Greg Hansen: Shaina Pellington's evolution could end with Cats back in the Final Four

After a Q&A session in the McKale Center media room on Sunday, Shaina Pellington picked up her backpack and said, “Ooooo, I’ve got homework; a lot of homework to do.”

It seemed odd because Pellington had just aced the equivalent of a midterm exam against No. 22 Colorado, scoring 28 points in a performance that was part Aari McDonald, part Steph Curry. Nobody could score against Pellington, and no one could stop her from scoring.

She was as elusive as a hummingbird.

Arizona won 75-56 in the type of game that has made Adia Barnes’ team so irresistible to their growing audience of Tucson fans: You can knock them down, but you can’t knock them out.

At game’s end, Pellington — a 5-foot 7-inch senior guard who has had, shall we say, some shooting issues in her first two Arizona seasons — was given the honor of banging a large drum at mid-court, slamming it 14 times, one for each UA victory.

She then turned and bowed to the crowd of 7,103.

“It has really been special and fun to watch Shaina evolve, a 180-degree change in every way, on the court and off,” said Barnes, who mentioned Pellington’s struggle as a 3-point shooter (a combined 8 for 72 at Arizona) and also some free-throw shooting problems; Pellington entered Sunday’s game at just 48% as a Wildcat.

If Pellington can play, shoot, score and lead her club’s offense anywhere near as well as she did Sunday, the Wildcats have the pieces necessary to get back to the Final Four.

Practice makes perfect, right? When her team left the court 13 minutes before tipoff, Pellington remained, alone, retrieved a basketball and walked slowly to the foul line. She swished three consecutive shots. Game on.

She made six of her eight foul shots Sunday and buried both 3-pointers. Given her defensive aggressiveness, speed, quickness and elite-level ballhandling skills, it led to her best game as a Wildcat; her previous high was 16.

It was the Pellington that UA fans had heard about during her two seasons at Oklahoma, 2017-18 and 2018-19, when she was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, a 13-points-per-game scorer who has one gear: Floored.

Barnes praised Pellington’s demeanor, work ethic and her “God-given talent and all the little things that matter.”

“She’s just completely different,” said Barnes. “Her teammates love her. She’s funny. She’s just completely changed in every way from the day she got to Arizona.”

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Pellington fits nicely into Barnes’ defense-and-toughness style of basketball. Arizona has become a top-10 program because the Wildcats dive for loose balls, block out, rebound with tenacity and aren’t afraid to get a floor burn.

Cate Reese, an All-Pac-12 player who scored 22 points on Sunday, is consistently one of the most physical players in college basketball. She takes it; she dishes it out. Pellington is a perfect complement. She used the word “fearless” to describe her approach to Sunday’s game.

“I just felt confident,” said Pellington. “I felt like I’m really composed now, especially at the free throw line. I’m really confident with the ball in my hands, relaxing, taking shots.”

Sounds a lot like the Aari McDonald of 2020 and 2021.

Pellington left Oklahoma after her sophomore season in part because she said she did not appreciate the way two-time Final Four coach Sherri Coale treated the Sooners players. Pellington was outspoken about Coale’s demeanor, and so were several of her OU teammates. She ultimately entered the transfer portal and became a Wildcat. Coale retired last year.

Once in Tucson, it took a lot longer for Pellington to regain her shooting touch and confidence than she or Barnes could have imagined.

“I always knew I could score; I’m not new to scoring,” she said Sunday. “Today I felt really good with the ball in my hands.”

Barnes called Pellington’s resurgence as a shooter “the fruits of her labor.”

It’s unfortunate that the vast UA student body has been slow to witness it.

A women’s basketball game at McKale Center is completely different from a men’s game. No one scores 100 points or even threatens to; the UA women’s team last scored 100 points in a game at Oregon, in 2012. There’s no rim-rattling, alley-oop dunks or Tommy Lloyd-type 14-seconds-per-possession tempo.

Perhaps that’s the reason so few ZonaZoo seats are occupied; on Sunday, there couldn’t have been more than 25 students at McKale Center. Perhaps younger fans want entertainment and winning.

What they probably don’t realize is that winning is entertainment, whatever the style or the score.