Scouting report: No. 17 Arizona Wildcats vs. No. 6 Stanford Cardinal

Probable starters

ARIZONA

G Shaina Pellington (5-8 senior)

G/F Jade Loville (5-11 senior)

F Esmery Martinez (6-2 senior)

F Lauren Fields (5-9 senior)

F Cate Reese (6-2 senior)

STANFORD

G Haley Jones (6-1 senior)

F Cameron Brink (6-4 junior)

G Hannah Jump (6-0 senior)

G Talana Lepolo (5-7 freshman)

G Agnes Emma-Nnopu (5-11 junior)

History of matchup

Arizona is 11-74 against Stanford. UA coach Adia Barnes has won one game during her tenure at the helm of the Wildcats. That was the one-point win in the 2020 overtime thriller when Aari McDonald scored the winning basket with nine seconds left.

The last time these two played was early in the Pac-12 season at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal prevailed as the Wildcats were playing their third game in five days.

These two teams haven’t played at McKale Center in more than two years, since Jan. 1, 2021. It was the first of three meetings that season. Each time out the Wildcats closed the margin and nearly defeated Stanford in the national-championship game, losing by one point. In the last matchup at McKale, then-No. 1 Stanford won 81-54. Sam Thomas led the Wildcats with 14 points, and McDonald had 12. UA was held to 26% shooting.

Key players

Stanford — Cameron Brink

Brink, who is second in the nation with 90 blocks, didn’t have one in the loss to Washington on Sunday. That was the only game this season that she hasn’t recorded a block. As prolific as she is in the art of blocks, don’t expect her to make it two consecutive games without one. The last time these two teams met she swatted four shots but struggled on the offensive end, making only 3 of 15 shots for 12 points.

Arizona — Helena Pueyo

In the last matchup Pueyo had four steals, two blocks, seven rebounds, scored 10 points and dished on assist. She’s due for another stat-stuffing game. Barnes said that Pueyo hasn’t come out with her typical effort or sense of urgency in the last few games, and that’s why she didn’t see much playing time against USC — only four minutes, a season low. In practice this week, Barnes said she saw the typical Pueyo spark.

She said it

“Rebounding is a huge key. Hitting shots, because we know that they’re going to allow us to shoot. They are going to play this far off Shaina (Pellington). They are going to give us shots early in the shot clock. We need to get the shots that we want and attack how we want.

“We have to guard them. Rebounding is a huge key in transition defense. If we rebound, we’re going to be successful. ... Esmery (Martinez) has to stay out of foul trouble.

“We need to run good offense because we’re going to have open shots a lot, and not get baited into taking the shots they want us to take. Get stops and run. I think we can be really successful here at home.

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“It’s going to be an interesting game because they’re coming off a loss, and they typically have great responses. And Tara (VanDerveer) is a great coach. She’s going to have great adjustments, and her team is going to be very motivated, I’m sure, because they’ve had hard practices.

“We are coming off of a high. Winning in tough situations; winning differently away. We’re confident. We have momentum. One team has momentum; one team is getting re-focused. I think the first part of the game is really important to set the tone.”

— UA coach Adia Barnes on Stanford

Sidelines

First reveal: The NCAA will reveal the first top 16 during halftime of the Stanford-UA game. If the NCAA Tournament were to start the next day, these are the teams that would host the first round, which starts on March 15 and 16.

The NCAA will have a second reveal on Feb. 23 during halftime of the South Carolina-Tennessee game.

The big game: Thursday is a matchup of two ranked teams, and it’s televised on ESPN with the “A” team of broadcasters: Rebecca Lobo, Ryan Ruocco and Holly Rowe.

Barnes went to Twitter on Tuesday morning to ask fans to sell out McKale. It’s a “red out,” and UA is giving the first 1,000 fans who pass through the arena’s doors a Barnes bobblehead.

Even former UA standout Thomas got into the act, tweeting: “If Adia wants a ‘red out’ and a sellout, I think it’s only fair we all deliver. I’ll be there in my red.”

To help drive student attendance, the Wildcats paired up with the ZonaZoo on Tuesday to hand out pizza and T-shirts on the mall.

“We got a lot of students to participate in different little challenges,” Pellington said. “I held a sign that said, ‘Pour water on your head for a free prize.’ I got a couple of people to do it. That was a lot of fun interacting with other students to promote our game. I’m hoping that a lot of them will come out.”

Humidity in L.A?: At the end of regulation in Friday night’s game with UCLA, it was tied at 61-apiece. Pellington had an open lane to the basket, and she slipped.

On Sunday afternoon, the Wildcats were wearing their grey uniforms, and sweat was showing through before the game tipped off.

What gives?

Pellington said it was humid in both gyms — Pauley Pavilion and the Galen Center — and everyone was sweating “more than usual.”

“It was even worse at USC, and I was just slipping all over the place,” Pellington said. “There were a couple of times I just walked off to the side — we have this little sticky tape thing — just to wipe my shoes off and my hands. Everything was just really moist. It was so weird.

“(At UCLA) I slipped, and I was so upset because I don’t know what more I could have done at that point. It was the right shot. I would have made it if I hadn’t slipped. Sometimes stuff like that happens, and there is nothing you can do about it. It’s just how will you respond and move on from there that matters.”

Fun facts

Arizona: Pellington was named Canada Basketball’s Player of the Week for her performances in Los Angeles over the weekend … At Barnes’ radio show Tuesday night, Cate Reese taught a young fan how to do the “Reese stomp” that she does when she makes a big play.

Stanford: Brink’s mom and dad, Michelle and Greg, played basketball at Virginia Tech and were roommates with Stephen Curry’s parents, Sonya and Dell. Sonya and Steph have attended many of Stanford’s games — sitting in seats under the basket — at Maples this season.

Numbers game

17 — Before last weekend it had been 17 years since Arizona won back-to-back overtime games. The Wildcats defeated TCU 59-56 and NC State 68-66 in November 2006.

11 — McDonald’s All-Americans are on the squads for both teams Thursday. UA has Reese, Maya Nnaji and Paris Clark; Stanford has Brink, Haley Jones, Lauren Betts, Fran Belibi, Kiki Iriafen, Brooke Demetre, Indya Nivar and Ashten Prechtel.

2 — The last time Stanford lost back-to-back games was two years ago in January 2021, when the Cardinal dropped one to Colorado in OT (77-72) and followed that up with a loss to then-No. 6 UCLA 70-66. Those were the only two games the Cardinal lost on their journey to win the national championship.