Augustas Marciulionis has started to become the point guard Saint Mary’s needs. And the Gaels are evolving into the team they believed they could be.
For Marciulionis, a junior from Lithuania, his personal path to this point wasn’t without early bumps in the road. He arrived two years ago to find Tommy Kuhse and Logan Johnson — both older and well-schooled — entrenched as the Gaels’ backcourt. Marciulionis averaged 3.1 points and shot 18 percent from 3-point distance as a freshman.
“That probably rattled Augustas,” Saint Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett said. “He’s thinking he’s going to come in and just going to tear through this USA basketball. He had to deal with all that.”
His story is not unusual at Saint Mary’s. Success doesn’t often happen the moment a player walks onto campus in Moraga. “We tell ‘em, it’s going to happen,” Bennett said. “We just can’t tell you when.”
Marciulionis never blinked. For whatever frustrations he may have faced along the way, he embraces the good and the bad.
“There’s a lot to learn as a freshman. You don’t even realize how much you don’t know. That’s how it is for the majority of players,” he said. “You just have to keep fighting, work hard and try to help your team in any ways you can. It’s a really beautiful process. I’m really happy that I was able to experience this.”
It’s coming together for Marciulionis, whose improvement on both ends of the floor, growing confidence and emerging leadership reflects the turnaround the Gaels have made, flipping a 3-5 start to the season to an 11-1 stretch that has them alone atop the West Coast Conference standings at 5-0.
The numbers tell only part of the story, but they are impressive: Over these past 12 games, he is averaging 12.4 points, 5.8 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 steals and shooting 38 percent from the 3-point arc.
“And, he takes the best guard every game,” Bennett said, alluding to the fact that Marciulionis took the lead in limiting Santa Clara’s Adama-Alpha Bal and San Francisco’s Marcus Williams to a combined 2-for-17 shooting and six points in decisive road victories the past two Saturdays. “Most people don’t measure defense. He’s a stud there.”
Saint Mary’s, picked by WCC coaches as the conference favorite this season, stumbled early, losing three times at home and getting badly outplayed in the second half of defeats to Boise State and San Diego State.
“Of course, we were not happy with how we started the season. We had different expectations for ourselves. But I wouldn’t say we panicked,” Marciulionis said. “We just kept doing what Saint Mary’s always does — working hard, having good leadership, good team chemistry, all those things. We knew eventually if we do the right things we have a chance to become the team that we thought we could be. And now it’s slowly starting to happen.”
Marciulionis struggled alongside his teammates, in particular with his shooting. But Bennett said the coaching staff saw a much better player in practice and patiently waited for that to show up on games nights. “He had to see it happen a little bit,” Bennett said. “It helped for him to see we weren’t leaving him.”
Marciulionis acknowledges his entire game needed to be better. “I had to improve as a point guard, my leadership skills, being more vocal, controlling the team better. Also defensively,” he said. “This is the role I’ve played my whole life and I just knew I had to make that extra step in that area.”
Bennett said he got his most vivid signals of the value Marciulionis brings to the team in the second-half collapses against Boise State and San Diego State. Foul trouble limited his play late in the former and a nagging abdominal issue sent him to the bench in the second half against the Aztecs.
“That’s when I realized we need this guy,” Bennett said. “What he gives us has continued to grow. Now he’s starting to lead and understand he’s an important player. He really got excited to see he’s starting to become a player. It’s fun for our staff to see how excited he is.”
But Marciulionis is quick to stress the team’s turnaround is tied to the performances of everyone on the roster. Bennett called Marciulionis and sophomore forward Joshua Jefferson the team’s two most-improved players from the start of practice. Jefferson won Credit Union 1 WCC Player of the Week honors after a 21-point, 10-rebound effort in the Gaels’ win at USF.
“We know what he’s capable of. He’s only a sophomore . . . it’s the first year where he has a big role,” Marciulionis said of his teammate. “Joshua was one of those players who had to adjust to his new role and make a few steps forward and he definitely did it. Now he’s feeling comfortable. He’s a really good player for us.”
The Gaels have come a long way since their early-season ups and downs but big games remain on the schedule, including a pair vs. long-time rival Gonzaga — Feb. 3 in Spokane and March 2 at Moraga in the regular-season finale. That’s not the focus right now. “We know we still have to play Gonzaga,” Marciulionis said, “but we have Pacific on Thursday, we have LMU on Saturday.”
All part of the “beautiful process.” The son of Hall of Famer Sarunas Marciulionis, Augustas could have remained at home and moved through Europe’s professional system. He decided coming to the U.S. to play college ball was the right path for him.
The Gaels had a recruiting edge because Bennett became friends with Sarunas Marciulionus nearly two decades ago. That association helped a lot, Bennett said, “just because of the trust factor.”
Sarunas wanted his son to attend a school where he’d be able to carve out his own niche and wouldn’t be living in his shadow. “He thought he’d have support here,” Bennett said. “He knows we develop guys. He knew of the pedigree of our point guards — he knew (Matthew) Dellavedova, he knew Patty (Mills). He knew we’re kind of no-nonsense about our guys — not over-promising and under-delivering.”
Augustas talks about the culture and continuity in the Saint Mary’s program and says he appreciates his father guiding him toward Moraga, more than 5,700 miles from his home in Vilnius.
"It feels like it’s a big family and that’s really important, especially for the international guys,” he said. “You’re surrounded by great people who care about you. In that area, it’s exceeded my expectations, for sure. I’m really happy that I’m here.”
The feeling is mutual.