Big 12 women's hoops: ASU's Tyi Skinner on U of A rivalry, Sun Devil family

Welcome to the Big 12 era for Arizona women’s basketball. Everything is new, from the style of play to the coaches, the players and the cities the Wildcats will visit. To get to know more about the league, the Star is taking a look at the new and the not-so-new opponents for the Wildcats. Next up is Arizona State, Arizona’s rival and opponent for Saturday’s game.

ASU’s Tyi Skinner is a graduate student who is averaging 15.8 points (40% from the field, 38% from long range) and 2.9 assists. The 5-5 guard has scored 20 or more points 21 times across 51 games as a Sun Devil. Skinner has scored more than 1,500 points combined in her career at Delaware (two seasons) and now in her second season at ASU.

Skinner sat out last season with a knee injury. In her first season at ASU, she finished second in the Pac-12 in scoring average (19.3) and 3s per game (2.43), third in free throws made (79) and minutes (36.59) and fifth in steals per game (1.71). In the Big 12, she is eighth in 3s per game (2.36).

The Star talked to Skinner on various aspects of the ASU program.

The Sun Devil family: “We’re family-oriented. (ASU) Coach A (Natasha Adair) says all the time we are player led. That’s been her model since I’ve met her, and that reflects in the players because they are good people. That’s really the best way to explain it. Honestly, we’re a really close knit group.

“We hang out with each other all the time. I think what brings us close together is definitely giving back to the community. I know that my team loves to do community service. We do that together, and it definitely feels good giving back and being with your team. We went to Bridget Pettis’ farm (Bridget Pettis Foundation/Project Roots). That was during All-Star Weekend (last season). We picked the weeds and she gave us some stuff that grew on her farm. The experience was great. I definitely recommend other people doing it.

New traditions: “Coach A would like to climb ‘A’ Mountain (in Tempe, next to Desert Financial Stadium) every year. This is our first year being able to do it, since all the players were healthy starting the season. It was actually a short climb. When we got to the top, she asked us, ‘What do you think the purpose of this was?’ She wanted to get our feedback. She told us, ‘The view is always better at the top.’ She was basically making an analogy, saying the season is going to be really long. There are going to be bumps, rocks and obstacles on the road that we’re going to have to face. We might have to help each other throughout those times, but it’s always better once we get to the top. Also, we have to get to the top together.

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“Camp T (Tontozona, in the woods outside of Payson, Arizona) is the other thing we did. The football team does it every year. We stayed for the weekend. We played kickball, we had a bonfire, we shared our goals. We did a lot of things together. We made s’mores. We even did an obstacle course together – with a balance beam and we had to climb over a wall. Just a bunch of things. It was like a mini boot camp. The football players do the full boot camp. We kind of sang ‘Kumbaya’ most of the time.”

Playing for Adair for entire career: “I’ll just keep it really simple, she’s like family. She’s always going to be family. No matter where I go, where I end up in life. She’ll always be family She’s somebody I always depend on and call. She’s always going to be there. I’m always going to be there for her. I told people, our relationship, it might have started with basketball, but it wasn’t really built for basketball (only). Since my freshman year, anytime I had an issue with outside stuff, I call her.”

Rivalry with Arizona: “The rivalry runs deep. They tell us every year. They told me before I even got here, before we started playing basketball. But trust me, every year it is explained. It’s explained at the beginning of the year, the whole school knows the rivalry and expectations that is put upon every team when they play against Arizona.

“And this week, the whole week will be preparing for Arizona. They show videos. We definitely understand the magnitude of it. Coaches stress that to us; the school, as well. … The atmosphere was crazy, and I never played an atmosphere like that. But it was good. I really enjoyed it. It was just it was a different experience. I don’t think anybody will really understand until they experience it for themselves.”