Arizona Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2021-22 season
By Tuck Clarry
Power Forward
Azuolas Tubelis is the leading scorer returning from last year’s team and was another member of the All-Freshman team for the conference. He’s a likely beneficiary of the ball-screen motions that Lloyd will bring over from Gonzaga as he’s already familiar with the offense running through him.
He’s a stretch-four that is comfortable in the midrange and rolling to the basket. He finished with double-digit points three times last year, including a 31-point showing against the talented frontcourt at USC.
Tubelis is also more than solid on the glass, he led the team in rebounding with 7.1 per game, which is rather impressive considering he played just 26 minutes per game. Lloyd wants to continue going through Tubelis and he could be a small-ball five at times considering the team’s want to play at a faster pace. His 6-foot-11, 245-pound frame allows him to be decent running the floor and he could be a tough task to deal with in transition. Along with Mathurin, he earned All-Preseason-Team honors.
Defenses in Lloyd’s time at Gonzaga would often rely on a big disrupting the ball on the perimeter and the head coach has made it clear that he’s pushing Tubelis to operate that way with forwards playing further and further out. He’s the lone true forward on the roster, which will force Lloyd to either go with Christian Koloko shifting to the power forward spot or ask one of the wings like Aiken to try their luck in the paint.