The Arizona Wildcats played USC and UCLA just once apiece during the 2018-19 regular season, and it was a pivotal weekend.
During a series in Tucson at the end of January, the Wildcats began to learn lessons that would pay off down the road — not only in postseason play, but into this season.
That weekend, Arizona came from behind against USC and held on for a 71-68 victory; it fell 98-93 to UCLA in triple overtime.
Now, the 18th-ranked Wildcats head to Los Angeles to face the Trojans and Bruins again — they’ll face USC (8-4, 0-1 Pac-12) at 8 p.m. Friday and No. 10 UCLA (12-0, 1-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday.
This year’s team is much different than the one that split with the SoCal schools a year ago and went on to beat USC in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. Arizona is 12-0 overall and 1-0 in league play, and boasts an 18-game winning streak dating to last season, the longest in the country.
“Yes, they are different — they’ve figured out how to win,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “A lot of it is mentality.”
Arizona’s new approach emerged last year as the Wildcats began to build confidence in themselves. Through its march to the WNIT championship, Arizona acted like a team that had been in the postseason before — except it hadn’t.
UA coach Adia Barnes said she can see that same look in her players’ eyes this season.
“I think we just play confident, loose and … they think they can beat anybody,” Barnes said. “And they expect it — that’s what I like.”
The confidence helps, as does growth from players like Cate Reese, Sam Thomas and Semaj Smith. The addition of freshman Helena Pueyo and others gives Arizona an added dimension, complementing star guard Aari McDonald.
Close said teams “can emerge as a fun team to watch with only one star player, but in order to have sustained excellence, others have to step up.”
Close believes great teams have three stellar players. And Arizona’s getting closer.
“Cate has really emerged. I’m really impressed with so many players that are growing,” she said. “You go down their roster and she’s added something to her tool belt, and she’s added something to her tool belt. It makes it fun to coach in this conference.”
Arizona forward Cate Reese screams after falling for a loose ball during the second half of Arizona’s 58-53 win over ASU last weekend.
There is the growth from McDonald, as well. The guard is reading and reacting better and finding her open teammates even more. Her efficiency from the field is at 50%, 5 points higher than a year ago.
“You can’t stop Aari — you can try to contain her, but you can’t stop her. She’s too talented one-on-one,” Close said. “The key factor is to make it hard for her to get clean catches. I think we have to have great efficiency on offense and rotate different people — mix things up. She’s so good when she gets in her rhythm. It’s a team effort to make sure she doesn’t get those opportunities.”
Add in a swarming defense, and it’s easy to see why Arizona hasn’t lost since last year’s Pac-12 Tournament. The Wildcats’ defense is still tops in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (29.1%) and scoring defense (44.4). The UA averages 11.4 steals per game.
USC coach Mark Trakh said Arizona is “positionally disciplined, and they do a good job containing the ball.”
Depth and defense have helped the Wildcats find new ways to win, even when injuries, inconsistency and foul trouble creep in. It’ll make for more compelling basketball when they play USC and UCLA this time around.
“We don’t rely so much just on Aari having to do everything,” Barnes said.
“I think we’re better defensively. We have more depth. We have more length on the perimeter. I think we’re just more of a team this year, which I think makes us tougher.”
Rim shots
Arizona beat ASU in Tempe last weekend for the first time in 20 years. The 1999-2000 team that won in Tempe was coached by
- Joan Bonvicini
- Reshea Bristol
- Felecity Willis
- Julie Brase
- Lisa Griffith
- Monika Crank
- Tatum Brown
- Angela Lackey
- LaKeisha Taylor
- Tamika Catchings
- Kara Lawson
- Niya Butts.
- Barnes said that Dominique McBryde
