Arizona basketball transfer Paulina Paris picked UA to 'play like herself,' contribute to winning culture

Being first certainly can pay off.

Arizona coach Adia Barnes and assistant Bett Shelby were the first to contact guard Paulina Paris when she entered college basketball’s transfer portal.

Something about that stuck with Paris. What really swayed the New York native to move to Tucson and join Barnes’ Wildcats after spending the last two seasons playing on the East Coast at North Carolina: the vision Barnes had for her.

“Being able to play like myself, being able to play the position I am supposed to be playing at and obviously just bringing a winning culture to this team,” Paris said of what drew her to the UA. “(Being) able to be myself is basically the biggest thing.

“And they think I can be such an important part of this team.”

Paris is a 5-9 shooting guard from Congers, New York, who was highly rated coming out of Saddle River Day School in 2022. She was ranked No. 27 overall and seventh in her position by ESPN’s HoopGurlz while leading her school to a county championship. She scored 34 in that game after putting up 37 in the semifinals and eventually helped Saddle River to a second-place finish in the 2022 state championships.

She was named to the Jordan Brand Classic Girls National Team and was an honorable mention for the Naismith High School Girls All-America team.

As a key reserve over two seasons at North Carolina, she averaged 6.2 points per game (shooting 31% on 3-point attempts) in 48 games, playing an average of 20.3 minutes per game. She also collected 46 steals. In her freshman year she saw action in 33 games, while she only played in 15 games as a sophomore because of a meniscus injury to her left knee suffered in practice in January.

Paris had surgery, rehabbed and just last month joined the Wildcats in practice. The UA staff has been easing her into things, but Barnes already likes what she sees from the newcomer.

“She’s a really crafty player that is tough and smart,” Barnes said. “I think that she’s going to help us in a lot of ways. She’s getting back on the court, getting healthy; she’s learning a totally different style of play — like totally different defense, totally different offense.

“I think she’s going to really flourish here,” Barnes added. “We need a player like her. She has experience, so I think she’s going to be a tremendous asset for us. She’s a great shooter; he’s a good teammate. The girls love her; she just fits right in. And I think that she’s happy. And I’m just happy to see her happy.”

Paris’ passion for basketball came early on in her childhood. Her dad, Bryan, was a professional basketball player in Puerto Rico, where Paris lived for a few years watching him play. She picked up the game when she was around five years old and never stopped.

“He’s always been my coach, my dad, my best friend,” Paris said. “We grew up … we went through a lot of stuff together. Good, bad. We went through a lot together. You really can’t ask for a better parental figure than what he was. He was there for me my whole life and I could never I can never repay him for that.”

Though she had already committed to the UA after a two-hour Zoom call — that’s “because they were telling me the truth” — Paris and her parents fell in love with the program on her official visit. A key selling point: the development she could get over the next two years so she could become a WNBA draft pick.

“I would say the biggest thing I knew about Arizona is that they played defense, and I feel like I’m the defensive player (or) could be to help the program,” she said. “The development is great here. It’s already been pretty good in the individual (skill work).

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“It just seemed like a perfect fit for me.”

So far Paris said she’s enjoying everything that is new, including learning the Arizona defense, which she called a “94-feet deny” style. At North Carolina, she played more of what she called “a gap type defense.” While she’s only a month in, she thinks she is starting to get a feel for it.

Paris describes her game as a three-level scorer — commonly known as someone who can knock down a 3, hit the mid-range jumper, or get down low to the basket. Paris said she’s working on being even more efficient on her mid-range shot.

Paris considers herself an all-around player and “somebody who wants to contribute to an already winning program,” she said.

“I’m excited to get started to get to play how I usually play basketball and (Wildcat fans) are getting a player that will never quit on them.”

Rim shots

During summer training two Wildcat returners have stood out: guards Jada Williams and Skylar Jones.

“Jada has grown tremendously,” Barnes said during a recent conversation with the Star. “She has improved. Her shot, her body — like, she looks like a different person. She’s shooting the ball way better and it’s showing in all our drills and our stats; we stat all this stuff in the summer. It’s obvious.”

Of Jones, Barnes said: “Skylar looks good. Sky looks like she’s worked and put time in.

“Those are the ones that really, really stand out to me. But it’s showing in all the work that we’re doing.”

When Barnes looks back at the remarkable run the Wildcats made in the back half of the season to play their way into an NCAA Tournament bid with only seven active players, it was just their “will,” she said.

“We had tremendous culture and chemistry after the changes we made,” Barnes said. “They played for each other. They wanted to win.

“They wanted to learn from me and play for me. They did whatever I asked,” she added. “They played their hearts out. I think it was just a combination of them feeling together and them wanting it.”

Incoming freshman Mailien Rolf is playing with her German National Team in FIBA’s U20 Women’s Eurobasket Tournament starting this weekend. Her games can be seen on the FIBA YouTube channel (YouTube.com/FIBA). In her first game, a 83-63 victory over Serbia, Rolf showed she can run the offense, score and play defense. Rolf scored six points, pulled down seven rebounds, dished six assists and had two steals and a block.