Even with Kerr Kriisa’s clearinghouse ordeal over with, UA coach Sean Miller declined to offer detail Tuesday about the long delay that appeared to stem from the Estonian freshman’s previous contract with a Lithuanian club.
But there was no doubt about Miller's reaction. Or Kriisa’s.
After UA beat Montana 70-64 on Tuesday, Miller said Krissa expressed so much relief that it showed how much stress he had been under since arriving from Estonia in August to what was an uncertain future.
“You just have to imagine a young kid who makes a big decision in his life to come over here to the United States alone, from Estonia, to play college basketball to attend a university, and you have the COVID backdrop with it,” Miller said. “He came here in the middle of August, and he found out right before Christmas that he's going to be OK.
“You know, in his mind it's not just whether he's going to play or not. You start to stress – `Am I going to be allowed to stay in the country? Am I going to be allowed to keep my scholarship? Am I going to be allowed to attend Arizona. When I do go back, how does that work?' It's really stressful, really,
“When I told him the news, he was just relieved – it wasn't joy, it was just like, `Oh thank God.’ He now knows his future. He didn't know anything every day for six months. Now he knows he has a future, when he's gonna play and he can stay here. His mom was very relieved, he's relieved, and were obviously really excited for him.
“I was actually heartbroken when I saw his reaction just because you forget every night he goes to bed he's wondering like, `Am I OK or am I not OK?’ He doesn't live in California. I'm happy that he has a chance to play. We've supported him all the way and he's a big part of our future, he's a very good player. But he could be a great player down the road as he gets stronger.”
Kerr hasn’t been available for comment since UA’s media days in early November, before the school revealed he had not been cleared to play, but he sat with the Wildcats again on the team bench Tuesday and Miller said he will be allowed to travel even before he becomes eligible to play on Feb. 6.
Azuolas Tubelis made his first start of the season on Tuesday and, judging by his all-around production and UA coach Sean Miller’s postgame comments, he won't be leaving the lineup anytime soon.
Miller moved center Christian Koloko out of the lineup in favor of the Lithuanian freshman, then moved Jordan Brown from power forward to center, and afterward indicated it was a lineup he could stick with. Miller typically makes final adjustments to his starting lineup and rotation before Pac-12 play heats up in January.
“I think it gives us more of a scoring punch,” Miller said. “It allows Jordan Brown to guard the five man, and I think Jordan is much more fluid, much more sure of himself. I think it helps his offense when he guards the other team’s five. In certain games, maybe we can slide him over. But Azuolas can do a lot of different things and we see his progress right now almost on a daily basis.”
Tubelis finished with eight points on 3-for-7 shooting while collecting nine rebounds and dishing three assists, including a high-post feed to Benn Mathurin for a second-half dunk. Miller said he is also “coming into his own” defensively, though Tubelis was called for a hanging-on-the-rim technical and hit just 1 of 6 free throws.
“If you remember the Stanford game, one of the biggest plays down the stretch is Oscar da Silva drove the ball hard with his right hand against Azuolas and Azuolas had a great block that gave us a chance down the stretch," Miller said. "Tonight he did the same thing … he had three steals and two blocks. So he's doing things -- three steals, two blocks nine rebounds, four offensive rebounds. He made a 3. What he didn't do was make his free throws. If he would have, he would have had a great game. But you guys can see it -- he's a very talented young player.”
Miller noted, of course, that all this comes on top of Tubelis playing just his first month of American basketball after growing up with FIBA rules.
“Keep in mind, if we're over in Lithuania right now, there's a lot of things we're still getting used to,” Miller said. “For example, the technical foul (for) hanging on the rim. He had no idea that he got a technical foul, even after it was called.
“And I almost feel bad as his coach because one time at our end he touched the basketball on the rim. In FIBA, you can touch the ball while it's on the rim and you can hang on the rim. So that's something that he learned tonight. And that's why games are so important for this year's team because we just have such inexperience, and you feel that there's some head scratching plays that happened to our team.”
Miller wasn’t surprised to see James Akinjo keep at it after shooting 2 for 8 from the field and 2 for 9 from the line against Stanford. Akinjo scored 18 points on 5-for-16 shooting but made all six of his free throws.
“Two for nine is more of an outlier from the free throw line,” Miller said. “He's very confident, sure of himself and keep in mind he hasn't played real games in a long time. It's gonna take him like all of our players getting used to it.
"His 16 shots, I thought he had some good looks but he probably had a couple that maybe he could pivot and make a pass or maybe dribble out and then play it safe, but he doesn't have a confidence issue. I was excited to see him come out in play the way he did at the beginning for sure.”
Jordan Brown scored 15 points while making all five of his shots and collecting six rebounds, but Miller indicated he is capable of being even more efficient – especially if he can adapt to the way the game is being called. Brown had four fouls on Monday, including one of those offensive fouls that Miller has been trying to decrease -- and picked up a technical in the process for the way he used his elbow.
“He played a very good game,” Miller said of Brown. “He just has to get smarter in certain areas of the game. the offensive fouls. It’s a little bit like our team drawing the charge tonight. You didn't see that the first five or six games but we adjusted (Montana was called for four offensive fouls Tuesday).
“We became a better team because guys made those plays. Sometimes in and around the basket, it's not hard turn, it's having a little bit of feel that `The guy's going to try to flop, to take a charge on me, so I'm just going to turn softly and shoot a jump hook.’ Game experience helps that. But we need him to get a little bit smarter in certain areas and if he does, I think his game can really take off.”
Because they’ll only have three days off for Christmas – and because COVID-19 protocols mean they’d have to isolate for a week if they left their team bubble – the Wildcats are going nowhere this week.
Of course, for a team with seven players from other countries, it isn’t like having everybody go home for the holidays was much of an option anyway.
“I’m staying in Tucson because I have nothing to do,” Tubelis said. “Lithuania is far away so I don't know. It's impossible. But yeah, I think I will take some days off and still our court is always open so I can come to shoot.”
Besides, at this point a staycation of three days still might be enough to do some good.
“You’ve got to realize that these guys have to get tested every morning at 7:30," Miller said. "Just not have to get up early, I think, is a victory for them at this point. I wish every one of them could go home for Christmas. I think we all kind of need a break but certainly they do.
“But the the way college basketball is right now, a lot of us are playing important conference games right at the beginning of the new year, at the end of December, and we're no different.”
Arizona's potential break time shrunk even further when Colorado pulled out of a scheduled Dec. 2 game and rescheduled for Monday, meaning the Wildcats will have to return to practice (and testing) on Saturday in order to prepare. Otherwise, UA would have had no games between Tuesday and Dec. 31 at Washington.
