The Halloween night exhibition between the AU men’s basketball team and Mary Washington at Bender Arena showed just how scary height could be.
Powered by big men Stephen Lumpkins and Tony Wroblicky, the Eagles connected from close range on a lot of their shots to earn a 71-46 victory over the visitors.
Lumpkins led all players with 12 points, and Wroblicky snatched a game-high 18 rebounds as the duo towered over whomever they matched up against and cashed in on their opportunities.
AU’s height around the basket was an advantage against UMW and could continue to be an advantage throughout the season.
“I think we’re going to be a lot bigger team than a lot of teams that we face,” AU head coach Jeff Jones said. “So, that’s part of our game plan everyday in practice. That’s part of our game plan going forward. You know there’s not many teams at our level that has a 6-foot-10 [and] 6-foot-9 [player] in the lineup at the same time.”
Before AU’s starters exited with 4:53 left in the second half, the Eagles shot 70 percent in the second half and over 50 percent in the game, percentages that Jones thought could’ve been better.
“You know, we missed a lot of point blank shots throughout the course of the game,” Jones said. “The 50 percent shooting percentage should’ve been up in the mid 60s probably, based on where we were getting shots.”
With the shooting of Austin Carroll and John Schoof, along with the penetration and passing of point guard Daniel Munoz, the Eagles have a potent recipe on offense. But offense is only half of the game, and Jones saw areas for improvement on the defensive end.
“Whether it’s zone or man, if we’re going to force teams to shoot from the perimeter, which we hope to do, we’ve got to finish plays by rebounding,” Jones said.
Another key will be forcing a lot of turnovers to earn more possessions throughout the game, according to Jones.
The Eagles will open the season by traveling to Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers in non-conference action Nov. 9.
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