Twelve days is a long time to wait to play a game in the middle of the season — especially when you’re on a roll.
The sixth-ranked Arizona Wildcats will return to the floor — finally — on Thursday night, when they take on North Dakota State in McKale Center. Thursday marks the team’s first home game since Nov. 19, and its first game of any kind since winning the Paradise Jam on Nov. 27. Last week’s game at UC Riverside was canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the Highlanders’ program.
The time off was “different,” senior guard Bendu Yeaney said. Yet she said it was a good time for a reset.
“We just had to go back to just practicing and doing the things that we did in the preseason,” Yeaney said. “Practices were a little harder because we don’t have a game, but it was just good for our conditioning and good to get our mental state space back before we start playing again.”
The Wildcats got back to the basics over the long stretch, working on things that they sometimes get overlooked due to the quick turnaround between games. They practiced playing against a zone, worked on different presses and tried to limit turnovers.
Coach Adia Barnes said the team also worked on “fundamentals of our passing and our spacing and timing moving to the pass.”
For Yeaney, there was time to look at what wasn’t working for her — scoring. Yeaney went 3 for 10 from the field in three Paradise Jam games, scoring only six points — all against DePaul. Before the trip, Yeaney was hitting 67% of her shots.
“I got into a little shooting slump while I was in the Virgin Islands,” Yeaney said. “I just worked on my shot and just trying to get back into my rhythm again.”
The break gave the Wildcats something rare: a weekend off. The UA doesn’t plan to have another one until April — that is, if they reach their intended goal of playing for another national championship.
Spreading it around
This year’s Wildcats aren’t depending solely on only one player for most of their offense. During the Paradise Jam, Shaina Pellington shot 52%, tournament MVP Cate Reese shot 46% and all-tournament pick Sam Thomas shot 72%.
The Wildcats are shooting 48.5% from the field this season, the fifth-best mark in the country.
“We are talented (from No.) 1 through 15 — everybody steps up at different moments,” Yeaney said. “In the Virgin Islands, Shaina stepped up really big for us; Cate stepped up really big and Sam had big games. I think everybody knows what they can bring to the team and every game is going to be different. … You’re seeing that our team is really talented, and it doesn’t matter who has off night because everybody else is going to pick up the slack.”
The lowdown on North Dakota State
Barnes likes playing nonconference teams that give the Wildcats a different look. North Dakota State fits that bill: The Bison play with four guards and shoot a bunch of 3s.
Don’t expect Arizona to change its lineup to adjust.
“I like people to adjust to us,” Barnes said. “One of our posts will be guarding a guard. It’s a good challenge. They shoot the ball well. It’s not going to be super-fast game on their end. It’s going to be challenging in a lot of ways because of that. But I think our defensive pressure can bother them. I don’t know if they face someone as high-octane defense like tenacious defense in your face. I think that’ll affect them. We have to guard them at the three-point line. And we have to really disrupt their offense. If they’re comfortable, they have a chance to win here.”
North Dakota State also runs a “chin” offense, a variation of the Princeton offense that’s used by many Pac-12 teams, including Stanford.
“It’s hard to guard because a lot of it is reads,” Barnes said. “I do anticipate … because of our type of defense they’re going to do a lot of back cuts. They’re going to try to really penetrate downhill and hit two shooters. I think they run posts off different actions, because we’re not used to that. We’re going to have to guard that.”
Freshman guard Anna Gret Asi, talking to Adia Barnes during a Nov. 5 exhibition win over Arizona Chrsitian, stood out with three steals against Rutgers last month.
Rim shots
Seven games into the season, and Arizona’s newcomers are already stepping up. During the Wildcats’ Paradise Jam win over Rutgers, Gisela Sanchez scored 15 points and Anna Gret Asi had three steals.
Both Barnes and Yeaney agree that there’s more to come.
“In practices they’ve been going crazy, you know?” Yeaney said. “I think that when they get the opportunity, they’re gonna show out just like they’re doing now.”
Arizona’s men’s and women’s basketball teams ranked second in ESPN’s combined college basketball rankings, released Wednesday. ESPN’s formula factors in records, placement in the most recent AP polls and each team’s projected tournament spot according to ESPN Bracketology. Only Baylor, with a men’s team ranked second nationally and a women’s team that’s fifth, sits above Arizona in the combined rankings.
At 7-0, Arizona is one of just three undefeated teams left in the top 25, joining No. 1 South Carolina (9-0) and No. 9 Tennessee (8-0).
The Wildcats say this year is different.
“We’re the hunted now instead of the hunters,” Yeaney said. “We understand that every game matters, and we have to come out with intensity every single game, because, on any given night, it could be somebody else’s night and not be ours. We’re just trying to stay ready and keep competing and keep moving up.”
Thomas has been named a candidate for the 2021-22 Senior CLASS Award. The award is given annually to a student-athlete who achieves in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. The winner will be announced at the Final Four.
