Arizona’s Motiejus Krivas, Henri Veesaar have strong debuts in FIBA U20 European Championships

Two of Arizona’s big men got off to solid individual starts for their respective countries at the FIBA U20 European Championship in Crete, though their teams had very different results.

Incoming freshman center Motiejus Krivas had 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks in Lithuania’s 86-67 win over Croatia, while sophomore center Henri Veesaar posted a double-double in Estonia’s 82-61 loss to Serbia.

Krivas started and was 7 of 12 from the field, finishing with a plus-26 as Lithuania cruised in its opening game of pool play. Last year he averaged 13.6 points and 13.4 rebounds for his country in the U18 European Championship, where Lithuania finishes seventh out of 16 countries.

Veesaar had 13 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 29 minutes, making only 4 of 11 shots from the field but hitting 2 of 4 3-pointers. With Arizona as a freshman in 2022-23, Veesaar was 3 of 11 from the perimeter in 29 games off the bench.

Estonia will try to even its record Sunday against Montenegro, while Lithuania takes on Greece.