Keys to Arizona basketball frosh Skylar Jones' quick growth: effort, skill, belief

The first time Adia Barnes stepped onto the Arizona campus was back in 1994 as a 17-year-old freshman.

Far from home, there were a lot of emotions rushing through her.

She was excited. She was nervous. Everything was new, including getting up in time for practice and class without her mom waking her up and delivering her to where she needed to go.

One big thing she had going for her, however, was a coach like then-UA women’s basketball boss Joan Bonvicini.

It was Bonvicini who told her “I believe in you”; it was Bonvicini who poured all should could into Barnes via on- and off-court lessons.

Now it’s come full circle.

Like Bonvicini did with her, Barnes, now in her eighth season as head coach at her alma mater, sees something special in Skylar Jones; Barnes is taking the time to nurture the freshman guard every day.

“Her growth this year is really going to skyrocket,” Barnes said, noting that Jones is already improving game by game.

“We’ve seen glimpses of amazing things like she’ll fly to the air hang and make a left handed floater. I have no idea how she does it,” Barnes said. “But she just has to continue to learn. She’s going to be a very good player. I love the coach her. She’s our best overall athlete. She’s long and she c an shoot. She’s going to be a star.”

Arizona (10-5, 2-1) takes on Oregon State (12-1, 1-2) at Gill Coliseum, Friday at 8 p.m. This is the Wildcats’ first Pac-12 road trip of the season. The game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks with Ann Schatz and Jennifer Mountain on the call, while Derrick Palmer has the radio call on 1290-AM.

With the current iteration of the Pac-12 gone after this season — Oregon is moving to the Big Ten while it was reported last month that Oregon State would compete as an affiliate member of the West Coast Conference for women’s basketball, men’s basketball and a number of other sports — this may very well be the final time the Wildcats play both teams. Neither school is making the trip to McKale Center this year.

Despite being down to what Barnes is calling her “magnificent eight” players, Jones is one of the first off the bench and is averaging 18.1 minutes per game. In the three Pac-12 games, she is averaging 22 minutes and was on the floor for the entire fourth quarter and overtime during the 71-70 win over No. 15 Utah.

Jones is feeling the love and confidence from Barnes.

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“It just feels good to know that Adia trusts me to be on the floor (during) a very young time in my college collegiate career because I’m just learning how to really play basketball at such a high level,” Jones said.

“The fact that she trusted me to be out there in sticky situations and hard times is boosting my confidence. Her letting me know that I’m doing things right — even if it’s not scoring because I know scoring is going to come. But I’m really working on my defense so I can stay on the floor and knowing that that’s making an impact in different ways, in different areas, like deflecting the ball, getting steals and making good passes to my teammates is very important to me. I’m glad that she thinks I’m doing that well.”

Whether it was using her length to narrow the passing lanes or jump up catching a football pass, Jones collected steals in both games last weekend that ended up closing the gap, tying the game or even giving UA a slight edge. Jones said it all comes down to her reads — and her teammates.

“If I see (it) and I know somebody’s behind me that has my help, I sometimes go for those,” Jones said.

Jones is shooting 47% from the field (38% from long distance). However, she is not pouring in the points just yet, averaging just 4.2 per game. Her offense is a work in progress; but when she is a little more aggressive and scores, including an acrobatic scoop layup against Colorado, it’s starting to look like Jones has a sixth sense of when her teammates need her offense the most.

“Adia and (UA assistant) Salvo (Coppa) tell me to look at the game, let it come to me and not force anything — that’s when I am second-guessing myself,” Jones said. “They want to me to look to score the ball. Certain moments where I do pass up some shots that I should have taken they get on me about that. But the shots that I do take, I’m trying to have them be in motion of the game and not force anything.”

With Isis Beh out last weekend in concussion protocol, the numbers were even slimmer at post. Jones and Helena Pueyo found themselves having to defend the likes of Utah’s Alissa Pili and Colorado’s Netty Vonleh and Quay Miller at times. Not an easy task. Jones admits it was stressful and hard, but at the same time she will do anything to help her teammates and “Adia threw me out there because she trusts me.”

Jones looked to her veterans, Pueyo and Esmery Martinez, to give her the tips she needed to keep in front of a post and how to guard a post.

All of this experience, whether it’s in her true three position on the wing or in the post, is going to help Jones be more versatile as her collegiate career unfolds.

For now, Barnes said the focus is on continuing to teach her about jump stopping, taking her shot and not being so hard on herself — all of which has improved since the start of the season.

“She’s very coachable. She’s a great kid. She’s like a straight-A student. She does whatever you ask,” Barnes said. “She plays hard in practice — probably one of our hardest in practice every day. Never takes plays off in the game.”

“She may be lost or something, she’s a freshman but never doesn’t try. And she’s coachable and I enjoy coaching her. The thing I’m trying to teach her is to not hang her head when she makes the mistake,” Barnes added. “You’re a freshman. You are supposed to make that mistake. If you knew that we would be teaching you something else. Giving herself some grace and giving herself positive feedback, which we talk about a lot. Because if you don’t love on yourself who’s going to love on you more than yourself? … It’s just the process. When she’s a sophomore she’s going to tell the next freshman, ‘Oh, I used to do that.’ That’s just how it is. I love coaching her.“