By visiting basketball-mad Lithuania, Arizona Wildcats can benefit in many ways

Lithuania is one of them, and Motejus Krivas has an idea why.

“We’re really bad at soccer,” Arizona’s 7-2 Lithuanian said.

So while the Wildcats play three exhibition games during their Lithuanian exhibition tour this month, they'll also get a chance to soak up the country's unique obsession with their game.

Krivas and fellow Lithuanian teammate Ugnius Jarusevicius are from Lithuania, while UA’s Montenegrin wing, Maxsim Brnovic, played there last season for the junior club of the prestigious Zalgiris franchise in Kaunas.

Krivas said it’s customary for Lithuania parents to enroll their children in a basketball program to keep them active, and a lifelong passion results.

“Most of the people in Lithuania say that basketball is like a second religion, especially when the national team plays,” Krivas said. “Recently, we haven’t had a lot of wins internationally, but every time national team plays, the streets are empty and everybody’s just watching.”

The Wildcats will be playing that Lithuania national team on Aug. 22 to wrap up their tour, which also includes games against the Lithuanian “B” team on Aug. 19 and against the Ukrainian national team on Aug. 20.

The Lithuanian national team is actually using exhibitions against Arizona and Michigan to help prepare for 2027 World Cup qualifying games later this month. But Krivas indicated he didn’t expect the atmosphere to be quite as electric for UA's games as some games held in the country.

“When Zalgiris plays in Euroleague, the crowd gets really into it and it's really good atmosphere,” Krivas said. “I could compare it to games in college. The games that we will play (on this trip) I don't think it will be like crazy like that, but of course there will be people.”

Playing the games in a basketball-obsessed country is only one benefit the Wildcats could gain from on their 10-day swing, which was scheduled to begin Friday upon landing in the capital city of Vilnius. Here are five other potential benefits:

More time together

On top of normally limited offseason workouts, the NCAA allows teams to hold up to 10 full-length practices before foreign tours.

Some coaches view those as the primary benefit of a "trip," scheduling otherwise meaningless games in Canada or the Caribbean to meet NCAA rules, while Arizona has taken the trips themselves seriously, packing in off-court experiences during its 2023 trip to the Middle East and its trip to Lithuania this summer.

Either way, scheduling a foreign tour could become even more of a trend now, with the NCAA allowing them every year instead of every four years — and increasing roster turnover throughout college basketball creating a need for more time together on and off the court before a new season begins.

“If we could do this annually, that’s something I think that would be really cool, but we're not quite there yet,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “If it works out in our schedule and I have the endurance to do it, and we have the team to do it, we'd love to to go to as many cool places in the world as we can.”

Working Godfrey in

The pretrip practices this month have given the Wildcats a better chance to work in their expected starting power forward, Clemson transfer RJ Godfrey, who joined the team only last week thanks to legal rulings in Colorado and Georgia.

“RJ is gonna come in and be a great piece for us,” freshman Cameron Holmes said. “He's a great guy on and off the court. Just seeing how serious he takes the game, I can learn from it.”

But while the courts cleared Godfrey to play next season, and UA cleared him to practice, the NCAA still could stand in his way for games: He must be declared eligible in the NCAA’s eyes before playing in a game.

Among the possible issues: That Godfrey played in the Reese's college all-star game, which typically ends a player's eligibility, even though at that time Godfrey had reason to believe his career was over anyway.

Godfrey is at least expected to play when the regular season rolls around, however.

A trip ‘home’

While it used to be common for college coaches to schedule a nonconference regular-season game near an out-of-state player’s hometown, the Wildcats are taking it to a different level this month: They did a day of flying and jumped 10 hours ahead in time zones to bring Krivas and Jarusevicius home.

In doing so, they also arrived closer to their other European players' homelands. Lithuania is just a short flight away from Germany, where the parents of Arizona forward Ivan Kharchenkov are expected to travel from to watch their son play. Endurance Aiyamenkhue (Netherlands) and Brnovic (Montenegro) are also from relatively nearby countries.

“We're excited about the opportunity to take Mo and Oogie back home – and even Max, who called it home last year,” Lloyd said. “I think this is going to be really special.”

Broadening experiences

Holmes said he’s already willing to try the famously colorful and chilled “pink soup’ that his Lithuanian teammates have told him about, and new foods are only one of the things the Wildcats will be exposed to on the trip.

The Wildcats are first scheduled to set up shop in Vilnius, home of one of Europe’s most authentic old towns, then will take a day trip to the coastal resort town of Palanga to meet with Lithuanian basketball legend Arvydas Sabonis.

From there, they will move on to the basketball capital of Kaunas, where they are scheduled to visit the Lithuania House of Basketball, among other possible activities.

“I’ve been to Lithuania many a time,” Lloyd said, “and it’s a great place with great people.”

Renewing ties

The major reason Lloyd has been to Lithuania so often is his deep recruiting ties in the country. At Gonzaga, Lloyd was primarily responsible for recruiting Sabonis’ son, Domantas, now of the Sacramento Kings.

Lloyd also has a strong relationship with many Lithuanian basketball federation officials, who are expected to hold an event with the Wildcats at some point during their trip.

At Arizona, Lloyd re-recruited Lithuanian forward Azoulas Tubelis, who was originally signed by former coach Sean Miller, while Lloyd also brought in Krivas and forward Paulius Murauskas in 2023, though Murauskas transferred to Saint Mary’s after the 2023-24 season and has since moved to ASU. Lloyd also added Jaursevicius last spring after an injury-plagued season at Nebraska.

“When I was in the portal, I talked to a lot of different schools, but something just felt right here,” Jarusevicius said. “I took a visit, and as soon as I got back from the visit, I knew this was where I wanted to come.”

Except, before he plays a game in McKale Center, Jarusevicius first gets to go home, bringing his new teammates with him.