Homecoming rejuvenation: Ugnius Jarusevicius emerges as key piece for Arizona Wildcats

An off-season exhibition trip thousands of miles across the Atlantic provided Arizona men’s basketball forward Ugnius Jarusevicius a rare luxury: a homecoming.

Playing in his hometown of Alytus, Lithuania, the 6-foot-11, 255-pound fifth-year big man posted 14 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench on Saturday, leading the Wildcats to a bounce-back victory over the Lithuanian national team to conclude their foreign tour.

For Jarusevicius, known affectionately by his teammates and coaches as “Uggy,” the three-game swing through his native country was a long-awaited chance to prove what he is capable of after a grueling back injury kept him off the floor for virtually the entire 2025-26 season at Nebraska.

Tommy Lloyd doesn’t just take players to fill roster spots.

There’s a reason he added Ugnius Jarusevicius.

He averaged 16.8 points and 7.6 rebounds at Central Michigan in 24-25, but only played one game at Nebraska due to injury this past year. pic.twitter.com/wQrxf6XbCJ

— JPR (@Scouting_Col) July 4, 2026

“That year-long break, when I didn’t touch the ball at all for almost the entire year, wasn’t easy,” Jarusevicius told reporters Saturday in Lithuanian, which Arizona Sports translated to English. “It wasn’t easy both psychologically and physically. … I feel good now. Of course, I’m not 100% yet, but it’s probably normal, because I’ve only been playing sports for two months.”

The physical progress was on full display in Lithuania. Over Arizona’s three exhibition contests, Jarusevicius averaged 14.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting a hyper-efficient 73.7% from the field in just under 18 minutes per contest off the bench.

He opened the trip with an eight-point effort on 3-for-3 shooting in 15 minutes against the Lithuanian “B” team on Wednesday, followed by a dominant 20-point performance on 8-of-11 (72.7%) shooting in Thursday’s win over Ukraine.

On Saturday, back on his home floor in Alytus, he sealed the deal with another impactful shift off the bench.

“It’s kind of crazy,” Jarusevicius said. “Think about like being a senior and then coming to Arizona and then coming on a year that they’re going back home, like to Alytus and stuff like that and then especially getting a win back on the home floor. It feels great. Definitely an amazing opportunity.”

Jarusevicius’ mobility and end-to-end athleticism stood out throughout the three-game tour, providing head coach Tommy Lloyd with a reassuring sign that the big man’s back issues are mostly in the rearview mirror.

Heading into the fall, Jarusevicius appears to have carved out distinct separation from fellow reserve bigs Evan Otten and Endurance Aiyamenkhue to earn the primary backup spot behind starting center Motiejus Krivas.

Practicing daily against Krivas, a fellow Lithuanian and projected 2027 NBA Draft lottery pick, was a major selling point for Jarusevicius when picking Tucson out of the transfer portal.

“Arizona seems like a good place to help Motiejus,” Jarusevicius said. “The more I pushed against probably the (top 15) pick next year, so I think everything is very good.”

For Lloyd, watching Jarusevicius produce on home soil was a rewarded milestone in what has been a diligent rehabilitation process since arriving on campus.

“Uggy’s come a long ways,” Lloyd told reporters Saturday. “He had to come and recover from a back injury last year, which is always dangerous. But I’ll tell you what, he’s worked every day. He hasn’t missed a training. He hasn’t missed a therapy session (or) a weightlifting session, and you’re seeing great progress.

“I just told him when we came in here that I’m proud of him because to be able to come and do this back home… maybe people back here have forgotten about him a little bit. And maybe he needed to rebuild his confidence. To come back here and do it is pretty special.”

Jarusevicius’ road to full recovery isn’t entirely finished. As the rest of the Wildcats prepare for a 3 a.m. bus ride to the airport for the long trek back to Tucson, Jarusevicius said he will take a slight detour across Europe to continue maintenance on his back before fall practices intensify.

“I’m going to Germany for three days to get some back treatment,” Jarusevicius said.

If his performance in Lithuania was any indication, the added maintenance is merely fine-tuning for a player poised to play a crucial frontcourt role for Arizona this season.

“Hopefully everyone understands that this guy is going to be a professional basketball player from Lithuania for many, many, many years to come,” Lloyd said. “Hopefully he’s going to have a great season at Arizona, and we’re counting on him to really help us.”

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