For Wildcats freshman Kailyn Gilbert, every basket a celebration of basketball success

Kailyn Gilbert is having the time of her life, and she’s making sure everyone knows it.

A week ago, Arizona’s freshman point guard put up 16 points to lead the Wildcats in a 40-point drubbing of Cal State Northridge. Gilbert had so much fun doing it that coach Adia Barnes couldn’t help but poke a little fun at her celebrations.

“I love her energy. I love how she’s happy when she scores. I love that. But then you can’t take 2 seconds of like, ‘Woo!’” Barnes said. “This is Kailyn, she scores a really hard basket. She’s like instant offense, scores, she’s like, ‘Woo!’” Barnes said with a laugh. “Then her man is starting to dribble up the court and she has to go find her man. But she’s ready. She’s celebrating.”

Gilbert’s teammates hope she does a lot more scoring — and celebrating — on Sunday, when No. 18 Arizona (3-0) hosts Long Beach State (1-1).

Behind Gilbert’s smiles are some trials. She spent last season at IMG Academy in Florida. Gilbert said she learned a lot, but it wasn’t an easy year. On the court, she learned how to have a short memory and not get discouraged if she misses a shot. To forget about the miss and get back on defense, come back down on offense and take another shot.

“I feel like a big chunk of my playing career — even though I’m really young now — I didn’t have fun on the court,” the 5-foot-8-inch Gilbert said. “I feel like now, like why not? Life isn’t guaranteed. Just have fun. So yeah, why not celebrate, as long as I’m not hurting the team? I think everyone should be having fun.

“I had an amazing time at IMG. I did have my moments, but I feel like if I didn’t have those moments, I wouldn’t be having as much fun with basketball that I’m having with it now, the tough times and the good times, because it made me the player I am right now.”

Gilbert has made a splash in her debut as a Wildcat. She is averaging nearly 12 points per game while shooting 48% from the field.

Gilbert isn’t just celebrating herself. She is happy when others score, get a big rebound, steal or block. Case in point: Lauren Fields scored after doing a spin move against Northridge, game and the video went viral. Gilbert was the first to chest-bump Fields.

“Seeing my girls, my teammates do the things that they’re doing on the court is really inspiring, and why not be happy for them? We’re all one team,” Gilbert said. “You eat, we eat, we all eat.”

Barnes has been quick to praise Gilbert for putting in extra work. While at IMG Academy, Gilbert could be found getting her shots in early in the morning, before classes. At the UA, she works nights, putting up between 500 and 1,000 shots a day.

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Gilbert also practices against men who are, in her words, “6-foot-plus, way faster, stronger, quicker, and can jump way higher.”

“Finding different ways to score against them — if I can do it versus them, then why can’t I do it (in games)?” Gilbert said. “…It just really helped me realize change of speed and certain moves that I do can’t work against them. Just trying different things in my game.”

Gilbert leans on Aari McDonald, the former Wildcats star now back at the UA as director of recruiting.

“She’s helped me a lot since I’ve been here,” Gilbert said. “To start the year off with I had a lot of issues with confidence. I have a good practice and the next practice will be really bad. And I’m still struggling with it now, but I talked to her one day and she was just like, ‘Why are you overthinking it? Just play your game.’ From there I have picked up my play a lot.

“Also in practice, if I take a certain angle she’ll be like, ‘No, you need to bring your defender down more. You need to come off this way.’ Or, ‘When you come off the screen, look for this person.’ She’s always there. Even if I asked, ‘Aari, what do you think about that?’ She’ll keep it 100% honest with me. … Just hearing that and seeing her every day, I love it. And I love Aari.”

Rim Shots

Freshman guard Paris Clark (concussion protocol) is day-to-day. Clark suffered a concussion in practice last week.

Freshman forward Maya Nnaji is working with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona on a Thanksgiving Food Drive to help provide food to Tucson families over the holiday. She is asking fans to donate canned goods. Bins will be located outside McKale Center before Sunday’s game.

Guard Helena Pueyo was credited with an extra two points for the Wildcats’ win over Northridge. She put up nine total.