Azuolas Tubelis was named an Associated Press second-team All-American pick as national awards season kicked off in full form Tuesday.
The Wildcats’ standout junior forward from Lithuania equaled the second-team All-America honors that former Wildcat guard Bennedict Mathurin earned last season from the AP, National Association of Basketball Coaches and United States Basketball Writers Association.
Tubelis led the Pac-12 in both scoring (19.9) and rebounding (9.2) during the regular season, becoming the first player to do so since Cal’s Leon Powe in 2005-06. Tubelis was the runner-to UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez for Pac-12 Player of the Year but won the Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player award after leading the Wildcats past Stanford, Arizona State and UCLA last week in Las Vegas.
Heading into the NCAA Tournament, which the Wildcats will begin on Thursday against Princeton, Tubelis is averaging 19.8 points and 9.3 rebounds.
Purdue’s Zach Edey was the AP’s only unanimous first-team all-American. He was joined on the first team by Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, Kansas’ Jalen Wilson, Houston’s Marcus Sasser and Alabama’s Brandon Miller.
Jaquez joined Tubelis on the second team, along with Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, Gonzaga’s Drew Timme and Penn State’s Jalen Pickett.
The third team featured Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson of Kansas State, along with Tyler Kolek of Marquette, Iowa’s Kris Murray and North Carolina’s Armando Bacot.
Meanwhile, Tubelis and teammate Oumar Ballo picked up all-district honors from the NABC and USBWA.
They were named to the NABC’s first-team “District 19” (Pac-12) team along with Jaquez, USC’s Boogie Ellis and Utah’s Branden Carlson.
Players named to the second team were: ASU’s Desmond Cambridge Jr., UCLA’s Tyger Campbell, Oregon’s N’Faly Dante, Washington State’s Mouhamed Gueye and USC’s Drew Peterson.
UCLA’s Mick Cronin was named the district Coach of the Year.
The USBWA put Tubelis and Ballo on a 10-player team for its “District IX,” which includes Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii.
Campbell, Ellis and Jaquez also made the District IX team, while the others included: Logan Johnson and Aidan Mahaney of Saint Mary’s, Brandin Podziemski of Santa Clara, Cam Shelton of Loyola Marymount and Gonzaga’s Timme and Julian Strawther.
