Arizona Wildcats (6-3) host Seattle Redhawks (2-5): Back to basics, pro Cats making their marks

On the sidelines

Back at it: The Wildcats took Thanksgiving off but were right back at it on Friday at practice.

UA coach Adia Barnes said that the focus was on the fundamentals. Back to the basics of passing, pivoting and shooting on offense and boxing out on defense.

If this all sounds familiar, it should. These are the things — along with ball-handling and jump-topping — that the Wildcats have been working on and will continue to put in the reps until it all becomes second nature.

Barnes said they “are young and just don’t have an understanding.”

“We can scout and go on scout of certain plays, and then we don't recognize those things, even when the bench is yelling,” Barnes said.

“(Before the Cal game on Wednesday) I told them, 'I think this is a play they're going to run the very first play.' We walked through it. I walked through it four different times and then they scored on that first play.”

How do the Wildcats take that next step so they can take what they learn with the scout and apply it to the game?

It all comes down to teaching and repetition, repetition, repetition.

“I have to keep on showing them, teaching them and working on it,” Barnes said. “It just takes time. I have patience. This is a young team. I knew we were going to be young. I knew we were going to have growing pains. It's just working through that. It’s a little bit of adversity. I love the hard stuff; it’s going to be OK.”

Seattle connection: Former UA coach Joan Bonvinci finished her coaching career at Seattle. She collected wins No. 700 and 701 during her seven-year stint with the Redhawks. 

Italian connection: When Arizona and Seattle face each other Monday night, there will be three Italians on the court at McKale.

Two Seattle freshman guards, Candy Edokpaigbe and Nicole Benini are from Italy. Benini, who is from Rome, competed with the Italian National team in 2023, while Edokpaigbe is from Naples.

UA assistant Salvo Coppa is from Syracuse, Sicily.

Pro Cats: All seven Wildcats currently playing overseas this season who played for Barnes are doing well.

Trinity Baptiste and Aari McDonald are in China. Esmery Martinez is playing in France. Helena Pueyo is playing in Spain. Bendu Yeaney is playing in Sweden. Jade Loville is playing in Greece and Cate Reese is playing in Belgium.

For those who follow McDonald in the WNBA — last year playing for the L.A. Sparks — she is playing her offseason for Beijing Great Wall in the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association.

McDonald is averaging 22.6 points, 4.6 assists, 2.4 steals and 5.2 rebounds per game. In two games this past week, she scored a combined 46 points, pulled down 12 rebounds, dished five assists and had four steals.

In the recent EuroCup, Reese was Player of the Week with this stat line: 29 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.

In Euro League action, Pueyo was one of the top five players of the month, averaging 16.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.5 steals. In addition, in a recent game, she picked seven steals in 34 minutes of action.

In a recent game, Yeaney scored 18 points, pulled down seven rebounds, dished five assists and had three blocks and two steals. Loville was also an MVP of the week with 35 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. Baptiste is averaging 17.8 points (shooting 54% from the field) and 6.6 rebounds per game.

Martinez was an All-Tournament team member at the FIBA World Cup and had a triple-double (24 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists) in a win over Guatemala. For Flammes Carolo Basket, she is shooting 50% long range and 43% from inside the arc.

History: Arizona and Seattle have played twice with both games coming during the Barnes coaching era.

The first time the programs faced off was at the Bank of Hawaii Classic in Honolulu in November 2018. That was three games into McDonald’s first active season with the Wildcats — she wasn’t allowed to play the season before because of the old rules that transfers had to sit out a year. She scored 25 points in a 30-point blowout, 84-54. Reese added 21 points and Lucia Alonso had nine assists.

The two teams also met last season on New Year’s Eve, with the Wildcats winning 89-52. Six Wildcats finished in double figures, with Jada Williams leading the way with 18 points. Pueyo picked four steals.

By the numbers

6.9: The Wildcats are averaging 6.9 more trips to the free throw line than the Redhawks, who only take 8.4 per game. Arizona is getting to the line 15.3 times per game.

5: Five Wildcats have collected 10 or more steals this season: Williams (20), Skylar Jones (17), Breya Cunningham (13), Paulina Paris (11) and Sahnya Jah  (10).

2: The last time the Wildcats had a two-game losing streak was at the end of the 2023-24 regular season when they took then-No. 7 ranked USC to double overtime before losing 95-93 and following that up with a loss to then-No. 8 UCLA 61-41.