Probable starters
ARIZONA
G Shaina Pellington (5-8 senior)
G/F Jade Loville (5-11 senior)
F Esmery Martinez (6-2 senior)
F Lauren Fields (5-9 senior)
F Cate Reese (6-2 senior)
USC
F Kadi Sissoko (6-2 senior)
G Destiny Littleton (5-9 senior)
G/F Rayah Marshall (6-4 sophomore)
G Kayla Williams (5-7 junior)
G/F Okako Adika (6-0 senior)
History of matchup
Arizona is 28-56 in the series. Under Adia Barnes, the Wildcats have won seven of the last 10 meetings.
Last February, Arizona won 68-59 without Cate Reese, who was sidelined with a dislocated shoulder. Arizona spotted USC a 10-point lead in the first quarter (16-6) but rallied behind Taylor Chavez’s 18 points (five 3-pointers). USC’s Rayah Marshall scored 11 of the Trojans’ 16 points in the first frame.
Arizona scored 19 points off 21 USC turnovers. Lauren Ware added a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds), and Shaina Pellington chipped in 14 points. The win gave the Wildcats a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament, and Barnes collected her 20th win of the season, becoming the first UA coach to win 20 or more games in four consecutive years.
Key players
USC — Kadi Sissoko
Sissoko is coming off a season-high 23-point performance against ASU on Friday night. She added six rebounds, two steals and two blocks. She put up 11 of USC’s 14 points in the first quarter and was hitting from multiple levels. Sissoko is the leading scorer for the Trojans, averaging 15.8 points per game, which puts her fourth in the league.
Arizona — Esmery Martinez
Martinez collected her sixth double-double of the season (17 points, 13 rebounds) against UCLA. She also had three steals, dished three assists and blocked one shot. Martinez played disciplined basketball on defense, committing only two fouls in 38 minutes, in one of her most dominant performances of the season. She is averaging 11.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.
Sidelines
Making progress: Barnes is using her platform to make things better for women. On Tuesday, Arizona is opening its first lactation room for nursing mothers at McKale Center. Barnes will be speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, along with UA president Robert C Robbins; vice president of university initiatives Celina Ramirez; and UA Athletics assistant vice president and chief of staff Krystal Swindlehurst.
UA has 35 total lactation spaces. Twelve have been added this year as part of a commitment to being a “family-friendly place to work, learn and grow.”
The new room at McKale Center is on the south end of the court mezzanine level, under section 116.
Barnes caught the attention of the nation in April 2021 when she was pumping her breast milk for her then-7-month-old daughter, Capri, during halftime of the national-championship game.
Welcome to the 40-point club: Thursday night, Azuolas Tubelis became the latest Wildcat to score 40 points during a game. The last Wildcat to do it was Aari McDonald, who scored 44 points against Texas during the 2019-2020 season.
McDonald went on to win Ann Meyers Drysdale Award for best shooting guard in the country; was the program’s first first-team All-American; was Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year; and was a finalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, the Honda Award and the Wade Trophy. The Wildcats were poised to make their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 15 years until COVID-19 shut down all events.
The last Wildcat to score 40-plus points prior to Azuolas Tubelis? That would be Aari McDonald, left, who had 44 points against Texas on Nov. 17, 2019.
Last time at Galen Center: Last season, Arizona played a hastily scheduled makeup game at USC. The Wildcats lost, 76-67. It was a replacement game, as Washington had cancelled on them earlier in the week. The Wildcats had played only one game in a few weeks as they were in COVID protocols.
In 2021, the two teams didn’t meet. The last time they played at the Galen Center when both teams were at full strength was in 2020. Arizona was on 13-game winning streak and held on to beat the Trojans by eight points, 65-57. McDonald scored 24 points and had five steals. Reese chipped in with a double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds), and Helena Pueyo had 11 points and two steals.
This could be the last time Arizona plays at the Galen Center for a while as USC is moving to the Big Ten in 2024. With scheduling up in the air, it’s possible that USC only visits Tucson next season — especially as Sunday is the only regular-season game between the two this year.
Rebounds for research: Pac-12 analyst Tammy Blackburn started a challenge this week. For every rebound pulled down in February, she is donating $1 to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund for cancer research.
Blackburn, a former player who is living with stage 4 cancer, has been backed by league coaches and is asking others to join her. She estimates she will donate $700-$800 by the end of the month. USC associate head coach Beth Burns stepped up Friday to match Blackburn’s donations, plus $2 for offensive boards and blocked shots to “box out cancer.”
Fun facts
Arizona: UA is having a flash sale for tickets for Thursday’s Stanford game at McKale Center. Tickets are as low as $6. The game is also a “red out.”
USC: The Trojans are 16-0 when limiting their opponent to 58 or fewer points. … Taylor Bigby is from Las Vegas Centennial High School, just like Arizona’s Montaya Dew and former Wildcat Sam Thomas.
Numbers game
3 — Arizona has defeated three Top 25 teams this season: No. 14 UCLA, No. 18 Oregon and No. 18 Baylor (all rankings at the time they played). The Wildcats beat three ranked teams during the 2021 season: Oregon twice (at Nos. 10 and No. 11) and UCLA at No. 9.
6 — Arizona has blocked six shots in four games this season: UCLA, Baylor, Kansas and CSUN. Maya Nnaji had three blocks against CSUN — her debut as a Wildcat — and two against UCLA. She has nine total blocks this season.
21 — Marshall had a career-high 21 rebounds against ASU on Friday night. She is the first Trojan to grab 21 rebounds since Kristen Simon in 2016. The sophomore leads the Pac-12 in rebounding, averaging 11.4 per game.
