With Sam Thomas out with a stomach bug, coach Adia Barnes had to find someone to fill her starting position in Monday’s exhibition game against Western New Mexico University.
The third-year coach went with Destiny Graham, a solid forward with 60 starts under her belt.
While Barnes hopes Thomas recovers quickly, the Wildcats made do without her and beat Western 78-41.
It was the second and last exhibition game, as Arizona beat Eastern New Mexico 88-31 a week prior. Arizona’s season opens Friday when the Wildcats host Idaho State at 6:30 p.m at McKale Center.
The Wildcats played both Eastern and Western in last year’s exhibitions. Even though they played the same teams, Barnes said it was like playing a completely new squad Monday because of Western’s 13 new players.
“I think that for us, it’s just good to see different looks before going into real play,” Barnes said.
Even though the Wildcats routed Western, Barnes still wasn’t happy with the overall performance from her team. There wasn’t good consistency.
Arizona gave up 15 turnovers — one more than Western. But there’s a silver lining: The Mustangs weren’t able to convert the turnovers into points, unlike the 16 points the Wildcats scored on turnovers.
“We worked a lot on transition defense,” Barnes said.
“We really worked on stopping the ball — that’s another thing that’s nonnegotiable with our defense system. So, I’m very proud of that, just not of the turnovers.”
Redshirt junior Dominique McBryde, who sat out last season after transferring from Purdue, played the most minutes (27:12) for Arizona and scored 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field and 1-for-2 three pointers. McBryde also went 2 for 2 from the line and had seven boards, two assists and two steals.
“I really wanted to bring out some intensity and I think the team did a good job going into the third, and we had a little run going into the third,” McBryde said. “So, I think I was able to carry on very well with that.”
Aari McDonald also finished the night with 17 points (7 for 14 field goals, 2 for 6 three-pointers and 1 for 2 at the line) and added three rebounds.
Cate Reese posted another double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman Bryce Nixon had 12 points and two rebounds.
Barnes said she was happy to see Nixon come into the game with plenty of confidence and able to hit the threes — something the team struggled to do without Thomas. Nixon posted the most minutes off the bench and went 3 for 4 from three-point range.
“It’s been fun to play other teams and I’m really excited about Friday’s game,” Nixon said.
After a couple free throws by McBryde put the Wildcats up 9-0, Western ended Arizona’s opening run on a three-pointer by Cassandra Vickery.
But the Wildcats would only allow the Mustangs to score once more before the end of the first quarter and led 20-5.
Western struggled to find the hoop early, going 1 for 13 from the field and 1 for 7 on three-pointers in the first quarter, managing three offensive rebounds while Arizona recovered nine defensive rebounds.
The Mustangs came back the next quarter better prepared and kept up with Arizona’s pace, but the heavy first-period deficit continued to hurt them. At the half, Arizona led 39-20.
During the third quarter, both teams suffered a scoring drought for more than two minutes. Western broke out of it just before Arizona. However, the Wildcats ended the quarter on a 14-2 run for a 63-33 lead — their biggest lead at the moment.
Arizona would go on to lead by as many as 40 points in the final few minutes of the game.
The fourth quarter started off with a McDonald three-pointer, and the dominance continued. Western was limited to eight points, while Arizona added 15 for the final score.
Barnes said she hopes the sloppiness she saw Monday won’t carry into the regular season. Against Idaho State, Barnes says she hopes the team plays strong, cleans up the turnovers and defense.
One of the main struggles the team has faced is introducing a large incoming class to the system. While Barnes said she’s looking to have five or six athletes in next year’s recruiting class, she hopes to bring it down to two or three in the following years.
Because of the large class, however, the team has had to slow down its pace to let the freshmen catch up. But Barnes is looking to have the team ready on Friday.
“Now it’s like, the freshmen need to come along,” Barnes said. “You’ll see a better effort overall.”
