Aaronette Vonleh has always “played up” against older competition.
And while she’s only seven games into her freshman season, Vonleh is showing skills that most first-year forwards can only dream about. She has a soft touch around the basket, good balance, an ability to finish through contact and a solid determination.
Simply put, she doesn’t back down.
UA coach Adia Barnes said opponents will continue to be surprised by Vonleh throughout the season. The Wildcats are off this week after UC Riverside canceled Friday’s scheduled game because of COVID-19 concerns within their program. Seventh-ranked Arizona (7-0) will take on North Dakota State (2-4) next Thursday night in McKale Cneter.
“‘Netty’ is just gifted. She’s a great athlete. She’s one of the strongest people I’ve ever seen at her age,” Barnes said. “That’s something that we can’t teach — her strength. … She has so much potential. She is a pleasure to coach because she’s coachable. She wants to be good. She’s a great kid, great student —all those things. Great teammate, so I’m excited.”
Before Arizona’s trip to the Paradise Jam, Vonleh — a 6-foot-3-inch freshman from Oregon — was hitting 69.6% of her shots, a figure that ranked among the top five nationally. Her shooting percentage now sits at 67.7%, though she hasn’t yet attempted enough shots to count among the national leaders.
Vonleh is averaging 7.0 points and 3.2 rebounds in games she has played in, and should only improve as she develops on and off the court.
That Vonleh is contributing right away is not a surprise. By the time she reached the seventh grade, Vonleh was playing with — and against — high-school-aged girls on the AAU circuit, including UA teammate Bendu Yeaney. Vonleh played AAU ball under Lisa Griffith, a former UA player and coach who let Barnes — her former Wildcats teammate — in on the secret early.
Barnes first met Vonleh when she was in the eighth grade. By the time Vonleh reached West Linn High School, she was dominant. She averaged 17.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game as a junior. ESPN rated her as a four-star recruit and the No. 9 post player in the 2021 class.
Vonleh has “always been a beast,” Yeaney said. “And I think now that she’s seeing that she can be a beast and be a different type of beast in college (and this) has just motivated her more. She wants to learn a lot more and so every day she asks questions and she’s one of the first people in the gym, one of the last people to leave. She’s just putting in the work to be a special talent for us.”
That mentality comes naturally to Vonleh. Her dad, Samuel, played soccer and her brother, Noah, played in the NBA for seven years, most recently for the Brooklyn Nets. Netty and Noah Vonleh worked out together during the pandemic.
Vonleh said her balance is “genetics.”
“I was never the player that would be (laying out) on the floor — ever. Or struggled to go back up because I’m off-balance,” she said. “I don’t really focus on balance, but it’s a good thing to have.”
While balance gives Vonleh an edge, she knows it takes more than that to dominate in her position. Vonleh arrived at the UA having never done many of the things the Wildcats pride themselves on: trapping on-ball, hedging and guarding players in transition.
“She’s green, (so) it’s all new,” Barnes said. “It’s fun to watch her improve in the process.”
Rim shots
Vonleh has been working with UA forward Ariyah Copeland, a graduate transfer from Alabama, since the two arrived on campus this summer. There was an instant connection between the two. Copeland sees her role as a “confidence-booster” for the freshman.
“Just reminding her that she can do anything that she wants to,” Copeland said. “She’s just as strong, just as good as anybody else in the Pac-12. Just because she’s a freshman, it doesn’t mean anything. I think she competes at a very high level for her age; very strong. Just keep reminding her that just because she is young, (it) doesn’t mean she’s limited. Sky’s the limit.”
Vonleh is putting in the work off the court, too. She watches film on her own after every game, then goes over it with her coaches. She said the added film work has allowed her to improve at a faster pace. In addition, Vonleh sets personal goals for each game — something typically done only by upperclassmen. So far, Vonleh is working on communicating more on the court, improving her conditioning for defense, getting better at lateral moves and crashing the boards for more rebounds.
“You should have daily goals; you set weekly goals, you should have short-term, long-term things,” Barnes said. “That means she took that and ran with it, which I love. That’s what I talked about her being coachable and wanting to be good, because the fact that she’s doing that, is a step. I think that’s a positive thing, because I don’t think you can achieve any of your goals if you don’t have a plan. I’m happy she does that.”
