Paulina Paris said it was just a matter of time.
That is, for Arizona (14-8, 5-4) to turn the corner and start putting everything together.
That’s what allowed the Wildcats to play team ball and go on a three-game winning streak that included beating the then-No. 16 team in the country, West Virginia, on Saturday night.
The 5-9 junior guard said that she “always believed,” in her teammates and coaches. That’s part of the reason she transferred to Arizona from North Carolina in the offseason.
Arizona guard Paulina Paris (23) strips Cincinnati guard Reagan Jackson (3) at the top of the key in the third quarter of their Big 12 game in Tucson on Jan. 22, 2025.
“You’re going to go through ups and downs throughout the season, so we knew those were going to come,” Paris said. “And I think we’ve gone through enough at this point, and it’s just time to start playing basketball.”
The Wildcats have definitely been playing ball over the last three games since Arizona coach Adia Barnes challenged the guards to step up before the Kansas game on Jan. 19.
Paris has been contributing at a high level, as well. Over the last three games, she is averaging 12.3 points and 2.7 assists per game. She’s knocked down some big 3s and driven to the basket and scored in traffic when it was needed.
She had her UA-high of five steals against West Virginia. And her plus-minus (which measures a player’s impact on the game) against West Virginia was +18. The only Wildcats who had a higher plus-minus was Breya Cunningham (+19), who scored 18 points, pulled down nine rebounds, had three steals and three blocks.
Arizona guard Paulina Paris (23) gets off a floater over Cincinnati guard Chloe Mann (0) in the third quarter at McKale Center on Jan. 22, 2025.
“Paulina is getting in the right space of confidence, and she was attacking some really athletic guards and playing at a really high level,” Barnes said. “(I’m) proud of her. Then, shooting the ball well. She’s been pretty consistent for us, but she stepped up when we needed it. I think that, and I think she also understands as a more veteran player that we weren’t going to have Lauryn (Swann, out with a concussion for West Virginia game). She knows she’s one of our best shooters, too, so her hitting those shots was essential for us to win.”
Paris said that it was a matter of staying aggressive on the offensive end and understanding when her team needs her to score. In addition, staying confident, which comes easy for Paris with a coach like Barnes, who “instills confidence in me every day. I can’t really ask for something more than that.”
Paris was quick to add that the other coaches — Bett Shelby, Salvo Coppa, Anthony Turner, as well as Miko Williams — do the same when they watch film and their words resonate when they “tell me that I’m needed out there.”
On the defensive end is where Paris thinks she’s seen the biggest growth, which is important in Arizona’s system. It’s an area that the moment she stepped onto Arizona’s campus, she wanted to improve in. And that was in addition to learning a completely different defensive scheme.
Little by little, she’s gotten better at trapping and disrupting on the defensive end. It’s still a work in progress.
“It doesn’t look perfect,” Paris said. “I’m not going to say that I’m the best defender right now in the country, but I would definitely say that if you saw me at UNC versus now, I’ve made a lot of strides in fixing things on the defensive end.”
That work includes watching lots of film and doing drills in practice and individual skills sessions.
Paris played through a broken nose — and wearing a mask — earlier in the season, as well as the Wildcats figuring out how to put all the pieces together. Now, she said the Wildcats are one step close to getting to their goal of making the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona guard Paulina Paris (23) works her way to the basket through the Grambling State defense in the first quarter of their game in Tucson on Nov. 23, 2024.
“We’ve made a lot of strides,” Paris said. “The team we were in November isn’t the team we are now. And that’s what you want. You don’t want November. I think we’re where we need to be right now for that push in March. I’m excited.”
As Paris reflected on the win over West Virginia before heading into practice on Tuesday afternoon, it wasn’t just knocking off one of the best teams in the country that made her smile.
“That was great,” Paris said. “It’s probably the best crowd I’ve ever played in front of. I think that our crowd is just amazing. And that was the one thing they told me coming to Tucson, and it definitely lived up to it in every single game this year. But that one was just different, knocking off a Top 25 team and it being our first one this season.”
