2026 Lithuania Summer Tour Blog
08/12/2026 | Men's Basketball
Check back daily from Aug. 13-23 for updates from the players and coaches
While the Arizona men's basketball team is in Lithuania from Aug. 13-23, we will provide daily updates from the players and coaches themselves about their experience. So be sure to check back frequently or follow @ArizonaMBB on Instagram.
DAILY SCHEDULE
Thursday, Aug. 13 - Travel Day
Friday, Aug. 14 - Arrive in Vilnius, Lithuania & first practice
Saturday, Aug. 15 - Team Practice in Vilnius
Sunday, Aug. 16 - Practice & Sightseeing in Vilnius
Monday, Aug. 17 - Day trip to Palanga, Lithuania
Tuesday, Aug. 18 - Practice & Sightseeing in Kaunas, Lithuania
Wednesday, Aug. 19 - Game vs. Lithuania “B” team (9:30 a.m. MST - watch on YouTube)
Thursday, Aug. 20 - Game vs. Ukraine National Team (8:00 a.m. MST - watch on YouTube)
Friday, Aug. 21 - Practice & Sightseeing in Kaunas
Saturday, Aug. 22 - Game vs. Lithuania National Team (9:30 a.m. MST - watch on YouTube)
Sunday, Aug. 23 - Travel day back to Tucson
Day 1 - Arriving in Vilnius
What’s up Wildcat fans,
This is Ivan Kharchenkov checking in from Vilnius – the capital city of Lithuania – as we get our trip underway. Today was a 20-hour travel day for us after we left Phoenix early Thursday morning and arrived in Lithuania around 12:30pm local time here. And while long days of travel are something I’ve become accustomed to whenever I go home to see my family from Tucson, the time definitely goes by faster when traveling with teammates.
We were all a little sleepy for our first flight from Phoenix to Chicago, so it was kind of quiet as many of the guys went back to sleep. We had a 4-hour layover in Chicago so we all went to eat together as a team, and that was fun to spend time with the guys and just check with each other about the trip and what they are looking forward to.
Next was the long 8-hour flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany aboard the “Queen of the Skies”, a Boeing 747-8 aircraft. It was my first time on a plane that big and it was impressive. Coach Lloyd asked all of us to watch two movies at some point during the travel day – “Lute” and “The Other Dream Team”. Both movies are especially important to us and this trip in their own way and I enjoyed both of them.
It was a smooth flight through the night and we landed in Germany around 8:30 a.m. local time. We had a couple hours before our connection flight to Vilnius, so we made our way through customs and then towards our gate. And although I did play over here in Europe, this is actually my first time to the city of Vilnius. I have noticed it is like many other European cities in that some of the architecture and buildings have a little bit of an older feel to them, but everyone has been so nice and welcoming to us so that has been great.
Speaking of welcoming, how about the welcome that Mo and Oogy received from the local media as we exited the airport! There were tv cameras and reporters there capturing their every move as we made our way to the bus. I would guess that is a pretty special feeling to be able to be part of a trip like this in your home country.
After arriving in Vilnius, we checked in at the hotel, grabbed lunch and then headed right off to practice at a local gym. As you can imagine, everyone was a little tired but we all pushed through it and enjoyed spending time with each other doing what we love – play basketball.
We went back to the hotel and got cleaned up for dinner and then spent some time walking around Old Town in Vilnius. There was so much life and energy with people sitting outside restaurants having coffee or dinner and just enjoying the perfect weather (70 and sunny!).
Personally, I am looking forward to having my parents stop by a little bit later in the trip. They have made a couple visits to Tucson over the past year, but it’s neat for me to have the chance to spend time with them and my teammates on this side of the pond.
Well that's enough from me for today. It was a great start to the trip and we are looking forward to what’s coming up!
Bear Down!
Ivan
P.S. - make sure you check out Endi's vlog from our first day, I think he's a natural!
