Azuolas Tubelis finds form as Wildcats beat Trojans, secure No. 2 seed in Pac-12

LOS ANGELES — While clinching the Pac-12 Tournament’s No. 2 seed Thursday, Arizona might have also picked up the Azuolas Tubelis it knows for the postseason ride ahead.

After struggling at times through his past four games, Tubelis collected 25 points on 11-for-17 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to an 87-81 win over USC on Thursday at Galen Center.

The win moved Arizona to 25-5, 14-5 in the Pac-12 while giving coach Tommy Lloyd 58 wins, tying him with North Carolina’s Bill Guthridge for the most wins during the first two years as a head coach. After UA lost at ASU last weekend, beating USC also gave the Wildcats some momentum to carry into Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, when they will play first-place UCLA in their regular-season finale.

“I was looking for us to play well, and for the most part we played well and pretty consistent against a really good USC team,” Lloyd said. “They’ve been great at home, and I think really undervalued nationally, just with the talent they have across the board. Maybe we caught them on a good night too.”

Maybe. The Wildcats did get a break in that USC wing Drew Peterson was reportedly playing through some lower-back pain while scoring just five points on 2-for-9 shooting. But Arizona held USC to just 40.6% shooting overall despite allowing Trojan guard Boogie Ellis to race his way to 35 points, sometimes hitting tough jump shots or slithering to the rim.

“I thought we did an OK job on him for some stretches,” Lloyd said. “It was kind of loose in there at the end a little bit. But he's a really good player. He's aggressive, he's got a lot of freedom and ... he's fun to watch.

The Wildcats might have to deal with Ellis and the Trojans one more time, next week in Las Vegas. While UA clinched the No. 2 Pac-12 Tournament seed based on its series sweep of USC, the Trojans (21-9, 13-6) will be the No. 3 seed, meaning if both teams win their quarterfinal games, they would meet on March 10 at 9:30 p.m. MT.

Arizona is now scheduled to open Pac-12 Tournament play on March 9 at 7 p.m. against the winner of a first-round game between the seventh- and 10th-seeded teams.

If the Wildcats do wind up facing the Trojans again, that would probably be fine with Tubelis. Back when he was a freshman in 2020-21, Tubelis had 16 points and 15 rebounds against eventual NBA lottery pick Evan Mobley. Earlier this season, Tubelis collected 15 points and 17 rebounds against USC in UA’s 81-66 win over USC at McKale Center.

“My freshman year it was because of Mobley, who was the best prospect in the country,” Tubelis said. “I did my best to stop him. This year, I don’t know (what it was). I know I’m better.”

Even though Tubelis had not posted a double-double since Feb. 9 at Cal, and even though he had averaged only 13.5 points and 5.5 rebounds since then, he was a different guy on Thursday. He played with confidence and aggressiveness against the Trojans, darting past them on the way to the basket repeatedly.

“Zu was great,” Lloyd said. “He was rock solid. You just see when he got on the court, had a little bounce in his step. You could actually see that during shootaround (practice earlier Thursday).

“I’ve been saying the seasons are long, and it’s hard to be consistently as good as he was for an extended period of time. Hopefully he hit his lull and now we're past it and he's back to being the guy we had all season.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Tubelis made his move almost immediately in Thursday’s game. The Wildcats trailed USC 8-7 early after Ellis hit a 3-pointer and drove inside for a layup. But Tubelis helped push them ahead for the rest of the half. After Courtney Ramey hit a 3-pointer and Ellis hit an off-balance midrange jumper, Tubelis scored six points over the next two minutes.

Three-pointers from Ramey and Kerr Kriisa then helped UA take leads of up to eight points in the middle of the half before Tubelis hit another layup to give the Wildcats their first 10-point lead, 32-22, with 5:37 left.

Tubelis could have had 17 points in the half, but he pulled up about eight feet from the basket and dished a short pass to Oumar Ballo, who finished to give UA a 38-29 lead with a minute remaining before halftime.

Tubelis finished the first half with 15 points and eight rebounds, setting UA up to coast through most of the second half with double-digit leads.

There were, however, two eye-opening incidents the rest of the way.

The first was a dustup under the basket midway through the second half. USC’s Kobe Johnson and UA’s Pelle Larsson were called for offsetting technicals after Johnson rose up for a post-whistle shot, was pushed away by Larsson — and responded by throwing the ball off Larsson’s head.

The second came after UA led by up to 16. USC made a final push, cutting it to just 83-78 when Ellis hit a 3 with 36 seconds left.

But from there, UA closed out the win by hitting all four of its free throws when the Trojans fouled.

Tubelis wound up leading a Wildcat offense that shot 55.2% from the field. Ramey chipped in 16 points while hitting 3 of 7 3-pointers. Kylan Boswell (14 points), Kriisa (11) and Ballo (10) also scored in double figures.

“We wouldn’t be where we are without him,” Boswell said, referring to Tubelis as he sat next to him at a postgame interview. “It makes a huge difference.”

Photos: No. 8 Arizona Wildcats stave off USC Trojans in Los Angeles