Having said earlier this week that forward Azuolas Tubelis actually suffered a longer-term βhighβ ankle sprain on Jan. 20 at Stanford, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said he would still see what Tubelis could do on Thursday in Arizonaβs rematch with UCLA.
After missing UAβs Jan. 23 game at California, Tubelis played 15 minutes on Jan. 25 at UCLA while collecting eight points and six rebounds, then managed 21 minutes against ASU but shot just 2 of 9 from the field.
βWe're phasing him back in and slowly trying to get him back to normal,β Lloyd said. βBut we don't expect him to be 100% and just appreciate him giving the team what he can. In due time hopefully we'll get back the Tubelis that we've kind of had throughout the year.β
The Bruins pose a difficult matchup defensively for Tubelis even if heβs healthy, considering their skilled hybrid forwards such as Johnny Juzang and Jaime Jaquez. But Tubelis has volunteered to play whatever role heβs asked β while Lloyd says UA has a long-term plan to make sure heβs not at further riskβ so Lloyd said heβll give Tubelis a shot Thursday.
βI'm tempted to have every able body available to play and what that looks like for minutes, that'll determine be determined by how the game's going,β Lloyd said.
Arizona can also deploy wings such as Pelle Larsson, Dalen Terry and Bennedict Mathurin on the smaller UCLA forwards but Lloyd indicated he also has trust in Tubelis for that role.
βIt's not a stretch to say they're better perimeter defenders than Tubelis but 'Zu has made huge strides in that area,β Lloyd said. βEarly in the season, he was really helping us and I thought it was a big difference in what we were doing defensively. This has just been a little setback for him. And let's see how he looks Thursday night.β
UCLA, meanwhile, said Juzang has been cleared to play Thursday after he had been scheduled to take a COVID test on Tuesday, the fifth day after he recorded a positive despite being asymptomatic. Juzang missed the Bruins' games against Cal and Stanford last week.
Jaquez remains questionable with an ankle injury while reserve guard Jaylen Clark will not play for a fourth straight game because of concussion protocol.
While noting that Arizona isnβt the only team suffering at the end of a three-game road trip β Colorado was smacked at WSU in a third road game on Sunday β there has been talk in the league about whether itβs worth trying to keep teams playing 20 conference games this season.
The Pac-12 said its intent is to reschedule all games postponed by COVID and have teams play full schedules, but the makeup games are making for some long road trips. UA still has yet to make up a game at USC, and will have to do so before or after its Utah-Colorado trip later this month.
The Wildcats already had one three-game week and will have another next week, playing at ASU, Washington State and Washington, though they will return home Monday night from Tempe and won't leave again until Wednesday afternoon for WSU.
βThere's been discussions but I think it's been clear that I don't think the coaches are getting the first vote and that's probably rightfully so,β Lloyd said. βBecause I think we all know coaches are gonna tend to what they think is best for their program individually as opposed to probably the whole group.β
Asked if heβd rather play at USC before heading to Utah on Feb. 24 or after playing Colorado on Feb. 26, Lloyd smiled.
βMy choice is I got UCLA on Thursday, USC Saturday at Arizona State Monday,β Lloyd said. βThat's all I'm focused on right now. When they tell me when we play βSCβ¦ I mean, obviously I've had conversations with them and and whether I agreed on the days or didn't agree on the dates, I figured out that it really didn't matter. So from now on, I have no opinion.β
