Katarina Kneževic is all about keeping the main thing the main thing.
The 6-foot freshman post from Belgrade, Serbia, is keeping her focus on basketball and school despite what is going on in her home country.
What’s going on is civil unrest.
Arizona forward Katarina Kneževic takes practice shots before the Wildcats faced the GCU Antelopes at McKale Center, Dec. 5, 2024.
Students have been vocally leading demonstrations to protest — demanding political reforms, accountability and justice. The activity started after the Nov. 1 collapse of a concrete canopy at a train station in Novi Sad, leaving 15 people dead. However, there is much more to the protests than just the substandard construction work at the train station.
That was just the tip of the iceberg, with citizens calling out corruption in the government. While the students are organizing the protests, Serbians from all professions have joined in, including the farmer’s union, lawyers and professors.
This moment in history is not lost on Kneževic. She knows if she was at home, she would be standing next to her friends protesting. Instead, she’s a student-athlete in Tucson and must come to grips with what is going on in her homeland, 6,000 miles away.
“I really am sorry because I’m not there with all of my friends, with all the students that are demonstrating the whole corrupted system,” Kneževic said. “I think that the biggest impact can happen just from the young people being aware of all the things that are happening and they want change. I support them, definitely, because if I’m not here, I’ll be there with them, with my friends, doing exactly the same thing as they’re doing.”
Kneževic added that the change that her friends are fighting for is for “our country, for our better futures, because we don’t want to leave the country.”
“We want to rebuild (the country) because Serbia needs us and we need Serbia,” Kneževic said.
The most recent demonstration was on New Year’s Eve — organized by students at multiple universities in Belgrade under the slogan “There is No New Year — You Still Owe Us for the Old One.” The protesters went silent at 11:52 p.m. for 15 minutes to honor the victims at the Novi Sad train station. Some protesters carried banners with a red handprint to symbolize that those in leadership have blood on their hands.
Kneževic feels the physical distance, but on another level she has been in her homeland over the last few months. She has video calls with her friends during and after the demonstrations.
But then reality sinks in, and it’s time to lift weights, practice or play games or go to class and study.
While the Wildcats are a young team in the midst of the first Big 12 season, Kneževic hasn’t shared with her teammates exactly what is going on at home. It’s not that she isn’t close with her teammates or her coaches, it’s her mindset that she doesn’t want to create any distractions for them.
Arizona head coach Adia Barnes talks with forward Katarina Kneževic in the second half of a game at McKale Center on Dec. 2, 2024. Arizona won 78-43.
“We have a lot of things going on here,” Kneževic said. “We’re just trying to kick all of the distractions aside because we have goals here.”
Those goals include getting better every day, winning games and going to the NCAA Tournament.
That focus for Arizona (11-5, 2-1 Big 12) — as well as Kneževic — will be following the scout and trying to beat Baylor (12-3, 2-1 Big 12) at McKale Center on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
She admitted it’s hard at times to see what is going on in Serbia, but it’s that narrow focus on her priorities that keeps her going.
Arizona coach Adia Barnes said that mindset, the “strong mentality,” didn’t surprise her at all.
“I think it’s easier for her than someone else, but obviously, as a coach, I’m sensitive to that and aware of that, and just have discussions with her,” Barnes said. “… When stuff happens in Italy, it affects (UA assistant and Barnes’ husband) Salvo (Coppa) because you’re hearing about it from your family, and you’re aware of it, especially if it’s devastating. But I think that she’s very mature and she’s very focused and she has a mission.
“Coming from her background, she is clear on why she’s away and what she wants to accomplish, and she’s very mature about that, more than most people, I think she has a direction she knows, and she goes for it. That’s different than most players at her age. I think most would be really having a hard time, and it affects them. I think for her, she sacrificed so much, and she’s away from family. She didn’t go home at Christmas. She has a purpose, a goal, and wants to do it, and that’s why she’s sacrificing so much.”
