Itβs a big week for No. 15-ranked Arizona.
After playing their first four games at home, the Wildcats hit the road for the first time this season. Theyβll play two games in 24 hours as part of the USD Thanksgiving Classic in San Diego. Arizona (4-0) opens against Cal Baptist at 5 p.m. Friday, then takes on USD at 5 p.m. the next day.
Coach Adia Barnes says sheβs βcurious to seeβ how the team performs and βexcited to see how weβre going to respond.β
βI want to see where weβre at,β she added. ββ¦ I think itβd be a fun week in San Diego for Thanksgiving. What could be a better place? Iβm not biased.β
Barnes grew up in San Diego and attended Mission Bay High School. She plans to spend the holiday with the Wildcats, her parents and grandmother as well as her sister Maishaβs family. Barnesβ parents, Patricia and Bruce, will cater the event.
βI think itβs cool for players to see like where you grew up, your parents and stuff like that,β Barnes said.
The Wildcats kept their routine as close as they could to any other week. Tuesday was spent working on individual skills and practicing. They practiced again Wednesday before flying to San Diego.
The first road trip of the season is about more than just basketball. The freshmen will learn how to travel, what to pack and what Barnesβ standards are on the road.
βI am pretty sure one of them will forget something β¦ weβre going to have to check some things a couple times, because they are freshmen,β Barnes said with a laugh. βItβs funny because a lot of them have never been to California β like Kailyn (Gilbert) Paris (Clark), Lemyah (Hylton). Iβm like, βYouβve never been to California?β To me, thatβs weird, but I guess a lot of Californians have never been to New York. I think theyβre going to love it and see different parts of the world, be exposed to different things. I think theyβre going to see itβs different than AAU (tournaments). There arenβt five people to a room ... I think itβs going to be a fun experience for them.β
Giving back
Nnaji, with help from former UA standout Danielle Adefeso, partnered with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona to pull together the Thanksgiving Food Drive.
Arizonaβs freshman star asked UA fans to bring canned goods to McKale Center before Sundayβs game, and they responded. Fans donated 648 pounds of food.
βI think itβs amazing,β Barnes said. β(Nnaji) is selfless. She has so many aspirations to change so many things and give back. For her, itβs not about NIL money. Itβs about giving stuff to the community. Thatβs the way she wants to do it.β
She didnβt stop there. On Monday, the Wildcatsβ only day off this week, Nnaji and Gilbert served a Thanksgiving dinner to children at the Boys & Girls Club of Tucson.
βWhen you have freshmen doing that, I think itβs amazing,β Barnes said. βThatβs not for community service; that is their own time. And at a time when thereβs a lot of schoolwork and weβre getting ready to travel, it says a lot about those two β who they are and what they want to do. I think that the city and the community should be really proud of them because thatβs not something they have to do. Iβm proud of them. I love that.β
Parity is a good thing
In the first two weeks of the season, itβs been upset city. Eight top-10 teams have lost already this season and three of the top teamsβ losses came against unranked opponents β the most since at least the 1999-2000 season, according to ESPN Stats Info.
βI think this time of year, no oneβs where they want to be. Weβre not, probably South Carolina isnβt, Stanford isnβt. All of us improve a lot throughout the year. When you face a team thatβs really hungry and on the wrong night and theyβre hot, I think thereβs upsets,β Barnes said.
Why are there so many upsets?
Barnes credited parity.
βI donβt think you see all the great players going to one place. I think itβs really spread out. I think youβre going to see more of that, which I like for our game,β Barnes said. βI think that sometimes the media really puts some high expectations on people that I donβt think are really accurate β (and they do it) early. I think itβs hard to tell and I think you just sometimes go by names, and the brand of a school when you rank someone and itβs not the best indication.
βWeβre one of those teams that always climbs up. That Final Four year (in 2021), we started at 20. Last year we started (around 20), we went to 5. I donβt really care during the year. I wouldnβt care if we were 20 the whole year, then at the end, we would rank high. β¦ None of us are where we want to be. If you talk to any coaches, weβre all like, βUh,β all of us think we stink right now. But youβve got to find a way to get better.β
Rim shots
Clark is out of the concussion protocol and has been cleared to play.
The Wildcats have started each of their last four seasons 4-0.
