News and notes on Arizona women's basketball, including the Wildcats' struggles (relatively speaking) on defense as they prepare to face Arizona State.
Playing tenacious, swarming defense leads to steals, deflections and forcing the opposition to take bad shots and make mistakes.This season, for the first time in Coach Adia Barnes’ tenure, she’s had more shooters and fewer defensive-minded players at her disposal.
The Wildcats are averaging 11 points per game more than last year and 12 more than the team that went on the magical ride to the national championship game. “We can score, but we don't have anybody with a real defensive mentality -- the want and the will to shut their opponent down. And that's the mentality,” said Barnes, whose team faces rival Arizona State on Sunday in Tempe. People are also reading… “We're also not as athletic as we've been in the past. I recognize that we're getting better. But I don't think there's anybody on the team that has been focused on defense, and so that's very different.” The Wildcats are leading the Pac-12 in steals at 12.5 per game. Helena Pueyo is the league leader at 2.7. Three other Wildcats are in the top 10; Esmery Martinez and Shaina Pellington both average 1.9 per game , and Lauren Fields averages 1.8 .So why does this year’s defense look so different — and not necessarily better? UA opponents are averaging 62.9 points per game on 41.2% shooting. Last season those figures were 57.4 and 39%.Without Lauren Ware — out with season-ending knee surgery — the Wildcats are missing their best post defender and have to play much smaller at times. In the past, the Wildcats had players who took pride in defense, whether it was two of the best defensive players in the nation — Sam Thomas and Aari McDonald — or even two of the most athletic and strongest players in Trinity Baptiste and Bendu Yeaney . Barnes even said that McDonald grew up defense-first before she evolved into the “slasher to the basket.” “You've got to want to play defense, and I think that it's just been a challenge getting us to want to play defense and want to box out,” Barnes said. “It's not bad. It's just the personnel of your team. Our team is more offensive-minded. But I can tell you this: a team that we could have run two offenses and score 80 points. We would have probably scored 30 points in the past. It is what it is. You have to adjust to your teams. “It's my job to get us better, and we're only getting better if we get better defensively. I think we are getting better, but that has to be a focus.” The lack of discipline and focus on the defensive side showed up against Colorado and Utah last weekend. It included a few missed defensive rebounds early on against Utah that led to second-chance 3-pointers and a missed assignment that allowed Frida Formann to knock down a wide-open 3-pointer with around 1:30 left against Colorado. Barnes said it’s difficult for offensive-minded players to shift their mindset to defense in just a few months. Still, she is seeing improvements. “You try to get them better at certain things.” Barnes said. “Jade has improved the defense a lot in a couple months. She's smart, she's using angles. "Let's say they're not the best at closing out. Then you're work on them closing out a little bit shorter or their technique or staying lower; you're trying to improve on some things that can help, or focusing on boxing out more. That's an attention thing. That's not really athleticism thing. "Or Maya , you’re not flying out at someone on the perimeter, you're closing out shorter so you can just contest shots and use your legs. You have to teach more strategies.” Team-first mentalityTimes have certainly changed in college sports in the last few years with NIL and the transfer portal. Now, it’s much easier to pick up and leave one school for another if you aren’t getting playing time or the deals you want. When Barnes was playing at Arizona, she never thought about leaving. Not even during that rough freshman year when she was late to her classes and had to run and run — and watch her teammates run — before she made sure she was on time.“Any complaint I my parents would say, ‘Well, you can't dribble with your left hand. You're not a good shooter yet. You can't dribble, so maybe we should start working on that before you start complaining.’ It was always on me — work harder,” Barnes said. She learned early on that to earn playing time “give your coach something they can’t live without. Do something so well that they have to play you.” When Barnes turned professional, she turned into a role player. Whatever was needed of her, she was going to do it — whether it was rebounding, being a defensive stopper or being the spark off the bench. She was the definition of a team player.Rim shots• Despite two tough losses over the weekend, Barnes did see some positives. “We did a great job of going from Friday to Sunday and changing things without a lot of preparation,” Barnes said. “ gave ourselves a chance to win against a really good team in the mountains, which is a hard place to play.” • Because of high demand, Arizona Athletics added another bus — a third one — for fans to travel up to Tempe for Sunday’s matchup against ASU. Call 520-232-5563 to reserve your spot.Tags Respond: Write a letter to the editor | Write a guest opinion Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community.
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