'So special' Aari McDonald poised to break UA's single-season scoring mark this weekend

When the Arizona Wildcats return to Tucson late Sunday night, Aari McDonald will have a new title: the UA’s single-season scoring leader.

At least that’s the plan.

McDonald needs to score 33 points total in games against Stanford and Cal to surpass her coach, Adia Barnes, in the UA women’s record book. Barnes scored 653 points in 1998, a mark that’s held for nearly 21 years. (The men’s record is held by Khalid Reeves, who scored 848 points in the 1993-94 season.)

While Barnes needed all 30 games to secure 653, McDonald could reach it in Game 26 or 27. The Wildcats (17-8, 7-7 Pac-12) will visit No. 7 Stanford on Friday night, then take on Cal on Sunday.

McDonald hit the 600-point mark in 24 games. In the Pac-12 since 1999-2000, only Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike (23) and Washington’s Kelsey Plum (23 and 20) have done it faster.

Barnes, who played at the UA from 1994-98 and returned as coach in 2016, said she knew her record would fall eventually.

McDonald is “not even beating it; she’s killing it,” Barnes said. “I was joking with her at one point she needed 18 points (to hit a mark), I said ‘Aari, you know when you get 16 points you’ll be sitting right next to me (on the bench).’ I was joking. She doesn’t even know the milestones. Kids don’t know that. I never knew that as a player, either.”

In typical McDonald fashion, Arizona’s star guard hasn’t given much though to the record.

“If I break it, I break it,” she said. “If I don’t, I don’t.”

Meanwhile, McDonald — a sophomore transfer from Washington — is getting noticed more and more. Last week, McDonald learned she was in the running for two National awards — the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, given to the nation’s top shooting guard, and the Dawn Staley Award, given to the top overall guard.

McDonald has already won Pac-12 Player of the Week honors three times. Her 24.8 points per game ranks third nationally, behind Iowa’s Megan Gustafson (27.4) and Buffalo’s Cierra Dillard (25). Both of them are seniors.

The expectations were high for McDonald this year, but no one — not even Barnes — knew she would be this good, this fast. McDonald averaged 10.1 points and in 24 minutes per game at Washington in 2016-17. The guard’s “role was so different” there than it is at the UA, Barnes said.

“I didn’t know she would score like this,” Barnes said. “I didn’t know she had the mentality, because she is not a score-first guard. If you know her and watched her, she can score but is more pass-first, then score. It kind of evolved from what we need.

While McDonald likes playing defense the most, she thinks the key to her success this season is her improved awareness on the floor.

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“I am seeing things that people aren’t able to see. I am thinking ahead every play. I am a couple of plays ahead,” she said. “(It’s) something a coach would see, but I’m actually doing by myself or a coach is telling me, but I am doing it by myself.

“It just came to me. Sitting out a year just helped me see things that a lot of people don’t see.”

As the season has progressed, so has McDonald’s game. Barnes said months ago that fans had not yet seen McDonald at her best.

Now, “she makes smarter decisions,” Barnes said. “She controls tempo a lot better. She’s improved defensively. Before she was in the wrong spot a lot and she’s so fast on the ball she could make up plays. Now, she’s becoming more disciplined. She’s never had to do that. She’s reading pick and roll defense better. She will get better at that and she will be unstoppable.”

There are still areas where McDonald can improve — like 3-point shooting, and taking better shots. Both areas should improve as the Wildcats develop second and third scorers behind her.

Fans are learning more about McDonald — for instance, she eats candy before games, and recently showed up on a Pac-12 women’s basketball podcast to talk up her teammates. There’s more to her, too.

Pac-12 Networks analyst Mary Murphy calls her “so special.”

“The best thing about Aari’s game now is that she’s around for the rest of this year and two more years,” Murphy said. “That is super-exciting for the program and for Tucson. I see her as a Sabrina (Ionescu) type talent. She doesn’t have her size, but Aari’s first step is so quick and she has great reads. I think you can say that her future is so bright you are almost blinded by it. It’s so exciting. …

“What you know about Aari is that she is not satisfied and she is going to keep working and getting better and better. The message is: If you haven’t seen her play, go watch her.”

Rim shots

• Arizona’s practices have taken on a different feel as the regular season winds do. Barnes is implementing a little more film, skill work, shooting and position defense.

“It’s hard with a young team. You try different things to keep them motivated. By this time of year you’ve had 75 practices and it’s kind of the same; kind of monotonous,” said Barnes. “I think making things shorter, they are kind of excited about that. When you say Power Hour Practice, they practice like it’s the best day of the year. They are just talking and pumped up. Finding ways to keep it exciting and fresh and just not long. I think that it’s a balance.”

• Sam Thomas was named to the First Team Academic All-District by CoSIDA Thursday morning. This automatically puts her in position to be named an Academic All-American in March. Thomas is a 4.0 student who’s majoring in psychology.