Devil-killer Azoulas Tubelis relishes yet another win over ASU

TEMPE — Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis doesn’t have the sort of background to suggest he would ever get too deep into the UA-ASU rivalry.

For one thing, he plays basketball, a sport in which the Wildcats have historically not shared the same depth of passion for playing against the Sun Devils as in football.

For another, the first time Tubelis played at ASU, as a freshman during the COVID-19-plagued season of 2020-21, he didn’t get to feel the no-pity-for-the-kitty heat from the Desert Financial Arena stands. Just before the buzzer, Tubelis acrobatically put in a missed 3-pointer by James Akinjo to give UA an 84-82 win … in front of nobody except about 100 staffers, media and family members.

Also worth noting: Tubelis grew up in Vilnius, Lithuania. Not exactly on the Interstate 10 corridor.

But during Arizona’s 69-60 win at ASU on Saturday, and afterward during a postgame news conference, it appeared that Tubelis actually really does feel something extra when facing the Sun Devils.

“I love playing here. I’m undefeated, I guess,” said Tubelis, who had 21 points and nine rebounds while improving to 5-0 against ASU. “It means a lot.”

If those words don’t suggest passion, Tubelis’ play Saturday might have.

The junior forward missed four of his first five shots, in part because he said he rushed things early, before finishing with 21 points and 7-for-14 field-goal shooting.

He was fired up for the Sun Devils, basically. Maybe a little too fired up.

“I know I need to watch film again. I don’t need to take that many shots,” Tubelis said. “Sometimes I’m just rushing my shots and it did not make sense to take those shots. So I need to calm down and don’t rush, just move the ball.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Still, Tubelis finished with 13 points in the first half to lead the Wildcats to a 45-38 halftime lead. In the second half, he scored eight points, including two layups within 39 seconds of each other to help the Wildcats expand what was just a two-point lead back to 11 with five minutes left.

“He’s one of the best scorers in the conference and I think he showed it” Saturday, UA guard Courtney Ramey said. “He’s my roommate (on the road) so we talked a lot in the past couple days and it was good to see him get going in the second half and just be himself. I’m proud of him.”

Despite the fact that UA posted its second-lowest scoring total of the season, Tubelis still managed to hit the 20-point mark for the sixth time in the Wildcats’ past eight games. While doing so, he made his way to the line to hit 6 of 8 free throws, hit one of his two 3-pointers and pulled down nine rebounds.

That followed a two-game effort against Montana State and Morgan State before Christmas after which Tubelis was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Dec. 26. Arizona nominated him again Sunday for this week’s award, which will be announced Monday.

Not surprisingly, Tubelis’ consistency and production has meant UA coach Tommy Lloyd gets asked about him after nearly every game. This time, Lloyd cited how Tubelis had some “tremendous” baskets by forcing his way to the basket at ASU.

“That ain’t about no coach drawing anything up. It’s just about a guy having an incredible will to win,” Lloyd said. “I was really proud of how he responded. He’s become such a good player.”

It was a will to win that, by all accounts, had at least something to do with where the game was played and who the other team was.

“Every time I step on the court against them, I just want to win and win by a lot of points,” Tubelis said. “Just want to go forever.”