Bendu Yeaney doesn’t know exactly where her energy comes from.
She has her suspicions, though. Yeaney grew up in a chaotic household where she was one of 13 children. She played all-day basketball sessions with her older brothers, Chris and Adam.
Yeaney’s two brothers were the ones who noticed something wasn’t right for her at Indiana — and that things have gotten better since she transferred to Arizona.
After Yeaney’s first game in a Wildcats uniform, Chris said: “That’s the Bendu I remember. There’s the energy. You look like you are having fun again.”
Yeaney and No. 6 Arizona (5-0, 4-0 Pac-12) will try to bring a similar energy on Sunday, when the Wildcats take on Utah (2-3, 1-3 in Pac-12) at noon. Arizona escaped Colorado with a 62-59 win on Friday after Aari McDonald hit all 11 of her free throw attempts. Yeaney played 31 minutes, scored three points and grabbed seven rebounds. She is averaging 3.6 points and 4.4 boards per game this season.
Yeaney learned the finer points of basketball in the games with her brothers. At first, they beat her regularly.
“I’d cry every time they’d beat me — we played until I beat them,” Yeaney said. “We’d be out there all day long. I’m not sure if they let up on me a little. They don’t want to play me anymore. I think I’m winning.”
The crying stopped when she was in the seventh grade.
“I was just so mad — I wanted to get better and beat them,” she said.
The energy was always there. Yeaney thinks it shows more at Arizona with no fans at games.
“(Right now) you don’t hear the fans going crazy; you just hear me,” she said. “I know every time I step on the floor I have to bring something. The rest of the team feeds off it. I think it comes from within me and loving basketball. I think it’s brought up here more than anywhere else because different schools focus on different things. We focus on punching first, so that’s why it shows more.”
Barnes’ program puts an emphasis on “passion plays.” Heading into Friday’s game at Colorado, Yeaney had 15 of them. Only two players — Aari McDonald and Cate Reese — had more.
Yeaney goes after the ball with abandon. She gets deflections, dives after 50/50 balls and muscles her way in for rebounds. One play during the ASU game shows it all: She elevated to get a rebound, tipped the ball to herself and put up a shot 10 feet away from where she started and drew a foul.
The energy and toughness are exactly what Barnes was looking for when she recruited Yeaney — twice. Barnes first tried to sell Yeaney on Arizona out of high school to be a part of the freshman class that included Sam Thomas. When Yeaney decided to transfer earlier in the year, Barnes knew she would be a good fit to join the Cats because she “does all the things I really value.”
“She always brings the other stuff so that’s just the plus. She dives on the floor, she chest bumps Aari, Cate and Trinity (Baptiste). She’s just one of those ‘glue’ kids,” Barnes said. “If I told her she starts tomorrow, she’s happy. If I told her she comes off the bench, she’s happy and grateful. She’s like, ‘whatever role I play coach, I just want to win.’ And that’s what I love about her. …
“She’s finally having fun again. Winning is fun, but I love the fact that … she came here and she has her love of basketball back. That that makes me feel good because the experience of the student-athletes is one of the most important things. You’re supposed to love it, you’re supposed to have fun. I mean, life is hard. Basketball should be a fun part and basketball should be something you love, and it should be an outlet.”
Arizona Wildcats guard Bendu Yeaney, center, is having fun on the basketball court again after a tough stretch at Indiana.
As Yeaney settled into her seat on the bus to the airport Thursday for the Wildcats’ first road trip of the season, she was exactly where she wanted to be.
“To be back home on the West Coast and playing for Coach Adia is a dream come true,” she said. “The second time around I couldn’t say ‘no’ to her. It’s been fun.”
Rim shots
- Barnes was the keynote speaker at the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s “40 under 40” virtual event Tuesday. She shared her philosophy on leadership and what goes into the mix. Some of her takeaways were: Lead with love and be authentic; always be consistent and tell the truth, even when it’s hard; and be prepared, be ready before you get there.
- One possession in Friday night’s game against Colorado summed up exactly why Barnes loves having Thomas on the floor. With 21 seconds remaining and the Wildcats were leading by two points, Thomas — one of the best defensive players in the league — came up with a clutch deflection and steal to stop the Buffs.
“She just finds a way,” Barnes said.
Said Thomas: “I definitely knew that we need to stop so I was trying to protect the basketball at all costs.”
Then she shared a secret.
“I’m not gonna lie — I lost my player and I didn’t know where she went,” Thomas said. “I stood in the middle of the key and then I saw her coming from the corner of my eye. I remember on scout, they say they (Colorado) like to cut back-door a lot. I was like, ‘she’s coming for me.’ I tried to step up in the passing lane to get my hand in there and I was able to get it.”
