Arizona Wildcats (11-5, 2-1) vs. Baylor Bears (12-3, 2-1) | 6 p.m. Wednesday | McKale Center | ESPN+ l 1400-AM
She said it
Arizona coach Adia Barnes on Baylor: “Baylor is really athletic. They run a lot of a lot of different things. They have some great guards. We know Netty (Vonleh) from inside is a great player. They’re good and their style, to me, is different from a typical Big 12 team. (They’re) more athletic but we're used to that and that's the kind of the style we play. I think it’s going to be a good game. ...The good thing for us for preparation for this week (Arizona plays Iowa State Saturday) is we're going to guard a lot of similar screens, screening action that we can work on all week.”
On the sidelines
Arizona forward Montaya Dew (12) stops a close range shot from UNLV guard Amarachi Kimpson on Nov. 12, 2024.
Making strides: Arizona's Montaya Dew took a step forward in her development in Saturday’s 75-53 win over UCF. The redshirt freshman, who is coming back from an ACL injury that kept her out of the action last season, finished the game with four points, four rebounds, four assists, one steal, one block and only one turnover in 17 minutes.
Dew was extremely efficient. It showed in two stretches of minutes. In the second quarter, she pulled down three rebounds, had three assists and the block in six minutes. In the fourth quarter, she played all 10 minutes and scored all four points, picked the steal and dished an assist.
“I had to keep on talking to her, 'Stay aggressive, stay aggressive.' Then she makes a great drive to the basket,” Barnes said. “Montaya is capable of that. I don't think we've seen the best of Montaya. I think she's just trying to find her niche and where she can score and the opportunities she has. I want her to stay aggressive and drive and look at the basket. She has to be a threat. I really talked to her and Isis (Beh) about it. I thought she did better, but I think she passed up still in three or four shots. But that will come. When she has success and confidence, like from a game like today — also rebounded the ball really well, so she'll continue to grow.
“Remember, she's a freshman, and she had been out for a really long time. (I’m) proud of the way she played. She's smart and she's safe. Against the press she's not going to throw the ball over, she's going to rarely turn the ball over. Those things matter in these tight games.”
How good is Dew at handling the ball?
In 16 games this season, Dew has had either one or no turnovers in 12 games and just 15 total.
To understand where Dew fits in UA history with those numbers, the most recent Wildcats to look at are Helena Pueyo and Sam Thomas — especially as Dew has a lot in common with these former standouts. All three play forward and could play multiple positions. Thomas and Pueyo stuffed the stat sheet and were what Barnes always called “invisible stats” players. Meaning, they did all the little things that don’t get tracked on offense and defense to help win games.
Dew also has the length, like Pueyo and Thomas, and has the potential to grow into a disruptor on the defensive end.
Pueyo had 39 turnovers her freshman season with a total of 20 in her first 16 games — eight games with one or no turnovers. She played on a stacked team that would have made the NCAA Tournament if not for COVID-19 and came off the bench. Pueyo played 323 minutes in those 16 games.
Looking at Thomas’s freshman year, she had 52 total turnovers, only nine games with one or no miscues in her first 16 games. It should be noted that Thomas was a starter, handled the ball a lot and played 595 minutes in those first 16 games.
Arizona guard Lauryn Swann rings up a 3 in front of the Wildcat bench against Grambling State in Tucson, Nov. 23, 2024.
Freshman standout: Lauryn Swann earned her second Big 12 weekly honor of the season on Monday for her performances in the two games Arizona split last week — a loss at home to Utah and a win on the road at UCF.
Barnes said one of the focuses now for Swann is consistency — as is typical of freshmen. And as a shooter, it’s all about having amnesia and just knowing that if you miss your first five shots, you’ll hit your next five.
“She was hot early in the season that she went ice cold for a while,” Barnes said. “And it was funny because I didn't even realize she hadn’t made a 3 in a couple games. She told me she's like, 'Coach, I haven't made it three in like five games.' I'm like, 'Really?' because I thought it was just a couple and that's not what I pay attention to because I watch her every day. I said, 'Who cares?' I said, 'You will make them the next game,' and then she was hot the next game.”
Barnes said she likes that Swann was prepared and intentional about how she played against UCF in the first start of her career.
Familiar face: Senior post player Vonleh is now onto her third school in four years, going from Arizona to Colorado and now at Baylor. The former Pac-12 All-Conference player is averaging 13.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. In 10 of 15 games this season, she has scored in double-figures and is averaging 12 points in Big 12 play.
Her numbers are similar to last season at Colorado, where she averaged 14 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
Black, dark mode: Arizona is asking fans to wear black for Saturday’s Dark Mode game against Iowa State. There are also T-shirts in the Arizona bookstore that are in dark mode — black and will show up when the lights go low at the game.
By the numbers
2%: There is only a 2% difference in field goals made for Baylor (47%) and Arizona (45%), yet the Bears are averaging 83 points per game and the Wildcats average nearly 71.
3: The Wildcats are third in the Big 12 in turnovers forced per game, with an average of 21.
1: Breya Cunningham still leads all sophomores nationally in field goal percentage at 65.4%. She is second in the Big 12 only to Kansas State senior Ayoka Lee (66.88%) and is seventh overall in the nation.
3: Baylor and Arizona have played each other three times with the Wildcats winning every time. Barnes played in one of those wins on Dec. 29, 1997, scoring 29 points (14 of 21), pulling down five rebounds and notching two steals. Lisa Griffith scored 19 points and had five assists. Barnes coached another win, 75-54 on Dec. 18, 2022 at Baylor — behind the Wildcat trio of Shaina Pellington (18 points, 8 assists), Cate Reese (13 points, 13 rebounds) and Jade Loville (16 points on 4 of 5 from long range).
