Adia Barnes had a pretty, pretty good week.
The UA women’s basketball team won its first two games of the season, knocked off the No. 6 team in the country and signed the No. 6 recruiting class in the nation. Barnes also got a special package form South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.
The recruiting class is filled with three players that Barnes really wanted – Maya Nnaji, Kailyn Gilbert and Lemyah Hylton.
The package from Staley was a piece of the net from South Carolina’s 2017 Championship. Along with a note.
The story goes that women’s basketball analyst Carolyn Peck, who coached Purdue to the 1999 national championship, gave Staley a piece of her title net and told her that when she won the championship, she should return the piece — because she would then, have her own. Staley is now paying it forward.
“Here she is getting ready to go for a championship this year, the No. 1 team in the country and then thinking about sending me the net,” Barnes said. “She’s a great person that really cares about not herself and her success — she does want to pursue championships — but she cares about our game. And she wants to grow the game and she wants to pull other women along. I think that’s what’s so amazing about her. …
“I took pictures of myself next it (the net) all over I have it taped right on top of my computers. I see it every day. She kept her hers in her car, I believe. But when you see it, you can be it and believe it and she did that. I’m a big proponent of the visualization.”
It’s still early in the season, however Barnes is hoping this team can go far. If the 61-59 overtime win over No. 6 Louisville was an indication, the Wildcats are on their way to another good season.
Arizona took some time to celebrate the win Friday night by spraying their coach with water. Barnes said, “I don’t mind but it’s freezing! It’s always like uh, but it’s a great feeling.”
They also had Saturday off to rest. Next up for No. 22 Arizona (2-0) is Texas Southern (0-1) at 6:30 p.m. Monday at McKale Center, where the Wildcats will unveil the Final Four banner.
Arizona was back practicing Sunday afternoon working on the fundamentals to keep improving and moving forward. They were only reminded of Friday’s game a few times — as they passed UA men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd and his team, who all said, ‘Good game.”
Barnes took some time to talk to the Star during practice to share what she learned from Friday’s game, where she thinks they are in their progression and what she did on her day off.
What does it mean to you to follow in that line from Carolyn Peck to Dawn Staley now to you? That you were included in this net connection?
A: “I’ve known Carolyn for many years. She is a friend of mine. She evened texted me after the Louisville game. I consider her someone I look up to, a friend, someone I really respect, an incredible broadcaster and so it’s just an honor to be even a conversation with them. But you know, we didn’t win (the national championship). We did something great, but we didn’t. It’s really hard to get back there. It’s really hard to even get there but we didn’t win. I think there’s a long process for me to go through to build a championship team again and to get back there. I think that’s the most difficult challenge. My goal is to win the championship. That’s why I am coaching, that’s why I stayed here. I want to do that.”
What was the best part of your week?
A: “To win in South Dakota, the second game of the year against Louisville. To play a great team so early and they have 75% of their scoring back. That was a big signature win. We have 50% of our scoring back and no one thinks we are good because we lost Aari (McDonald to the WNBA). We’re still good. And, if you look it up, Cate (Reese) is one of our best players and she wasn’t in at the very end of the game, (but) we won. But it just shows our depth. I think we have a chance to be good. The balance of it is going to be managing all the players which is a challenge, I can tell.”
What does a win so early like this mean for your program?
A: “It means a lot. I think that respect is earned. I don’t think you go the tournament once and just get respect. I think you are more respected, but I think I do it for the next five years and they’re respected as a program which I get, and I don’t mind doing that. I completely understand it’s a process, just like getting better as a player is. … My players, they are getting better every day. We are better now though, as a team than we were last year at this time, offensively. And that’s why I’m super optimistic. Because I think that we have a chance to be really good.”
As you looked back at film on the Louisville game, what did you think you did really well and what were the things you need to improve on?
A: “I think we got stops in some really critical moments. I thought that we had some bright spots defensively, but we I don’t think we played great defense consistently the whole game. But this point, we’re not going to. I thought in the last possession game, our post players played good ‘D.’ And for the most part, I thought our returners really stepped up.”
Cate Reese scored 21 points and was top performer of the Invitational. She looks like she has taken her game up a level. What are you seeing from her?
A: “She is playing at a really high level. She’s playing like an All-American right now. She is shooting the ball really well. Her defense has improved so much. She’s being a great leader. Her 3-point shot has improved so much and she’s finishing stronger.
She was awesome. She’s just getting better every year. And the thing is she still has another year to work (after this one). I just can’t wait to see her next year.”
How did you spend your time off?
A: “We spent the whole day with the kids. We went to the Botanical Garden, the butterfly exhibit. We never had time to do that kind of stuff. Doing that with the kids (was nice). Capri doesn’t really go anywhere, so the fact that Capri was able to get out was good. They will be traveling with us in a few weeks. It will be fun taking them to St. Thomas.”
Texas upsets Stanford
STANFORD, Calif. — Aliyah Matharu made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 5:06 to play and two more in the closing minutes, freshman Rori Harmon scored 21 points and No. 25 Texas jolted defending national champion and third-ranked Stanford 61-56 on Sunday.
Ashten Prechtel’s 3-pointer with 18 seconds left got Stanford within 57-54. Harmon then converted two free throws to help Texas hang on.
UA lost to Stanford 54-53 in last year’s title game. The Wildcats play Texas on Dec. 19 in Las Vegas.
