Arizona basketball closes Lithuania tour with wins and stronger spirit

After a dispiriting 99-88 loss to the Lithuanian “B” team in the first of three games during their Lithuanian exhibition tour last week, the Wildcats recovered to beat Ukraine 107-85 on Thursday and then beat a higher-level Lithuanian team 88-74 on Saturday.

They did so with a significantly shorthanded roster, too: Arizona brought forward RJ Godfrey (NCAA suspension) and guard JJ Mandaquit (foot) on the trip but could not play either, and center Motiejus Krivas’ minutes were limited as a precautionary measure because of a foot injury earlier this summer.

In addition, freshman wing Maksim Brnovic sat out the Wildcats’ final two games after he took a hard fall in Arizona’s loss to the Lithuanian B team on Wednesday. After slamming his head on the floor while driving for a layup, Brnovic received stitches on his chin.

Still, on Saturday, the Wildcats managed to shoot 48.5% from the field and outrebounded the Lithuanians 39-31, scoring 20 second-chance points off 11 rebounds while making the locals work for their scoring. Ivan Kharchenkov led the Wildcats with 30 points on 11-for-22 shooting.

Lithuania shot just 39.6% from the field as leading scorer Augustas Marciulionis, a two-time WCC player of the year at Saint Mary's, shot just 5-for-14 while scoring 15 points.

"It's a great win, great bounce back after the loss to Lithuania B team," said UA center Ugnius Jarusevicius, who was playing Saturday in his hometown of Alytus. "I think we played well today. We rebounded well. I think we came out with a different energy."

It was a flip-flop of energy, the way UA coach Tommy Lloyd described it. While the Wildcats were undoubtedly playing better Saturday, Lloyd said the Lithuanian team did not match the intensity of its "B" team in the Wednesday night game.

"The first game we played bad," Lloyd said. "And I'll say this: I don't care if you call that team the B team or whatever. That team played incredibly hard. They were focused. They had great spirit. They got a lead on us and made us question ourselves. It was our first game, but there's no excuses."

After that sour experience in their first game in their homelands, Krivas and Jarusevicius ended their trips on a high note. Krivas had 15 points and nine rebounds over just 22 minutes, while Jarusevicius had 14 points and eight rebounds — and made  8 of 9 free throws.

"It's kind of crazy being a senior, coming to Arizona and then (transferring in) the year that they're going back home," Jarusevicius said. "Being back on the home floor feels great. Definitely an amazing opportunity."

The chance to return Jarusevicius and Krivas to their home country was among the many benefits and lessons the Wildcats picked up on what was a 10-day tour through Lithuania that included practices, cultural stopovers and the three games.

Off the court, the Wildcats toured the major Lithuanian cities of Vilnius and Kaunas, while taking a day trip to the coastal resort town of Palanga, where Lithuanian basketball legend Arvydas Sabonis hosted them at his restaurant.

They also came across former Wildcat forwards Azuolas Tubelis and Cedric Henderson. Henderson showed up to watch their game Saturday after having just reported to training camp for BC Saiuliai, where he is returning to play a second season, while Tubelis watched both of UA’s games against Lithuanian teams.

Now playing for top Lithuanian club Zalgiris and the Lithuanian senior team, Tubelis was scheduled to play against the Wildcats on Saturday but injured his ankle in an exhibition against Estonia on Thursday and was unable to play. But Tubelis still showed up and hugged each UA player in the postgame handshake line Saturday.

“Zu is an amazing person, and it was an honor to coach him,” Lloyd said. “My biggest regret is he had one more year to come back (Tubelis left as a junior after 2022-23 season) and everything was changing in the NCAA with the NIL, this and that.

"We should have just made a strong move and had him come back because he's such a good player and such a good guy. He was great to coach every single day, such a team player.”

Lloyd also left Lithuania with good vibes over his two current Lithuanian players, Krivas and Jarusevicius. While Krivas was sidelined for some workouts earlier this summer because of his foot issue, Jarusevicius has been returning from back issues that kept him out of all but one game at Nebraska last season.

Returning from a back injury is “always dangerous,” Lloyd said. “But I'll tell you what, he's worked every day. He hasn't missed a training. He hasn't missed a therapy session, a weightlifting session, and you're seeing great progress.

"I just told him when we came in here that I'm proud of him, because to be able to come and do this back home — maybe people back here forgot about him a little bit, and maybe he needed to rebuild his confidence — to come back here and do it is pretty special.”

Krivas added to the UA's fun by hitting a 3-pointer on Saturday that Lloyd said had the Wildcats “celebrating as if we scored a goal in soccer,” and Lloyd elaborated on the 7-footer's improvement in front of the Lithuanian media.

“Mo can really shoot; he's really come along as a player,” Lloyd said. “The biggest progress Mo has made is in how he's moving, and his strength. Two, it’s how he's dominating the paint defensively and offensively, and rebounding strong. And he's become a really good pick and roll defender.

“Those are the most important things. Shooting 3s is the icing on the cake. I have no doubt in my mind when he's playing in the NBA, if he has a coach that lets him stand out there and shoot 3s, he'll make some. But I know this: if you want to win, he does so many other things that that I value that that help us win besides shoot 3s. I want him to focus on those things.”

Together, the Wildcats also learned to improvise without several key players, something they really had to do only once (in late February, without Koa Peat and Dwayne Aristode) en route to the Final Four last season.

Without Mandaquit or Brnovic available on the perimeter, Lloyd started reserve guard Bryce James, putting him in a starting lineup along with point guard Derek Dixon, guard Caleb Holt, Kharchenkov and Krivas on Saturday.

Lloyd played freshman wing Cameron Holmes off the bench, while Dixon played all but a minute of Saturday’s game without Mandaquit able to spell him at point guard. James finished with five points and two rebounds in 12 minutes while Holt had seven points, eight rebounds and four assists. Dixon had 13 points and six assists.

Along the way, the Wildcats also experienced — and maybe absorbed — a lesson about playing with passion.

Lithuania is one of the few countries in the world where basketball is the most popular sport, and Krivas said before the trip that it’s considered a "second religion" there.

So after seeing how a strong spirit affected both Arizona and Lithuanian teams during the week — with Lithuania's B Team having it Wednesday but the country's stronger roster lacking it Saturday — Lloyd dove deeply into the topic during a postgame news conference with Lithuanian media on Saturday.

"I have so much respect for Lithuanian basketball, and you guys know that," Lloyd said. "I've said it 100 times ... Lithuania basketball used to have the strongest spirit in the game, and you were always playing for something much bigger than yourself. Today, I know we were a bunch of college kids. I didn't feel that spirit from our opponents. I felt it the first night.

"Hopefully you guys can find that because when you have a strong spirit and a connection to the program and understand what you're representing, it really, really, really matters."

Lloyd indicated he's hoping the Wildcats can find the same sort of connection themselves this season, too.

That’s one of the reasons they went to the basketball-mad country, after all.

“I want my teams to have that spirit,” Lloyd said. “I always tell them, `You need to feel like you're playing for your national team.' Our connection to Arizona and our program needs to be that strong.”