Social media helping Wildcats connect with fans that have been shut out because of the pandemic

Some women’s basketball players tweet. Others I-G. Most Facebook. Many TikTok.

The Arizona Wildcats do all of the above.

If you are confused by any (if not all) of the aforementioned modern online lingo, they’re social media platforms — and they’ve played a vital role in the buildup to the UA’s first-ever Final Four appearance.

The more the Wildcats keep winning, the more people are following them on social media.

UA senior Sam Thomas has produced funny TikTok videos of the Wildcats, including a rundown of team surveys, players dancing and interviews on a variety of topics.

With no fans in the stands at McKale Center, the personal connection has been key. The UA team’s official accounts have provided a behind-the-scenes look at the journey, including the team collectively dancing on the court to Cameo’s “Candy” before practice, every player cutting down the net after Monday’s Elite Eight win over Indiana and Aari McDonald’s Instagram live video of the Cats celebrating in the locker room.

Following Arizona’s Elite Eight win, a widely-shared photo on Instagram and Twitter showed Barnes, a mother of two, carrying the Mercado Region championship trophy through the Alamodome in the stroller used for her baby daughter, Capri.

Thomas said “everyone’s phone was blowing up” following Arizona’s win over Indiana in the Elite Eight.

“All of us were on social media for like two hours just trying to respond to everyone as much as we can, because we do get a lot of notifications, so we’re just trying to respond to everything,” she said.

Thomas added that social media is “very important, especially during the tournament, because everyone wants to know what we’re doing in the bubble.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“Everyone is following us, so it’s nice to have the fans that we’ve had from the beginning,” Thomas said.

“And obviously since my freshman year, our social media has grown up. … We’re just trying to keep the fans engaged and involved.”

Social media also allows Arizona fans to virtually cheer from afar. Sometimes those fans have Twitter followings of their own.

New Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch, a social-media master, surprised his team with pizzas and chicken wings during a spring-ball meeting, and the Wildcats watched the Elite Eight game as a team. A post showing the exchange — safeties coach Chuck Cecil wants to watch the game, Fisch pretends he’d rather focus on football, and then food is delivered — has already received more than 20,000 views.

Barnes’ former colleagues and friends flooded her notifications with congratulatory tweets and posts, too. She said it was “really cool” to have those people talking about Arizona basketball “when Arizona wasn’t even a thought nationally — not even in the Pac-12.”

Barnes is no stranger when it comes to social media. As the Wildcats made a run to the 2019 WNIT championship, Barnes would tweet a new attendance bar for UA fans to exceed — the number increasing with every round Arizona advanced. When she requested a sellout crowd for the WNIT title game via Twitter, Wildcats fans set a Pac-12 attendance record.

Last season, the Wildcats held TikTok night, celebrating the app.

“People are watching us, they’re excited about us and people love to support an underdog,” Barnes said. “It’s fun for us, and social media is a great platform for recognition and we use it to our advantage in any way we can.”