Revisiting the 2022-23 Arizona men's basketball season, which featured multiple highs (Maui, Vegas) and a few too many lows, including a stunning NCAA Tournament ouster.
Bruce Pascoe When Arizona players lined up in a cramped Lahaina Civic Center press room last November to watch Oumar Ballo kiss his Maui Invitational MVP trophy, a lei of kukui nets and ti leaves draped over his shoulder, it was easy to imagine the Wildcats' standout big man might do the same sort of thing in Houston four-plus months later.The Wildcats were 6-0 at that point, having averaged 97.5 points, about to rise to the No. 4 spot in the Associated Press men's basketball poll.
“I don't want to say that we kind of loosened up,” UA guard Kerr Kriisa said. “But they made their shots when they needed it, and they made some tough ones.” In wins over Cincinnati, San Diego State and Creighton — all first-round winners in the NCAA Tournament — Ballo averaged 21.0 points and 11.7 rebounds, while Tubelis averaged 18.7 and 8.3. Together, they helped the Wildcats outscore their three Maui opponents 136-71 in the paint.
“When you have Arizona on your chest you expect the other team’s best shot, and obviously their shot was a lot better than ours tonight,” Lloyd said. “We didn’t match it, especially early in the game, and we’re a team that likes to set the tone with effort and energy.” Against the Vols this time, Tubelis had 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds. Ballo added 18 points and eight rebounds.
Later that night, Ballo came down with a bacterial infection that sent him to the hospital three times. Ballo managed to play 34 minutes on Jan. 5 against Washington, but even that couldn’t hold off the Wildcats’ slippage: Arizona fell behind Washington by 14 points in the first half but came back to win in part because of a rowdy late-night crowd at McKale Center that stood up nearly the entire second half.
It was the first time the Wildcats had lost at home under Lloyd, and the first time they had lost at all before fans in Tucson since 2019-20. That meant Tubelis and guard Kerr Kriisa, who played in front of cardboard cutouts as freshmen during the 2020-21 “COVID season,” had never seen fans stream out of McKale after a loss.Arizona appeared to fix its problems in an 86-74 win at Oregon State on Jan.
The Wildcats won their first seven games with the new lineup, including a 63-58 revenge win at Washington State that they led wire to wire. Although Tubelis said he never felt the pressure of increasing expectations as the season rolled on, citing only foul trouble as the problem, his frustration continued to be visible. After picking up a personal foul in the Wildcats’ next game, on Feb. 16 against Utah, he kicked the ball into the ZonaZoo student section and received a technical.
Ultimately, that meant UCLA would stay in the West Region while UA headed to the South, resulting in the Wildcats facing Princeton in the first round instead of UNC Asheville, whom the Bruins drilled 86-53. Still wearing wraps on his hand and shoulder in the Wildcats' NCAA Tournament first-round game Thursday against Princeton, Kriisa was 1 for 7 with two assists and four turnovers. Ballo managed a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds but said he tried to limit his left hand because he didn’t have “great control of the ball” with it.
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