Arizona is 1-0 in the Big 12. That’s the most important thing, but it was also important that the Wildcats improved in some critical areas on the way to defeating BYU 57-53 in Provo, UT on Saturday afternoon.
Arizona won the turnover battle, committing 15 while forcing 18 from the Cougars. The Wildcats also won the points off turnover battle 19-13. They committed 14 fouls and gave up six free throws. Those were the third-fewest fouls and tied for the third-fewest opponent free-throw attempts this season.
The Wildcats came out looking dominant, just as they have in several games this year. Also as they have done in several games this year, they couldn’t hold that and it was at least partially due to key players picking up early fouls. While Breya Cunningham ended the game with just two fouls, both she and Skylar Jones picked up two fouls in the first half and had to sit.
Barnes was pleased with how Cunningham came back in the second half but acknowledged that the Cougars’ comeback from 10 points down at the end of the first quarter to five points up at the end of the half was at least partially due to the lack of Arizona’s dominant post.
“Her out of the game, it really changes the dynamics,” Barnes said. “So I think that her understanding some of those, she doesn’t have to slap down and go for…I thought that (second foul) was a tough call….She was crashing o-boards, and there wasn’t a box out, so that was a little questionable. But teaching her that don’t go for those things where it’s questionable because there’s a risk of getting a foul. And even some of the blocked shots she went for in the second half, like in the third quarter early she went for one, I was ‘oooh,’ because in the past, that would have been a foul. But I like the fact she was smart, was able to play without fouling out, and still came up with some big plays.”
As for Jones, two of her four fouls came on the offensive end of the court. The one in the first half was fairly obvious. The one in the second half came against a much bigger player who appeared to start going down well before Jones got to her and ended up splayed on the court like she got hit by someone much larger than the wispy guard. It was still a risky play for Jones considering her propensity for offensive fouls this season.
“Think about it,” Barnes said. “So Sky is a great defender. She’s really athletic and long. She’s one of the few who can penetrate and create her own shot off the dribble. So it hurt us with (Delaney) Gibb. Really hurt us when she was out of the game, or she’s not allowed to play as aggressive. And I think that they made their runs. And some of that’s like confidence wise. When a team knows you have your best athlete’s out, they go on a run psychologically, they’re more confident.”
As for BYU’s star freshman, she went off for a game-high 23 points, two more than Cunningham had for Arizona. Gibb didn’t score at all in the opening 10 minutes when Arizona outpaced the Cougars 18-8 while at full strength. She went off for 13 in the second quarter, then had eight in the third quarter. The Wildcats shut her down again in the fourth when she had just two points.
“I thought there were times we over-rotated and we get the third person helping, and then we don’t get out to shooters,” Barnes said. “So we talked a lot about popping back, giving space and not allowing the penetration for shooters, and knowing where she is. So that was a focal point in the third and fourth quarters. I didn’t think in the third we did a great job of that, but I think in the fourth, we did a really good job of that because she was the one that was scoring all the points. She’s a good player. I mean, really good for a freshman. Unfortunately, we have to see her for four more years.”
As for Gibb, she learned what the Big 12 is about. The freshman said that she was told it was going to be physical, but she didn’t realize exactly what that meant. Despite leading the game in points, she wasn’t satisfied, saying it wasn’t the best game she’d ever played.
“No, because ultimately we didn’t win,” Gibb said.
Arizona outscored the Cougars in three of four quarters. They won the first quarter 18-8, the third 16-12, and the fourth 16-11. It was that pesky 22-7 BYU advantage in the second quarter that made the game a nail-biter.
The Wildcats did not score the final 3:29 of the second quarter. Their final point of the first half came off a free throw by Lauryn Swann. The Cougars went on a 14-0 run from there.
“I feel like we started to take things into our own hands, and then we believed in each other, finding open shooters, locking down defensively,” said BYU head coach Amber Whiting. “We got some really good kills during that stretch. And so for me, I felt like they finally started to play how they can play.”
The Arizona drought stretched to the 8:06 mark in the third when Cunningham hit a layup off the assist from Isis Beh. It was the beginning of a 6-0 run for the Wildcats with all six points coming from Cunningham and Jones. In fact, the duo had all 16 of Arizona’s points in the third period to make it a one-point BYU lead going into the final 10 minutes.
The Wildcats retook the lead 16 seconds into the fourth off a layup by Sahnya Jah. The two teams went back and forth over the final 10 minutes. Arizona took its final lead with just 20 seconds to go.
BYU began fouling down two with four seconds left to try to put Arizona on the line and get the ball back. They had to commit two fouls to get the Wildcats into the bonus.
Jada Williams, who came in hitting almost 89 percent of her free throws, missed both shots from the line. BYU called a timeout to advance the ball, but the Cougars threw the ball away on the inbound pass.
Montaya Dew found Beh alone near the basket on Arizona’s inbound pass. Beh, who is from Murray, UT, laid it in for the final score.
“She had like 50 people here, and she was just solid,” Barnes said about Beh. “She was great defensively. She’s just always solid and consistent. So I was happy to see that because a lot of times she doesn’t look at the basket.”
Jah had a second straight solid game for Arizona with four points, two rebounds, an assist, and a steal in 13 minutes. She came in at the five-minute mark in the first quarter after Cunningham picked up her first foul.
Jah provided good energy. Her most important play might have been the assist when she showed growth by passing out of the post to an open shooter rather than trying to force up a shot against multiple defenders. That has been a weakness at times this year.
Jah’s play was just one indication that Barnes may go deeper into her bench this year. On Thursday, she said she would probably go nine-deep in Big 12 play, although she held out the possibility of playing 10 at times. She held to that.
The Wildcats returned to the opening-night starters of Cunningham, Jones, Williams, Beh, and Paulina Paris. Jah was the first off the bench. She was followed by Montaya Dew, Mailien Rolf, and Lauryn Swann. Only Swann played fewer than 13 minutes.
Barnes was especially pleased with Rolf.
“Mailien was solid,” Barnes said. “The other thing that was big about Mailien was she was playing great defense in the second half. She was the only one denying when they were going off guard-to-guard action. Mailien’s girl wasn’t catching it, so she did a phenomenal job. And then she turned it over, I think, once, but…she was confident with the ball. She ran actions we were supposed to. When I said, throw it back, she was throwing it back. She had a great pocket pass to Breya. So I’m really, really happy with how she played, and that’s why those minutes early in the season are important. We talk about getting deeper in your rotations early in the year because you want to give them experience.”
Cunningham led the Wildcats with 21 points and eight rebounds. She hit 10 of 15 shots and had one assist, two blocks, and two steals.
Jones and Williams also had double-digit points with each scoring 11. Jones added six rebounds, two assists, and two steals. She had two turnovers both of which came on offensive fouls. Williams added one rebound, two assists, and three turnovers.
Arizona now takes 10 days off for the holidays before hosting Utah on New Year’s Eve in McKale Center. The players get to go home with positive feelings.
“You don’t want to go into a 10-day break with the loss,” Barnes said. “And then also, for a young team, a lot of stuff is psychological. So going and feeling good…We don’t know how good we’re going to be yet. I’m still trying to figure out our identity, and we’re trying to figure that out. So to go and win on the road is big for us. I mean, we would have lost this game a few weeks ago. So happy.”