Arizona Wildcats (12-8, 3-4) vs. Cincinnati Bearcats (11-5, 3-3) | 6 p.m. Wednesday | McKale Center | ESPN+ | 1400-AM
She said it
Arizona coach Adia Barnes on Cincinnati: “Cincinnati is really athletic. (UC coach) Trina (Merriweather) has them playing really hard. Their guards go downhill. They are going to press us in all kinds of different ways. They're a good, feisty team that is capable of beating anybody.
“The good thing about this week is we're playing two teams (Cincinnati and West Virginia) that are athletic in the backcourt and are both going to press different types of ways, and, I think, different personnel, but it's similar preparation. It’s going to be a hard week.”
Arizona guard Lauryn Swann hits a 3-pointer for the Wildcats during the game against Utah at McKale Center on Dec. 31, 2024.
On the sidelines
The 3: Here are three questions with Bearcats coach Katrina Merriweather.
Adia Barnes and you are in that small group of coaches who are working at their alma mater. Was it a no-brainer when you got the call to coach at your alma mater?
A: “It's interesting, because I'd only been in Memphis for two years, and one thing that my staff and I have always done is we've done a great job of being where our feet are, wherever we are at home. It seems like a no-brainer, but I just purchased the house, ended up living there for nine months before this call comes. Michelle Clark Heard and I consider her a friend in this business and a mentor. She was the previous coach (now at Mercer) (and) we had conversations. It wasn't until she said to me, ‘Trina, this is your job.’ I talked to my head coach (Laurie Pirtle) and she hit me with the ‘Kiddo, you got to take it,’ (then) I was actually able to make the decision. Because I do feel like we had something special going there in Memphis.
“It's just hard. People don't talk about the difficulty of leaving your team, leaving the kids that you've been coaching and leaving the ones that are coming in. They agree to come play for you, and then you have to make these phone calls telling them that you won't be back. It throws a wrench in their future and their plans. That's the worst part, and I don't know if we talk about that enough. Everybody talks about the picking up and moving and all these things, but really it's the conversation in the room with the kids when you tell them that you're taking another job. I had just done that two years before at Wright State, and it was a really, really hard thing to do. But once I got here, I realized this was the job I never knew I wanted, and it absolutely was a dream come true. It was just harder to see because of what we were doing at Memphis, but eventually it became very clear it was the right and the best thing to do.”
Both Jillian Hayes and Tineya Hylton have grown tremendously this year. What has gone into that?
A: “When you have an opportunity, what we saw in Tineya Hylton, was all the things that she possessed, and ultimately the opportunity that was here for her. We needed a point guard. The team knew we needed a point guard. She was going to be embraced in our space. When it comes down to Jillian picking Cincinnati again (a fifth year), because she could have gone somewhere and gotten into the portal and (gone) to a more established program. She knows how important her success is to (us) and that we would continue to make her the focal point of what we do offensively and defensively.
“For me it’s always about fit. No matter how good you are in development, if you can't put the player in the best position to be successful, it doesn't really make much sense. The other thing is my staff is phenomenal. I think I do a decent job of motivating and teaching, but my staff is so invested in our team, and we have position groups which are different than our skill groups, which are different than our chemistry groups. And I think doing those three gives them an opportunity to work with all of our coaching staff, and they each then can pour into them differently.”
It seems like Hylton and Hayes are your one-two punch. How does that work?
A: “We call Jill our heartbeat because she is blue collar, hardworking do-whatever-it-takes-to compete and win, type of person and player. Because she is like that off the court, as well. She had a 4.0 this past semester. Then, Tineya, we refer to her as our engine, just because we go as she goes. And I think sometimes it can be difficult for a post player to be that person, simply because they are so reliant on point guards to distribute the ball to them in different situations. … We know without them it would be much, much harder to win.”
Cats in the pros: This week, three former Wildcats in the pros had standout games: Bendu Yeaney, Cate Reese and Aari McDonald. Yeaney, who is playing for Mark Boras in Sweden, scored 16 points, pulled down nine rebounds, dished three assists, had five steals and three blocks in an 80-64 win over Visby.
Los Angeles Sparks’ Aari McDonald controls the ball during a WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas, July 13, 2024.
Reese, who is playing for Kangoeroes Basket Mechelen in Belgium, was the player of the game in a 77-71 win over TTT Riga with 28 points, 12 rebounds and one assist. And McDonald, who is playing for Beijing Great Wall in China, was also the player of the game in a 103-74 win over Fujian, after scoring 30 points, and notching seven rebounds and seven assists.
On the road: The Wildcats were on the road most of last week in Kansas for what is the longest — timewise — road trip of the Big 12 season. Arizona is in town this entire week with two home games, against Cincinnati and No. 16 West Virginia. The rest of the way — minus one game next week at Utah — will be one game at home, one game away.
By the numbers
54%: Cincinnati’s Hylton has shot 54% over the last two games, including scoring a career-high 27 points (18 coming in the fourth quarter) in the most recent win over Colorado.
9: Hayes needs nine rebounds to become the second player in UC program history to pull down 1,000 in her career.
15: Arizona's Lauryn Swann has made 27 from long range this season, and 15 of them have come during Big 12 play. In two of the seven games she didn’t make any 3-pointers and had only two attempts.
