Sweeping is the norm for No. 5 Arizona nowadays and, no, it doesn’t require brooms.
The Wildcats cruised by the Oregon State Beavers 84-52 on Saturday at McKale Center, marking the third straight sweep in Pac-12 play for the UA; Arizona has won six straight games.
Here are five takeaways from the Wildcats’ latest series, as they prepare to travel to the Bay Area this week:
1. ‘This guy is a first-team All-American’
If Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis made a New Year’s resolution to become one of the top college basketball players nationally, it’s working.
Since the turn of the calendar year, Tubelis is averaging 21.7 points and 10.6 rebounds, and has produced seven double-doubles in 10 games. After recording a career-high 40 points — becoming the first Wildcat to score at least 40 since Damon Stoudamire in 1995, in Arizona’s win over Oregon on Thurdsay — Tubelis posted 19 points and eight rebounds against the Beavers.
Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis draws a foul under the basket from Oregon State center KC Ibekwe during second-half action Saturday at McKale Center
“To watch his growth as a person and a player, and him flourishing in this system, has been really cool,” said Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd.
Tubelis, who averaged 29.5 points and 8.5 rebounds against the Oregon schools, will most likely receive Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for the second time this season — and third of his career. With seven games still remaining in the regular season, Tubelis has already matched his season points total (499) from last season.
On Saturday, with several of his family members and friends in Tucson from Lithuania, Tubelis moved past Allonzo Trier and Ivan Radenovic into27th on Arizona’s career points list.
Lloyd said Tubelis is “playing like a (veteran)” and even went as far as saying “he’s having an All-American type of season, and I’ve coached those guys.”
“He’s at that level and he’s not getting the due he deserves. … This guy is a first-team All-American and you have to convince me otherwise,” Lloyd said of Tubelis.
Barring a significant drop-off in production in the next few weeks, Tubelis is certainly the clear-cut favorite to win Pac-12 Player of the Year, which would give Arizona back-to-back conference players of the year for the first time since Mike Bibby and Jason Terry in 1998 and ‘99.
This week thrusted Tubelis into the front seat for Naismith Player of the Year, however it may depend on what side of the country a voter resides. Tubelis’ historic 40-point performance was mildly covered among national media outlets and pundits. Lloyd attributed the lack of national attention for Tubelis to earn prestigious accolades to “narratives created early in the year.”
“There’s other really good players and sometimes those guys get the benefit of the doubt of being out in the lead in the minds of people,” Lloyd said. “Maybe they have a good game here and there, but it reminds everyone, ‘Oh, they’re really good.’ Zu has been as consistent as any big guy in the country — (Purdue’s) Zach Edey, maybe.
“Any other big in the country, he’s been as consistent as those guys on a nightly basis. … You’d have to convince me that he’s not a First Team All-American.”
Courtney Rameygestures back to up court after nailing a 3from the corner against Oregon State.
2. Defense continues to make strides
Among the many Lloyd-isms, the one word he often uses to describe effective defensive teams is “handsy.”
The Wildcats had 18 total steals and scored 42 points off 27 forced turnovers in the last two games. Arizona guard Courtney Ramey had three steals on Thursday; freshman point guard Kylan Boswell also had three on Saturday.
According to CBS’ Seth Davis, Arizona was ranked 88th in the country in defensive efficiency on Jan. 18. Since then? The Wildcats have climbed to No. 1. During Arizona’s six-game winning streak, opponents have shot just 37.5% from the field, including 27.4% from 3-point range.
“We’ve been trying to coach it all year,” Lloyd said. “I think the guys have found themselves a good groove defensively and I think we’ve got an ability to be a really good defensive team. We have size to protect the rim, we have versatility so we can throw different coverages at teams, we have good individual defenders and we just have to put it together. You have to make it mean something, and I think the guys are doing that right now.”
3. Four-star PG visits
Arizona hosted four-star 2024 point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. this weekend, and UA students made sure to let him know he is wanted in Tucson. The Zona Zoo chanted “D.J. Thomas” during Arizona-Oregon State.
The 6-1, 170-pound Thomas, a star at Las Vegas’ Liberty High School, is rated by 247Sports.com as the fourth-best point guard for the ’24 class; he’s also rated as the top prospect from Nevada.
Arizona currently has one commit for ’24: four-star Northern California shooting guard Jamari Phillips.
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson (3) draws the charge, left, and Arizona forward Filip Borovicanin (1) bats away the shot from Oregon State forward Glenn Taylor Jr. (35) in the second half of their Pac 12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 4, 2023.
4. Bench players see significant time
Arizona men's basketball coach Tommy Lloyd answers questions from local media during a scheduled media session on Feb. 7, 2023. Lloyd discusses his decision-making on bringing Filip Borovicanin and Adama Bal into games this past weekend off the bench, and how that impacts the team's rotation. Video by Ryan Wohl/Special to the Arizona Daily Star
Lloyd recently tightened up Arizona’s bench to just Boswell and Pelle Larsson, who was moved from the starting lineup on Jan. 19, but remained hopeful for an eighth or ninth player to emerge, which used to be second-year wing Adama Bal and freshman big Henri Veesaar.
The Wildcats thumping Oregon State allowed Lloyd to ditch his routine seven-man rotation and install more bench players. Only starter (Ramey) played more than 23 minutes on Saturday. At the end of the first half, freshman wing Filip Borovicanin, Veesaar and fellow freshman big Dylan Anderson earned minutes.
“The minute I saw Filip come to the sidelines, it made my night,” Boswell said. “It’s really nice to see other guys get to play, because I always practice with them. That really made me happy.”
Arizona’s 36 bench points against the Beavers is the most it’s scored in Pac-12 play this season.
“I’m happy with that, because they don’t get a lot of opportunities and it’s hard for them,” Lloyd said. “They want to be great players and contribute, too, but sometimes the head coach has to make tough decisions. Some guys don’t get as many opportunities, so for them to play well, it shows they’re handling it OK and they’re hungry and that’s what I want.”
Arizona guard Adama Bal draws the foul from Oregon State forward Tyler Bilodeau on his second-half basket during their Pac-12 game at McKale Center on Feb. 4, 2023.
With 12:44 left in the game, Bal checked into the game and immediately made an impact with an offensive rebound and capitalized on the second-chance opportunity with a 3. Bal finished with eight points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in 10 minutes of action.
“Adama is a good player,” Lloyd said. “I’ve always thought that and said that. I thought he had a lot of opportunities at the beginning of the year, and it was a little bit of a mixed bag of results. The encouraging thing for me, and I’ve said this to Adama: His first play today was an effort play. He got an offensive rebound, then he hit a 3 after that.
“That’s what he has to understand. He has to put more emphasis on doing the other things, and the shooting and the offensive stuff will come in the flow of the game when he gets his opportunities.”
When asked if Lloyd would consider expanding the rotation, he said, “We’ll see.”
5. So far, so good
The Wildcats are unbeaten ever since Larsson was reassigned to the bench while graduate transfer forward Cedric Henderson Jr. starts in his place.
Is the lineup change responsible for Arizona’s success lately?
“I don’t know, I’m not that smart,” Lloyd said. “I made the lineup change when I knew I had to shake it up a little bit. Strengthening our bench was my main emphasis.”
Since then, Henderson, who Lloyd coined Arizona’s “energizer bunny,” is averaging 6.8 points and 4.7 rebounds as a starter in Pac-12 play. Larsson, the defending Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year, is averaging 9.3 points, 3.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds in his updated role.
“It’s the time of season where you want to start growing your team, and I’ve been very mindful of that with our guys,” Lloyd said. “We want to climb and we want to get better.
“We’ve emphasized that in practice and I’ve been on them in practice. ... Our guys have done a good job of responding and have played really well.”
The University of Arizona once had a live "Wildcat" mascot; however, the current mascot ─ with a few changes that include wife, Wilma, along the way ─ Wilbur the Wildcat has been a favorite around Tucson for more than 60 years.
