Arizona Basketball Big Man Motiejus Krivas Will Miss UCLA Game With Injury
It's been a week since the Arizona Wildcats were on the hardwood for a game, but the fan base is hoping that was the requisite time off they needed to figure things out to get this season back on track.
Coming into the year with massive expectations on their shoulders, Arizona has wildly underachieved with a 4-4 record that only features wins against the weakest opponents they've played so far while losing to all the Quad 1 and 2 teams they've faced.
When it comes to making a deep NCAA Tournament run for the first time under head coach Tommy Lloyd, that is not a good sign.
But, there's no need to panic.
At 4-4, the Wildcats will have plenty of opportunities upcoming to get things worked out since this is a relatively new group of players who need to gel based on their different roles.
One of those players is Motiejus Krivas.
The 7-foot-2 big man from Lithuania is coming off a campaign last year where he played in all 36 games, averaging 5.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per contest in 12.1 minutes of action.
His run has increased to 15.9 minutes this season, resulting in him averaging 7.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 0.8 blocks per game.
Unfortunately, Arizona won't have him for their massive showdown against UCLA on Saturday.
Arizona center Motiejus Krivas won’t play vs UCLA today bc of lower left leg injury. He missed much of preseason with left foot injury. Status remains uncertain for the near future while UA expected to keep evaluating him.
— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) December 14, 2024
This is a major blow for the Wildcats.
They need a good showing against a quality opponent like UCLA who is coming into this battle between former Pac-12 rivals with an 8-1 record and 24th overall ranking.
Winning this would be a huge statement for Arizona.
It could still happen, but they are going to need Caleb Love to step up even more in this contest, something he's had a hard time doing when facing the better opponents on the schedule so far.
