All week long, there was talk about the hunger in the Wildcats’ eyes and how they were ready to get rolling.
“This is our time now,” forward Cate Reese said.
Monday, the college basketball world saw for themselves.
Led by a swarming defense and a balanced scoring attack, third-seeded Arizona dominated Stony Brook 79-44 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Alamodone in San Antonio.
The Wildcats (17-5) advance to play 11th-seeded BYU on Wednesday. The Cougars (19-5) upset Rutgers to start play on Monday.
Monday marked Arizona’s first tournament win since 2005. The last time the Wildcats were seeded this high was in 1998; that year, they advanced to the Sweet 16 — the furthest Arizona has ever gone in the tournament.
“I’m proud of my teammates today, how we played we got to just cherish the moment right now because we got a grind it out again in a couple of days,” UA guard and Pac-12 Player of the Year Aari McDonald said. “ … We’re not done yet.”
McDonald led the way with 20 points, while teammates Trinity Baptiste (18 points) and Cate Reese (16 points) also scored in double figures. Arizona improved to 15-0 when both Baptiste and Reese score 10 points or more.
All three players were efficient. Arizona shot 58% from the field and 67% — 8 of 12 — from the 3-point line. All 18 assists came from guards finding their teammates.
Coach Adia Barnes said she “expected Cate and Trinity to be aggressive.”
“They combined for 33 points — really good,” Barnes said. “I thought that they were strong inside. Cate got muscled on the first two shots, missed, but then she stayed with it. She was aggressive. But our guards kept on giving them the ball.”
The Wildcats came at Stony Brook fast and furious in a game that was shown on ESPN2, showing a new level of fire and intensity.
The did all the little things, whether it was a tip-and-steal by Sam Thomas, a scrum-on-the-floor steal that landed in an upright Reese’s hands or flying in the air to corral an errant pass for a steal by both Thomas and Baptiste.
Playing multiple positions, Thomas — Arizona’s do-everything senior — finished with six steals and three assists. She did not turn the ball over.
“That’s an incredible stat line. That is a player that’s helping you win games,” Barnes said. “Sam scored two points, three rebounds, six steals, three assists — a plus-21 efficiency. That is extremely efficient. That’s just what your captain does to help you win games.”
Arizona started early, registering two steals in the first 50 seconds and seven steals in the first nine minutes. The Wildcats forced 11 turnovers in the first quarter alone.
It wasn’t just Arizona’s defense that played on another level in the 35-point win. The Wildcats’ offense came along for the ride. Arizona went on a 15-2 run in the first quarter, forcing Stony Brook to take a timeout with 5:37 left.
Arizona took a 47-20 lead into halftime. The pounding continued in the second half as Arizona went on a 13-6 run.
The Seawolves didn’t score their first basket of the second half until there was 5:25 left in the third quarter.
Stony Brook shot just 29%; Anatasia Warren, who put up 31 points in the America East Tournament title game against Maine, was held scoreless.
Arizona forward Cate Reese gets past Stony Brook’s Leighah-Amori Wool during Monday’s first half. Reese finished with 16 points.
The Wildcats picked 17 steals, forced 25 turnovers, and had six blocks. If they were nervous or anxious to play their first NCAA Tournament game in 16 years, it didn’t show.
“This is uncharted territory, but we handled it like champs,” Barnes said.
“I thought we came out with the intensity that I expected — that I wanted to see. I’m very happy for this team.”
