Augusta University’s men’s basketball team began the season under a cloud of turmoil.
Their popular and successful head coach was serving a suspension, and a young assistant coach was out of a job. It would have been easy, given those circumstances, for a team to struggle or even throw in the towel.
Well, that is not what this Jaguar squad chose to do. Instead, they relied on their maturity and veteran leadership to ignore the distractions and focus on the game. It did not hurt that they have one of the most successful coaches in the country still manning the ship.
Dip Metress, who is in his 26th season as a head coach and his 19th in charge of the Jags program is, put simply, a winner. He does not have losing in his DNA.
Over the course of his career, Metress has led Augusta to unprecedented heights and compiled a record of 368 wins to 143 defeats. When you include his time as the head coach at Belmont Abbey, Metress has amassed more than 500 career wins (His career record stands at 502-236).
The Jags have gotten out of the gate quickly this season and currently stand at 7-0. In the latest NABC National Rankings, Augusta University sits at No. 8 in the country. And it is not simply that they are winning; it is how they are winning.
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The Jaguars are overwhelming their opponents. The Jaguars have outscored the opposition by nearly 29 points per game.
That margin of victory is the third-best in the country. They have also done it with a balanced attack. Augusta has nine players that average at least 12 minutes per outing and five Jags average double digit points per game.
This team is solid on both ends of the floor. They are shooting a sizzling 44.3% from three-point range as a team and they are one of the country’s leader on the defensive side of the court, limiting their opponents to just 36.3% shooting from the floor.
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Perhaps the most intriguing player on the team is 7’1 junior big-man Tyshaun Crawford. He spent two seasons at Georgia Southern (one was a redshirt year) before he chose to transfer to Augusta. He seems to get a little better every time he takes the floor. He currently leads the team in rebounding (8.1 per game) and blocked shots (1.7 per game) and is second in scoring at 14.9 points per outing.
While Crawford is an exceptional talent, the key to the Jags team has been having their quartet of guards healthy. Those guards are juniors Tyree Myers, Miguel Arnold, Darren Lucas-White and graduate student Troy Cracknell. Arnold paces the team in scoring (16.4 points per game) and has been one of the best shooters in the country, shooting 55.4 % from beyond the arc. He has already nailed 31 long balls in just 7 games. Myers tops the squad in assists and serves as the teams quarterback of sorts. While Lucas-White & Cracknell can score and do all the little things it takes for a team to have success.
Augusta returned all of that talent from a year ago, but they also had a huge addition to the roster. Georgia native and Murray State transfer JaQueze Kirby has been a blur all season. He has a motor that does not stop, and he gives Augusta a player oozing with athleticism that is capable of being a standout on both ends of the floor. Finally, the Jags also have some local flavor, with former Glenn Hills standouts John Whitehead and Timmy Sellers firmly entrenched in the team’s rotation.
Augusta has made it to the Division II Elite Eight on three occasions. While it is very early in the season, this team appears to have what it takes to make a deep run as well. If you would like to catch the Jags, they will be at Christenberry Fieldhouse this Saturday, Dec. 11 to host the College of Coastal Georgia with tip-off slated for 4 p.m.
Ashley Brown covers sports for The Augusta Press. Reach him at Ashley.brown@theaugustapress.com
