Cate Reese is the picture of consistency.
In her first two seasons as a Wildcat, she hit 49% of her shots from the floor. This season, she’s increased it to 53%.
Her presence is felt offensively throughout games, but especially when the game reaches the second half. The 6-foot-2-inch forward wears teams down with her mid-range jumpers; she can also drive and finish inside.
Arizona coach Adia Barnes has said that Reese is a key ingredient to the 11th-ranked Wildcats’ success. In Arizona’s two losses this season, to No. 1 Stanford and at No. 25 Washington State, Reese went a combined 2 for 8 from the field.
Reese can reach a milestone Thursday, when the Wildcats (9-2, 7-2) face No. 10 Oregon (8-2, 6-2). She only needs 15 points to reach 1,000 career points.
The Star talked to Reese about playing basketball during a pandemic, how Arizona has turned its program around so quickly, and what’s next:
You came to Arizona to help build the foundation and have an impact on the program. How does it feel to come so far, so quick?
A: “I feel like we’re on like a fast track to building the foundation — it happened so quickly. I think it just goes to show that for Sam (Thomas), Aari (McDonald), Dominique (McBryde), me and others who came when the program was at one of its lowest points, that we truly believed we could build something special. When you look at it now, we did. We have built something that we can be proud of. Others will continue to come and commit and help leave that legacy that we always talk about — continuing the success of the program and keep pushing ourselves to always raise the bar, because that’s what we’ve been doing since I’ve been here.”
Recently, 2022 verbal commit Kailyn Gilbert said one of the reasons she selected Arizona was to win a national championship. I know that everyone wants to win a national championship, but that isn’t something you’ve talked about in the past as you were focused on the turnaround. What is it like to hear people say that they want to come to Arizona to win a national championship?
A: “It’s crazy. If you look back a couple years ago, when I committed, when Aari committed, I’m sure they asked the same questions to Aari: ‘Why are you going there? They’re in the back of the Pac. They’re not great.’ If I would have said I wanted to win a national championship back then, people would have looked at me like I was crazy. Now, with the success that we’ve had, you can truly say ‘I want to win a national championship’ and people will believe you because of how far the program has come. I think it’s great that people want to come here to continue this success. It’s something that people didn’t really believe in a couple years ago. People were looking at Arizona and getting recruited by Arizona and were probably like, ‘I don’t want to go there’ because we weren’t great. Now, those same people are probably like, ‘Dang, I should have gone there.’ I think it shows that people have trust in Coach Adia, trust in the program and really think that we can be successful.”
The pandemic hasn’t been easy for anyone. You’ve had to be more disciplined about everything before you can even practice, let alone play a game. How hard has that been for you and your teammates?
A: “It was definitely more difficult in the beginning, when you are getting used to all the protocols and learning the rules of what you need to do to be safe. Now, it’s kind of a thing you are used to.
“It’s definitely a little annoying sometimes. … This was the first time I’ve been alone for Christmas, (and) I’m sure a lot of people were feeling the same thing. There are a lot of new things I haven’t really done. We have to get up early every morning to test (for the virus). You have to realize everyone is doing that. And everyone is trying their best to be safe to keep their team in a position where they can play.
“It’s hard, but if you love the sport, if you want to keep your team safe, then those are the things that you’re willing to do. I think our team has done a great job of being able to do those things and put us in a position where we don’t have to sit out or we don’t have to cancel a game. I’m really proud of how we’ve done as a whole, to keep us safe and away from COVID-19. Knock on wood.”
What will we see from you as the year progresses?
A: “I’m definitely working on my shot more — I haven’t been shooting as well as I did to this point last year. I am working on my mid-range (jumper) and using my left more. I need to be more aggressive driving like I was at the beginning of the season. And continue to stay focused for the rest of the season, because it’s a long conference season, something we’re not used to.”
What is your favorite thing to do on the court?
A: “I like to run the floor. I think I’m really good at that, too. I just like being able to run the floor, beat my defender and get easy layups, easy runs.”
Rim shots
- Arizona dropped four spots to No. 11 nationally in Monday’s Associated Press top-25 poll. Washington State, which beat Arizona 71-69 in overtime on Sunday, cracked the top 25 for the first time ever. The Cougars are 25th.
- Thursday’s ESPN matchup is a battle of No. 10 vs. No. 11. The Wildcats have not beaten the Ducks during Barnes’ tenure as UA coach.
- McDonald and Thomas hit Arizona scoring milestones Sunday. Thomas joined the 1,000-point club and McDonald moved into fourth place on UA’s all-time scoring list with 1,674 points.
