Meet your 2018-19 Wildcats: Revamped roster includes program's top-rated recruiting class
- By PJ Brown Special to the Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Editorβs note: This article is part of the Starβs 2018-19 college basketball guide.
Meet your 2018-19 Arizona Wildcats
Updated
Arizona coach Adia Barnes talks positioning with forward Sam Thomas, who started all 37 games as a sophomore with the Wildcats this season and averaged 34 minutes a game. Barnesβ Wildcats expect to boast greater depth in 2019-20.
Mike Christy / Arizona Daily StarThe Star introduces you to each player on Adia Barnes' new-look roster for the upcoming season.
1 Shalyse Smith
Updated
1 Shalyse Smith
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Freshman
Height: 6-1
Hometown (high school): Tacoma, Washington (Bellarmine Prep)
Last season: Smith averaged 16.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.6 steals, 3.5 assists and 2.5 blocks per game in her senior year. She was listed as a four-star recruit, the No. 7 forward as a prospect and the No. 48 player in the country.
2 Aari McDonald
Updated
2 Aari McDonald
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Redshirt sophomore
Position: Guard
Height: 5-7
Hometown (high school): Fresno, California (Brookside Christian)
Last season: McDonald sat out because of transfer rules. In her freshman year at Washington, she earned Pac-12 all-freshman team honors and was named freshman of the week twice. She averaged 9.8 points per game and shot 47 percent from the field and was the Huskiesβ third-leading scorer behind current WNBA standouts Kelsey Plum and Chantel Osahor. McDonald started in 21 games of the 28 she played in and averaged 13.7 points per game in the NCAA Tournament.
4 Lucia Alonso
Updated
4 Lucia Alonso
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Junior
Position: Guard
Height: 5-7
Hometown (high school): Leon, Spain (Aron Leon Cuna del Parlamentarismo)
Last season: Alonso led the team by shooting 39.1 percent from the 3-point line, the ninth-highest total in program history. She also averaged 7.9 points and 3.3 assists per game. She logged 1,088 total minutes β the most ever by a sophomore at the UA. She was named Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention.
10 Tee Tee Starks
Updated
10 Tee Tee Starks
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Senior
Position: Forward
Height: 5-9
Hometown (high school): Brooklyn Park, Minnesota (Hopkins)
Last season: Sat out because of transfer rules. At Iowa State, she started 14 games and averaged 3 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists per game. She played in all 31 games, starting 14 of them. Starks was named to the Academic All-Big-12 first team for her performance in the classroom. At Arizona, she was recently named one of the academic athletes of the month.
14 Sam Thomas
Updated
14 Sam Thomas
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Sophomore
Position: Forward
Height: 6-0
Hometown (high school): Las Vegas (Centennial)
Last season: She made the Pac-12 all-freshman team and was named the UA athletic departmentβs female freshman of the year. She started all 30 games and played the most minutes (1,088) for a freshman in program history. Thomas led all Pac-12 freshmen in rebounding, steals, blocks, and minutes played and was second in scoring. Thomas was the only player in the Pac-12 to finish in the Top 10 in the conference rebounds, steals and blocks. She averaged 10.2 points and 7 rebounds per game, and shot nearly 37 percent from the 3-point line.
20 Dom McBryde
Updated
20 Dom McBryde
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Redshirt junior
Position: Forward
Hometown (high school): Bedford, Indiana (Bedford North Lawrence)
Last season: Sat out because of transfer rules. As a sophomore at Purdue, McBryde earned All-Big Ten honorable mention. She averaged 6.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. McBryde shot 47 percent from the field, the seventh-best in the Big Ten. She grabbed 221 rebounds, the third-most ever by a sophomore at Purdue.
21 Destiny Graham
Updated
21 Destiny Graham
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Senior
Position: Forward
Height: 6-3
Hometown (high school): San Francisco (Eastside College Prep)
Last season: Graham played most of her games at center instead of forward as Barnes did not have a true center. But Graham still doubled her output from the previous season with 8.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. She finished third in the Pac-12 with an 82 percent free-throw rate and posted her first two double-double games.
22 Lindsey Malecha
Updated
22 Lindsey Malecha
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Senior
Position: Guard
Height: 5-9
Hometown (high school): Mahtomedi, Minnesota (Hill-Murray)
Last season: She played in 23 games last season as a walk-on. In August, coach Adia Barnes surprised Malecha with a scholarship for the upcoming season. She had four steals, scored 31 points and averaged 5.1 minutes per game last year.
24 Bryce Nixon
Updated
24 Bryce Nixon
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Freshman
Height: 5-10
Hometown (high school): Phoenix (Arcadia)
Last season: Nixon was named Offensive Player of the Year and All-Arizona her senior year of high school. She finished her Arcadia career as one of only three players in Arizona to score more than 2,000 points and have 500 assists. ESPN listed her as a four-star recruit.
25 Cate Reese
Updated
25 Cate Reese
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Freshman
Position: Forward
Height: 6-2
Hometown (high school): Cypress, Texas (Cypress Woods)
Last season: Reese was in high school, where she averaged 30.6 points and 15.3 rebounds per game. Reese became Arizonaβs first-ever McDonaldβs All-American, and was named honorable mention All-American by the Naismith Trophy. ESPN rated Reese the fourth-best post player in the country and the 14th-best prospect in the nation.
32 Kiana Barkhoff
Updated
32 Kiana Barkhoff
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Sophomore
Position: Center
Height: 6-3
Hometown (high school): Kitzengen, Germany (Palm Harbor)
Last season: Barkhoff played in 22 games her freshman year, averaging 5.9 minutes per game. She totaled 15 blocks and 27 rebounds.
34 Semaj Smith
Updated
34 Semaj Smith
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily StarClass: Freshman
Height: 6-6
Hometown (high school): Long Beach, California (St. Anthony)
Last season: Smith averaged 12.3 points, 12.6 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game as a senior. She was listed as a five-star recruit, the No. 9 post in the country and No. 52 player in the nation.
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More information
- Get to know the 2018-19 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team
- Arizona Wildcats women can see path to top of Pac-12 after years of 'selling a vision'
- Arizona veteran Destiny Graham has seen it all during her four seasons with Wildcats
- Freshman Cate Reese already impressing her Wildcats teammates, coaches with work ethic
- Omar Ndiaye found way to NAU with an assist from hard work β and ex-Cat A.J. Bramlett
- Thunder Dan, Grand Canyon Antelopes ready to take next step
- New additions have Pima Aztecs deeper, thinner β and tougher
- Pima Aztecs will try to build on best-ever season with two key returners, new-look roster
- Team-by-team preview of the Pac-12 women's basketball season
- Preview of Arizona Wildcats' 2018-19 nonconference schedule
- 'Like almost taking over a new program': Wildcats will look completely different this season
- The Wildcast, Episode 145: Will Arizona's thumping of the Ducks carry over against Colorado?
- What a debut: Cate Reese scores 21 points in 21 minutes as UA beats ENMU in exhibition
- Greg Hansen: Adjust your expectations for rebuilt Arizona Wildcats
- Admiral to Zion: The 2018-19 college basketball season from A-Z
- Co-captains will use smarts, savvy to help Arizona Wildcats rebound
- Arizona State looks for more consistency after crazy highs, soul-crushing lows
- Phoenix's Zylan Cheatham spent last year watching; now he's ready to put ASU over the top
- Grand Canyon's focus shifts to WAC titles, NCAA Tournament appearances under Dan Majerle
- Northern Arizona's Jack Murphy will try a little tenderness heading into critical season
- Free E-Edition: The Star's 36-page college basketball preview
- Greg Hansen's guide to the 2018-19 college basketball season
- Ex-Wildcat Richard Jefferson to become Pac-12 Networks analyst
- Watch: 12 best things Sean Miller, Dylan Smith said in pre-Cal Poly press conference
- Aari McDonald scores 39 points as Arizona Wildcats' comeback bid comes up short
- 'Sheβs helping every one of us get better': Wildcats lean on star Aari McDonald
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