Tubelis’s dominant 22 points leads Arizona MBB past Oregon State
Azuolas Tubelis a forward on the University of Arizona Men’s Basketball team receives a pass in the open and dunks on Thursday Feb. 17 in the McKale Center. The WildCats would win the game 83-69.
February 18, 2022
The Arizona men’s basketball team has completed the season sweep against the Oregon State Beavers. Tonight’s game was similar to the first matchup between the two teams, seeing the Wildcats win 83-69.
The Wildcats won their 23rd game tonight, their most regular-season victories since the 2017-18 season when they won 27 games. They are now 13-1 in games within the “Conference of Champions.”
With six games to go in the regular season, they are moving closer to clinching their first Pac-12 regular-season championship since 2018.
Azuolas Tubelis has been incredible over the past two weeks since he injured his ankle. He is playing with confidence on offense and hustling on the defensive end of the floor. Tubelis scored 22 points to go along with seven rebounds and 8-14 shooting from the field.
Tubelis and Bennedict Mathurin have been the Wildcats’ most consistent scoring duo throughout the season and were again tonight, combining for 42 points against the Beavers.
Tubelis’s passing and vision on the floor has also improved significantly from his first year in Tucson.
Two of the biggest issues within this basketball team throughout the season have been turnovers and poor shooting.
Over the last two games, they are starting to improve those issues. Tonight, the Wildcats shot the ball 53% (32-61) from the field and 79% (15-19) from the free-throw line.
During tonight’s game, the Wildcats’ best scorer, Mathurin, showed everyone why he is projected to be an NBA lottery pick this June. He scored 18 or more points in each of the previous four games, and during that stretch, he made 10 three pointers.
His explosiveness on the fast break, as you can see above, is very hard for defenses to guard. For Mathurin to succeed at the next level, he needs to be more confident and improve his shot selection. He finished tonight’s contest with 20 points on 6-14 shooting from the field.
Arizona finished the game with seven turnovers, their lowest since Jan. 23rd when they beat the University of California Berkeley 96-71.
When ESPN college game-day arrives in Tucson on Saturday morning, the stakes will be high. It will be No. 1 Arizona vs No. 2 Oregon in the Pac-12 conference come Saturday night.
This will be the first time that college game-day is in Tucson since 2015, when Arizona hosted UCLA.
Editor’s note: This story will be updated with more information and quotes from the post-game press conference.
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