Considering his deep connection with international basketball — and a roster that contains eight foreign players — Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd could have seen this one coming.
During Canada’s 80-71 victory over Lithuania in a FIBA U19 World Cup opener on Saturday, Lithuania forward Azuolas Tubelis raced full-steam all the way downcourt after none other than Canada’s Bennedict Mathurin on a fast break — then blocked the layup attempt of his Arizona teammate.
A FIBA tweet later Saturday rated Tubelis’ block the No. 4 play of the day.
“These international FIBA events are great,” Lloyd said before the tournament began Saturday in Latvia. “Guys are competing for their country, so they’re playing with passion. They’re super competitive.”
In Tubelis’ case, competitiveness and passion helped result in in 32 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three blocks over 32 wildly efficient minutes — and some post-game praise for both teams in which Tubelis said the Canadians’ size and athleticism were too much to handle overall.
“It’s hard to beat a team that runs all the game,” Tubelis said on a FIBA interview. “We tried our best. Respect for my team.”
Tubelis and Mathurin are only two of five UA connections to the event that will run through July 11 in Daugavpils and Riga, Latvia. Transfer center Oumar Ballo of Mali is making a repeat appearance in the U19 World Cup, while former UA wing Tibet Gorener is playing for Turkey and UA director of advance scouting Ken Nakagawa is assisting Japan’s coaching staff.
Arizona also had two other players who trained with but did not make their respective U19 teams in Dalen Terry (USA) and Tautvilas Tubelis (Lithuania), while the three current UA players who are playing in the U19 World Cup all have star potential.
"It’s hard to beat a team that runs all the game," UA's Azuolas Tubelis said of Lithuania's loss to Canada despite his monster effort.
Ballo and Tubelis were named two of the “Ten players you don’t want to miss” in an official FIBA preview, while Mathurin is considered an essential piece of what might be Canada’s best-ever U19 team, playing alongside Michigan-bound five-star forward Caleb Houstan, 7-foot-4 Purdue center Zach Edey and five-star class of 2023 guard Elijah Fisher.
While Mathurin and Tubelis faced off against each other Saturday, with Mathurin making just 1 of 8 shots while scoring four points, Ballo opened with five points and eight rebounds in Mali’s 97-67 loss to Australia.
Ballo will have an even higher profile challenge on Sunday against the USA and Gonzaga-bound center Chet Holmgren, who might be the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Instead of facing Holmgren in practice every day at Gonzaga, if he hadn’t left for Arizona, Ballo will instead play him on the biggest international stage in youth basketball, one in which he’s entirely comfortable.
Ballo led Mali to the 2017 FIBA Africas U16 championship and a surprise appearance in the championship game of the 2019 U19 World Cup, when he made the all-tournament team.
“Ballo will probably never need to buy a drink or meal in Mali for the rest of his life after leading his country to the fairytale run to the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2019 final,” a FIBA preview of the event said. It was “Africa’s biggest accomplishment in global basketball, either youth or senior teams.”
Ballo may be more established on the FIBA stage than in college basketball — he averaged just 6.5 minutes for the NCAA runners-up last season — but Tubelis and Mathurin both broke out as freshmen for the Wildcats last season.
Tubelis averaged 12.2 points and 7.1 rebounds, moving into the starting lineup after the first six games of the season, while Mathurin rose rapidly as last season went on. He dropped 31 points on eventual Elite Eight participant Oregon State in January, finishing as Arizona’s fourth-leading scorer (10.8) while hitting 41.8% of his 3-pointers.
Much more may be ahead for all the three Wildcats playing this week in Latvia.
“In my experience, it’s really been kind of a big springboard for the next season,” Lloyd said. “So I’m looking forward to following those guys.”
