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)
UT ARLINGTON
F Shyia Smith (5-11 senior)
G Alexsyah Goudeau (5-10 freshman)
F Starr Jacobs (6-2 senior)
G Kayla White (5-10 senior)
G Reniya Jones (5-8 sophomore)
Key players
UT Arlington – Starr Jacobs
The Mavericks may have moved from the Sun Belt to the WAC this year, but the expectations for Jacobs — last year’s Sun Belt Player of the Year — are still high. She was named the WAC Preseason Player of the Year, and has been named to the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Preseason Watch List.
The 6-foot-2-inch senior forward is averaging 14.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game; she’s also grabbed 28 steals in 11 games. Jacobs is coming off a 15-points, 12-rebound, three-steal performance over Texas A&M Texarkana.
Arizona – Lauren Fields
Fields showed in Sunday’s win over Baylor that she’s more comfortable on the offensive end. Her shooting stroke looked more fluid, too. Fields finished with eight points and went 2 for 4 from beyond the arc.
Add this to the scrappy energy she brings on the defensive end, and it’s clear Fields is a key piece to making the Wildcats go. The 5-9 guard is a disruptor on defense — she already has 20 steals and four blocks this season. Fields is consistently the Go Beyond winner of the energizer bunny award after games. After the Baylor game, she also picked up the lock down defender nod.
Matchup history
These two teams have only met once, in December of 1989 at the Hurricane Tip-Off Classic in Miami. The Wildcats rallied to pull off a 68-66 victory. After being down 33-29 at the half, UA outscored UT-Arlington 39-33 in the second half. Arizona was led by Timi Brown and Brenda Frese, both of whom scored 19 points. Frese, who now coaches Maryland, was 8 of 15, hitting two of the three 3-pointers she attempted.
She said it
“This is an athletic team. They really get out in transition with multiple people. We’re going to have to protect the paint and be locked into our transition defense. They’re not shooting a bunch of threes from the perimeter. We’re really trying to protect the paint and be aggressive on our rotations. But still when we’re rotating, knowing that they’re driving. We’ve really got to do a great job of guarding our own man. When we are in rotations, making sure we’re we’re matched up and we’re protecting the rim, enforcing contested jump shots instead of allowing them to get where they want to on the floor, which is in the paint and to the free throw line, as well. We talked about defending without fouling. For us, I really believe that we’ve got to continue playing with tempo. You saw the way that we got out in transition — probably the best we have this past game, and we’re more fluid with it. We’ve got to play with that type of tempo and pace and also continue sharing the ball.”
— UA assistant coach Erin Grant, who scouted UT Arlington
Sidelines
Extra day in Texas
When UA coach Adia Barnes agreed to play in the Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge, she was not told whether the game would take place Sunday or Monday. Barnes scheduled the UT Arlington game for Wednesday. The Wildcats’ game with Baylor was scheduled for Sunday, meaning they had an extra day in Dallas.
After the win Sunday night, the Wildcats celebrated with ice cream sandwiches at Insomnia. After practice on Monday, they went to see a matinee showing of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” They filled up most of the theater.
Still beaming
Barnes noted that the Baylor win was “really big.”
“Especially after the Kansas loss to see how we responded against a really good team at an away game, which was like a Baylor home game with all Baylor fans and just to bounce back with a big win away,” Barnes said. “It just shows kind of where we’re at and our character, how we’ve improved in the last couple of weeks. … We defended well. I loved our intensity. I loved the way we fought and I like to think that we improved on from the first game.” Barnes said the Wildcats worked hard in practice, focusing on defense, rotations and 50/50 balls.
“I think we just bought in and followed the game plan,” Barnes said.
Picking steals
Arizona is eighth in the nation with 13.3 steals per game. They had 11 in the Baylor win. How does that breakdown by Wildcat?
Four players are averaging at least two steals a game: Helena Pueyo averages 2.5, and Fields, Martinez and Pellington average 2 apiece. Pueyo is tied for first in the Pac-12 in steals.
UT Arlington is tied for 50th nationally, averaging 10.5 steals per game. Jacobs is the only one to grab more than two per game. She averages 2.5 steals.
Fun facts
Arizona: Martinez needs four points to hit 1,000 points scored in her career. She’s 116 rebounds away from 1,000 … Barnes has known coach Shereka Wright for years. Both played in the WNBA, and the two interacted frequently on the recruiting trail as assistants.
UT Arlington: Coach Shereka Wright was a three-time All-American at Purdue who spent two seasons (2004-05) with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury … Alexsyah Goudeau’s nickname is “Smalls.”
Numbers game
4 – Four Wildcats are averaging 11.5 points or more and shooting 45% or better per game: Pellington (14.1, 54%), Loville (13.3, 45%), Reese (12.2, 50%) and Martinez (11.8, 56%)
9.9 – Martinez is averaging 9.9 rebounds per game. She grabbed a season-high 15 boards against Baylor. Her career high of 24 came against Kansas when she was a sophomore at West Virginia.
51—Loville is hitting 51% of her 3-point attempts. She was 4 of 5 against Baylor. Last season at ASU, she made 43% of her long-range shots.
McKale Center was built at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s. There have been updates through the years.
