Lauri Markkanen and Azuolas Tubelis, two of the top European bigs to come through the Arizona men’s basketball program, have their respective countries in the quarterfinals of FIBA EuroBasket.
Markkanen led Finland to an upset victory over tournament favorite Serbia in the Round of 16 on Saturday, scoring 29 points to go with eight rebounds, four steals and three assists. The 92-66 victory was a historic one for Finland, a country that only has one player, Markkanen, in the NBA and little pedigree
on the international stage compared to major European powers.
Serbia, led by three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, was considered the odds-on favorite to win EuroBasket. Some commentators have called the result one of the biggest upsets in modern basketball history.
Finland will look to continue its run when it plays Georgia on Wednesday morning. Georgia is also coming off an enormous upset, having beaten 2024 Olympic silver medalist France in the Round of 16. Finland is considered a slight favorite.
Markkanen is averaging 26 points and 8.2 rebounds in six EuroBasket games. Markkanen played one season at Arizona in 2016-17, earning First Team All-Pac-12 honors.
On the other side of the bracket, Tubelis helped lead Lithuania to a Round of 16 victory of Latvia. Tubelis scored 18 points and had a team-high 12 rebounds in Lithuania’s 88-79 win over Latvia.
Lithuania will now face Greece in the quarterfinals on Tuesday morning, a game Greece is favored to win.
Similar to his time at Arizona, Tubelis is putting together rock-solid production for his native country, averaging 11.3 points and 8.2 rebounds. Tubelis has three consecutive double-doubles.
Tubelis played three seasons at Arizona (2020-23), growing into one of the best big men in the country by his junior year.
