The Arizona Wildcats women’s basketball team exacted its revenge on Oregon, part of a lost weekend in the desert for the Oregon schools.
It was the first conference week with all 12 teams playing instead of one or more out of action due to COVID-19 protocols. The home teams dominated, winning nine of 13 games, the major exception being No. 2 Stanford easily sweeping in Los Angeles.
The biggest winner of the week was Arizona, which fulfilled coach Adia Barnes’ birthday wish with a 63-48 win over No. 19 Oregon on Friday, the day after Barnes turned 45.
The Wildcats — who moved up to No. 6 in the national rankings Monday — led for more than 34 minutes, to the delight of most of the 10,413 at McKale Center, and by as many as 21 points midway through the fourth quarter.
There was no Oregon comeback similar to the one Jan. 15 in Eugene, when the Ducks rallied from 17 down late in the third quarter to win 68-66 in overtime — a game that ended with some bad blood between Barnes and Kelly Graves that both later downplayed as being overblown.
“When you’ve played, you don’t take stuff personal,” Barnes told reporters after winning the rematch. “I respect Kelly. He does a good job, but we’re competitive. I have no hard feelings, I’m not like that.
“Winning at home in the Pac-12 is essential to be successful. We’re lucky we caught them on an off night.”
Oregon traveled on game day after its charter flight Thursday was delayed, and star forward Nyara Sabally came out of the game twice in the second half, apparently suffering from some dizziness.
“She’s a tough kid, she plays through a lot of stuff,” Graves told the Oregonian. “I think she’s fine.”
The 6-5 Sabally did play Sunday at Arizona State, only to suffer an apparent neck injury when fouled on a drive midway through the first quarter. She returned but finished with six points (tied for her season low) and 10 rebounds in a 55-49 loss.
On Tuesday, when Oregon beat ASU 72-58 in a makeup game, Sabally had a game-high 22 points. She dipped to 15 against Arizona then a half-dozen in the ASU rematch.
The Ducks now face another three-game week.
“I think this is maybe our lowest point,” Graves said Sunday. “Sometimes, you can’t get better until they have that low point, so hopefully we’ll use this to get better. That’s the bottom line.”
Arizona followed up its Oregon win by pulling away in the fourth quarter to beat Oregon State 73-61. Cate Reese led the Wildcats in both games, with 13 and 19 points, while Koi Love, a transfer from Vanderbilt, had a combined 24 points and 12 rebounds.
“We’re not close to where we want to be (defensively),” Barnes said after the Oregon game. “You will see a better team in March.”
Sun Devils outplay Ducks
Shifting to Tempe, ASU’s wins over Oregon State and Oregon were arguably essential for the Sun Devils to stay in contention for an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Sun Devils played better in their loss at Oregon than to Stanford (78-50) on Jan. 28, but they still went into the weekend with a three-game losing streak — and three of the next four against nationally-ranked opposition.
Both Oregon teams hold a significant height advantage over ASU and led by double digits in points-in-the-paint.
But the Sun Devils split on the boards (41-41) with the Ducks while trailing by one (36-35) against Oregon State, and they had a combined 25 offensive rebounds. That helped offset their 1-of-20 shooting to start the game against Oregon.
“It wasn’t even can we win (over Oregon), it was we will win,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “They kept that mindset throughout the whole game despite not shooting the ball well. We just went into halftime (saying), ‘Hey we’re getting great shots. Just relax, they’ll fall.’”
ASU did shoot 44% overall and 50% (7 of 14) from 3-point range in the second half while holding the Ducks 24 points under their season average.
Jade Loville scored 33 against Oregon State, one off her ASU high, and 16 points Sunday when another transfer, guard Azyhiana Basallo, added 10.
The ASU women pulled their upset less than 24 hours after the Sun Devil men knocked off No. 3 UCLA in triple overtime.
Oregon State coach Scott Rueck, who Friday received a contract extension through the 2030-31 season, played a role in ASU’s win that day.
He was ejected with 17 seconds left after two technicals for arguing a call in a two-point game. Taya Hanson hit six straight free throws to put away the Beavers, with Rueck missing the end of a game in Tempe due to ejection for the second time in three years.
UCLA hanging in there
While ASU pulled off the week’s biggest upset, Utah went 2-0, Washington State and California had meaningful wins and UCLA continued to win at its version of Hunger Games.
Washington State won a toss-up game at Colorado, 63-56, led by Charlisse Leger-Walker’s 30 points, then put a late scare into Utah in a 72-66 loss.
Cal returned for the first time since Jan. 21 to edge USC 62-59 before losing 59-54 to UCLA.
The Bruins, working all season with eight or fewer available players — and some of those are playing limited minutes — refused to give in and remains among nine Pac-12 teams in the top 60 of the NET rankings.
“The reality is all of us, including coaches have to step up and grow (from losses),” UCLA coach Cori Close told reporters. “Then make intentional, consistent adjustments to make sure we’re moving in that direction.”
Stanford played without starters Haley Jones and Hannah Jump against UCLA and without Jones against USC. It barely mattered in one-sided affairs, with three-time Pac-12 Player of the Week Cameron Brink putting up a 26/14 double-double against USC.
