Cincinnati Bearcat Simas Lukošius a man of many countries, languages, buckets

At Texas Tech, the public address announcer called him "Simas Lu-cautious", something No. 41 of the Cincinnati Bearcats ignored. The 21-year-old Lithuanian has become accustomed to hearing his name mangled.

When he buried the eventual game-winning shot in front of 15,098 Red Raider fans, everyone knew Simas Lukošius was anything but cautious. His jumper with 21 seconds left was the game's 14th and final lead change.

Linking in Lukošius

Lukošius, the No. 61 transfer last spring by ESPN, started all 32 games for Butler last year. Against Villanova, he had a career-high 28 points. As a freshman against Xavier in the 2022 Big East tournament, he scored 27.

The Bearcats were replacing Landers Nolley II who went pro, Jeremiah Davenport (Arkansas) and Mika Adams-Woods (St. Bonaventure). Getting a 6-foot-8 ballhandler with shooting skills was a bonus.

Closing the deal

After Lukošius committed, UC head coach Wes Miller thought it was important for the staff to meet his family. He dispatched Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Drew Adams to Lithuania.

"Wes and I both knew that it was important for somebody to go over there," Adams said. "I knew it was important to Simas for someone on our staff to go see where he's from and go meet his family and see his culture."

This was a bit more than your normal recruiting trip. It's nearly 4,700 miles away from Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport to Lithuania where basketball is the national sport. Other than a brief flirtation with a mullet and hockey, Lukošius has been in sneakers playing high-level hoops.

"You're looking at probably a flight to Chicago first," Lukošius said describing the route home. "Then you probably fly to somewhere else, then you fly to Lithuania. Probably you're looking at a good 15 hours of traveling."

Mindaugus Lukošius impressed

The father of Simas is a former 6-foot-4 guard who also is a professional basketball coach. That meant multiple residences for the family.

"Living the life of a basketball player is something that I'm used to," Lukošius said. "My dad was a coach so I fell in love with the sport before I was even conscious. An emphasis when we would work out together before school was guard play. He never wanted me to be a post-player."

UC's top traveler

Today's elite players jet across the U.S. before ever becoming college players, and Lukošius saw a good bit of the world before ever setting foot in Cincinnati. He has lived in Kuwait, Lithuania, Russia, Lebanon, Germany and Bahrain. He speaks Lithuanian, Russian and German in addition to his flawless English.

Lukošius has dual citizenship in Lithuania and Germany. In terms of Cincinnati's German heritage, he's not yet taken in the experience.

"I know you guys like the goetta, the sausage kind of thing, but I haven't even tried it," Lukošius said.

Lukošius a key cog

With guard C.J. Fredrick being injured in the Dec. 16 Dayton game, Lukošius was inserted into the starting lineup and has been there every game except for Stetson, when he was injured. He has averaged 10.5 points (going into Saturday's Houston game) since stepping in as a shooter for Fredrick. While not hitting Fredrick's team-leading 44% on 3-pointers, his confidence has increased.

"I've had games where I haven't really shot well but it hasn't really affected by confidence that much because if I'm not confident, I'm pretty much useless on the court," Lukošius said.

Lukošius overcomes being struck by car

On Nov. 30, Miller received a call that Lukošius was hit by a car at the intersection of Corry and Jefferson, a notoriously busy spot for pedestrians and cars. Already hobbled by an injury in the overtime win at Howard, Lukošius was in the crosswalk with the "walk" sign on when he was hit. Amazingly, not much damage was done which may be credited to his 225 pounds of bulk.

"I did have some repercussions with the leg, with the shoulder," Lukošius said. "I tried to focus on my rehab. I didn't have many serious injuries from that. I like to say I did more damage to the car than he did to me. I'm really lucky."

No tension among teammates

Despite diplomatic relations between Russia and Lithuania being strained, Lukošius and Russian teammate Viktor Lakhin make it work. Lakhin was ecstatic when the Bearcats added Lukošius.

"You can laugh all you want, I was praying we'd get another European," Lakhin said at Big 12 Media Days. "Also he speaks Russian. On the court, we have a lot in common. I played in Lithuania before so we knew of each other."

Said Lukošius, "It's fun to have someone from that type of culture that you can joke around with."

Big East or Big 12?

"That's a hard question," Lukošius said. "So far, the Big 12. In the Big East, we didn't have six out of the first eight games against ranked teams. The Big East had a really good top five, last year a really good top seven. Here, literally every team every night is going to be tough."

A clutch 'Cat

"He's really important to this team whether it's with the ball in his hands or not," Miller said. "He went through a tough fall with the injuries and hitting the car and all that. In conference play, we've relied on him heavily."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC Bearcat Simas Lukošius toughs his way through 1st Big 12 season