Arizona Wildcats (7-4) vs. CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (0-8) l 6 p.m. Tuesday I McKale Center I ESPN + l 1400-AM
She said it
Arizona coach Adia Barnes on the focus against CSU Bakersfield: “We're really focused on ourselves, that's the first thing. We're not overlooking anybody, but the thing that we are focused on, primarily this week, is not turning the ball over. We're working on offensive execution right now and basically the timing and spacing. That third quarter really worried me, how we performed last game and not understanding how to penetrate the gaps in the zone, the proper spacing for pick and roll on offense and timing – not adding other stuff but trying to get better at the stuff we have. Understanding where to throw the ball in this type of defense – like you have to contain pick and roll, versus an aggressive pick and roll. We worked against a switching defense so we understand where to put the ball, what to do and just kind of breaking those things down that gave us problems. … I just had to break that down.
“(We’re) continuing to work on our fundamentals, jump stopping and making good passes and how to make the pass, the ball should spin. We’re doing an hour a day on skill right now. They are going to press and have undersized players – like many of the schools we have been playing.”
Arizona forward Isis Beh (33) comes in to congratulate guard Skylar Jones (4) after she picked up an and-one on the games first basket in the first quarter against Tarleton State, Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 7, 2024.
On the sidelines
Back at it: After sitting out two games in concussion protocol, Arizona forward Isis Beh is back for Tuesday’s game against CSU Bakersfield.
Beh said she was hit twice and her symptoms included, being “really sensitive to the light and noise for the first couple days.”
Beh continued, “I felt nauseous and just really irritable. Anything pissed me off. My head was hurting.”
While there are some similar symptoms, concussions take various forms depending on the person. Some take a week to recover from while some take longer – even up to a year or longer. The most severe concussions include dizziness, cognitive and vision issues and stiffness in the neck, shoulders and back.
Fortunately, for Beh, her symptoms didn’t raise to this level.
She spent a few days at home sleeping and resting. Then, when she came back to practice, she started out slowly on conditioning and lifting, “less of a load,” Beh said.
“It feels good to be running again,” Beh added.
Beh also got time to reset while she was out. This included charting her post group’s stats while sitting on the bench during last week’s games. She was able to watch and see what was missing in their performances – sharing this with them and also knowing what to bring when she’s back on the court.
Arizona head coach Adia Barnes has some instructions for guard Jada Williams during a Grambling State free-throw attempt on Nov. 23, 2024.
What’s missing: Beh and Jada Williams are the two co-captains of this year’s Wildcats.
While they both have different ways of saying it, they were in alignment about where their team stands at this moment, coming off a loss against GCU last week. Simply put: they are still figuring some things out.
Beh said that she saw last week – at least from her group when she was charting their goals during the win over Seattle and the loss to GCU – was the lack of energy and effort.
Williams said that some of it – at least for the returnees – is “trying to learn how to play without our keys from last year.”
“(Helena) Pueyo and Es (Martinez) brought so much to our team so learning how to do that without them picking up slack in those areas,” Williams said. “I think that's important. Trying to find organization, trying to find culture. I think it's that part of the season that we're in now is finding culture. I think once we click, it will click, but I think it's going to take everybody and we need everybody to buy in.”
It’s that buy in that seems to be taking some time. That’s why you aren’t always seeing that energy and effort that Beh was referring to and it’s why at times on defense they aren’t working together on traps or even going the wrong way on screening action – leaving their opponent wide open for a dagger 3. Or even why on offense the ball seems stagnant at times – stuck in someone’s hands – when they aren’t moving with and without the ball.
It’s also why at times the Wildcats seem not to be playing within the system – because not all the players have bought in yet.
“We need the whole team,” Williams said. “We need everyone to buy in and we haven't done that yet. That's why we haven't been as successful as we thought we would be. I think once everyone buys in to the culture, we'll be all right and if we don't, then we're going to have the season that we're having now. I think people start to realize that, start to pick up their slack, (working) harder in practice and things like that, I think that's when we'll see that that flip in our game.”
Radio, radio: The Adia Barnes Radio Show will have its’ first session of the season on Tuesday, Dec. 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Sands Club – same place as last year. The show will be broadcast on 1400-AM with Derrick Palmer, the Arizona women's basketball voice on the radio, talking to Barnes.
The other dates are mainly Tuesdays, with three Thursdays mixed in February. The dates are Jan. 7, 14, 21 and 28; February dates are 6, 13, 18 and 27.
Logo unveiled: Phoenix is hosting the Women's Final Four in 2026 for the first time at the Footprint Center — where the Phoenix Mercury and Suns play. ASU is the actual host school. The three games — two semifinals and one finals — will be broadcast in what is being called an ESPN MegaCast, airing on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU — and will be distributed to 200 countries around the world.
This is the logo for the 2026 Women's Final Four that will be held in Phoenix that was unveiled Monday morning.
The logo for the 2026 Women's Final Four was revealed Monday morning and has elements and colors that represent Arizona and Phoenix. Designed by Section 127 in Indianapolis, the inspiration came from Native American culture and art of the Southwest. From the colors to the mountains and even the basketball were all nods to Arizona and the Southwest.
Tickets will be available for purchase after this year's Final Four, which is being held in Tampa, Florida on April 4 and 6.
By the numbers
2: Arizona is second in the Big 12 in steals per game with 11.5.
7: CSU Bakersfield redshirt senior forward Ary Dizon, who is 6-1, blocked 7 shots against Eastern Washington in November. That’s one more than Breya Cunningham had against Grambling State. It also accounts for the difference in total blocks as Dizon has 21 and Cunningham has 20.
0: The Roadrunners have no players averaging in double figures. The closest is redshirt freshman guard Caitie Gingras is averaging 9.7 points per game.
