While there’s plenty that the NCAA does that seems counterintuitive, the decision to allow college basketball teams to take an international tour every year was among its best of late. For Arizona, that meant getting a chance to have its restructured team bond over a 10-day European trip while also allowing a pair of players to have a homecoming.
“We’re really grateful for for the amazing time we’ve had here,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said Saturday after his team beat a collection of Lithuanian pros 88-74, completing a 2-1 exhibition schedule in the country. “We’re also looking forward to getting on the flight and getting home. It’s been a long summer, and then I think hopefully we’re going to get a good week or two of holidays before we kind of kind of start our build for the season.”
Saturday’s game was played in Alytus, the hometown of senior transfer forward Ugnius Jarusevicius. He had 14 points and eight rebounds while fellow Lithuanian Motiejus Krivas scored 15 with nine rebounds and six blocks. Ivan Kharchenkov led the way with 30 points.
Below is what Lloyd and Jarusevicius said after the game:
Lloyd on bouncing back from the earlier loss to Lithuania: “Well, the first game we played bad, 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, and they got a lead on us and and kind of made us question ourselves. It was our first game, but there’s no excuses.”
On Lithuania going with a mix of A and B Team players (but not former UA forward Azuolas Tubelis): “Everything was completely transparent. I can’t read Lithuanian, and I don’t even look at much media to begin with, so some people were telling me there was like some rumors that there was complications. There was no complications. I mean, they were amazing hosts. We felt great about everything, and like whoever they wanted to play today is who we were going to play. I mean, their their priority needs to be building for the games that count, not playing the University of Arizona, and so we’re the guest. Whatever Lithuania basketball wanted to do, we were going to respect and didn’t have any strong or bad opinions on anything.”
On the atmosphere at the game: “I’ll just say one observation: I have so much respect for Lithuania basketball, and you guys know that. I’ve said it 100 times. You know I have a long relationship with some great people from this country. 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’re a bunch of college kids, (but) I didn’t feel that spirit from our opponents. I felt it the first night. I didn’t feel it today, and hopefully you guys can find that because don’t ever take it for granted. When you have a a strong spirit and a connection to the program and understanding what it means and what you’re representing, it really, really, really matters. Hopefully they can find that in the coming days because I just remember this, watching Lithuania basketball—and I’ve been watching for I don’t know, 35 years or something—when they used to make a 3-point shot, you felt like they celebrated like they scored a goal in soccer, and that spirit was just like so powerful. And for me, I really observed it, as a young person who loved basket, and eventually knew I was going to coach. And it’s like, I want my teams to have that spirit, and I want my players to feel when they’re playing for Arizona I always tell them, you need to feel like you’re playing for your national team. That your connection to Arizona and our program needs to be that strong. I know it’s there because it’s in the DNA of this place, and in DNA of the the culture, the people, the players, and hopefully, they can come out in the next week and kind of regain their spirit and come out and kick some ass because they deserve to do that.
On how Lithuania can get its groove back: “It’s in their DNA. I mean, my guess is they just need to get back, close the door, the players first, and find it amongst themselves. And then the second thing is the coaching staff needs to help with that direction. Listen, I’ve been there. You you don’t ever take it for granted. I’m far from a perfect coach. You guys saw my team the first night. But what we did, we went right back and we talked about we need a collective response. We don’t need like one individual just to try harder to carry us. We need everybody in the organization, from the the physio, the athletic trainers, to the media people to the players to the coaches, everyone to bring their spirit to the table, and and they will. I coached Domas (Sabonis), I’ve never coached a player with so much spirit in my life. We used to sub him out of the games. He would come by me, and he would be cussing me out in Spanish, and I was like, are you okay? And he’s like, ‘yeah, you know, I’m fine.’ I’m like. you just called me a lot of bad words, and he was like, ‘no, no, I’m okay.’ But that fighting spirit is so important, and I’m confident they’ll get it back.”
On Krivas hitting a 3-pointer and Arizona’s bench going crazy: “You see the spirit there. He made the three, and we celebrated like we scored a goal. And Mo can really shoot. He’s really come along as a player. There’s sometimes when you’re developing a young player, you know they can’t do everything, and the first thing Mo has had in his development, the biggest progress Mo has made, for one,in how he’s moving, and his strength. Two, 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. The shooting threes is the icing on the cake, and so 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 threes, he’ll make some. But I know this: if you want to win, he does so many other things that that I value that help us win be.”
On Jarusevicius’ performance: “Oogie’s come a long ways. We’ve been together for a couple months now. He had to come and recover from a back injury last year, which is always dangerous. 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. And 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 have forgotten about him a little bit, and maybe he needed to rebuild his confidence. To come back here and do it is pretty special, and hopefully, everyone understands that this guy is going to be a professional basketball player from Lithuania for many, many, many years to come, and and hopefully he’s going to have a great season at Arizona, and we’re counting on him to really help us.”
On coaching Tubelis at Arizona: “Zu is an amazing person, and it was an honor to coach him. My biggest regret is he had one more year to come back, and just everything was changing in the NCAA with the NIL, this and that, and 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. I remember, he was having a great season, his second season with me, would have been his third in college, and at the end of the year he was probably in position to be the MVP of the Pac-12 Conference. And so I brought him in. I said, ‘hey, Zu, you got a chance to be the NBA MVP, but just stay focused on the process and doing your job. And he said, ‘Coach, I don’t even, I have never even thought about the MVP until you just told me.’ He’s like, I just want to help the team win, and his character is so high. He’s a great player, and obviously he would have made a big difference in the game. I know this. We would have sat on that left hand, I know that, we would have made him score right-handed 10 times today, and he probably would have.”
Jarusevicius on the victory: “It’s a great win, great bounce back after the loss to Lithuania B team. I think we played well today, rebounded well. I mean, I think we came out with a different energy and it led to a win.”
On being able to play in his hometown: “It’s kind of crazy thinking about like being a senior and then coming to Arizona and then coming on the year that they’re going back home, to Alytus and stuff like that, and then especially getting a win back on the home floor, it feels great. Definitely amazing.”