game will be on Sunday, Nov 2, at 11 a.m. against No. 25 Lubbock Christian University. Both games will be played at the George W. Jenkins Field House at FSC. Both games will be livestreamed. (See link at the bottom of the page.)
Augusta will be put to the test in the first game against Washburn, which is coming off a Final Four appearance. The Ichabods finished 30-4 and lost to eventual national champion Nova Southeastern in the national semifinals.
The Ichabods are picked to win their conference, the Mid-American Collegiate Athletics Association.
The Jaguar men are also coming off a winning season at 19-11 and picked to finished fourth in the Peach Belt Conference preseason poll. The Jags finished tied for second last season.
AU will look a little different this year with nine new faces on the team.
The Jaguars will not have one of the main leaders this weekend in forward Evan Joyner, who is out for the next six weeks due to a broken wrist. Joyner is a graduate student. This will require some of the newcomers to step up this weekend in Florida.
“Lots of new guys will receive opportunities throughout the season,” said AU coach Dip Metress.
Injuries have been an issue for the team thus far in the preseason, and while it’s not the best situation for the team, it also gives the new players a chance to show what they can do.
Some of the key players to look out for this weekend will be freshman guard Charlie McBeath, sophomore guard Elias Palsson and freshman Matias Zanotto.
Metress and assistant coach Zach Tinkham both said AU plans to play a pressure defense and shoot more 3-pointers than in past seasons. Tobias Prall, a Trenton, N.J., native, will be one of those sharpshooters. He averaged 17 points per game last season at Southeast Arkansas College.
After this weekend’s action, the Jaguars will scrimmage Emory University on Nov. 5 in Atlanta.
Contact Nolan Turner at noturner@augusta.edu.
Elias Palsson is a key returning player for the AU men. Palsson averaged 7.4 points per game last season. At the top of the page, Dip Metress begins his 22nd season at AU and needs 11 victories to reach the 600-win milestone. (Bell Ringer file photos)
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