Simply getting to its game against Oregon on Monday night in Eugene was a trial on its own, but then the 10th-ranked Wildcats had to face the Ducks in a place they have not been able to win a game since 2011.
UA was able to clear all the hurdles and run away with a 79-59 victory over the No. 11 team in the country thanks to several notable performances plus an impressive defensive showing.
Junior forward Cate Reese tied her season high with 25 points leading Arizona to its first road win over Oregon under head coach Adia Barnes.
It was the first contest for the Wildcats since a road game against Utah on Jan. 22 with UA having COVID-19 issues within the program that forced the postponement of three games.
Then before UA landed in Corvallis to face Oregon State on Friday it was announced the Beavers would be postponing that matchup because of virus issues in their program. It meant a longer wait for Arizona to take the floor again while also forcing the players to remain mostly isolated while awaiting Monday's national TV matchup on ESPN2.
The wait proved to be worth it as a dominant third quarter showing from the Wildcats allowed them to create some separation after outscoring the Ducks 27-14 over the 10-minute span.
Reese made all four of her shots in the quarter for nine points highlighting one of her best performances with the Wildcats. The junior from Texas went into the matchup with a bit more motivation after learning that there was a belief on the other sideline that she isn't capable of making shots from outside.
She connected on all three of her 3-point attempts in the win giving her the last laugh in the matchup.
"I just heard some stuff that they (Oregon) were saying about me," Reese said after the game. "I took that personal, and my teammates were finding me. I just read the defense and I'm grateful my teammates could pass the ball to me. They said I couldn't shoot."
Returning from a hiatus of more than two weeks was certainly set up to be a challenge, but adding the element of a national TV game against one of the top teams in the Pac-12 could have made Monday's game an uphill battle for the Wildcats.
Instead, Barnes' team controlled the matchup for most of the night and was able to use some of its pent-up eagerness to its advantage after being forced to wait to hit the floor after arriving in Oregon late last week.
"It felt amazing," senior forward Sam Thomas said. "We've been waiting for a while. First we were waiting at our home practicing at McKale and doing what we could do. Then we were finally excited on the plane ready to come play Oregon State, and we had to wait another four days in our hotel room just sitting there watching everybody else in the Pac play. It was really tough, but we're so happy that we got to play today and on ESPN2.
"So, that was just a great feeling."
Reese added that the Wildcats were "definitely tired of playing each other, so we were excited to play a different team for once."
Thomas also hit three 3-pointers to finish second on the team behind Reese with 14 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists. Reese had six rebounds and two assists in addition to 25 points. UA senior Trinity Baptiste 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Star guard Aari McDonald struggled some but still finished with 13 points, six rebounds and a team-high tying four assists.
Barnes certainly had some concerns about how her team would perform after having more than two weeks off, so she was pleased with the end result as the Wildcats completed a season sweep of the Ducks.
"I don't like a two-and-a-half week breather," the UA head coach said. "That's too long. I was really worried about how we were gonna respond. That's a long time during a season to not play a game. Then to not have a ton of practices in those two weeks. I was contact traced for seven days. So to be out and still respond the way we did I'm more impressed with how our team handled it.
"That shows our leadership from Aari and Sam to be able to do that. ... I thought Cate she dominated the game. They had a really tough time guarding her inside and out. So, I'm just proud of the way she played, and for us to have four players in double digits that's remarkable. We'll win a lot of games if we do that."
UA will now continue a busy week when it returns home to host Washington State and Washington in the final games of the regular season at McKale Center. The Cougars will be up first Friday night at 7 p.m. MST.
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