Timing of ASU matchup might be just right for UA's Azuolas Tubelis, who's due for a bounce-back

Considering how Azuolas Tubelis has developed a passion for Arizona’s intrastate rival despite growing up some 6,000 miles away, maybe facing Arizona State could be the perfect cure.

Thanks to foul trouble and other issues, the Arizona Wildcats’ standout junior forward has averaged only 9.1 points and 4.1 rebounds over his past three games.

But ever since he put in a game-winning bucket at ASU during his freshman season of 2020-21, Tubelis has had a thing for beating the Sun Devils. He’s averaged 14.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in five career games against ASU and, over the past two, he’s averaged 20 and 10.

Also: All those games were Arizona victories.

“I love playing here,” Tubelis said on Dec. 31 after collecting 21 points and nine rebounds to help UA beat ASU 69-60 at Desert Financial Arena. I”’m undefeated, I guess. It means a lot.”

But when asked Thursday if playing ASU was a good spot for Tubelis to find his rhythm, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said in general he expected Tubelis to bounce back.

“Zu’s had an amazing year,” Lloyd said. “The last couple of games maybe haven’t finished great, but I think that’s OK. I think over the course of a season, you’re gonna have some ups and downs, and they’re both important. How you bounce back from some of the downs is as important as continuing to play well.

“So I think he’s gonna have a real strong finish to the season. I think he’s deserving of all the recognition he’s getting, but I think, more importantly, that he knows he’s got to come out and perform on a nightly basis.”

Tubelis has had to face more recognition and expectations the better he’s played. Since he dropped 40 points on Oregon in UA’s Feb. 2 win over the Ducks, Tubelis appeared to vault to the top of the Pac-12 Player of the Year race, He soon after made a Naismith Player of the Year watch list and was a leading candidate on the late-season Karl Malone (power forward) Award watch list.

But Lloyd said he didn’t think Tubelis’ expectations needed to be higher.

“I think you just keep playing with great effort and focus on the process and you’ll get good results,” Lloyd said. “He’s a really good basketball player, and I think the beauty about Zu is I don’t think he takes himself too seriously and I don’t think he’s selfish. So I think he’ll be fine.”

Late-season breather

While Lloyd said bad weather kept him from trying out his new pickleball court, he and his players took advantage of an extra day off this week. After beating Colorado last Saturday, they did not practice on Sunday or Monday. Typically, the Wildcats will return on Monday after a Thursday-Saturday Pac-12 weekend.

“It’s been good for everybody,” Lloyd said. “Ultimately, Saturday is gonna be the indicator with how we come out and play, but I think it was a much-needed break.

That’s exactly how forward Cedric Henderson described it.

“It was great,” Henderson said. “It was just recovery. Relaxed, hung out with a couple of guys.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

But after his team returned for three days of work, Lloyd was already saying the Wildcats have to keep pushing to improve, even at this late point in the season.

“It’ that time of the year — you’ve got to fight to get better,” Lloyd said. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”

New Year’s rewind

In order to stay motivated this week, the Wildcats only have to review video of the opening minutes of the second half of the Dec. 31 win at ASU. Up by 17 at halftime, the Wildcats missed 2 of 11 shots to begin the second half and committed four turnovers over the first eight minutes after halftime.

While floating on the NCAA Tournament bubble, ASU is still causing plenty of havoc defensively, ranking second in 2-point field goal percentage defense (44.3) in conference games.

“They’re a challenging team,” Lloyd said. “They’re extremely aggressive at both ends of the floor, and they have players that can create and take and make their own shots. As a coach, you are always a little bit fearful of (that). Because you can have the best scouting report in the business, but if guys can go create their own shots and consistently make ‘em, that’s really tough to play against.”

While leading scorer Desmond Cambridge and the Sun Devils have created plenty of shots, they aren’t always accurate. ASU ranks only fifth in 2-point shooting (49.3) and last in 3-point shooting (29.0) during conference games.

Larsson given academic honor

Junior guard Pelle Larsson was named to an all-district academic All-American team by the College Sports Communicators, an association of publicists for college basketball programs, meaning he will now be considered for Academic All-American honors.

Players need at least a 3.5 grade-point average to be named to the all-district team, and on-court production is weighed in All-American voting.

Four other Pac-12 players were also named to the all-district team, all from Stanford: Brandon Angel, Michael Jones, James Keefe and Isa Silva.