As has been the story for Arizona too many times this year, Breya Cunningham’s fouls cost the Wildcats in a 56-47 loss at Colorado on Wednesday night. Cunningham picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and fouled out in 13 minutes, costing Arizona on both offense and the boards.
“I thought that they out-hustled us,” said Arizona head coach Adia Barnes. “I thought that they wanted it a lot more. I thought they got 50-50 balls. They made big shots. They were relentless on the boards. I thought they played a really good game. And I know that they’re short and they’re without one of their best players, and I think that everybody stepped up. And unfortunately, we did not have that today. The result, we lost the game.”
The Buffaloes played without starting fifth-year Frida Formann, who has a stress fracture in her foot.
Regardless of who was or was not there for the Buffaloes, Colorado outrebounded Arizona 43-27. They had 14 rebounds in the first quarter with Cunningham on the bench for most of it. Arizona grabbed 14 boards in the entire first half.
The offensive rebounding edge was 9-4 in CU’s advantage. They turned the nine boards into 10 second-chance points while Arizona didn’t get any.
“I think the rebounding was really important,” said CU head coach JR Payne.
Colorado’s starting forward Jade Masogayo had a double-double by halftime, although Arizona did a better job on her in the second half. She finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Only five of her points and four of her rebounds came in the second half when Cunningham played nine of her 13 minutes.
Arizona also struggled from the field. The Wildcats shot just 32.7 percent from the field and went 6 for 22 from beyond the arc. Much of that was related to not moving the ball well. Arizona had just eight assists on 18 made shots.
The lack of Cunningham was a major part of those struggles.
“Everything’s built around her,” Barnes said. “She’s who we rely on to score in the post, and when she’s not out there or doesn’t have discipline, it hurts us. And I don’t think she played with discipline today, and I think that…she’s been a little bit down, I think from not playing like how she started. I think she’s having an amazing season. I think she’s been phenomenal, and I think the last couple of games have been rough, and I think she’s been a little bit down, and it shows the frustration.”
Jada Williams went scoreless in the first half, although she picked it up in the second half, hitting three outside shots that cut into the CU lead and helped make it a game.
The team was largely carried by Isis Beh. The post player had 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting. Her 50 percent shooting carried out to the 3-point line, where she hit 2 of 4 shots. She added four rebounds, a team-high three assists, and one steal.
The Wildcats did some of the things they wanted to do on defense. They went in planning to pressure Colorado. That pressure was often successful as Arizona turned the Buffs over 21 times with 15 of those coming on steals. They turned those 21 turnovers into 18 points. They just couldn’t sustain things on either end of the court.
“I think our diamond press was effective,” Barnes said. “We just could never convert and we could never get over the hump.”
Arizona went into the half down by eight points. Colorado pushed that lead out to 15 with 4:13 to go in the quarter. Two 3-pointers by Williams and a layup by Skylar Jones cut the lead to nine going into the final 10 minutes.
Three minutes into the final quarter, the Wildcats had the deficit down to four points. The Buffaloes pushed it back to nine, and Arizona reeled them back in. It was a five-point game after two free throws by Mailien Rolf with three minutes to go.
That was as close as it would get.
Rolf hit the only Arizona shot over the final three minutes. The freshman guard finished with six points, a team-high seven rebounds, one assist, and a team-high five steals.
Jones tied Beh for the team lead in points with 12. She added three rebounds and three steals.
Four of Arizona’s nine players went a combined 1 for 12. One of those was Paulina Paris, who struggled for her second straight game.
“She’s got some things going on right now, some personal family situation,” Barnes said. “It’s not easy, so I’m giving her a lot of grace with that. And it’s just, there’s life stuff that happens.”
A bigger concern was Montaya Dew failing to take any shots in 23 minutes on the floor.
“It’s a problem,” Barnes said. “I think that she’s a big confidence player, but I just continue to tell her that we need her to be aggressive. Montaya is not someone who’s going to take bad shots, but she has to look at the rim…she’s got to shift that mentality…Sometimes it’s like, go get confidence by getting to the foul line, driving it one time or getting offensive rebounds. And I think that’s the stuff you have to teach young players. You may not have the opportunity, maybe didn’t pass up shots, but you’re not getting good looks. So get an offensive rebound, get a steal, get something easy that gives you confidence to get into the game, and you can take the shots.”
The Wildcats return home to face Arizona State on Saturday at 2 p.m. MST.