Sunday against USC, Dominique McBryde played the way she’s used to playing.
She posted up, drove to the basket and set screens on offense and pulled down rebounds, altered shots and stripped the ball on defense.
McBryde showed touch around the basket and strength away from it.
There were no signs that only a few weeks ago, she wasn’t even walking on her right ankle, let alone running up and down the court, stopping short, making cuts and pushing off.
McBryde suffered a sprained ankle in the Wildcats’ Dec. 2 win over Monmouth. She missed six games over five weeks before returning, and even then, she played limited minutes against Oregon State.
McBryde now calls the injury a “blessing in disguise,” as she was dealing with some pain for a few weeks and knows it could have been much worse.
It still wasn’t easy for the Wildcats’ always-moving senior forward.
“Knowing me, that was extremely difficult,” McBryde said. “I wanted to be on that scooter and zoom past everybody as much as possible. I was advised I couldn’t do too often. I wanted to dance, be myself. I felt like I wanted to do it more — being contained, you want to do it a lot more. I knew I could possibly just make things a whole lot worse, pain-wise and just my foot, in general. It was extremely difficult but knowing that I had to just trust everything that was going on and trust that it was a process. I’ve grown a lot and it was a life lesson for me.”
“I had to just trust everything that was going on and trust that it was a process,” McBryde said of her injury. “I’ve grown a lot (from it).”
The No. 12-ranked Wildcats (18-3, 7-3) are happy she’s back. McBryde and the UA will take on No. 3 Oregon (20-2, 9-1) Friday night in Eugene.
A win would extend Arizona’s winning streak to six straight games. It would also tick off a number of firsts, including their first win over a top-10 team this season on the road, the first win over Oregon in nine attempts and the first time Arizona has won 19 games in a season since 2011.
McBryde said she had to learn how to walk correctly before she could think about getting back on the court with her teammates.
The day before Arizona’s Jan. 5 game at UCLA, she walked up and down the Pauley Pavilion steps while her teammates went through the gameplan.
“When I finally did get to run again, it was so weird,” McBryde said. “I completely lost muscle in my leg because I was off entirely to get to rest. Getting all that muscle back, relearning how to push off, getting to the best shape I possibly could be to prepare for the number two and three teams in the country was extremely difficult, but I’m proud of everything and the process that it took to get there. And our trainer really did a good job helping me out.”
The hardest thing for her to gain back was trust in her ankle that she could “push off and cut and knowing it would be OK.”
It didn’t take long for it to come. McBryde logged two blocks in her first game back. Over the next few games, she shook off the rust even more. McBryde said she felt a little pressure to contribute in those first games back.
“I was a little nervous,” she said. “I didn’t want to let anybody down. I didn’t want my minutes to be detrimental to what we were trying to do. Having that weigh on my mind, it wasn’t the best thing, but I just know that being on high alert — being in that game-type of focus and intensity, it goes a long way.”
While McBryde was out, she helped her teammates from the bench. She was also observing the game from a different perspective and realizing how much more she could do on the offensive end. Her teammates are welcoming her as another weapon.
“I think she’s more aggressive now on offense because she usually wants to make the right pass, run the play, but I think now she’s looking more for her shot, which is really good because she can definitely score,” senior guard Lucia Alonso said.
Arizona Wildcats forward Dominique McBryde (20) runs out of the tunnel during player introductions prior to No. 16 Arizona’s 73-57 win over Southern California at McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz. on February 2, 2020.
The USC game was a perfect example. She sparked a run that gave the UA a decisive win, scoring in different ways. McBryde started it with a turnaround mid-range jumper, a move she hasn’t done since high school. Then she hit a three from the corner, two drives to the basket, and one inside basket. She finished with 14 points, one steal, one block and three rebounds.
“I didn’t feel like I was contributing my best on the defense end, so I wanted to do something on offense — whether that was scoring, making the right play, whatever it is, I wanted to do to help us win,” she said.
Rim shots
Coach Adia Barnes said the Wildcats “don’t talk about the big picture,” even though they could be on the cusp of something special — hosting NCAA Tournament games in McKale Center.
“Just one game at a time, one practice at a time. Don’t look ahead,” she said. “We’re not thinking about Oregon State (on Sunday); we’re thinking about Oregon. And then I think things take care of themselves. That’s how we’ve been the whole year. We just don’t change anything. What we’ve been doing is working for us and we’re happy with where we are now.”
