Arizona, Shaina Pellington use 'we got this' mentality to upend UCLA; USC up next

It was Pac-12 After Dark hoops action Friday night, and it was well worth the wait — for Arizona, that is.

The Wildcats picked up victory No. 17 in exciting fashion, going on an 11-0 run with less than five minutes left in regulation and sending the game into overtime before dismissing No. 14 UCLA, 71-66.

It was a team effort. Things came together on the defensive and offensive ends — including free throws — just in time. Down the stretch, Arizona, which has struggled at the foul line, was a perfect 10 for 10.

That was exactly how Arizona coach Adia Barnes envisioned it months before the season started.

Well, at least the ending.

“It was a good way to gut it out,” Barnes said. “It really showed a lot of character, resiliency. The way we got stops and rebounded better in the second half without anybody really playing phenomenal.

“Shaina (Pellington) was playing pretty good, but no one was playing an awesome game. … I’m happy. We were on the road, down the whole game. Then we called a timeout, and we just battled back. I’m proud of us for doing that.”

Barnes hopes her team can continue playing with that fight on Sunday when No. 22 Arizona concludes its L.A. trip at USC.

The win was No. 18 over a ranked opponent in Barnes’ coaching career — and came on the heels of a home loss to Washington State.

It also happened on Barnes’ birthday.

“I didn’t care about anything else; I wanted to win on the road,” Barnes said. “In the Pac-12, when 67% of our teams are going to postseason (if the NCAA Tournament were held today, eight of the 12 teams likely would be in) ... it’s a hard conference to win in.”

It was hard to select just one key player of the game. But Pellington is probably the best bet. She scored six of UA’s 10 points in the overtime period and finished with 21 points — 8 of 17 from the field and a perfect 5 of 5 from the line.

Barnes was more impressed with how Pellington didn’t give up after two missed opportunities in the paint late in regulation.

“Two chances for her to win down the stretch, but she stuck with it,” Barnes said. “She would have normally hung her head. I thought it showed some maturity.”

Pellington told Pac-12 Networks that heading into overtime, she was thinking, “We got this.”

Barnes thought that was cool and said she couldn’t pinpoint when she saw the mental shift. Although it could just be that Pellington likes playing at Pauley Pavilion. A year ago, she took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of her 20 points to lead Arizona to a 74-63 come-from-behind victory.

Those are the only two games that Barnes has won against the Bruins in Los Angeles over the last seven years.

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Quite a turnaround

Sunday’s matchup is a battle of two fourth-place Pac-12 teams. Two teams with the same exact records — in and out of conference.

Whoever wins will have a leg up on that final bye when the Pac-12 Tournament rolls around — if things were to stay as they are today. But based on how the league’s teams are battling each weekend, don’t expect anything to stay the same — except Stanford being Stanford and the likely No. 1 seed in Las Vegas.

The Trojans have shocked some folks this season. Coaches knew that USC would be better after going 12-16, 5-12 in Lindsay Gottlieb’s first season. But competing-for-a-top-four-spot-in-the-league better? USC upset No. 2 Stanford on Jan. 15, 55-46, with lockdown defense that held the Cardinal to only four points in the first quarter. The Trojans also beat then-No. 25 Colorado last Sunday in Boulder .

Gottlieb, who coached at Cal before becoming the first Power Five women’s basketball coach to be an assistant in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers, knew early on there was something special with her squad. Last spring, when the season ended, she worked with a sports psychologist to overhaul the team’s approach . Gottlieb also brought in seven new players via the transfer portal.

Team chemistry started building among the returnees through team dinners and just hanging out. Gottlieb said that the conversations with the transfers were more nuanced, “intentional conversations about, ‘What are you looking for and what are we trying to create here?’ ”

All of which helped develop the culture that Gottlieb wanted.

“I really believe that I pressed go in a different way after the season than I had the ability to do when I first got here,” Gottlieb said. “I think this is the time that we’ll look back at and say was pivotal when we ultimately become really successful. I think we’re going to point to this time as when the wheels really started going.”

As with any first-year coach, that first season is a blur. It’s about moving your family, figuring out the schedule. trying to get caught up on recruiting and learning your new team and what resources you have. Gottlieb was hired in May of 2021, so she was even a little more behind than most.

Now that Gottlieb has settled in, she has also implemented some of the analytics she used in the NBA for player development. All of those things, along with adding veteran Beth Burns as her associate head coach, have the Trojans trending in the right direction.

Fields’ moment

Lauren Fields, who has struggled offensively recently (she hadn’t scored a basket in four games), hit the tying 3-pointer with 1:08 to go against UCLA.

Pellington said after the game that she believes in Fields and was happy she could provide the assist.

Barnes said she was “proud of her. Lauren worked her tail off on defense the whole night and had some great stops and played good minutes for us.”