Arizona MBB Notebook 3/16: Arizona faces Princeton in the first round and Tubelis is an All-American

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Ryan Wohl

Tommy Lloyd, head coach of the Arizona men’s basketball team, celebrates with his team after winning the Pac-12 championship game against UCLA on Saturday, March 11.

Ryan Wohl

Arizona vs. Princeton 

The Arizona men’s basketball team got the No. 2 seed in the South Region of the 2023 March Madness bracket and they will face No. 15 Princeton University. This game will tip off Thursday, March 16 at 1:10 p.m. in Sacramento, California.

These two teams have only faced off against each other one time. That happened on Dec. 27, 1985, when Arizona defeated Princeton 54-41 in Tucson.

Both the Wildcats and the Tigers are coming off of a game where they won their conference tournament. The Wildcats last beat UCLA to win their second straight Pac-12 tournament championship and the Tigers defeated Yale University to win the Ivy League tournament championship.

In this game, Arizona will have the size advantage as Princeton’s tallest two starters are 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-9. Arizona has one of the most dominant front courts in college basketball with Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo. If Arizona gives to them early and often, the Wildcats should be in good shape to advance.

The last time Arizona lost in the Round of 64 of March Madness was in the 2017-18 season. This was when Arizona was a No. 4 seed and lost to No. 13 seed University at Buffalo.

Arizona is a 15-point favorite in this game while the game over/under is set at 154 points. If you’re watching it on TV, this game will be broadcasted on TNT.

RELATED: Roundtable: How far will Arizona MBB go in March Madness?

Tubelis is an All-American

Azuolas Tubelis was selected to the AP All-America second team. He is currently averaging 19.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2 assists while shooting 57.5% from the field. Tubelis is the 13th Wildcat in history to make an All-American team.

This is also the second straight season that Arizona has had an All-American after Bennedict Mathurin was named to the second team last season.

Damon Stoudamire gets head coach job 

After being an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics during the last two seasons, former Wildcat Damon Stoudamire has been named the next head coach at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Stoudamire played at Arizona from 1991-95 where he won Pac-10 Player of the Year in 1995 and became an All-American.


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