Going into the fourth quarter against Oklahoma State, the Arizona Wildcats were hitting 47.5 percent of their shots. They were good on 46.2 percent of their 3s. They had 15 assists on 19 made buckets. And they were losing by 20 on the way to an 83-64 loss in Stillwater.
The Wildcats went to a more one-on-one style in the fourth quarter, getting just one assist, but they continued hitting shots at a high clip. They ended the game shooting 45.5 percent over and 41.2 percent from 3. They just couldn’t stop OSU on the other end.
Barnes noted that the team had scoring droughts that they couldn’t afford. Giving up 83 points was the bigger issue, though.
“We had a really tough time in rotation, so when we went past them on on-balls, the guards are driving down our throat,” Barnes said. “So being late on rotation or helping off the line of the ball, those things, they hurt. They get exploited against good teams. Against teams that aren’t good, you can recover. Against good teams that move the ball really well, you’re gonna give up open 3s. You’re gonna give up just rotation and offensive rebounds. So defensively, we have to be much better. I think in this game, we probably gave up five and-1s.”
Fouls piled up for multiple players in the first half. In addition to Cunningham picking up two, Jones had three before halftime. As a result, the Wildcats had a big deficit in free throws.
Arizona shot a total of 14 in the game, 12 of which came in the second half. The Cowgirls shot 14 in the first half and ended the game with 22. To make matters worse, the Wildcats missed half the free throws they were awarded.
If it weren’t for Isis Beh and Paulina Paris, nothing would have gone right for the Wildcats in the first half. Breya Cunningham once again picked up two fouls in the first quarter. Once again, one was an offensive foul that may or may not have been a foul, but it didn’t matter when she proceeded to foul out in 13 minutes.
Skylar Jones couldn’t hit her shots, but she was setting up her teammates effectively until she picked up three fouls before halftime and had to sit for a while. She still had a positive effect on the game, but foul trouble always impacts how a player plays defense. Jones ended with eight points, six rebounds, four assists, and one steal.
Jada Williams played just seven minutes due to an injury. Williams has been dealing with nagging pain in her foot. None of the treatments, including rest and wearing a boot, have helped. She went down in pain in the first half and sat for the rest of it. She tried to come back in the second half, but she spent less than a minute on the court before returning to the bench for the night.
“Our leading scorer, Jada, is out,” Barnes said. “No excuse, because I think Oklahoma State outplayed us. But I think her playing seven minutes really hurts us because she plays 35 minutes a game. And then also what hurt us even more is Breya’s presence inside. When she plays 13 minutes, and she’s in foul trouble, and we only give her four shots, we don’t win a lot of games.”
Arizona is also still awaiting news from outside the program about Sahnya Jah. Jorynn Ross is out with an injury. That meant both of the Wildcats’ usual reserves at the four were unavailable.
The Wildcats stayed in the game during the first half despite those issues. They finished the first quarter tied and were down by just eight at the half because of Beh and Paris.
Beh scored 17 of Arizona’s 29 points in the first half. She ended the game with a career-high 24 points on 11-for-13 shooting. She hit 2 of 3 shots from beyond the arc. She added three rebounds, an assist, and one steal.
“She’s been playing really well,” Barnes said. “I think when other people have been struggling, she’s been our most consistent player right now. She’s been showing up. And when I talk about our lack of experience, she’s also…not a very experienced. She was a long-time player that played a few minutes a game at most of her stops, and right now, she’s turned into one of our best players. She’s playing over 30 minutes for the first time in her career. She’s shooting like over 60 percent and she’s playing out of her mind. I mean, when she first got to Arizona, she couldn’t shoot threes. Now she shoots threes in games and makes them. So I’m just so proud of her.”
The rest of the scoring was primarily the doing of Paris, which the team and the player needed.
Paris had been in a funk recently. She had personal issues off the court, even making a brief visit home to New York a couple of weeks ago, and they seemed to be spilling over onto the court. She was 2 for 13 in the past three games, two of which ended in losses.
In Stillwater, she hit 3 of 5 from the field including one from 3 during the first half. She added four assists and a rebound. She ended the night with 15 points, 2 rebounds, and a team-high 5 assists,
With the lack of depth and the game essentially decided early in the second half, Barnes took the time to get experience for some of her bench players. Katarina Knežević was the primary beneficiary.
On Monday, Barnes said that she wanted to find more time for Knežević but most conference games haven’t afforded opportunities to experiment. Arizona beat West Virginia at home then were in the games late against Utah and Colorado on the road. It beat Arizona State by seven points in their last game.
The blowout against OSU provided the opportunity. Knežević played 20 minutes, the most since she had 26 against CSU Bakersfield. She ended her night with 7 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals. Most importantly, she had no fouls and just one turnover, which are two areas that have held her back.
Knežević still showed some weaknesses in boxing out, although it was an issue for several players and has been something Barnes has harped on all season. The Wildcats gave up 11 offensive boards.
“If you look at Breya’s…fifth foul, offensive rebound that Katarina didn’t box out, and then (Breya) got a foul,” Barnes said. “So I think our guards have to do a much better job being disciplined and boxing out. I think that really hurt us.”
Montaya Dew also stepped up with a bit of offensive aggression. While she went 1 for 6 from the field, Dew drew fouls by driving to the basket. It’s a strategy that Barnes has been encouraging the first-year player to use and it worked. She made all four of her free throws, accounting for over half the team’s makes from the line.
Dew added five rebounds, one assist, and one block. For her, the issue of vital importance was staying aggressive even after missing her first shot and finding other ways to score.
Barnes was unsure when Williams would be available, although she said that one reason she sat out was the deficit Arizona faced in the game. Things are likely to get worse before they get better on the injury front regardless of Williams’ status. Rolf will have to be evaluated for a blow to the head, as well.
“We got X-rays (on Williams’ foot),” Barnes said. “Nothing’s broken. It was just a really sore spot. So we don’t need to push it and rush, especially when we’re down.”
Things don’t get easier for Arizona on the court. No. 11 TCU comes to Tucson on Saturday. Depending on the health of Williams and Rolf, the Wildcats could be as thin on the perimeter as they have become in the frontcourt.