There wasn’t one singular moment when Ariyah Copeland knew Arizona was the place for her. She just felt it.
The grad transfer from Alabama might have taken a left turn before signing with Arizona last week — pledging to LSU before former coach Nikki Fargas left the program — but knows now that Tucson is where she is meant to be.
UA had everything for her in terms of academics and basketball. Coach Adia Barnes was persistent in recruiting the 6-foot-3-inch post player, who joins a UA roster that is retooling after the Wildcats made the national championship game last month.
“She had a great interest in me; she showed it,” Copeland said. “They say people don’t want you until they show it. Her showing interest in me got me excited. She talked more about (things) other than basketball. Other coaches will say, ‘Hey, we can do this for you on the court,’ but she was also concerned about my needs and wants off the court — whether it be like health reasons, school and everything. With her mentioning that without me having to announce it, just stuck out to me.
“The (other) this that stuck out to me was her personality. Even though she was on top of the world for those two weeks (of the NCAA Tournament), it was like you couldn’t even tell. She was a normal person, she didn’t say like, ‘Oh, I’m better than this school, that school.’ She just told me what her plan was for me, how we execute and that she wanted everything for my best interest.”
Copeland averaged 14.4 points and 8.6 rebounds last season, and her 61% shooting mark from the field was tops in the Southeastern Conference. Over four seasons, she posted 952 points and grabbed 669 rebounds.
Copeland’s numbers as a senior were the best of her career. She said she knew she could do more, and put in the work to improve.
“I’m really big on consistency. I feel like that when you work on the same things all the time it’s easy, especially at the games,” Copeland said. “Things I do before the game — your typical (George) Mikan drills. Any kind of around-the-rim testers, I’m really big on those. I’ll spend 30 minutes of practice during that. That’s helped me progress and upping my percentage over the years.”
Copeland plays mostly center and a little power forward, giving Arizona a much-needed presence in the paint. With the loss of Trinity Baptiste, who was taken in the WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever, the Wildcats needed more help down low.
Copeland describes her play as “very physical. I love contact … and I like to bang.”
Rebounding has always been part of Copeland’s game. And while the Wildcats improved their boxing out this past season, it’s not a strength of theirs. The addition of both Copeland and fellow transfer Koi Love, who averaged nearly a double-double last past season at Vanderbilt, gives the UA a different look as it tries to build off the program’s first-ever Final Four.
Copeland said that she likes to get 50-50 balls, which is something that will fit right into Arizona’s “passion plays.” Except she takes it a step further.
“I do this thing where I keep track of all the 50-50 balls that I don’t get and I do consequences later,” Copeland said. “It all depends. During this season, I would do 50 layups outside of basketball (practice). But if there were a game or two that I didn’t have any (missed 50-50 balls), I would just reward myself, like, ‘Hey, you could just work on free throws today.’”
Her marching orders from Barnes: Be a beast. Copeland is ready to accept the challenge.
Rim shots
In January, Copeland won $20,000 in tuition grants as part of the College Football Foundation’s Go Teach Initiative. Her interviewed consisted of why she wanted to teach and her goals. She got the call on her birthday.
“I didn’t see it coming at all,” Copeland said. “We were already having a great day, but when that call came and they broke that news, I was just like, ‘Dang, I just won $20k on my birthday.’”
Copeland will pursue a master’s in special education while at Arizona.
Aari McDonald is joining Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe and others as the first female athletes getting in on the new non-fungible token (NFT) trend. These digital trading cards will be released in May. All three athletes are represented by the same agency, Wasserman.
The Waco-Tribune Herald included Barnes as a potential candidate to replace Kim Mulkey, who left for LSU on Monday. Others on their list include Georgia’s Joni Taylor, Baylor assistants Sytia Messer and Bill Brock, and Michigan’s Kim Barnes Arico.
Barnes has no obvious connection to Baylor, except that Bears athletic director Mack Rhoades attended Rincon High School and the UA and presumably pays attention to his alma mater. Mulkey, the three-time national champion and Hall of Fame coach, was making $2.27 million at Baylor and is now up to $2.5 million at LSU. Barnes signed a contract extension before the NCAA Tournament that will pay her $580,000 next season.
Barnes is a guest on two national podcasts this week — The Athletic’s “Coaches Clubhouse” with Nicole Auerbach and ESPN’s “Laughter Permitted” with Julie Foudy.
