Arizona women’s basketball starts the season with its first exhibition on Friday, Oct. 25. Before that, the program sent head coach Adia Barnes and sophomores Jada Williams, Breya Cunningham, and Skylar Jones to Kansas City for the Wildcats’ first Big 12 Media Day on Tuesday. What did they say about their first year in a new league?
Cunningham on the identity of Arizona women’s basketball
“I think we’re a very aggressive team. We play hard, especially last year, that being a tough season with us towards the end, only six players. We give it all we have. We’re a very aggressive team defensively.”
Jones on how she improved as last season progressed
“My teammates telling me that they need me to step up. Because I didn’t really have the confidence that I needed to in the beginning of the season, because being a freshman is really hard. So I think having all the confidence from my teammates and them encouraging me really helped me get comfortable playing.”
Barnes on preparing for a new conference
“A lot of new teams. Definitely a lot of homework. But I think it’s a very different style of play. I think there’s a lot more girth inside in the post. A lot more players that play back to the basket and a lot bigger. So we have a lot more depth inside…But I’m curious to see how we’re going to adjust as a team because our style is also very different than most Big 12 teams. So, I think in some ways, some teams will have to adjust to us, and then we’ll have to adjust to them. And I think adding more depth and size inside will really help us because we know…there’s a lot of big players. But I think it’s a fun time. And I feel like with this time in the state of women’s basketball, you’re always constantly adjusting, because every team is different. There’s rarely teams that have all their players for four to five years now. So I think that every year they’re adding new players, adding new transfers, and that’s just kind of the way women’s basketball is. So you have to be able to pivot when you need to, and I think we’re ready for that now.”
Williams on how the team makes up for the loss of Helena Pueyo
“I think we all have to step up because in crunch time, we always relied on Pueyo. I’m not gonna lie, we always ran floppy for Pueyo. So I think everybody just steps up a little bit. Not one person takes on that role. Breya scores a little bit more, doesn’t foul as much. Skylar scores a little bit more. I have less turnover. Stuff like that. You know, everybody just picking up slack in areas like that…We’re not the same team as last year. We’re different. We got different people. They got different skills.”
Barnes on how last year helped the young players develop
“Last year, they were thrown into the fire because of the injuries, and I think just all the experience they got. We played the most overtime games in the country last year. We didn’t always come on…the winning end of that, but we gained tremendous experience. So I think that them being sophomores are gonna play more like juniors.”