No time to celebrate, UA focused on next challenge: Beating Ducks, getting 1st sweep

It doesn’t get any easier from here on out for Arizona.

In their most exciting game this season, the Wildcats came from 12 points down to eek out a win Friday night against Oregon State, 72-69, with the last 15 points coming in the final three minutes.

As is typical in the Pac-12, there wasn’t a lot of time to celebrate this one. On Saturday afternoon, Arizona was preparing for its next challenge of the young league season — sweeping its first Pac-12 weekend series.

On Sunday, No. 15 Arizona (13-2, 3-1 Pac-12) hosts No. 18 Oregon (12-3, 3-1 Pac-12) at 5 p.m. at McKale Center. The game is the first of two home games this season that will be broadcast on ESPN2.

UA is in a four-way tie for second place in the Pac-12 along with Oregon, No. 8 Utah and Colorado. Stanford sits atop the league, undefeated at 3-0.

A win for the Wildcats would give them a slight edge and some space as Utah and Colorado aren’t playing Sunday. The two mountain schools faced each other Friday in the back end of the rivalry games, with Colorado upsetting previously undefeated Utah 77-67.

It’s also another top-20 matchup for the Wildcats, who are 1-1 in such games this season after defeating then-No. 18 Baylor in December and dropping one to No. 2 Stanford on Monday.

Arizona won the last two matchups against Oregon that were televised on ESPN channels in 2021.

History between them

A win for the Wildcats would mean a lot for the program, although Arizona coach Adia Barnes would say that every game is important.

Despite Oregon owning the series, winning 45 of 76 games dating back to 1981, this matchup has turned into a bitter rivalry over the past few years.

It started well before last year’s jawing between Barnes and Oregon coach Kelly Graves during the game in Eugene. Neither coach would comment much on what really happened. Not after the game, not a few weeks later when they played in Tucson or even this week leading into Sunday’s matchup.

During that game in Eugene, it was the Ducks who came from behind for a 68-66 victory in overtime. They overcame a 17-point deficit and won on a short jumper by Endyia Rogers with less than a second left in the extra period.

Fans were ready for the matchup just a few weeks later in McKale Center. A record-setting 10,413 — the most for an Arizona regular-season game — came out and booed Graves when he was introduced before the game. The Wildcats cruised to a 63-48 victory playing disruptive defense — forcing 21 turnovers and blocking three shots.

Barnes downplays the rivalry between the two teams, saying only that Arizona considers nearly every team in the Pac-12 a rival.

Oregon has a different perspective on this. Former UA assistant Jackie Nared Hairston, who is now on staff at Oregon, thinks it’s just “two competitive teams” playing.

“I wouldn’t call it a rivalry,” Nared Hairston said. “I just think it’s just like most Pac-12 games. Every weekend is going to be tough, every weekend. You’ve got to come every game ready to play. I don’t know if we’d call it a rivalry, exactly. But definitely, a lot of great players and a lot of great competition.”

But consider this:

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These teams have been on this rivalry path for quite some time.

At the end of the 2017-18 season, when the Wildcats won only six games, the Ducks won a regular-season Pac-12 title after beating UA 74-61 on the final day of the season. They celebrated on the floor at McKale Center.

During that season, UA freshman Sam Thomas edged Oregon’s Satou Sabally in nearly every statistical category from rebounds to blocks and steals — only slightly giving way to Sabally in points and assists. Yet it was Sabally, playing for a team that won the Pac-12 title and made it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, who took the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honor.

During the 2021 season, Arizona figured out the secret to beating Oregon, taking both games handily, by 16 and 20 points. In the first one, UA forced 23 turnovers and Oregon shot only 32.6% from the field. The Wildcats disrupted the Ducks from the jump, outscoring them 22-7 in the first quarter.

The game in Eugene could have been called the Cate Reese Revenge Game. After hearing some Ducks talking smack before the game, basically saying she couldn’t shoot, Reese put on a clinic. She went off for 25 points — well above her 11-point average — going 11 for 14 from the field and knocking down all three of her 3s.

Size vs. stinginess

This year’s matchup has all the makings of a tight game. However, it’s not just the rankings and the history that make this one a must-watch. It’s the players themselves.

Oregon has good guard play with the trio of Te-Hina Paopao, Rogers and freshman Chance Gray, who have combined to dish 161 assists.

Then there are the posts. Phillipina Kyei is 6-8, and Grace VanSlooten is 6-3. Kyei is averaging 12.3 rebounds, and VanSlooten has won three Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards and one Player of the Week honor so far this season.

VanSlooten and UA’s Kailyn Gilbert were teammates at IMG Academy last season, and both were on USA Basketball’s U18 FIBA Americas gold-winning squad this past summer.

Coming into the weekend, VanSlooten is one of two freshmen nationally averaging 15 points, six rebounds and two assists per game. Barnes said she is one of the best freshmen in the country.

“I didn’t know she’d be this good this early — just have so much success early. But yeah, she’s a great player,” Barnes said. “Obviously, it’s why all of us recruited her. But she’s really fitting in and doing well at Oregon. (She’s) tough to guard.”

Both of Oregon’s posts will give Arizona a challenge, especially if Maya Nnaji isn’t able to play. She sat out Friday with a possible concussion. Barnes expected her to be ready to go Sunday. However, if Nnaji is out, this means that UA has only two real forwards in Reese and Esmery Martinez. The Wildcats will have to go with a small lineup at times with Helena Pueyo and Madi Conner filling the void.

For the Ducks to pull off the win over the Wildcats, they know it’s all about one thing: Figuring out and neutralizing Arizona’s defense. It’s the Wildcats’ defense that makes everything run — getting steals and stops turns into points on the other end. That is exactly how they scored 15 consecutive points in rallying to defeat Oregon State on Friday.

“Everybody knows planning for Arizona it’s that defense,” Nared Hairston said. “You can talk about it and try to emulate as much as you can, but you don’t feel it till you feel it. Then it’s like, ‘Oh, wow!’

“I think that’s going to be the biggest shock, especially for the freshmen. … Our hope is our girls are a little more ready for that kind of defensive intensity.”