Cate Reese is used to being overlooked.
Three years ago, Reese put up numbers worthy of being named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, leading all league freshmen in points and rebounds. But the honor went to someone else.
Things haven’t gotten much better as a senior. Reese was not on the watch list for the Katrina McClain Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top power forward.
And when it came time to name a Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday, Reese was on the outside looking in — despite putting up 14 points on Friday against Utah and 23 points on Sunday against Colorado.
Reese says she doesn’t focus on individual accolades. It’s a team game, after all, and the senior forward says she wants to lead the Wildcats back to the Final Four and their first national championship.
To do that, the Wildcats must continue to play well. On Wednesday, No. 8 Arizona (14-2, 4-2) plays UCLA (9-4, 4-1) at Pauley Pavilion in a makeup game. The Wildcats and Bruins were initially supposed to play Jan. 2 before the UCLA’s COVID-19 protocols forced a delay. It’s a busy week for the Wildcats, who will take on No. 2 Stanford in Palo Alto on Sunday in a rematch of last year’s national championship game. The UA was supposed to play at Cal on Friday, but the game has been postponed due to COVID-19 issues with the Golden Bears.
A 6-foot-2-inch senior from Cypress, Texas, Reese leads the Wildcats with 14.9 points and 6.1 rebounds over 25.2 minutes per game this season. Her 18 points per game in Pac-12 play is tops among all players who have played in more than two conference games. (Cal’s Jayda Curry is averaging 21.5 points, but has played just two Pac-12 games).
Arizona forward Cate Reese is one of five players in UA history with more than 1,300 career points and 700 career rebounds.
So what gives? It’s possible that Reese’s consistency and lack of on-court flash works against her. Consider: In her first three seasons at the UA, Reese averaged 11.8, 13.6 and 10.9 points and 6.8, 7.5 and 5.1 rebounds per game. She is one of five players in UA history to have at least 1,300 career points and 700 career rebounds.
Arizona coach Adia Barnes says Reese is playing like an All-American.
“She’s playing at a high level,” Barnes said. “She’s playing good basketball. She’s a presence. She is finishing stronger. She’s driving it better, she’s defending better. She’s helping us win. We know we can count on her. We run plays for her, we isolate her. She’s playing at a very, very high level.”
An important reset
Koi Love opens eyes every time she steps on the court.
In the second quarter of Friday night’s game, Love picked a steal, dished an assist and scored the last three baskets of the half to give UA a commanding 41-26 lead.
Barnes said she was happy about Love’s performance, especially given the way her night began.
“She came in the first time and was not on point,” Barnes said. “She came in settled for a lot of jumpers (and missed), got pulled out and reset. If you tell Koi exactly what you want, she’s going to do it. She did a tremendous job of resetting herself, and then going back in and doing what we need and being a huge spark. That’s what she’s been doing. I am really proud of her. That’s hard to do as a player — to get pulled, then go back and you are supposed to respond. But she did that.
“She was great on top of the press. She brings us athleticism. She brings us a player that can attack the rim one-on-one. And that’s her game. She has some nice crossovers that make people fall. I love her intensity. I love what she brings us with a different look.”
The last time
Arizona and UCLA played twice last season — once early in the pandemic-shortened season and again the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals.
Arizona won the first game 68-65, but lost the tournament game 58-49. The Bruins outscored the Wildcats 17-9 in the second quarter to pull ahead. Neither team shot well — UA hit only only 32% of its shots, while UCLA was at 33%. The Bruins capitalized off turnovers, while Arizona did not. The Wildcats had only six points off 13 UCLA turnovers.
After the loss, Arizona took some time off to rest before getting back at it and preparing for the NCAA Tournament. That rest may have helped the Wildcats reel off five straight wins before the one-point loss to Stanford in the championship game.
Rim shots
Two members of Arizona’s highly rated 2022 signing class — Maya Nanji and Paris Clark — were named McDonald’s All-Americans when the list was released Tuesday afternoon. Reese is the only other player in program history to receive McDonald’s All-American honors and play in the game.
UCLA has only seven players available for Wednesday night’s game because of injuries. Graduate guard Jaelynn Penn is listed as day-to-day with a hand injury. She didn’t play in either game last weekend. Despite it, the Bruins are riding a four-game winning streak.
“All we have is all we need,” coach Cori Close said.
Kansas State’s Ayoka Lee set a new NCAA record for most points scored in a game — 61 — over the weekend. She did it all on inside shots and free throws. In fact, Lee has not attempted a 3-pointer all season. The 6-foot-6-inch center was averaging 24 points per game before the game. The previous record of 60 was held by two players: Minnesota guard Rachel Banham (2016) and Long Beach State forward Cindy Brown (1987).
Brown made 20 of 32 field goals and 20 of 22 free throws to lead her team to a 149-69 win over San Jose State. Brown’s coach: Joan Bonvicini, who went on to lead the UA.
Bonvicini congratulated Lee on Twitter after and said, “records are made to be honored and broken!”
