Adia Barnes always says that the final game before a break is one of the toughest to win, and it’s easy to see why.
Most players are thinking about the upcoming vacation and not the game at hand.
With that in mind, Arizona’s matchup against UT Arlington on Wednesday afternoon could have been a double whammy. The Wildcats were coming off the biggest win of their season so far, a blowout of Baylor on Sunday night. A letdown loomed.
Yet the 18th-ranked Wildcats showed poise on the w/ay to a 78-59 win over the Mavericks. They wrap nonconference play with a 10-1 record.
Thirty minutes after the game, most of the Wildcats were either catching the charter flight back to Tucson or scattering to their holiday destinations.
They won’t be gone long: Players will return Sunday to begin preparing for their Dec. 29 Pac-12 opener against Arizona State in McKale Center, the first game in an awaiting gauntlet.
Barnes will host the team for Christmas dinner. The next morning, the Wildcats will begin preparing for their five-games-in-11-days slog, the toughest portion of a challenging Pac-12 schedule.
Arizona will play ASU at home on Dec. 29, Cal in Berkeley on Dec. 31 and Stanford in Palo Alto on Jan. 2. Then, the UA comes back to Tucson to face Oregon State on Jan. 6 and Oregon on Jan. 8.
That’s a lot of games right off the bat — and a lot of games against tough opponents in a short timeframe. Their five opponents have combined to win 45 games in nonconference play. Stanford is ranked No. 2; Oregon is 16th.
Martinez hitting milestones
With 5:31 left in Wednesday’s first half, Esmery Martinez made a put-back basket to give UA a 36-17 lead. The bucket gave Martinez, a West Virginia transfer in her first season with the Wildcats, more than 1,000 career points.
Martinez is the first Division I player from the Dominican Republic to reach the milestone.
Martinez scored 13 points against on 5-of-7 shooting against UT Arlington, dished two assists and grabbed nine rebounds and three steals. She is averaging 11.9 points and shooting 58% from the field.
Barnes called Martinez’s accomplishment “awesome.”
“It’s a huge accomplishment. A huge milestone for her. I’m really proud,” Barnes said. “I wish it would have been at home. She’s a great player and I think the future is bright for her. She has aspirations to go pro. She has to continue to improve and work on things and I think she’s capable. Esmery has a chance to be a really good player.”
A stellar defensive run
The Wildcats have played multiple quarters of tenacious defense over the past week.
In the first quarter of Wednesday’s win over UTA, Arizona only gave up eight points while going on a 16-2 run over the last 7:14 of the frame. UA had four steals and a block and held UTA to 28% shooting.
UTA scored just nine points in the third quarter while turning the ball over seven times.
How good has the Wildcats’ defense been?
Over the last three games — wins over Texas Southern, Baylor and UT Arlington — UA held its opponents to an average of 56 points. Texas Southern shot just 35% from the field, while Baylor shot 33% and UTA shot 37%.
Barnes said the Wildcats still need to improve on their on-ball defense next week in practice. In Texas, she learned that the Wildcats “are capable of being a really good team.”
“I’m excited to see what the future is and we have good momentum going into the Pac-12,” Barnes said. “We have a chance to be really, really good.”
Rim Shots
Lauren Fields stuffed the stat sheet against UTA. She scored 10 points, with six of them coming on back-to-back 3-pointers in the first few minutes of the second quarter. She grabbed five rebounds, picked two steals and dished three assists. Barnes says she expects Fields to play this way every game now that she is “more comfortable, more confident” in the UA system.
Arizona’s four freshmen all played against UTA. Maya Nnaji scored six points and pulled down nine rebounds in 10 minutes of play before fouling out for the first time in her career. Kailyn Gilbert also scored six points, dished four assists and grabbed three steals. Paris Clark and Lemyah Hylton scored four points apiece.
Breya Cunningham, a member of UA’s 2023 recruiting class, scored 25 points to lead La Jolla Country Day to a 62-60 win over Lone Peak (Highland, Utah) Wednesday night in the Nike Tournament of Champions, which is being held in Mesa.
Another 2023 signee, Montaya Dew, will move to Tucson on Monday. She will be around the program through the end of the season but is not expected to play.
McKale Center was built at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s. There have been updates through the years.
