Helena Pueyo makers her way towards the basket during the second half of UA’s easy win. Pueyo finished with five points in 19 minutes.

 Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

For the Wildcats it’s all about playing their best basketball — and Friday’s night loss to No. 1 Stanford certainly wasn’t that.

So, UA went back to the drawing board Saturday with a full-on practice, instead of the typical walk-through. They had quite a few things to work on to get back to Arizona basketball.

It worked.

The No. 6-ranked Wildcats came out with a defensive intensity and a full-court press that shook a young Cal team that couldn’t adapt as Arizona ran away with a 69-33 victory at McKale Center on Sunday.

California Golden Bears guard Leilani McIntosh (1) is defended by Arizona Wildcats guard Helena Pueyo (13) and Arizona Wildcats forward Cate Reese (25) in the first half during a game at McKale center in Tucson, Ariz. on January 03, 2021.

UA improves to 8-1 overall and 6-1 in the Pac-12, while Cal drops to 0-9, 0-6.

Arizona has now beaten Cal two consecutive times‚ dating back to the quarterfinals of last season’s Pac-12 Tournament — for the first time in 16 years.

The 33 points allowed is the fewest UA has ever given up against a Pac-12 opponent.

“I thought that it was huge for us,” UA coach Adia Barnes said. “The way that we lost, the manner which we lost — Stanford is better right now. But they’re not 30 points better. …

“We could have laid down and then we could have been blaming each other for things and pointing the fingers and stuff like that. But we didn’t do that. Our true character shows when things are tough, and things were tough. And they were tough this whole weekend.

“Tough conversations (Saturday). Then bounce back and play the way we did — play team basketball, played Arizona basketball.”

The Wildcats were on a mission Sunday. And it all started with their defense.

“We had to come out here and prove what Arizona defense is and I think that we did a great job of that,” Cate Reese said.

UA came out and played their best half of the season with 11 steals — four from Aari McDonald — forcing 11 turnovers and scoring 22 points off them. UA took a dominating 39-10 lead into halftime. The 10 points were the lowest any opponent has scored on the Wildcats in a half this season.

Arizona Wildcats forward Cate Reese (25) holds the rebound and blocks California Golden Bears center Fatou Samb (33) from the ball in the first half during a game at McKale center in Tucson, Ariz. on January 03, 2021. Arizona Wildcats guard Bendu Yeaney (23) and California Golden Bears forward Evelien Lutje Schipholt (24) look on.

McDonald’s steals and tips turned into six points — one was a tip to Sam Thomas who passed to Reese for an easy basket; another was a fast break and a last-second pass to Shaina Pellington for the score; and the last one was a tip to Pellington to put UA up 19-2 with under two minutes left in the first quarter.

McDonald finished with 12 points, eight assists and six steals — which, Barnes said, was a perfect game.

“I thought Aari played a phenomenal game,” Barnes said. It’s not all about only scoring 30 points, but she led, she enabled us to score 30 points. … A perfect game got her teammates involved was a true leader on the floor. She did things today that I love for her to do.

“She recognized some mismatches. She asked me, ‘Hey, can we call this?’ I like when she’s thinking about that — she’s trying to isolate her teammates. She made a conscious effort to do that. And I thought she played a perfect.”

It was more than just McDonald. It was a balanced attack as the Wildcats were sharing the ball, driving in and kicking out, with every player touching the ball. They had 11 assists in the first half and finished with 18.

Trinity Baptiste led all scorers with 17 points by hitting 8 of 9 from the field. She worked for each point, muscling her way inside. Her determination showed especially on one play in the third quarter where she pivoted around multiple times to find a little space to put up the shot, giving UA a 51-14 lead.

“You see Trinity — she’s obviously strong, but I think you underestimate her until you have to guard her,” said Reese, who chipped in 14 points, going 7 of 9 from the field. “Then she backs you down. It’s really difficult to be able to push back.”

UA’s Trinity Baptiste wasn’t thrilled with this foul call, but she did just about everything else right in scoring 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting.

The UA defense was on point the entire game – narrowing the passing lanes, forcing errant passes and altering shots. The Wildcats forced 31 turnovers and turned them into 26 points. They held Cal to 33% shooting (13 of 40), while shooting 51%.

The Wildcats had 16 steals with Thomas picking four of them.

Barnes was happy with how her team responded against Cal after their performance against Stanford and even more important, came back and played Arizona basketball.

“It’s not about (next opponent) Washington, it’s not about Washington, it’s about us. And it’s about getting better to reach our goals,” Barnes said.

“I thought we got better today. Are we where we need to be? Absolutely not. We are not where we need to be. We do have to improve. But we’re on the right track. And the players did everything I asked them today. And I’m proud of that, because we’re going to get better. And we’re getting better. … We have competitors.

“We have players that go at it. They don’t lay down and they responded and that’s what I’m really proud of.”

Rim shots

  • Cal’s first field goal of the game came at the 6:52 mark in the first quarter and its only other basket came with 1:24 left in the frame.
  • Thomas swatted one ball, good enough to now own fourth place in UA’s all-time list with 148 blocks.
  • Wildcats freshman Lauren Ware had eight points, six rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes.
  • UA scored 50 points in the paint.

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