Darius Songaila Class: Senior Hometown: Marijampole, Lithuania High School: New Hampton Height / Weight: 6-9 / 248 Position: Forward Experience: 3VL

Pronounced DARE-e-us sun-GUY-la... an All-America and All-ACC candidate for the Deacons... has consistently been one of the top performers in the ACC during his three-year career... a powerful player who takes it strong to the basket... possesses a soft shooting touch with range out to the three-point arc (he made four three-pointers last season)... also capable of challenging bigger opponents off the dribble... a battler inside who doesn’t shy away from contact... plays with great intensity... has gained much international playing experience the last two years... in the summer of 2000, he was a member of Lithuania’s bronze medal national team at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia... this past summer he again played for the Lithuanian national team in the European Championships... will leave Wake Forest with his name firmly printed in the Deacon record books... enters his senior season ranked tied for 21st in career scoring with 1,252 points... ranks 24th in Wake Forest career rebounding history with 537 boards... one of just 12 players in Wake Forest history with more than 1,200 points and 500 rebounds... ranks 10th in WFU career blocked shots history with 69... has a chance to conclude career ranked among Wake’s all-time leaders in steals, free throws, free throw attempts, free throw percentage, games played and games started... needs to stay out of foul trouble, which has plagued him throughout his career... has scored in double figures 73 times in his career... has nine career double-doubles and 10 career games scoring 20 points or more.

2000-01
Played in all 30 games, starting 29 (did not start on Senior Day)... averaged 13.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, ranking second on the team in both categories... ranked 15th in the ACC in scoring and 14th in rebounding... scored in double figures 23 times... shot an even 50 percent from the floor, which would have ranked among the ACC leaders had he had enough attempts to qualify... shot even better (51.6 percent) in ACC games... led the team and ranked fourth in the ACC in free throw percentage (.816)... led the team in free throws with 102 (125 attempts)... fouled out of five games and committed a team-high 98 personal fouls... his 22 blocked shots ranked third on the team... ranked 14th in the ACC in blocked shots... recorded his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds in a win over S.C. State... rejected a career-high five shots in a home win over Georgia... followed that performance with 18 points in a victory over Radford... turned in perhaps the best game of his career Jan. 2 against Virginia in the ACC opener... poured in a career-high 27 points on 11-of-12 shooting against the Cavaliers... registered a double-double with 16 points and 11 boards and went 10-of-11 from the free throw line in a road loss at Maryland... dished out a season-high five assists in a home win versus Clemson... scored 18 points and went 10-of-11 from the free throw line in an overtime loss at Cincinnati... poured in 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 from the line in a 92-60 win at Clemson... scored 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting in the regular season finale at NC State.

Summer, 2001
Represented Lithuania in the European Championships... played in four games, helping his national team to a 2-2 record... joined on that team by NBA players Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Jasikevicius.

Summer, 2000
Realized a dream when he earned a roster spot on the Lithuanian national team in the Sydney Olympics... helped lead the team to a bronze medal and to two near-upsets of USA’s “Dream Team”... in two narrow losses to the United States, including an 85-83 setback in the semifinals, Songaila scored a combined 28 points including one 16-point effort... his best outing in Sydney was a 19-point, 6-rebound game in a win over China... Lithuania went 5-3 during the Games and Songaila averaged 9.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

1999-00
Earned third team All-ACC honors... started the first eight games of the season before suffering a sprained MCL in his right knee that caused him to miss the Arkansas game... led the team in scoring (13.7 ppg.)... averaged 16.6 ppg in ACC games to rank seventh in the league... led the ACC in free throw percentage (83.5 percent)... in ACC games, he ranked first in free throw accuracy (87.9 percent) and sixth in field goal percentage (53.6 percent)... hit 54 of his last 60 free throw attempts (90 percent)... scored 18 points in the NIT championship game against Notre Dame... recorded his third double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 boards against New Mexico in the NIT... averaged 16.8 ppg and 6.9 rpg over the team’s last 10 games... had a 14-point, 10-rebound performance against Duke in the ACC Tournament... was a perfect 8-of-8 from the line in two ACC Tournament games... scored 22 points, went 14-of-14 from the line and grabbed nine rebounds against Virginia... established a then career-high with 26 points against Georgia Tech... had 25 points at Duke... scored 22 points and tied a then career-high with 12 boards against Maryland... scored 18 points at Clemson... scored 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting against Final Four-bound Wisconsin... led the team in scoring 14 times... played 30 or more minutes eight times... made 33 consecutive free throws during one stretch before finally missing against NC State in the NIT -- 10 short of Skip Brown’s school record.

1998-99
Started 24 times and played in 31 games as a rookie... led the Deacons in field goal percentage (50.4 percent), free throw percentage (80.4 percent), steals (39) and blocked shots (21)… that free throw percentgae mark also placed him seventh in the ACC in that category… ranked second for WFU in both scoring (12.1 ppg.) and rebounding (5.3 rpg.)… scored in double digits in 22 contests and was the team's top scorer nine times… played exceptionally well in two postseason dates, totaling a team-high 18 points (and 9 rebounds) in NIT win over Alabama, then adding 16 points and eight rebounds at Xavier… posted season highs in points (23) and rebounds (12) against Arkansas… also recorded double-doubles vs. Mercer (14 points, 10 rebounds) and East Tennessee (15 points, 10 rebounds)… scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds against Virginia... named ACC "Rookie of the Week" twice... made 64 of 70 free throws (91 percent) over the final 14 games, and 48 of 51 (94 percent) over the final 10 outings… twice went 9-for-9 from the line in a single game (vs. Clemson and at Georgia Tech) and made 23 straight charity tosses at one point during the season… committed a then school-record 116 fouls… fouled out of eight games and picked up four fouls in 14 others.

High School
Honed his skills for one year at New Hampton Prep (NH), the same school that sent former Deacon Rafael Vidaurreta to Wake Forest (the two were never teammates there, however)… tutored there by coach Jamie Arsenault… averaged a double-double, producing 24 points and 11 rebounds per game for the Huskies… helped lead his 1998 team to a 22-5 record and the runner-up spot in the competitive New England prep school league… named to the all-league team.

Personal
Following his high school season, Songaila went on to compete on the "World Team" in the prestigious Hoops Summit contest that was played in San Antonio in the spring of 1998... profited greatly from a good deal of international experience as a young player… member of Lithuanian junior national team in both 1996 and 1997, then competed on his native country's 22-and-under squad which competed in the European championships in the summer of 1998… grew up in Marijampole (mar-rih-YAHM-po-lay), a city of 65,000 residents located about two hours from the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius… in the summer of 2000, he flew from North Carolina to Lithuania (for training camp), then to Spain (for a pre-Olympics tournament), to Sydney (for the Olympics), back to Lithuania (for one day) and finally returned to Winston-Salem on Oct. 5... the first member of his family ever to come to the United States… hopes to earn his degree at Wake Forest while pursuing his dream of playing professional basketball as well... did not make his commitment until the spring of 1998 to conclude what was an outstanding recruiting class for Wake Forest… says that he chose Wake Forest “because of the good academics, the basketball and people care about you,” Songaila said... “you are not lost among 50,000 students”... hobbies include hunting and fishing... says his best friend from another team is Matas Ignatavicius of High Point... former high school teammates Graham Bunn (Appalachian State), Brent Klassen (Bowling Green), Greg Friel (Dartmouth), Mike Causey (Harvard) and Calier Draiton (Northwestern) all went on to play Division I basketball... will celebrate a birthday the day after Wake plays at Clemson on Feb. 13 (2/14/78)... says his best non-athletic talent is cooking... is engaged to former Wake Forest women’s tennis standout Jackie Houston.

Favorite book: World by Garp
The first thing you would do if you were President of the United States: retire
The person you would most like to trade places with for a day: Michael Schumacher (Formula 1 driver)
Teammate who makes you laugh the hardest: Steve Lepore
The person who has most influenced your athletic career: My first coach Gintautas Zibuda
Your most memorable moment in sports: Wining the bronze in the Olympics and winning the NIT.
The best player you've ever played with or against: Arvydas Sabonis
The most difficult player you've defended: Tim Duncan
The first thing you thought when you first met Coach Prosser: he is very demanding
Your biggest fear: not being able to play basketball
One thing you wish you were better at: English
The one possession you would keep if you lost all but one: Olympic bronze medal
Something that most people don't know about you: I'm a nice guy
The title of your autobiography if you were to write one: Don't Try This At Home
The person you would choose to be stranded on a deserted island with: my fiancee’ Jackie Houston