By the numbers: How Arizona rallied past UCLA in top-10 battle at McKale

In the Arizona Wildcats’ first-ever home matchup between two top-10 teams, No. 7 UA came back from a double-digit deficit to beat No. 9 UCLA 68-65 and notch its first Pac-12 win of the season.

The Star took a by-the-numbers look at Friday night’s game and found five stats that tell the story of how the Wildcats (2-0, 1-0) found a path to victory.

6

It’s often said that seven is a lucky number, but six had all the magic Friday night for Arizona. The Wildcats held the Bruins to six points in the third quarter on just 6% shooting (1 of 18). The suffocating defensive effort proved monumental in the Cats pulling off the comeback win.

Point guard Aari McDonald said it was the team’s best defensive effort in a quarter since she’s been at Arizona.

29

The combined points and rebounds for forward Trinity Baptiste. UCLA had no answer for the 6-foot post player on either end of the court as Baptiste was Arizona’s top scorer with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting and leading rebounder with 11.

Baptiste is averaging 15 points per game to start the year.

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13

Arizona was able to contain UCLA’s top scorer Michaela Onyenwere and hold the senior to 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Onyenwere was held to 13 or fewer points only four times last year.

7

In the most crucial moments of the game, it was none other than McDonald who came to the rescue for the Wildcats. The senior led the team with seven points in the fourth quarter (17 for the game) and hit a 3-pointer with 5:31 to go to give the Cats an eight-point lead.

3

The Wildcats have now won three out of their last four games against top-10 opponents.

She said it

“Our defense, our hustle and our heart showed tonight. We didn’t get down when we were down 11 (points). We still fought and we chipped away. We always say, ‘one basket at a time’.” — Adia Barnes