Wildcat Isis Beh back for one more year after coaches, teammates, fans show they care

One thing Isis Beh couldn’t shake was the love she felt from the Tucson community, her coaches and her teammates.

When it came time to make her decision after the season of whether she would stay for one more year or walk away from it all, the pull was too much. Last week, Beh announced that she was coming back for one more season as a Wildcat.

Beh posted: “Wildcat fans, over the past year I have been amazed by your support and passion. You are the best fans in the country. Tucson is beautiful and diverse, with a sense of community and culture you can’t find anywhere else. It has become my home.

“Adia and the entire staff have been there for me through thick and thin. They are the best in the game. My teammates have been 10 toes down all season. They have become my sisters.

“I can’t leave all that love behind.

“I am back for the 2024-25 season and I hope to return all the love I have been given. I am so proud to be a Wildcat forever.”

Beh had been leaning on just walking away from basketball to start a real estate career. She had been in school five seasons, playing in three of them. She missed one because of COVID-19 and another one because of an injury. It had been a long road from UNLV to Salt Lake City Community College to West Virginia and finally to Arizona.

This will be the first time that she will have continuity in coaching staffs. After her first season, her coach at UNLV, Kathy Oliver, was fired. Then at West Virginia, Mike Carey retired. The following year, Dawn Plitzuweit bolted for Minnesota after one year of coaching the Mountaineers.

Arizona coach Adia Barnes had set her sights on Beh being one of her most important recruits just a few months ago. She even went as far as to encourage fans at her radio show to chant, “One more year, one more year.”

It all worked. Well, that and a talk after the final game of the season.

Barnes and UA assistant coach Bett Shelby sat down with Beh after the loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament — before the Wildcats even left Connecticut — to talk about her future. Beh averaged 4.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game for UA this past season.

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“They were breaking everything down like if I wanted to play pro, they could help me,” Beh said. “If I wanted to give coaching a shot, I could go on staff here. I never had a coach who cares for me so much.”

Beh took two weeks off to think about everything. She was still around her teammates every day, and they kept telling her to stay. Of course, her dad, Issacher, wanted her to be a Wildcat for one more season, but he said all along that the decision was up to her.

Over that time, she thought about how she wanted to watch the freshman class grow and how she wanted to be part of that. And there was more she wanted to do in her career.

This past season was the first time in her collegiate career that she was asked to step up and do more. She is willing to do whatever it takes to help her team on either end of the floor. Beh is also a connector, a good role model and is one of the best recruiters on the team.

She made smart decisions on the court and had a breakout game offensively in a triple overtime win against Washington, scoring a career-high 29 points (10 of 11 from the field). She scored nine of the team’s 13 points in the third overtime to secure the win.

One of the most special moments of the entire season came after that game when Beh was named ‘player of the game,’ and was getting ready to bang the victory drum. Barnes motioned to her dad and her two brothers — one older, Issacher, Jr., and one younger, Isaiah — to come to center court. Isis Beh gave each of them hugs.

At the time she said she was surprised they came to watch her play but was “glad they were here to see my best college game.”

Now, Beh hopes there are more good games to come.

She is already focused on getting better working with her position coach, UA assistant Anthony Turner.

“The two things I am working on most is keeping my hands up on box-outs so I don’t get ticky-tack fouls and my confidence, because I feel like I play way better when I’m playing confident,” Beh said.