Cooler heads prevail in Wildcats' runaway win over new Pac-12 rival Oregon

The eighth-ranked Wildcats wanted to avenge last month’s loss in Eugene after they blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and lost in overtime.

Their fans, meanwhile, wanted to give Kelly Graves an earful following a reported dust-up between the Oregon coach and Arizona’s Adia Barnes.

The regular-season-record crowd of 10,413 packed McKale Center on Friday booed Graves when Oregon took the court, then cheered loudly for the Wildcats the rest of the way. Arizona used a red-hot third quarter to beat the 19th-ranked Ducks, 63-48. They Wildcats (16-3, 6-3 Pac-12) will host Oregon State on Sunday.

“I feel like we definitely had something to prove obviously because we lost to them the last matchup, but to feed off of what Adia said, we just wanted to take this game and just execute the gameplan,” said senior point Shaina Pellington, who finished with seven points, four assists and two rebounds. “… It was just another game. We still had the same gameplan to execute and that’s what we tried to do. Tonight, we were more successful than last time.”

Oregon asked for extra security for Friday’s rematch, but it wasn’t needed. Barnes and Graves talked on the court for about a minute before tipoff; at the end, Barnes put her arm around him. It was a change from the scene in Oregon, where UA players say Graves yelled at Barnes. Barnes responded in kind, and apologized following the overtime loss for losing her cool.

“I think a lot of stuff was blown out of proportion,” Barnes said Friday. “We’re competitors and you may say something I don’t like (or) I may say something, but that’s the difference I think in former athletes like us when you’re a competitor. I think when you are a pro player, you can go at it and get mad, but then you’re not mad the next day you are like whatever. You can argue on the court.

“I think it’s different when you play, and you play at a high level you don’t take stuff personal. I’ve been called a lot of bad things in a lot of different ways. And I really don’t care.

“I think there’s just a mutual respect. I respect Kelly. I think he’s done a great job with Oregon. I think he’s a good coach. And he does a good job. But we’re competitive and it’s something where I don’t take it personally, he doesn’t take it personally. We don’t care. We wished each other luck and talked about the crowd and stuff. There are no hard feelings. I’m just not really like that.”

The players seemed to take a note from their coaches in a physical but otherwise clean game.

Arizona’s Sam Thomas and Oregon’s Nyara Sabally got tangled up under the Ducks’ basket and fell to the ground early in Friday’s third quarter. Thomas got to her feet, then helped Sabally up. As the two ran together to get back in the action, Thomas placed a helpful arm around her opponent.

Arizona’s famous fans

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley tweeted Friday night that she was watching the game. It’s this kind of support from other coaches that means a lot to Barnes.

“When you develop friendships with people you trust — you’re not recruiting against each other so you can talk basketball and you kind of go through the same things in different ways,” Barnes said. “It helps that Dawn is there for me and gives me great advice. I can rant or I can complain about something, and I know I know my secret’s good with her. I respect her and I love what she’s doing, and I want to do that.

“Another person that does that for me is (Stanford coach) Tara (VanDerveer). I do something wrong she’ll call me and tell me. I love that because I love the fact that we’re competing against each other in the Pac-12, but there’s a respect and there’s support and help. Most people aren’t like her or like Dawn. I think that those women are the women that changed the game. They’re the trailblazers in the game and I respect those women.”

Defensive prowess

Thomas showed Friday just why she is one of the best defenders in the country.

One the first defensive possession of the second half, Thomas she broke up a pass. Next, she blocked a shot, fell on the court with the ball in her hands and the awareness to pass the ball to teammate Koi Love.

Thomas spent most of the night trapping and forcing the Ducks to throw bad passes. She played 29 minutes of disruptive defense, finishing with four of Arizona’s nine steals. The Wildcats scored 22 points off Oregon’s 21 turnovers.

Rim shots

The Wildcats were led offensively by Cate Reese, who scored 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting while playing just 21 minutes. Lauren Ware had nine points on 4-of-8 shooting, and delivered an impressive 3-pointer from the top of the key. Love put up eight points and a team-high nine rebounds. Madi Conner hit a pair of 3-pointers, finishing with six points.

Shaina Pellington was honored before the game for scoring her 1,000th career point five days earlier against Stanford. “It’s a huge milestone, obviously, but I’m not done yet. There’s a lot more to prove. There’s a lot more to do,” Pellington said.

Oregon’s original charter flight to Tucson was canceled, and the Ducks didn’t take off until later than expected Friday morning. They arrived in Tucson mid-afternoon, too late for a shootaround. Had the game not been scheduled for 8 p.m., it may not have been played on time.

Arizona passed out white “Protect our House” T-shirts to the first 1,500 fans in attendance.