It’s been a while since Arizona experienced a typical regular season.
Last year, the Wildcats played only two nonconference games, started Pac-12 play at the beginning of December and endured a four-game pause because of COVID-19 protocols.
This season’s starts and stops included nearly a month between games. A few weeks ago, senior Sam Thomas said it felt like the season was just starting.
And yet, No. 8 Arizona (15-3, 5-3 Pac-12) is at the midway point of its season as it prepares to take on No. 19 Oregon (13-5, 6-1 Pac-12) on Friday night.
The Wildcats have found different ways to win, whether it’s last-second shots from Shaina Pellington in wins against Vanderbilt and Oregon State or Bendu Yeaney’s big performance in an overtime win against a ranked Louisville team.
Arizona won at Pauley Pavilion last week for the first time since 2007, and has been ranked in the Associated Press’ top 10 for 11 consecutive weeks — the longest streak in program history.
Yet it’s still difficult to measure exactly where the Wildcats stand right now. Four of the Wildcats’ 18 games have been decided by two points; three other games have been decided by six, seven and eight points. Arizona lost 76-67 at USC after struggling in the final minutes. And in a 68-66 overtime loss at Oregon, the UA let a double-digit lead slip away over the last quarter.
UA coach Adia Barnes said she “really didn’t know what to expect with this team” as the season began.
“Just because we were so different from last year,” Barnes said. “I didn’t really know where we’d be — with the month hiatus, because of COVID, I think it kind of put us back a little bit. But when I look at where we were last year at this time, we are better defensively, offensively, much better. But we still have a lot of work. … We will improve a lot defensively by March and definitely by the middle of March — hopefully by the Pac-12 Tournament. That’s a month to get better. There are some areas that I don’t think that we’re great at right now — a lot of room for improvement.”
Though Arizona ranks first in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, allowing just 55.7 points per game, Barnes said the Wildcats are “not great defensively right now.”
“We’ll be better,” she said. “We’ll be a little bit better inside guarding; we’ll have a little bit more ball pressure. And we’ll just be more in attack mode. Some of that’s trust, confidence, all those things, but I feel like we’re not attacking defensively, like we can. But we’re going to work on that. We’ll be better in the next month. But it takes time.”
Another big weekend at McKale Center
Next up for the Wildcats: No. 19 Oregon and Oregon State (11-5, 4-2 Pac-12).
Winning both games would give UA a push in the Pac-12 standings. Oregon is in second place, OSU is in third and Arizona is fourth. All three teams trail first-place Stanford, which beat the UA 75-69 on Sunday.
“The first test will be how do we respond after the Stanford loss? And we’ve typically responded well after losses,” Barnes said. “The second thing is you don’t get too high, you don’t get too low. So how do we manage that? How are we going to deal with that? Because that’s going to be what we have to do in the Pac-12 Tournament, and the NCAA Tournament. …
“But you can’t get too high or too low. It’s just another game (against Oregon). We don’t put some stake in this game. We’re not treating this game like it is (the) NCAA Tournament. It’s just another game that we want to win at home. It’s no bigger than the UCLA game at UCLA or Stanford at Stanford, but we’re at home so we have an advantage. We want to win at home. They’re both really hard games. And they’re important games against good teams. They would be good wins. But can we just go up and show up and win? No. We have to play a good game.”
A comeback?
One of the top players in women’s professional basketball, Lauren Jackson is attempting a comeback at the age of 40. Jackson will be playing in the Australian league for her hometown team Albury-Wodonga Bandits later this spring.
Jackson and Barnes were teammates on the 2004 WNBA champion Seattle Storm. Don’t expect to see the 44-year-old Barnes making a comeback as a player anytime soon.
“No, not in a zillion years,” Barnes said. “I’m a couple years older than Lauren, but I looked at that and was like, ‘What?’ That’s going to be hard, but she’s so good. I feel like as a post player, it’s a little bit easier if you’re not out there chasing guards. … I’m curious to see how her transition is going to go. I bet she she’s going to whip into shape, and she’ll still be good. She could probably play till she’s 50 and be fine. …
“When I look at Sue (Bird), I’m a couple years older than Sue, but I don’t know how Sue, Diana (Taurasi) — I don’t know how they do what they do at the level now. I really don’t know. It can’t be easy. They’re in great shape and they’re high-level athletes, but it’s not easy, just body-wise. It’s just a lot of banging and wear and tear for so many years. Half of us can’t walk. I can’t even bend my knee totally right now after playing all these years. And I have tons of injuries.”
Rim Shots
Barnes said she was honored and a bit surprised to be named grand marshal of this month’s Tucson Rodeo Parade. “I got more texts about that and probably some of our wins,” Barnes said. The parade on Feb. 24 is a game day, but Barnes didn’t hesitate when asked. “It’s really important to Tucson, it’s really important to the community and it’s a staple here,” she said. Barnes said she’s excited to be part of something that “represents Tucson,” and can’t wait to buy some cowboy boots.
The UA has sold 8,500 tickets and counting for Friday night’s rematch with rival Oregon. The lower bowl is sold out, and the UA has released 1,000 extra seats in the upper bowl.
Barnes said she would like to see 12,000 fans at the game.
“These are big games for us, and we need to protect our house,” Barnes said.
