Heading into its road trip to the state of Washington, Arizona coach Adia Barnes noted that the trip is 'one of toughest' during her weekly press conference leading up to the weekend.
Last season, the Wildcats went 0-1 on the trip with a loss to Washington State and had a game canceled against the Huskies due to COVID-19 issues. This time, Arizona was able to play both games but split after closing things out with a 72-67 loss to the Cougars.
"Not the prettiest weekend for Arizona women's basketball, but credit to Washington State they came out and really played with a lot of confidence," said Adia Barnes after her team's loss Sunday. "They shot the ball well, they were extremely comfortable from the get-go and they outplayed us. I thought we responded a little bit in the third quarter, but too little too late. If you don't come to the game with a certain mentality, you're going to lose in the Pac 12."
The Wildcats lost more than the game Sunday when, in the fourth quarter, forward Cate Reese drove into the lane on a layup attempt and collided with a WSU defender falling to the floor and dislocating her shoulder.
"Yeah, she dislocated her shoulder, but nothing's torn or broken or anything. So that's a great thing just because the time being out is significantly less," Barnes said. "She's going to be very sore. It's her first time dislocating her shoulder. And that was pretty devastating for me. I've never seen that before.
"So going next to her and she's in excruciating pain it was scary. So that kind of shook me a little bit. Cate is so important for this team in every single way. So obviously, when she went down, that was a huge dagger. But now it's time. We lost today, we need Cate, and we have to wait, and kind of maintain tell she comes back. And we need some other people to step up right now. And I think that's what good teams do. Other people find ways to step up when some of the best players are out."
Reese has averaged 15.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, and shooting 45% from the field during a span of 14 conference games.
The weekend split has spotlighted a growing problem for Arizona, which has become known as a defensive-minded team under Barnes. Over their last five games, the Wildcats have allowed opponents to shoot 45% from the field and score an average of 62.8 points during that stretch.
"Washington State definitely punched us in the face. They definitely wanted it more. They kept fighting," said forward Sam Thomas after the team's loss Sunday. "And I feel like we just kept taking those punches without getting a turnaround. We kind of did with like two minutes left in the game. But at that time, they had the hot hands. They had the hot shooters, and they had the momentum."
The Cougars shot 54% from the field and went 9 for 16 from the 3-point line. The field goal percentage was a season-high that Arizona has given up to opponents, with the next-closest highest percentage coming against Stanford when the Cardinal shot 52% from the field.
"This weekend, we didn't play good defense at all. I think we're very comfortable right now at not making other teams uncomfortable," Barnes said. "And just giving up too many open threes and not in the right positioning. So, we definitely have to be a lot more focused. And just ready and that's something that we can do. But you can't start off the game not mentally locked in and paying attention to the scout. We know who does what, we all scout a lot, and we all are very prepared.
"But we have to be able to apply that on the court. I just felt like Friday, a similar thing. We didn't have a great game had a great defensive first half by letting Washington score seven. But then the second half, we just got a little relaxed in the fourth quarter. I think today we didn't have a great defensive effort credit to Washington State. They came out and they played well, offensively, which made it hard for us. So, we just got to get back and to the basics and do some things better."
The Wildcats will be back at home against the Los Angeles schools, USC and UCLA, to close out the regular season before the start of the Pac-12 tournament.
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