Arizona basketball notebook: Freshmen provide spark, Jada Williams gets rolling, beating the zone

Her shot, that is.

The freshman has been a spark for her teammates every time she hits the court.

It’s just that her shot wasn’t falling — until she knocked down a mid-range jumper in the first quarter of the Arizona women’s basketball team’s third-place win over South Dakota in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Williams ended up scoring 13 points — and was ESPNU’s Player of the Game. She scored nine of those in the second half — including a big bank off the glass on a 3-pointer.

Williams has scored 26 points in Arizona’s six games, but knew her shot would start falling sooner rather than later.

“I think what we talked about a lot as freshmen, in general, is we (have) played basketball our whole lives. So just stay confident,” Williams said. “We (have) played a lot against a lot of good people. So, really, if my shot is not falling, where can I help my team in other ways? Which is defense, talking, energy, stuff like that. (I am) really just working on my shot, (but) not thinking about it too much because that’s where I start to miss more, (when) thinking about it.”

As Williams said, she turned to the other things to help her teammates, like bringing that energy, communicating on the court and playing defense.

Those are all things expected of Williams from the moment she stepped on the Tucson campus this past summer.

In a small sample across seven games, Williams has 15 assists, four steals and eight rebounds while trying to learn how to lead at point guard in Arizona’s system. She averaged a little more than 23 minutes per game going into the loss to Ole Miss on Sunday.

“Jada responded really well,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. “(Sunday), the unfortunate thing — that wasn’t my plan — I realized she only played six minutes. I told her and the team after (the game), ‘I should have played you more,’ because there’s so many things (that) she does that really help us.

“I think she responded well. She could have hung her head. She could have been mad; she wasn’t. She’s always the same. She’s always consistent. Regardless of what happens to her situations, she’s never thinking about herself. She responded well and came out and gave us energy, was communicating, protecting the basket, waiting for the post players to come — doing all those things that we really need.”

Cracking the zone

On Sunday, the Wildcats faced another tough defensive team in Ole Miss. The Rebels used a zone defense with their length and athleticism for nearly the entire game. Arizona couldn’t crack the code, especially with outside shots not falling.

Arizona hit only 3-of-17 3-pointers against Ole Miss. True, the Wildcats are a team that will score more in the paint most of the season — just by the nature of their roster makeup with Breya Cunningham and Maya Nnaji — both at 6-4 — along with 6-3 Isis Beh and 6-2 Esmery Martinez, when she plays the post.

Yet, while the Wildcats have shooters who can hit from long range, like Helena Pueyo and Kailyn Gilbert, the shots haven’t been falling. In the first six games, Arizona made only 28 threes.

Barnes implemented an extra-long film session Sunday night, focusing only on how to beat the zone and what exactly the Wildcats want to do when they see that defensive set.

It’s a defense that Arizona will see plenty of zone this season. If Arizona didn’t start figuring it out now, the Ole Miss film could become a scout on how to beat the Wildcats.

It worked. Arizona attacked the zone completely differently the next day and did the little things — including communicating and staying together — despite being a little tired while playing in game No. 6 in an 11-day stretch.

“We had a really tough time executing (Sunday), because obviously people are playing a zone to congest the paint and to make you shoot outside so we didn’t want to settle for (the) three,” Barnes said. “The ball never went inside or didn’t go inside out or it didn’t get reversed. Just reviewing it for (another) 30 minutes (Monday morning) and seeing it on film and explaining the advantages we want in the zone and the reason why we do what we’re doing, I think they had a really good understanding of it.”

That freshman class

Williams wasn’t the only one who showed up over the three games of the Battle 4 Atlantis, especially against South Dakota.

Cunningham was dominant at times inside, collecting eight blocks — five against Ole Miss — and 21 rebounds.

Skyler Jones scored eight points in the second quarter of Monday’s game — hitting both 3-pointers — and going an efficient 3 for 4. Her first points came off a steal and a fast break. Later in the quarter, she grabbed an offensive rebound and had active hands on defense.

“They’re doing the things we asked them,” Barnes said. “We’re saying we need these things and I think they were intentional about bringing them.

“Skylar, you know, she’s really hard on herself but she came in and just fought and did her thing,” Barnes said. “It’s the plus when (Jones) makes those threes or makes the shots but being solid and learning and getting better. Because we know that we’re going to improve every single freshman. We know we’re going to work, they’re going to learn, things get easier. And as a freshman, there’s always ebbs and flows. That’s the way it is, but I’m proud (of them).”

Fifth year Martinez added: “(The freshmen) bring us a lot of energy. They come in strong. They look like they want it, they want to win games.”

It’s tough out there

The three tournament games were quite physical. There were times that Wildcats ended up on the court — and not only in the moments they were going for a 50/50 ball.

One of the Wildcats who took a few hits on Monday was Martinez. At least one shot to the face, another opponent jumped on her back and she ran into a hard screen that took her just a moment or two to get back up.

Martinez shook it off after the game, saying she was tired and would get some treatment, but that she was good and would be ready for Arizona’s next game on Dec. 2 at UNLV.

“It’s funny because now Esmery is playing the three (big guard) and now she understands why posts have to talk so much, because she’s on the other side of it,” Barnes said with a laugh. “She did get hit really hard. This weekend, Courtney (Blakely), Jada, Kailyn and Es have been flattened by some screens. I feel so bad, but we talked about communicating with those. Sometimes you’re running in transition and it’s hard.”

All-tourney team

Nnaji made the Battle 4 Atlantis All-Tournament team. Across the three games, she scored 35 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, dished eight assists, blocked five shots and picked four steals. She had active hands on defense and was hitting mid-range, as well as inside shots.

She scored the first points — a layup and two free throws — when Arizona pulled away from South Dakota in the fourth quarter. She put up six points, snagged four rebounds and swatted a ball in that final frame to help the Wildcats take third place.