No matter how much progress Lithuanian center Motiejus Krivas might be making as a freshman at Arizona this season, in one sense, he’s already gone soft.
Proof arrived about four weeks ago, when the Wildcats showed up for a weekend in Pullman, Washington, and temperatures didn’t get out of the single digits. Krivas and his teammates bundled up just for the 100-yard walk from their bus to the Beasley Coliseum loading doors, then lost to the Cougars that afternoon.
“At that time, the weather was similar to Lithuania,” Krivas said, “but I spent almost half a year here (in Tucson), so it was a little shock.”
So even though UA’s freshman center is still 7-foot-2, 260 pounds, apparently there is thinner blood inside already.
He’s a desert rat now. Sunshine and mild winter weather works for Krivas, like so many permanent Tucsonans and snowbirds.
“It’s really nice right now,” Krivas said Tuesday during UA’s weekly interview session. “The weather is good, so it helps to stay in a better mood.”
However, Krivas and the Wildcats will again face real winter weather this weekend, and a pair of basketball games that could be even more treacherous. While Salt Lake City isn’t expected to have frigid temperatures, the No. 8-ranked Wildcats are scheduled to play at Utah on Thursday just after 5-10 inches of snow are expected to fall on the city over the previous 48 hours.
Then they’ll head to face Colorado on Saturday just in time to catch that same storm on the other side of the Rockies, with snow expected to dust Boulder before the Wildcats and Buffaloes meet at 8 p.m. that day.
Motiejus Krivas takes a hit from behind from Cal guard Gus Larson on his shot attempt last week. Krivas has quickly become a fan of the weather in Tucson. “It’s really nice right now,” he said Tuesday during UA’s weekly interview session. “The weather is good, so it helps to stay in a better mood.”
It won’t be the sort of weather Krivas needs to see anymore.
“I don’t miss it,” he said.
Oh, and there’s this: Neither Utah nor Colorado have lost a game at home this season.
But Krivas does have plenty of reasons to feel optimistic these days. For one thing, he put up two of his best rebounding games of the season against Utah and Colorado last month at McKale Center, pulling down nine despite the occasional presence of Buff big-big man Eddie Lampkin and grabbing another seven against Utah and its two 7-footers, Lawson Lovering and Branden Carlson.
Saying he puts in the same effort every time, Krivas said he didn’t really notice a difference in those two games, though they were part of a trend that has solidified Krivas as Oumar Ballo’s backup center except in cases where the Wildcats go with a smaller lineup.
Although Krivas played only single-digit minutes against Purdue, Alabama and Florida Atlantic toward the end of UA’s nonconference schedule, he’s averaging 13.2 minutes in Pac-12 games, logging 16 in UA’s Jan. 25 loss at Oregon State when he had 10 points and four rebounds.
Despite the increased minutes and competition in Pac-12 play, Krivas has cut his turnovers down from 13 in 11 nonconference games to just seven over UA’s 11 Pac-12 games so far, saying his biggest adjustment has come in adjusting to how the college game moves after playing in Lithuania club leagues last season.
“Maybe adjusting to the speed of the game,” Krivas said when asked what his biggest improvement has been this season, then pausing as he came to a more definite conclusion. “I would say speed of the game was the biggest factor.”
Krivas has also become slightly more efficient offensively, improving from 57.1% shooting in nonconference play to 59.6% against mostly stiffer Pac-12 competition.
UA coach Tommy Lloyd said the next step in Krivas’ improvement could come in finishing better around the basket and in understanding how his size impacts the game defensively.
Stanford forward Maxime Raynaud grabs the jersey of Arizona center Motiejus Krivas during Sunday’s game.
“A five-man (center), you’ve got to solve a lot of problems for defense because usually you’re the last line of defense,” Lloyd said. “It takes some courage sometimes to understand what’s going on on the court.
“Maybe your guy is setting up a ball screen, but the action’s happening on the left side and you need to not worry about your guy and go protect the rim. That takes some courage and experience to be able to do that.”
It’s about getting comfortable in help defense scenarios, Lloyd said.
Maybe somewhat in the same way Krivas has grown comfortable off the court, in his new home, and new climate.
Proof of that came when a charter plane delay led to an extra 24 hours in Pullman last month, and Krivas opted to anchor down at the team hotel.
He and fellow Lithuanian Paulius Murauskas taught their teammates the popular Russian card game known as Durak, which proved addicting for some of the Wildcats.
“We played like almost all day,” Krivas said. “It helped to go through all the time.”
It helped Krivas and the Wildcats chill, without getting chilled.
Rim shots
Lloyd said forward Keshad Johnson “seems fine to me” after banging up his shoulder Sunday against Stanford and playing only 18 total minutes, reiterating that he decided to play Johnson for fewer minutes because of how others were responding. “I have not had any reports that suggest anything bad,” Lloyd said of Johnson.
At his weekly news conference Tuesday, Lloyd fielded several questions about the high altitude UA will be playing in this weekend, and the success that both Utah and Colorado have had at home this season. Arizona is 1-2 combined at Utah and Colorado under Lloyd, losing at Utah last season and at Colorado in 2021-22. “They’re tough places to play, the road is hard to play on and … there might be something to” elevation, Lloyd said.
