If Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis keeps playing the way he has so far this season, the Pac-12 Player of the Week award he won Monday could be just a prelude to a much bigger award.
Entering the conventional portion of the Pac-12’s 18-game schedule this weekend, Tubelis appears to be the leading candidate for the conference’s player of the year.
While leading the Wildcats to a 12-1 record and the No. 5 AP ranking, the junior power forward from Lithuania leads the Pac-12 in scoring (20.1 points) and is second in rebounding (8.7), behind only teammate Oumar Ballo (9.1).
Tubelis is also fourth in field goal percentage (61.4) and sixth in free-throw percentage (80.4) while also blocking 0.9 shots per game. Even in pace-adjusted analytic stats, Tubelis is among conference and national leaders in defensive rebounding percentage (21.3), offensive rebounding percentage (11.7) and block percentage (3.3).
Tubelis also steals the ball on 2.0% of opponents’ percentages when he’s on the floor, showing a taste for grabbing the ball near the perimeter and using his unusual speed for a big man to make a dunk or layup.
During Arizona’s 93-68 win over Morgan State on Dec. 22, Tubelis actually swiped the ball on the perimeter from 6-1 guard Isaiah Burke and then raced all the way downcourt for a layup, even as Burke tried to gain the ball back at midcouet.
After that game, Lloyd was asked where Tubelis ranked as a running big man.
“I can’t imagine many better,” Lloyd said. “There might be some guys you’d say, `Hey, in a foot race, these guys are equal.’ But I would say the consistency with he runs maybe separates him from the pack a little bit. He’s incredible runner and he’s got great hands over the top.”
While Tubelis hadn’t won the Pac-12’s weekly award before this season, he did pick it up on Feb. 7 last season, after averaging 16 points and eight rebounds in UA’s homecourt wins over USC and UCLA. He finished last season as one of 10 players on the all-Pac-12 first team.
Among others nominated for the Pac-12 award this week, Tubelis beat out Washington State’s Mouhamed Gueye, who posted two double-doubles over three games in the Diamond Head Classic, and Joel Brown, who had 17 points to lead Cal to its first win of the season despite not having standout guard Devin Askew available.
Cal’s Grant Newell, meanwhile, picked up the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors after scoring nine points in the Bears’ win over Texas-Arlington.
UA men stay at No. 5
Arizona stayed at No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll after beating Montana State and Morgan State last week, while former UA coach Sean Miller and Xavier are ranked for the first time this season at No. 22.
Among other teams on UA’s schedule this season, Tennessee moved from 8 to 7, UCLA moved from 13 to 11 and Indiana moved from 18 to 16. Xavier is 10-3 after beating Seton Hall last week.
The Wildcats (12-1) are scheduled to return to practice Tuesday after a four-day break for Christmas. They’ll take on Arizona State on Saturday in Tempe. The Sun Devils, who were No. 25 last week, fell from the poll after losing to San Francisco on Wednesday.
Purdue remained atop the poll for a third straight week, while preseason No. 1 North Carolina returned to the rankings and New Mexico cracked the poll for the first time in eight years.
The Boilermakers earned 40 of 60 first-place votes in Monday’s latest poll, while fellow unbeaten Connecticut earned the other 20 to sit at No. 2 in an unchanged top.
Purdue had never been ranked No. 1 before a one-week stay there last December, and was unranked to start the season. But the Boilermakers made a rapid rise from No. 24 to No. 5 in a one-week span in late November, then climbed to No. 1 on Dec. 12.
The Boilermakers’ win against New Orleans last week marked their first home game with that No. 1 ranking.
Wildcats women remain 18th; big week looms
The Arizona Wildcats remained at No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, released Monday.
The UA (10-1) played just one game last week, a win over UT Arlington in the Dallas suburb. A more challenging stretch looms: The UA will host ASU in Thursday’s Pac-12 opener, travel to Cal on Saturday and No. 2 Stanford next Monday. The Wildcats will then return home for a weekend series against the Oregon schools.
The Pac-12 is well-represented in the latest poll: In addition to Stanford at No. 2, UCLA is 10th, Utah is 11th and Oregon 17th.
Arizona is coming off the best week of its young season, beating then-No. 18 Baylor 75-53 on Dec. 18 in Dallas before outlasting Arlington — and avoiding a post-big-win, pre-Christmas letdown — three days later.
Coach Adia Barnes says the trip to Texas taught her that the Wildcats “are capable of being a really good team.”
“I’m excited to see what the future is and we have good momentum going into the Pac-12,” Barnes said. “We have a chance to be really, really good.”
South Carolina maintained its hold on top of The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll Monday, reaching a milestone in the process.
The Gamecocks have held the No. 1 spot for 27 consecutive weeks, which is the fifth longest run all-time. UConn has three of the top four streaks, including the record 51-week run from Feb. 18, 2008-Dec. 10, 2010. Louisiana Tech has the second longest streak of 36 weeks. The Huskies also had 34-and 30-week runs at No. 1.
South Carolina started last season at No. 1 and hasn’t relinquished the ranking since, including a week a year ago when they lost a game, but remained the top team.
The Gamecocks have now passed Texas’ 26-week run to move into fifth all-time. They’ve gone 17-0 against Top 25 teams over the past two years, including a 3-0 mark this season.
