'Blessing in disguise': Arizona has learned to cope when Azuolas Tubelis isn't on the floor

If there’s a positive for Arizona in Azuolas Tubelis' recent struggles, maybe it’s learning how to survive without him.

After all, the Wildcats had trouble figuring that out late last season.

They were nearly bounced from the second round of the NCAA Tournament when Tubelis had five points and three turnovers against TCU in a game UA needed overtime to win. Four days later, Arizona’s season ended in a 72-60 loss to Houston when Tubelis went 0 for 8 from the field and turned the ball over four times.

So when Tubelis was limited with fouls and other issues over the Wildcats' past three games, UA coach Tommy Lloyd went often with only one post player — and sometimes none at all.

But it wasn't really about intentionally going with a "small ball" look, the way Lloyd described it.

“Listen, it's not part of the plan, Zu sitting” Lloyd said Saturday after playing smaller lineups for most of Arizona’s 78-68 win over Colorado. “Part of it is maybe is a little bit bad luck and a little bit self-inflicted wounds by him.”

One of the self-inflicted wounds was obvious: Tubelis was called for a technical when he kicked the ball into the UA student section after being whistled for a foul five minutes into Arizona’s 88-62 win over Utah on Feb. 16, putting him on the bench for the rest of the first half.

Five days before that, in Arizona’s 88-79 loss at Stanford, Lloyd said “the foul issues were tough” when Tubelis was ineffective in the Wildcats' defeat.

“We couldn't get a favorable whistle on some situations,” Lloyd said after that game. “They’re switching a lot of things (defensively), and it seems like we were the ones always getting called for the foul, whether it's a pushoff or whatever. That's kind of tough to swallow when you're an inside-out team, and you're the one getting called for offensive fouls. It kind of flips the script on you a little bit.”

Even though Arizona lost the game, the Wildcats unearthed a minor discovery: When they went with five perimeter players, they outscored the Cardinal 13-6 in the first half, including a 13-0 run, and 10-8 in the second half.

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But after the game, Lloyd indicated it was not his intention to go small as much as stick with his best players. Asked if he considered playing one of his freshman big men, Henri Veesaar or Dylan Anderson, to keep size in the lineup against the big Stanford lineup, Lloyd remained committed to his top seven players.

“I feel like we played the right guys,” Lloyd said. “I wish Zu would have got to play a little bit more. We've just got to play better. We’ve got to play smarter.”

The limited sample set of the past three games showed the Wildcats actually outscored opponents more with five perimeter players (plus-11) than with either Oumar Ballo and four perimeter players (plus-5) or Tubelis and four perimeter players (minus-2).

But the larger sample size looks like this: Arizona was 22-3 before playing Stanford. Ballo (10) and Tubelis (11) have combined for 21 double-doubles this season. They both had double-doubles in three games that weren’t played at McKale Center: a Maui Invitational win over Cincinnati and victories at Oregon State and at Washington.

Ballo was the MVP of the Maui Invitational and appears a near-lock to make the 10-player All-Pac-12 first team. Tubelis might still lead for Pac-12 Player of the Year — though UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez has gained considerable ground — and for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award.

The big guys' track record says the Wildcats must go inside-out first. But now, if Tubelis and/or Ballo run into trouble into the postseason, Arizona at least has some alternatives.

“I'm always gonna look at (Tubelis’ issues) as a blessing in disguise, and that's how you have to attack it,” Lloyd said Saturday. “We need to kind of diversify our lineups a little bit. I think playing small with four guards out there is good for us, and playing the five guards together for stretches can be good for us too.”