{"id":399459,"date":"2025-11-23T16:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T16:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/399459\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T16:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T16:24:16","slug":"buzelis-brothers-bulls-matas-and-south-dakotas-vince-stick-together-no-matter-the-distance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/399459\/","title":{"rendered":"Buzelis brothers \u2014 Bulls’ Matas and South Dakota’s Vince \u2014 stick together, no matter the distance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up in the Chicago area isn\u2019t the only thing many of you have in common with Bulls<\/a> forward Matas Buzelis. Like Bulls fans, he also knows what it\u2019s like to have to dig into the piggy bank for extra funds to watch a favorite basketball team play.<\/p>\n

There can\u2019t be many out there who stream University of South Dakota hoops on MidCo Sports Plus more avidly than Buzelis, whose brother, Vincas \u2014 Vince, everyone in Vermillion calls him \u2014 is a Coyotes freshman guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter all my games, he sends me clips of what I can do better and what I can do good,\u201d Vince said.<\/p>\n

Being in touch like that means everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose FaceTime calls, just constantly texting, it kind of takes the separation away,\u201d Vince said.<\/p>\n

Vince, 18, was a standout player at Hinsdale Central, but Bulls fans are far more likely to remember him as the little bro who couldn\u2019t stop bawling the night Matas, now 21, was drafted No. 11 overall<\/a>. Matas cried \u2014 plenty \u2014 as he hugged his family in the Barclays Center green room in Brooklyn and as he pulled on a Bulls cap, climbed onto the stage and accepted commissioner Adam Silver\u2019s congratulations. Older sister Sofija Buzelis, who was a terrific lacrosse player at Furman, beamed through tears herself.<\/p>\n

But Vince? \u201cUgly crying\u201d is a popular term for losing it as intensely as he did. In truth, it was beautiful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was getting texts, Snapchat notifications. I was, like, No. 3 trending on Twitter,\u201d Vince said. \u201cI didn\u2019t care at all. Nothing could put me down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sometimes \u2014 even a year and a half later \u2014 a simple story about love just hits the spot. In a post-practice chat before the Bulls headed west for a three-game road trip, Matas agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are scared to show their flaws,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not scared of being vulnerable and being in the limelight. We\u2019re not scared of our flaws and we\u2019re not scared to show them as men, especially me and my little brother. We want people to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

So much was swimming through their heads that night as the family learned \u2014 just after the ninth pick \u2014 that Buzelis would be staying home with the Bulls. Matas thought about being 10 and riding in his grandfather\u2019s car to and from basketball practices in Lemont, about being 11 and falling in love with the game after joining the Full Package club in Northfield, about his mother quitting her job in order to shuttle the boys between the southwest suburbs and the North Shore \u2014 80-plus miles roundtrip, often in brutal traffic \u2014 about his father grinding at work to make it all possible, about money being tight, about struggles being real, about a future suddenly so bright and what it could mean for all of them.<\/p>\n

He heard his dad\u2019s oft-imparted wisdom: \u201cContinue to work hard. Nothing will come easy. Be humble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both parents and grandfathers had played the game at high levels in Lithuania, and Matas knew he\u2019d be playing for them, too. Vince, who has his own NBA dreams, was experiencing many of the same feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother was a huge part of it,\u201d Matas said. \u201cHe knows how hard I work, how hard this family works. This isn\u2019t just, like, a me thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

South Dakota\u2019s Vince Buzelis (4) soars to block a shot against Creighton on Nov. 5, 2025, in Omaha, Nebraska.<\/p>\n

Vince, who is 6-4, scored seven points in overtime alone in his first college game. In 20 minutes per game, he\u2019s second on the team in rebounding and blocks. He scored 12 points and swatted three shots against 23rd-ranked Creighton, flashing the leaping ability that complements his physical, well-rounded playing style. The Coyotes, of the Division I Summit League, lost 102-68 to Missouri on Thursday night. Buzelis had five points in 14 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can do everything on the court,\u201d Matas said. \u201cHe\u2019s not afraid, and he works extremely hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

But one brother is four inches taller than the other and jumps so easily, he was in the NBA dunk contest as a rookie. The dream of both being in the league someday is a big one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see him as an NBA player,\u201d Matas said. \u201cHe\u2019s capable of doing anything. In our family, we never, ever limit ourselves as people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Vince, \u201cYou just have to keep working. It doesn\u2019t matter where you start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vince laughed while describing various Buzelis one-on-one matchups.<\/p>\n

Dad Aidas, also 6-4, relies on a repertoire of old-school moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know those old people [think] they\u2019re a lot smarter about the game,\u201d Vince said.<\/p>\n

Mom Kristina, 5-11, tries to back Vince down, a shrewd tactic considering both know he wouldn\u2019t hurt her for the world.<\/p>\n

Against big bro, on the other hand? The Buzelis boys skirmished so hard and often through the years \u2014 beating the crap out of each other, truth be told \u2014 Matas\u2019 management team literally forbade him from playing one-on-one against Vince.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true,\u201d Matas said.<\/p>\n

Which is not to suggest the edict is heeded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still go at it,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we make each other better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think of it as another form of brotherly love. They certainly do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do miss him,\u201d Matas said. \u201cI miss him a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there are apps for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if I could tell him something?\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d tell him I love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

But we knew that already.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up in the Chicago area isn\u2019t the only thing many of you have in common with Bulls…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":399460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1260,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-399459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115599944394986179","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}