As soon as she walked through the doors of McKale Center, the memories came flooding back for Aari McDonald.
Fueling the rise of Arizona women’s basketball. Winning the WNIT championship. Building a relationship with fans who will love her forever.
“It’s always a pleasure to be back at Arizona,” McDonald said Friday night before a game played in her honor. “I call this place home. It shaped me into the person and the player that I’ve become.”
McDonald and the Wildcats came as close to winning a national title as possible without actually doing so, falling one shot short in the 2021 NCAA Tournament championship game. She became the third overall pick in the WNBA Draft a few months later and just completed her fifth season in the league.
Year Five was disrupted by injury — a broken right foot suffered in early August. But it came with a silver lining.
If she hadn’t been rehabbing, McDonald might have been playing overseas last week. Instead, she was able to work a trip to Tucson into her schedule before starting something new in January. McDonald will be playing for the Breeze in Unrivaled, the women’s three-on-three league that was launched last year. Her teammates include Cameron Brink and Paige Bueckers, both of whom battled McDonald in the ’21 Final Four.
Former Arizona Wildcat Aari McDonald comes back to McKale Center for 'Aari McDonald Night' on Nov. 21, 2025.
Before speaking to the media and addressing the crowd at halftime of Arizona’s game against NAU, McDonald met with the current Wildcats. She offered herself as a resource for Becky Burke and her team, which hosts Northern Colorado on Tuesday.
“It felt good to meet the ladies,” McDonald said. “I've been watching. I’m a fan of theirs.
“I just told them, ‘If you can see me, you can be me.’ ... If they need anything, just reach out to me and I'll be there for them.”
McDonald discussed the Wildcats of the past and present, her journey as a pro basketball player and what it’s like to be teammates with Caitlin Clark, among other topics. Highlights of that conversation can be found below. It has been lightly edited.
How did you go about building such a strong following for the program here in Tucson?
A: “You gotta give our coach (Adia Barnes) credit. We were always in the community doing work. We knew we always had to start there. Without our fans and our community, we’re nothing. For them to pack the house out for us and make McKale one of the hardest places to play, I appreciate that. In return, all I could do is just play hard for them.”
Aari McDonald returned to McKale Center for 'Aari McDonald Night' and addressed the crowd during halftime on Nov. 21, 2025. Arizona defeated NAU 87-76.
What do you think of Becky Burke and the job she’s done so far?
A: “I love her energy. It’s contagious. You can tell it rubs off. They’ll run through a wall for her. So, I'm excited. I've been watching them, watching them compete and just get better every game. I love to see it.”
What have your conversations been like with Becky?
A: “Coach Burke has always just paid homage to me. She wants to get this program back to the promised land. I’ve been part of rebuilding years. It's obviously her building year. But win or lose, I’m gonna support these girls. They deserve it.”
How did the Unrivaled opportunity come about, and what do you think three-on-three will be like?
A: “Unrivaled came about when I wasn't able to compete in China (because of her injury rehab). I just wanted to make sure I'll be healthy within my timeline. I felt like Unrivaled was the best opportunity for me.
Indiana Fever guard Aari McDonald, left, and Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers compete for possession during the second half Aug. 1, 2025, in Dallas.
“We're gonna see how this three-on-three format is gonna go. Just watching it last year, I feel like it suits me and my style of play ... fast, full court. So I'm very excited. I can't wait to see how this goes.”
What do you think of Unrivaled as an offseason alternative for WNBA players?
A: “I feel like Unrivaled gives us an opportunity. If you don’t want to go overseas, there's an opportunity to stay home, get to play in front of your home fans, your family. And it’s in a great venue. It's (mostly) in Miami. Who doesn't want to play basketball in Miami?”
A lot of us were surprised when you were let go by the L.A. Sparks. How did you navigate that period of your life and career?
A: “That was one of the hardest things I had to go through. Just had to take it day by day. I gave myself a couple days to kind of sulk. But after that, it was back to work. I was back in the gym, back at home in Fresno, working out and just making sure that I stayed grounded. Had a positive mindset. I just knew that my opportunity would come. But I had to be ready for that.”
How frustrating was it that you fell victim to a roster crunch?
A: “It was definitely frustrating. I feel like throughout my career, I've just had to really fight, scratch and always (have) to prove myself. I'm used to this. It’s part of my journey. It’s part of the grind. I love it when my back’s against the wall and ... no one believes in me. I feel like that's always been my story.
“And then getting picked up (by the Indiana Fever), just talking to my teammates, they were like, ‘How were you not on a team?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. I’m asking myself that too.’ But I'm blessed.”
How many games were you and Caitlin Clark healthy at the same time?
A: “Like four. Maybe five.”
What’s it been like to be her teammate?
A: “It felt good to be CC's teammate. She's a really good person. Got to know her. Been around (each other) a little bit in the offseason, just rehabbing together. Really great person, great teammate, and it's just impressive how she handles everything, all the attention. It’s like she doesn't pay any mind to it. I really admire her (for) that.”
Indiana Fever guard Aari McDonald goes up for a basket against the Dallas Wings during the first half Aug. 1, 2025, in Dallas.
What will it take for Arizona to get back to where you guys were at your peak?
A: “Just building that core here. The team I was on when we went to the tournament and made that deep run, we’d all been (playing with) each other for years, so we knew the system, we knew each other’s tendencies.
“With everyone being new here ... it's just grabbing pieces and making sure everybody knows their role — and to make sure they're buying into what Coach Burke and the other coaches are presenting them.
“But Rome wasn't built in a day, so it's going to take some time. You just gotta be patient, keep stacking days and getting better.”
How were you guys able to make that happen?
A: “I think we all had a common goal. We wanted to win. Obviously we fell short, but ... we bought into what Coach Barnes was teaching us. We didn’t have anything to lose.”
How often do you think about that last shot in the final game?
Arizona guard Aari McDonald (2) passes between Stanford guard Anna Wilson (3) and forward Cameron Brink, right, during the second half of the championship game in the Women's Final Four on April 4, 2021, in San Antonio.
A: “I try to forget about it. But I do. It took me like three years to finally watch the game — like, through without fast-forwarding stuff or stopping.
“You live and you learn. I wish the outcome was different. But I wouldn't trade it for the world — the bonds I built, just the experience and visibility that my teammates and I gained.”
Did Cameron Brink (who was also McDonald’s teammate in L.A.) ever give you a hard time about that?
A: “We briefly talked about it. I thought that was gonna be the first thing that she was gonna mention. She was like, ‘Dude, we knew you were gonna get the ball. We just had to stop you.’ So we just laughed about it.
“But I'm over it. It's hers. She can have it.”
