Arizona women's basketball at Washington: Scouting report, rebounding, state of the game

Arizona (10-7, 2-3) at Washington (11-4, 1-3) Alaska Airlines Arena; Seattle | 8 p.m. Friday | Pac-12 Arizona | 1290-AM

She said it

Arizona coach Adia Barnes on Washington: “Washington runs this chin offense (also known as the “Princeton Offense”) which is a really patient offense that has a lot of movements, so very hard to guard. A lot of back cuts; a lot of guards receiving back cuts posting up. So just movement. I think that the challenging thing to play against Washington is you have to be disciplined for 30 seconds. You may play good defense for 25 like the last five seconds they get it back door or three. That’s the challenge. It’s a lot slower than most — I’d say than every other team in the Pac-12. But it’s super-efficient offensively. (We) definitely have to be disciplined.”

On the sidelines

Times are changing: UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who has 1,194 wins and counting, was asked about the challenges in coaching now with NIL and the open transfer rules after the Huskies beat St. John’s Saturday 92-49.

“I’m somewhat fortunate where I am,” Auriemma said. “There aren’t a whole lot of high-level players coming to play at Connecticut going, ‘I’m leaving for a better opportunity.’ Right? I’m kind of fortunate in that regard. We have pretty strong relationships with our best players. They didn’t come here for the money; they didn’t come near the other stuff. So not only do they make more money than the average bear but they understand they can. The average coach out there though, who’s not where I am, you can’t do your job anymore. And people will say you got to change with the times. How does changing with the times help you have better relationships with your players when it’s all transactional now?

“What kind of relationship can you have with somebody that is telling you ‘I might be here one, maybe two, maybe three, maybe four (years)’ or ‘I might be at four schools in four years.’ And that nothing to do with the money. Forget the money part. This is about ability that you can just walk out anytime you want. How do you coach in an environment where the players feel like they owe you nothing? And you owe them everything? What kind of relationship can (you have)? That’s the reason why most of us got into this job. We enjoyed the relationship that we would build with our players for four years. Now you have kids that are in four schools in four years. What relationship have they built with their coaching staff or with their teammates? And then what did they say they graduated from? I’ve never understood that one. Yeah, so it’s a whole different world that coaches have had to adapt to. But it’s not sustainable, obviously.

“(St. John’s coach) Joe (Tartamella) is making it work. He’s making it work better than a lot of people are making it work. But it’s so unfortunate because at a school like St. John’s, maybe in women’s basketball, or some of the teams in our league, you got a player that’s really, really, really, really good that you coach the hell out of and you just made them who they are. It happened at Seton Hall last year. And that kid goes, ‘Yeah, well, I think I can make more money somewhere else.’ Well, you wouldn’t have been this good if it wasn’t for your coaching staff that you have right now. So again, it becomes just a transaction. And I don’t think any coach that got into it that’s around anywhere around my age completely buys into all that. Now, the younger coaches, they’ve never had it the way I’ve had it. To them maybe it’s easier, But no, it’s really, really hard. It’s really hard. It’s really, really hard.”

Auriemma took a little heat this week as some thought all of his comments were directed at Lauren Park-Lane, the Seton Hall player who transferred to Mississippi State.

Rebounding: Barnes knows that the Wildcats’ rebounding has been an issue. A few of the close losses recently came down to giving up too many offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities.

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Barnes is sharing with her team that with this as a weakness, every team is going to try to exploit that.

With this short week in practice leading up to the Washington games, rebounding has been the focus and “you should see an improvement,” Barnes said.

“I think the first thing was just our technique, but the second thing is showing them a lot of film and how important it is,” Barnes said. “You play so hard. You trap, you hedge, you get in the passing lane, and then you let up with the offensive rebound. Those are deflating, and those are really big momentum busters and shifters. Being able to be disciplined and not loaf on those. We talk a lot about loafs and plays you take off — well, that is a loaf. That’s a mental loaf.

“It doesn’t take athleticism. It doesn’t take a tremendous amount of perfect technique to box out. It takes a will and it takes the not even the skill, but the will and the mentality to box out. We have to have that and at times we have two people have that are three or four. But if all five don’t, you are going to lose.”

By the numbers

7,082: Arizona average attendance for home games this season. It is first in the Pac-12 and ninth in the nation.

3: Helena Pueyo is in a four-way tie for third in the Pac-12 in assist-to-turnover ratio with 2.9. She is tied with Stanford’s Hannah Jump, Colorado’s Tameiya Sadler and Utah’s Ines Vieira.

1: Breya Cunningham is averaging 2.1 blocks per game, which is first in the nation for freshman. She is fourth overall in the Pac-12.

51.6: UW has the sixth-best scoring defense in the country, only allowing opponents to score an average of 51.6 points. This is the fourth-best in program history through the first 15 games of a season. All the other bests happened in the 1970s.

— PJ Brown