Not Pac-12 Player of the Year, Not Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, but the best was yet to come for Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis.
Arizona Basketball star Azuolas Tubelis, got some well-deserved recognition last night after beating UCLA for the second time this season to help his team become the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament Champions.
Tubelis, a top-ten Naismith semifinalist and All-Pac-12 First-Team Player, was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 Pac-12 Basketball Tournament after scoring 19 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in the Wildcats’ win over the Bruins to earn its second championship in as many years.
However, perhaps his most impressive stat of the night, was that Tubelis made 9-11 free throws (81.8 percent).
The Wildcats defeated the Bruins 61-59 thanks to a miraculous Courtney Ramey three-pointer and a free-throw and rebound by Tubelis. Tubelis hugged the ball so tightly that you could tell he was relieved and overjoyed. He and Oumar Ballo were able to foul out UCLA’s two big men.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. of UCLA was named Pac-12 Player of the Year for 2023 just a week ago by the Pac-12 coaches, and it must have been difficult for the “Lithuanian Locomotive” (credit: Matt Muehlebach), who actually outperformed Jaquez Jr. in stats, but because UCLA won the Pac-12 regular season title, he got the edge (in my opinion at least).
Watching the game last night, it is clear that Jaime is phenomenal; coach Tommy Lloyd stated something along those lines numerous times in post-game interviews. However, some, including yours truly, believe that Co-MVPs should have been awarded this season if the season as a whole is considered rather than the final week of competition.
If you compare the two, Tubelis averaged 19.8 points (first in the Pac-12), 9.3 rebounds (also first in the Pac-12), and two assists (Note: No one has led the conference in the first two categories in 17 years). Compared to Jaquez Jr. who averaged 17.3 points (fourth in the Pac-12), 8.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists
“It ain’t water under the bridge,” Adele says. That is, until last night when Zu was presented with the MOP trophy, which he is thoroughly enjoying. “It means a lot actually,” explained an emotional Tubelis, “I didn’t get enough credit in the beginning of the season, (Kerr Kriisa “Hell Yeah!”) My freshman year, no one knew me, everyone disrespected me I think. And I don’t know, this award, it means a lot. It means that my team won and I don’t know, I’m just, I’m so proud of my team you know. And I’m so happy and I can smile now.”
Zu keeps it all in, you never see too much emotion from him, except for through his play, but he has a great poker face, so you don’t know what he’s thinking. He rarely smiles, so seeing him smile so much just warms your heart.
Congrats to Zu and the Arizona Wildcats, back-to-back Pac-12 Champions! Now let’s go far in the NCAA Tournament!
Don’t forget to follow us at @ZonaZealots on Twitter and like our fan page on Facebook for continued coverage of Arizona news, opinions, and recruiting updates!