Arizona Basketball

Social media reactions from Day 7 of Arizona’s 11-day trip to Lithuania

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ARIZONA’S ITINERARY

Wednesday – Game vs. Lithuania “B” team, final score: Arizona lost 99-88

Thursday – Game vs. Ukraine National Team (8:00 a.m. MST – watch on YouTube)

Friday – Practice & Sightseeing in Kaunas

Saturday – Game vs. Lithuania National Team (9:30 a.m. MST – watch on YouTube)

Sunday – Travel day back to Tucson

RECAP: Arizona finally had the opportunity to take the court at Jonavos Sporto Arena Jonava, Lithuania, on Wednesday after arriving Friday at the homeland of Motiejus Krivas and a couple of other Wildcats. The Wildcats played like a team trying to find itself with many new players, some of whom didn’t play, in their first game together.

The result was a 99-88 loss in a game in which Arizona trailed by as many as 20 points against the Lithuania B Team.

Arizona was led in scoring by 25 points from sophomore wing Ivan Kharchenkov, who also had four assists and no turnovers. He also produced two steals in 27 minutes.

Freshman guard Caleb Holt played through a cold shooting spell and finished with 13 points (5 of 16 from the floor) with six rebounds, five assists and four steals. 

North Carolina transfer Derek Dixon and Krivas each had 10 points.

Krivas played only 11 minutes because coach Tommy Lloyd wants to monitor his minutes.

“We’re going to go day by day,” Lloyd told reporters after the game. “Mo’s had a good summer. He recovered from a small injury. He looks close to 100 percent to me, but we’re preparing for a long season. Mo is going to be a very important part of the season.

“You can see when he is on the court what a difference he makes for us. He’s been limited in practice all summer. He really started being on the court with the team about a week or so ago. We’ll see how Mo feels tomorrow (Arizona plays the Ukrainian National Team at 7 a.m. on Thursday). We’ll kind of build up but I wouldn’t expect him to play his normal minutes.”

Washington transfer JJ Mandaquit (foot), Clemson transfer RJ Godfrey (NCAA eligibility status as a fifth-year player) and Mabil Mawut (visa issues) were not be available for the game. Mawut did not travel with the team.

The versatile Kharchenkov started at the power forward position in place of Godfrey. Dixon started at point guard and Holt at shooting guard. Freshman Cameron Holmes started at the wing and Krivas started at post.

Lithuania outrebounded Arizona 49-31 and it was 11 of 32 from the 3-point line while Arizona was just 3 of 18.

Arizona fell behind 54-37 by halftime before staging a comeback.

From Arizona cut the lead down to eight points midway through the third quarter, but was not able to get any closer the rest of the way.

The second game of the trip against Ukraine will be live streamed via the Arizona Men’s Basketball YouTube channel.

North Carolina transfer Derek Dixon shares his thoughts on Arizona’s first game of the trip against the Lithuanian “B” Team:

“I think back on the game tonight against the Lithuania B team, of course we wanted to win the game. We are all super competitive and want to win every single time we step onto the court. But tonight wasn’t our night and credit goes to the Lithuanian team, they played hard right from the start and we didn’t get off to the best start. 

“But I am proud of our guys, when we were down 20 in the second half, some people might have expected us to pack it in and just look ahead to tomorrow against Ukraine. But that thought never entered anyone’s mind and we knew that if we got a few stops that we could get right back in the game. And we did. We got it down to eight a couple times in the second half but Lithuania would make a shot and not allow us to get closer. 

“There is so much that we will take away from the film of this game that will help us, not just against Ukraine on Thursday, but through the rest of the preseason as we lay the foundation for what this team can accomplish this year. And I know that we are all determined to come out and do our best to play better against Ukraine.”

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