Arizona bounced back on Saturday and ended the regular season on a good note.
It wasnโt easy.
Without senior Cate Reese (shoulder) in the lineup, things looked and felt different. At the beginning of the week, not knowing how long Reese would be out of the lineup, UA coach Adia Barnes challenged her players to step up to fill the hole. Barnes even opened all starting roles, saying everyone had to earn their spots.
The Wildcats lost Thursdayโs game to UCLA, 64-46. They responded Saturday with season-best performances from Taylor Chavez (18 points) and Lauren Ware (12 points, 11 rebounds) to grab the regular-season finale, 68-59, over USC after trailing 16-6 after the first quarter.
Arizona earned a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament. UA, which was No. 11 in Mondayโs bracket reveal and fell two spots to No. 14 in the AP poll, will play either Colorado or Washington in Thursdayโs quarterfinal.
Chavez and Ware could be a big part of the Wildcatsโ attack going forward. She hit 5 of 7 3-pointers against USC, giving the UA the offense it needed while opening up driving lanes for point guard Shaina Pellington. On defense, Chavez allowed the Wildcats to stay aggressive and keep pressing, notching two steals.
Ware did it all defensively, outmuscling her opponents for rebounds and scoring on the other end. She also grabbed a steal and had a block.
Taylor Chavez drilled two key 3-pointers late in the second quarter Saturday to get UA back into the game. The Wildcats went on to win by nine.
Itโs been a while since Ware, who sat out for nearly 40 days with a dislocated kneecap, had such a game-changing performance.
โI think the past couple games, sheโs been making the moves, sheโs been getting open; just finishing was an issue,โ senior Sam Thomas said. โI think (Friday) in practice, even (Saturday) morning she came in and she was focused, and you could just tell. I mean having a great game against USC who has 6-6, 6-4 posts players, I think thatโs pretty impressive. So (Iโm) very happy for her.โ
Gaining momentum
USC was a must-win game for the Wildcats if they hoped to earn a first-round Pac-12 Tournament bye.
It was also an important victory for a team that hopes to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
It is not yet known when Reese will return. Though Barnes is optimistic, saying Reeseโs range of motion is good, an NCAA Tournament return is more likely than something this week.
โWeโre learning how to playโ without Reese, Barnes said. โIt took us getting our butts kicked on Thursday, and I think weโre learning. Weโll be better the next game and we know we can do it now without her (Reese) or until she comes back.โ
Mixing up the defense
Arizona played zone defense in spurts on Saturday, something Barnes said they did between 1-3% of the season before the USC game.
โThe way weโre going to win is changing the defense, being aggressive, being able to play different defenses,โ Barnes said. โWe have to (play zone) to win, and that was a difference (Saturday). And sometimes thatโs hard, but weโre focused and weโre able to do that but weโre not going to win if we donโt do that. โฆ I am not a zone coach. We might play a little bit more zone now โฆ you do what you gotta do to win.
โThatโs really not my philosophy as coach to sit in the zone. But I think we might have to sometimes and thatโs OK. Even just to rest some people for a few minutes and they donโt totally rest in the zone, just to give a different look. Then we go back and then we were aggressive, but I prefer aggressive man-to-man defense and thatโs who we are. Thatโs why weโre No. 1 in Pac-12 in defensive field goal percentage.โ
Happy and sad
Bendu Yeaney is one of the hardest-working Wildcats. On Saturday, she put up eight points, four rebounds, two steals and two assists in 29 minutes.
And thatโs just what got into the box score.
โBendu played out of position; she fought, she gave us big plays, big rebounds, big stops and played a solid game,โ Barnes said.
Yeaney took part in Senior Day ceremonies alongside Thomas, Semaj Smith and Ariyah Copeland following the game. But Yeaney isnโt going anywhere: She announced Saturday that she plans to stay one more year alongside Pellington and Reese.
Copeland, who played one year as a grad student at Arizona, was accompanied by her dog, Duke, and Barnes as she walked onto the court. Smith played her entire career as a Wildcat. She came in as a five-star recruit in Barnesโ first highly-ranked recruiting class with Reese.
Appropriately, the last player to walk through the tunnel was Thomas.
โSheโs so special in so many ways. Iโm not even talking about basketball,โ Barnes said of Thomas. โSheโs great. Iโm talking about who she is as a young woman, who sheโs evolved to be. Sheโs selfless. Sheโs a leader. And sheโs great in the classroom. She does the right things. โฆ f I could coach her for my whole career, I would. โฆ Sam means so much this program and we would not be where we are today without Sam. Sam, Aari (McDonald) and honestly, Dominique (McBryde), Lucia (Alonso).
โThose are players that helped build this program. Trinity (Baptiste) coming in last year, Amari (Carter) โ these players came โ Tee Tee (Starks) โ came and touched our program and made a difference, but Sam as just the consistent one. Iโve never had a player for five years. Itโs special and itโs sad, so sad.โ
Rim shots
The Wildcats posted five of the top-10 single-game crowds in program history this season. The UA finished the regular season second in the Pac-12 and sixth nationally in attendance.
Barnes is the only Arizona coach to win at least 20 games in four consecutive seasons.
