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Texas A&M Basketball

Antanas Kavaliauskas on his pro career and time at Texas A&M

July 10, 2015
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Key quotes from Antanas Kavaliauskas interview

“(My beard) has taken about a year. Just got tired of shaving it and the wife hasn't really said anything about it.”

“This is the first time in two years that I’ve been back. I don't usually get summers off, maybe a week or two. This year, we got four weeks off, so we were lucky. Usually we have the national team, so we’re training and I have to stay in Lithuania. If I did come back, I’d go the Dallas area where my wife is from."

“(When I first got here) I knew three words. Yes, no and okay. It was tough at first, but after some time I learned it. I had this Russian accent that I still apparently have, according to Logan. It used to be thicker and more hardcore, but I just kept talking. One thing I could order was burgers through the drive thru. Ten double cheeseburgers is my signature.”

“This place has changed a lot since I left. I was just looking at Kyle Field wondering, ‘What is going on?’ It was such a weird feeling. When I was here a couple years ago, I had a chance to go work out at the new basketball facilities and thought, ‘Oh my god. How lucky they are to have all this.’ We had it good too, I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that with all that you can just live in there. You don’t have to go back to your dorm, they have everything. I definitely enjoyed seeing that this was part of what we did in growing the program and the school.”

“The team (I play for) is in my hometown. It was the team I used to clean the floors for and I wanted to be their basketball player. Being on the program and being one of the guys that actually plays, it’s amazing. I get a lot of support from my wife, kids and mother over there as well as my best friend. I just signed another three year contract and they made me captain, so we’ll see how that goes.”

“I’m still speechless about (winning the MVP) I’ve never been honored with individual awards like that. I’ve gotten MVP of the week, of the month in that league, so that was great, but all I wanted to do was win. Unfortunately, we lost in the finals and I suffered a pretty serious ankle injury where I partially tore a few ligaments but still had to play. Individual awards are nice but don’t mean much to me, it’s the team championships I want.”

“Balancing the family is a lot harder for my wife than it is for me. I’m usually busy with basketball, so I travel all the time. Summer is supposed to be the time that families have together, but we don’t have that. I’ll go back to Lithuania and they stay here, then come join me in September. She likes it though, she likes being in different countries and meeting different people. She has always said, ‘I don’t think there is a lot of people that can do what you do, so let’s take advantage while you can play and afterward we will see where things take us.”

“Right now I’m preparing the European Championships and if we play well, we will get an invite to the olympics immediately. If we don’t, we will have to go in a smaller tournament and try to qualify for it that way.”

“In my first olympics, Lebron James flew past me and it was split second. I remember my teammate passed me the ball under the basket and Chris Paul is behind me, I’m shielding him. So I get the ball and think, ‘I should pump fake.’ So I pump fake and in slow motion I just see Lebron James fly past me and I think, ‘I have to score.’ It happened so quick, but for me, it is still  all in slow motion. I scored and was running back thinking, ‘Woah. I just scored on team USA.”

“At the start (of my time at A&M) I was ready to quit and go home. I talked to my assistant coach and told him, ‘I cannot do this anymore and I have to go home.’ He told me we could talk about it later and then after study hall I got a call from coach G to come into his office. I got my share of why I shouldn't go, or if I do want to go, why I should just go. He wasn't going to hold me there. I decided to stick around.”

“(He pointed me out) because I was soft. I was mentally soft and coach G was trying to toughen me up. He knew I could take it.”

“The point where it turned around was when we were 3-6 and rattled off seven in a row. He told us, ‘This is our schedule and we can get these wins.’ Something just clicked. For me, it was when he called me into his office, sat me down and took out a stack of money and set it down on the table. He asks me, ‘Do you know how much that is?’ I said no and he told me. ‘Ten thousand dollars.’ He took out another stack and asked me, ‘Do you know how much that is?’ I said no again and he said, ‘Ten thousand.’ He did one more and I said, ‘Ten thousand.’ He responded, ‘You’re pretty smart, huh?’ That’s when he told me, ‘You can either make this in a year or in a month, that is up to you.’ That really clicked for me. He took all the money back. There was no compliance stuff.”

“I remember being on the bench (during the shot) because I fouled out. I remember P.J. Tucker over dribbling and that gave us a chance. I remember coach drawing up a play that was originally supposed to go to Joseph Jones. With the kind of leader Acie was he said, ‘Nope. I’m taking it.’ So he gets it, does that little dribble to the right and takes it. I was so tired after that game from screaming and jumping around.”

“That 2006-2007 team should have made it to the Final Four. We missed some layups and there was a foul call there. A questionable foul call, but we won’t get into that. We remember the losses more, because they hurt more.”

“That group of guys was great. I got to play against Joseph Jones twice this season and beat him twice. There was a lot of trash talk back and forth. I talk to Josh Carter a lot, Logan a lot. That was a really good year.” 
Discussion from...

Antanas Kavaliauskas on his pro career and time at Texas A&M

5,786 Views | 6 Replies | Last: 8 yr ago by BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
Gabe Bock
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AG
Antanas Kavaliauskas on his pro career and time at Texas A&M
SirGIGalot
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AG
Made the trip to see his very last game at Reed that year. If I remember right his mother was able to fly over at league expense and see him play for the first time. He had a good game with a monster jam at the end and the place went nuts

Glad to hear he's doing well.
MEEN Ag 05
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AG
Great guy. You could really tell he loved A&M and the basketball program when he was here. I loved watching him play - very unselfish with the ball and always hustling.
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BobOliver2006
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tbirdspur2010
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BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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