The University of Vytautas the Great, which went through the last season of the Regional Basketball League not in the best of moods, experienced a real rise of its athletes during the summer period. It did not bring much joy to the teams that reached the 16th place in Division A and the quarter-final stage in Division B, but the summer period reminded them what makes this university a great choice for basketball players. The first resounding victory and medal brought to Lithuania by VDU athletes was on July 15. At the European University Sports Games, the VDU foursome won third place in the 3×3 basketball sport. In the tournament held in Debrecen, the boys, who marched undefeated all the way to the semi-finals, were stopped by the Polytechnic University of Bucharest (Romania), but in the fight for the bronze medal, they were defeated by the University of Valencia (Spain) - 19:21. Vytautas Magnus University basketball player Augustinas Mikštas became the second most productive player of the entire tournament with an average of 7,8 points per game, while Titas Januševičius remained in third place with an average of 7 points. Medals were won by VDU students: Titas Januševičius, Nojus Lebskas, Gabrielius Čelka and Augustinas Mikštas. The latter also entered the symbolic top three of the tournament and became the most useful player of the tournament.
To further promote Lithuania and its name, the VDU 5×5 basketball team went to Miskolc, where the European University Games were held. The VDU athletes, who passed the group stage without defeat, looked just as solid in the playoffs. The final was reached, where the boys of coach Arūnas Juknevičius beat the University of Zagreb (Croatia) team with a score of 75:63. Having not experienced a single defeat, VDU athletes became the champions of the European University Sports Games basketball tournament. In the final, Augustinas Mikštas led the Lithuanians to victory with 18 points, Justinas Ramanauskas added 12 points, Vitalijus added 11 points, Gabrielius Čelka scored 8 points, Adonas Sidarevičius – 7, Rokas Mačiulis – 5, Domas Uosis – 3. V. Kozys was chosen as the most useful player of the tournament top five players. "I'm happy, it was the third time in a row that we've reached the finals and finally managed to become champions. Half of the team consisted of players from the Regions Basketball League (Lukas Uosis, Domas Uosis, Žygymantas Sabaliauskas, Ričardas Butkus, Irmantas Mockevičius, Dominykas Černius), so we are very happy about their development. We want to show everyone that we are a basketball country at the student level as well and that we are able to demonstrate high results", said team manager Airidas Nutautas. Two other no less resounding achievements were recorded already in August. The Lithuanian men's 3×3 basketball team, of which four basketball players represented, even three are VMU students, forever entered the history of Lithuanian basketball and VMU. Won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games. This achievement will be remembered by Evalds Džiaugis, Aurelijs Pukelis, Šarūns Vingelis, Gintautas Matulis and coach Dainis Novickis for the rest of their lives. All these representatives of the Lithuanian national team, with the exception of Gintautas Matulis, have connections with VMU as former or current students. Well, and the most recent achievement on August 25. won the bronze medal of the European 3×3 Championship. All representatives of that Lithuanian national team (Titas Januševičius, Marijus Uzhupis, Gabrielius Čelka, Aurelijs Pukelis, Dainius Novickas) are VMU students, thus once again promoting the success of this university in the summer. "We are extremely happy that VDU basketball is steadily growing upwards, we can be proud of both Olympic and European prize winners, we have two teams in the Regional Basketball League, one of the best sports complexes in the entire Baltic region. All student basketball at the university is making strong progress, which we can see in this summer's results," said VDU team manager Airidas Nutatautas.
Although the last season was not successful, both VDU teams kept their places in the A and B divisions and have already started the preparation phase for the upcoming season. We remind you that the start of the season is already on October 3.
