Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis is skipping Lithuanian national team play this summer so he can recover from a chronic wrist injury.
The Lithuanian website Krepsinis reported that Tubelis has told the Lithuanian basketball federation he is having trouble with a chronic injury that may require surgery. Lithuanian reporter Marius Milasius of 15min tweeted that the injury was to Tubelisβ wrist.
It is unclear whether Tubelis began suffering wrist trouble last season or injured it during offseason workouts in Tucson or Lithuania, where he is now. A UA spokesman said he had no information to add beyond the Lithuanian reports that surfaced Monday morning.
Tubelis had been scheduled to play for Lithuania in the U20 European Championships this summer. But a Lithuanian basketball federation official told Krepsinis that it decided the priority was for Tubelis to heal after a meeting with Tubelis, his mother, national team doctors and other officials.
βIt was concluded that the situation requires an immediate solution,β said Mindaugas BalΔiΕ«nas, secretary general of the Lithuanian basketball federation, according to an English translation of Krepsinisβ story. Tubelis βis one of those key guys who will hopefully be the core player in the menβs national team for the next ten years.β
Tubelis helped lead Lithuania to a sixth-place finish in the U19 World Cup last summer in Latvia before becoming a first-team all-Pac-12 pick last season as a sophomore at UA.
Last season, Tubelis suffered a significant ankle injury on Jan. 20 at Stanford, then missed a game at Cal on Jan. 23 and was limited against UCLA on Jan. 25.
Tubelis appeared to return to full health in February, though he averaged just 19.7 minutes over the Wildcatsβ three NCAA Tournament games and scored only two points in UAβs season-ending loss on March 24 to Houston in the Sweet 16.
Brooks chooses Washington
Just after finishing up his official recruiting visit to Arizona over the weekend, Kentucky transfer Keion Brooks committed to Washington.
A starting forward last season who has played three seasons at Kentucky, Brooks had been believed to be leaning toward Washington, where he visited last week before arriving in Tucson. Brooks announced his commitment on his Instagram page.
Brooks visited Arizona along with five-star 2023 recruit Kwame Evans, who has since set up an official visit at Auburn from June 13-15, according to On3.
Both the Wildcats and Huskies had plenty of opportunity to offer Brooks. Washington lost at least four starters from last season (a fifth, Jamal Bey, has not said if he will return for a fifth season) while the Wildcats lost three starters to the NBA Draft.
Arizona still has only nine players on its tentative 2022-23 roster and, among others, remains in pursuit of transfers such as Texas guard Courtney Ramey, Illinois forward Jacob Grandison and WSU forward Efe Abogidi.
Boswell invited to USA Basketball U17 camp
Arizona commit Kylan Boswell is one of 35 players invited to compete for a spot on USA Basketballβs U17 World Cup team this summer.
USA Basketball will hold U17 training camp in Colorado Springs from June 18-25 and then will take a 12-player team to Malaga, Spain for the U17 World Cup from July 2-10.
Boswell is one of 13 players invited from the class of 2023, and could be among the teamβs top players but has been slowed by an injury this spring. USA Basketball also invited 18 players from the class of 2024 and four from the class of 2025, including Gilbert Perryβs Koa Peat.
