It was the longest day in McKale Center history, the first-ever men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader in 49 years. Total attendance: 18,575. Combined score: Arizona 168, Others 96.
Here’s how the clock ticked Tuesday night:
5:02 p.m.: Super senior Sam Thomas opens the night’s scoring, swishing an 18-footer from the corner. By game’s end, Thomas will have played 4,235 career minutes, the most ever for a UA women’s basketball player. If all goes well, Thomas will surpass the overall school record of 4,825 set by current UA men’s basketball player relations director Jason Gardner.
5:28 p.m.: Cal State Northridge trails 17-5 and interim head coach Carlene Mitchell has no one to blame for the predicament. It could have avoided opening at McKale. Arizona originally offered a Wednesday game, but Northridge threatened to opt out altogether unless it played Tuesday. It also asked for a bigger financial guarantee, about $20.000. Ultimately, because the UA has had difficulty finding willing nonconference opponents — “it took me two years to schedule three games,” coach Adia Barnes says after the game — it reluctantly scheduled a doubleheader. Not that Northridge is dodging anything. In the next few weeks, it plays road games at UCLA, Texas and USC.
5:41 p.m.: Top 100 freshman recruit Aaronette Vonleh makes her UA debut. She scores five straight baskets in just 3½ minutes, finishing with 14 points. “She makes my life easier,” says Thomas, who figures to get more open 3-point shots now that Vonleh and Alabama transfer Ariyah Copeland combine with Lauren Ware to give Arizona three legitimate inside scoring threats.
Arizona forwards Lauren Ware (32) and Sam Thomas (14) are all smiles as they run back to their bench during a timeout in the second half of Tuesday’s win. Arizona beat Cal State Northridge, 87-44.
6:54 p.m.: Barnes does not treat her 87-44 victory over Northridge as a time to get some break-in mileage and an obligatory blowout. Says Thomas: “We tried to keep (Northridge) under a certain amount of points, but they exceeded it.” There will be no such expectation Friday when the Wildcats play No. 6 Louisville in a made-for-ESPNU event in South Dakota. It’ll be a win-by-any-means-possible game. Louisville has gone 122-15 the last four seasons. Gulp.
7:57 p.m.: As Arizona’s men’s team begins pre-game warmups, it becomes something of a fashion show. Christian Koloko is wearing pink/orange shoes, looking like something off the flavor-of-the-month menu at Eegee’s. Kerr Kriisa wears lime green shoes. Justin Kier wears light blue shoes. Dalen Terry wears red,white and blue shoes. What gives? “I couldn’t tell you what color of shoes anybody wears,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd says after the game. He says he didn’t even notice that Kriisa wore a headband, which were verboten during the Sean Miller days. The casual, no-tie-for-me Lloyd is about points and winning, not style.
9:44 p.m.: Arizona announces attendance at 12,421, about 2,000 under capacity. The other 11 Pac-12 teams also open the season Tuesday and no other men’s team draws more than 7,037. ASU draws 6,912 for its win over Portland. It’s a tangible sign that the UA fanbase has weathered four clunker-type seasons. In the second game of a doubleheader at Oregon’s Knight Arena, the UO women’s team draws 7,436 for a victory over Idaho State. The Ducks and Wildcats will rank 1-2 or 2-1 in women’s basketball attendance among teams west of the Mississippi.
10:04 p.m.: Arizona’s 2021 All-American point guard Aari McDonald is pictured sitting in the stands on the Jumbotron. She receives the loudest ovation of the night. Without public notice, her name has already been placed in the refurbished Ring of Honor, although no celebration is planned until January. Her jersey No. 2 is sure to be retired and placed on a wall at McKale Center, the 10th so displayed. But there’s a problem: There is no remaining cement facade available for another jersey to join those of Sean Elliott, Heidi Hornbeek, Kim Glass, Mike Bibby and others. It’s a good problem to have.
Arizona guard Dalen Terry (4) is all smiles as he tracks NAU guard Jalen Cone in the second half of Tuesday’s win.
10:32 p.m.: Sophomore guard Dalen Terry finishes the night with a career-high seven assists. In his final five games last season, Terry did not get an assist in 96 minutes. Without point guard James Akinjo (now at Baylor) occupying the ball in the UA’s dribble-dribble-dribble offense of 2020-21, the Wildcat’ offense flows.
10:43 p.m.: Speaking in his delightful and engaging Estonian accent, Kriisa — who scores a game-high 17 points — says, “We gonna be good.” He is momentarily stuck to find an English word to describe how energy from large McKale Center crowds will benefit the Wildcats. “What’s the word? Contagious,” he says.
11:01 p.m.: Lloyd survives the locker-room celebration and an impromptu shower from his team’s water bottles and says he is going home to watch film of the game. “Sometimes these (film studies) turn into five-hour marathons” ’he says, an indication that he plans to arise early and be in the office to study and re-study every play of career head coaching victory No.1.
11:04 p.m.: Sam Thomas, the person who got the night’s scoring started six hours earlier, is sitting at a chair in the media relations office, transcribing quotes from Kriisa, Lloyd and Terry. Thomas is an intern for the sports information department, handing out statistics to TV announcers and doing all the little things she does on the basketball court — even on the longest day in McKale Center history.
A super senior, indeed.
