Aari McDonald missed a foul shot with 20 seconds remaining Friday night against Cal and the crowd at McKale Center collectively responded with a low, groaning noise, almost one of disbelief.
Itβs like they looked at one another and said βdid we really see that. β¦ She missed?β
McDonald has been so good so fast in her first two months in an Arizona uniform that even her coach, Adia Barnes, doesnβt know what to make of it.
βDid I know sheβd lead the country in scoring? No,β Barnes said after the Wildcats played perfectly in the final minute to beat the No. 24 Golden Bears 60-55. βShe has quickness and athleticism, and sheβs dynamic and so instinctive. Sheβs a gamer, but there are still a lot of areas she needs to work on.β
Like what, dunking?
McDonald outscored the Bears 7-2 in the final 59 seconds Friday. In a bigger perspective, she scored 22 of Arizonaβs 27 points in the second half in which, incredibly, the Wildcats shot 17 percent and still won.
This stuff is getting hard to believe.
Arizona has chopped down Top 25 teams in two consecutive home games. Before that, stretching 10 seasons, Arizona had gone 2-25 at McKale against Top 25 teams.
Such is the progress made in Barnesβ third season at Arizona. And there isnβt even a day to celebrate: Arizonaβs next three games are against No. 6 Stanford, No. 8 Oregon and No. 10 Oregon State.
Itβs like a menβs team in the ACC playing Duke, Virginia and North Carolina back-to-back-to-back.
βThis stretch will show me where weβre at and what weβre made of,β said Barnes, who then paused briefly to reflect on how far the 13-2 Wildcats have come in 15 games.
βIn the past decade, Arizona has always been a team you wanted to play twice,β she said. βIβm here to bring this program to where it used to be. Iβm not here to finish 10th or 11th. I hated it when I was at Washington and people would say βOh, we play Arizona,β and it always kind of offended me.
βWeβre putting the right pieces together, bringing excitement back here. Winning cures all.β
Arizonaβs head coach Adia Barnes tries to get her point across to one of the game officials in the early going against California at McKale Center, Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, Tucson.
Even though McDonald seems to be averaging 35 points a game β itβs βonlyβ 27 β and even though the Wildcats drew 2,557 last night, giving them 7,563 in those upsets over ASU and Cal, Arizona is just getting started.
The Zona Zoo was occupied by exactly six students Friday night. Sometimes the pep band helped them make some noise, but so far, those who occupy McKale Center to watch the Barnes Brigade become relevant for the first time in 14 years are people who remember what it was to be alive when the Beatles were discovered.
Youβll know the UAβs womenβs hoops program has arrived when President Robert C. Robbins takes a seat in the front row, as he does in virtually every Sean Miller-coached game.
And youβll know theyβve arrived when they are able to go through a season against the Pac-12 powerhouses, break .500 and get a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in forever.
This building a program business is not for the impatient. Nor is it always fair.
Pac-12 womenβs basketball is the opposite of Pac-12 menβs basketball. According to the NCAAβs RPI, Arizona is the No. 55 team overall β and thatβs ninth among Pac-12 teams. Amazing.
On Friday, McDonald, the jet-fueled point guard from Fresno, California, did everything she could to get her team involved. But as Cal rallied to tie the game at 53, it was no time for McDonald to show how well she can pass.
βI kept noticing Coach Barnes pointing to me,β McDonald said, modestly. βI went, ah β¦ OK.β
It was go time, and Cal had no way to get the ball out of McDonaldβs hands.
She is like a female Pete Rose, impacting everything, in the middle of the action. She is tireless, fearless. She loves the pressure and although there is no dirt on a basketball court, she loves to get her uniform dirty.
More help is on the way; Barnesβ recruiting class of 2019 includes two 6-foot-4-inch players β one from Iceland, the other from Turkey. Arizona desperately needs more size so that McDonald doesnβt have to carry so much of a load.
On Friday, Barnesβ collapsing, double-and-triple-teaming defense did a relatively effective job βlimitingβ Calβs 6-4 Kristine Anigwe to 19 points and 20 rebounds. Arizona has nobody remotely as big and skilled as Anigwe, a senior who is apt to be one of the top three picks in the WNBA draft this summer.
Yet the collective defense played by Dominique McBryde, Cate Reese and even McDonald did not allow Anigwe to dominate.
βItβs funny, I look at the stat sheet and Anigwe had 19 points and 20 rebounds and I thought we did a great job against her,β said Barnes. βThatβs how good she is.β
Anigwe is from Phoenix. She was the Arizona high school player of the year in 2015 and the UA had no chance to successfully recruit her. Over the last 23 years, Arizona has been able to recruit just one Arizona player of the year β star guard Davellyn Whyte in 2009. Thatβs not good.
The rest of those POYs wound up at places like ASU, Tennessee, Oregon and BYU. It is up to Barnes to make sure the next Anigwe isnβt playing against the Wildcats.
But for now, Arizona has risen from the ashes. Barnes has made an impact and even though the rest of the Pac-12 season is going to challenge the UA just to finish 9-9, the best seems yet to come.
Barnes was saying that, given more time to recruit and surround McDonald with size and depth, βyouβll see a different Aari as a junior and a senior.β
For now, Aari McDonald the sophomore is working out just fine.
