Despite playing on a July afternoon in a Russian-speaking corner of Latvia, tucked near the borders of Belarus and Lithuania, Bennedict Mathurin and Azuolas Tubelis needed just 50 seconds of their first FIBA U19 World Cup game to find themselves at home.
Their Arizona basketball home, that is.
After Lithuania missed its first shot at the basket, Mathurin took a cross-court heave from Canadian teammate Ryan Nembhard on the break, then soared in from the left wing, put up a two-handed dunk attempt β¦ and suddenly noticed Tubelis race from behind to swat it off the backboard with his outstretched left hand.
βI didnβt know it was Azuolas,β Mathurin said. βIf I knew it was Azuolas, I probably would have tried something even crazier, just to make sure I made a dunk on Azuolas. But it was fun. Iβm always trying to dunk on Azuolas in practice. I always say he canβt block me so thatβs probably the reason why he jumped the highest he could in order to block me.β
Reliving that moment with Mathurin in a Pac-12 headquarters conference room earlier this month, Tubelis smiled slightly.
Was that how he remembered it?
βYes,β Tubelis said.
The block ranked No. 4 on the FIBAβs βNike Top 5 Playsβ of the tournament, and the YouTube highlight shows Mathurin tumbling briefly to the right of the basket and Tubelis bouncing off the left side, with both players simply sprinting back up court.
No additional words or gestures were added.
βI just want to be friendly,β Tubelis said. βI donβt want to fight him because, uh, I donβt know.β
Maybe because theyβre friends. Teammates. Go-to guys. And, on this seasonβs Arizona Wildcats, leaders.
Even though Tubelis led the Wildcats in rebounding (7.1) and was second in scoring (12.2) last season, and even though Mathurinβs explosive offense led UA to wins at Oregon State (with 31 points) and Washington State (24), they were freshmen. Leadership came from junior point guard James Akinjo, with veterans Terrell Brown, Jemarl Baker, Jordan Brown and Ira Lee also ranking higher in seniority.
Not so this season. The Wildcats have super senior transfers in Justin Kier (Georgia) and Kim Aiken (Eastern Washington), plus a primary on-ball leader in Estonian sophomore point guard Kerr Kriisa. But it is Mathurin and Tubelis in which the Wildcats and new coach Tommy Lloyd are expected to put much of their faith this season.
βI think our roles have really changed compared to last year,β Mathurin said. βMe and Azuolas took on the role of being leaders on this team and our coach brought the mentality of winning. He was at Gonzaga for 20 years, so having him come to the school was a good thing for us and makes us want to win.β
Neither player had to do this.
As a prototypical NBA wing β long, athletic and with the ability to shoot from multiple levels β Mathurin might have snuck into the first round of the draft had he left last spring. One Pac-12 coach even expressed frustration that he was returning to Arizona, saying an NBA executive told him Mathurin might have been a lottery pick.
And while Tubelis says he isnβt ready to go to the league yet, he always has the option of returning home to play professionally until he is.
Except he doesnβt want to. Not yet. Both Azuolas and his brother Tautvilas, a reserve sophomore wing, have expressed happiness and loyalty since former UA coach Sean Miller offered them both spots in the spring of 2020, committing to Arizona sight unseen thanks to the pandemic.
βArizona was the first university who offered us scholarships and I decided to stay here because before I came here I said, βI will play in the United States, and only in Arizona,ββ Tubelis said. βI met a lot of new friends. Good people. I can share (my) feelings with them.β
Considering how the Wildcats didnβt play in front of fans and generally isolated themselves last season, it may be surprising that Mathurin said heβs been having a good time, too. Combined with the chance to improve his NBA stock this season, that made for an easy call.
βFor me, it was more family decision, coming back to school for about a year, and just increase my chance of being just a better player in general,β Mathurin said. βI love the school anyway.β
While pushing both Tubelis and Mathurin to improve, Lloyd said he didnβt have specific statistical goals in mind, but both sophomores will be expected to improve their shooting and become more consistently dominant.
Last season, Tubelis shot 49.8% from the field and 31.0% from 3-point range, mostly dominating in the post, while Mathurin hit 47.1% overall and 41.8% from 3, both slashing inside and pulling up for 3s that often came on the break.
βI want efficient players,β Lloyd says. βHopefully our bigs are shooting close to 60% and Benn, as talented as he is, should be a guard hoping to shoot over 50% from the field and be really proficient at finishing twos.β
That theyβll be doing so in a more uptempo system, both Mathurin and Tubelis say, should benefit them.
βWeβve had two great coaches,β Mathurin said, when asked about the difference between former UA coach Sean Miller and Lloyd. βItβs just a different style of play and it really fits my game well. Iβm really grateful for that.β
Tubelis said he played a similar style in those FIBA U19 games, leading Lithuania to a sixth-place finish out of 16 teams while averaging 16.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.
βI like to play fast and itβs my kind of basketball,β Tubelis said. βLast summer, I just ran the court and I think it helped my team to win.β
Well, Canada did beat Lithuania in that first FIBA game, 80-71, en route to the bronze medal. But as Mathurin found out in those early seconds, running can work out pretty well for those on the defensive end, too.
