Arizona head coach Adia Barnes said Friday night that her team didn't look like the sixth-ranked team in the country in a blowout loss to No. 1 Stanford. Sunday the Wildcats looked much more like one of the top teams in the country in a dominant performance against Cal at McKale Center.
The Bears nearly had as many turnovers as they did points with UA forcing 31 turnovers in a lopsided 69-33 win over Cal in a much-needed bounce-back performance and response for the Wildcats (8-1, 6-1 Pac-12).
"It was huge for us, because the way we lost and the manner in which we lost," Barnes said of Sunday's victory, which was the lowest amount of points the Wildcats have held a conference opponent to in program history. "Stanford is better right now, but they're not 30 points better. They forced us and made us do things we weren't good at, and I thought they did an incredible job.
"But, we could've laid down. We could've been blaming each other for things, and pointing fingers but we didn't do that. Our true character shows when things are tough and they were tough this whole weekend. Tough conversations yesterday then to bounce back and play the way we did. Played team basketball, played Arizona basketball. ... I'm very, very happy with the way we played."
Arizona put the game out of reach early as the Wildcats held Cal (0-9, 0-6) to just four points in the first quarter and 10 points total in the first half. UA relied on its front court as junior forward Cate Reese and senior forward Trinity Baptiste accounted for 15 points in the first half.
Baptiste finished the game as the leading scorer with 17 points to go with four rebounds, two steals and assist while Reese had 14 points, three rebounds and a block in the victory.
"I really just wanted to come in and do my job," Baptiste said. "It was a tough loss and we know that we're better than that, so I just wanted to do whatever it takes to win. That's all I'm here to do is help my teammates win."
Barnes said that getting the front court involved in Sunday's game was a priority coming off Friday's loss to Stanford when the Wildcats settled for too many outside shots and didn't work the ball inside. For Reese there was another motivator for having a strong performance against Cal.
"Last year they came in and they embarrassed us on our home floor last year, and that was definitely something we did not want to allow to happen this year," she said about last season's loss to the Bears on Senior Day. "Knowing that we did lose on Friday and that we have to be able to bounce back in hard games and difficult times just all that staff were factors, and I think that really helped to motivate us to be ready for this game today."
Barnes was also pleased with Aari McDonald's ability to impact the game in ways other than scoring. The UA star guard had just 12 points in Sunday's game but she led the game with eight assists and six steals.
"That's a phenomenal stat line," the UA head coach said. "Two turnovers. I don't feel like they were turnovers. One was a jump stop, which we work on, one was a spin move. I think she's just so fast it looks like a turnover. I don't think she had any turnovers that were legit. So, a perfect game.
"She got her teammates involved, was a true leader on the floor. She did things today that I love for her to do. She recognized some mismatches. She asked me, 'hey, can we call this?' Yeah. I like when she's thinking about that. She's trying to isolate her teammates. She made a conscious effort to do that, and I thought she played a perfect game."
Arizona is a team that prides itself on its defense and Sunday the Wildcats were able to force the Bears into 21 turnovers in the first half to help create the separation in the early going.
"I thought our defense was phenomenal," Barnes said. "I thought we put closer to 40 minutes of good basketball. I thought pressure, I thought guarded our woman better. Just played better position defense. Got into the stuff we were doing faster. I think that sense of urgency wasn't there, but it took us getting slapped in the face to do it. We didn't get slapped, we got punched in the face.
"Then we were on our heels, so for us to come back and respond it shows a lot about the competitors that they are."
Barnes says she is excited for her team's next two games as it will challenge the Wildcats when they head on the road once again to face Washington and Washington State next weekend.
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