Arizona begins Adia Barnes’ ninth season at alma mater Monday vs. UT-Arlington

Last we saw of Arizona and Adia Barnes in terms of a basketball game was in the NCAA tournament almost eight months ago when nobody other than the Wildcats thought they would go that far.

Barnes became a subject of social-media criticism with Arizona losing a slew of players including Madison Conner to TCU, Lauren Ware to Texas A&M, Maya Nnaji to her medical-school studies and Kailyn Gilbert ultimately to LSU after a late-season defection.

Barnes’ resolve reflected on her remaining players, who became galvanized as a unit as the season progressed.

The Wildcats became one of the best stories of the NCAA tournament, entering the competition with seven scholarship players after all the defections and injuries.

Although Arizona fell short to Syracuse at Storrs, Conn., in the second round after defeating Auburn, Barnes and Arizona’s talented trio of freshmen Jada Williams, Breya Cunningham and Skylar Jones emerged from the 18-16 season as winners.

With that sophomore core intact, and Barnes filling the roster to meet her needs, Arizona figures to be highlyncompetitive in 2024-25.

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— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaWBB) November 3, 2024

They begin their season Monday at 4 p.m. at McKale Center against UT-Arlington, which happens to have a player who was part of the transfers who left the program following the 2020-21 season — Koi Love, who went to USC for two seasons and is a fifth-year forward with the Lady Mavs.

“Last year, they were thrown into the fire because of the injuries, and I think just all the experience they got (was valuable),” Barnes said of Williams, Cunningham and Jones. “We played the most overtime games in the country last year (four of them, including a double-overtime loss at home against USC and JuJu Watkins).

“We didn’t always come on the winning end of that, but we gained tremendous experience. I think that with them being sophomores, they are going to play more like juniors.”

That experience will be invaluable with Helena Pueyo and Esmery Martinez exhausting their eligibility.

Pueyo was a fifth-year veteran last year who was one of the most versatile players Barnes has coached.

“I think we all have to step up because in crunch time, we always relied on Pueyo,” Williams said. “I’m not gonna lie, we always ran floppy for Pueyo. I think everybody just steps up a little bit. Not one person takes on that role.

“Breya scores a little bit more, doesn’t foul as much. Skylar scores a little bit more. I have less turnover. Stuff like that. Everybody just picking up slack in areas like that. We’re not the same team as last year. We’re different. We got different people. They got different skills.”

Show Up and Show Out for our Season Opener!

UT Arlington
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— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaWBB) November 3, 2024

The most telling feature Arizona fans will notice is the Wildcats’ depth on the frontcourt.

Barnes (150-100 in her coaching career with the Wildcats) has nine players listed as forwards or centers, including fifth-year post player Isis Beh, another significant contributor last season.

Three forwards who are transfers will figure prominently into Barnes’ plans — Ajae Yoakum (Florida International graduate transfer), Sahnya Jah (South Carolina) and Joryn Ross (Pepperdine).

Montaya Dew, in her third season in the program, finally will get the opportunity to play after being an early entrant in 2022-23 and having to redshirt because of an injury last season.

The guards to go along with Williams and Jones will be North Carolina transfer Paulina Paris, four-star freshman recruit Lauryn Swann of Queens, N.Y., and German freshman Mailien Rolf.

“I feel like with this time in the state of women’s basketball, you’re always constantly adjusting, because every team is different,” Barnes said. “There’s rarely teams that have all their players for four to five years now.

“I think that every year they’re adding new players, adding new transfers, and that’s just kind of the way women’s basketball is. You have to be able to pivot when you need to, and I think we’re ready for that now.”

NOTES

— Last season, Arizona ranked sixth in the country averaging 11.7 steals per game. The Wildcats’ 398 total steals fell one short of tying the school record for a season, which was set in 1997.
— With 18 wins last year, it marked the sixth straight season with 18 or more wins to tie the program record for consecutive seasons with at least that many victories (1995-96 through 2000-01).
— Williams was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team by the coaches and media last year after averaging 9.5 points and 2.4 assists.
— Cunningham was a Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honorable mention after finishing fifth in the league in blocked shots per game (1.8) and fifth in program history with 61 total blocks.
— Jones averaged 7.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game while being named Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honorable mention. She scored a career-high 24 points against Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.
— The program finished the 2023-24 season ranked 11th in the country in average attendance (7,333).
— Arizona has sold more than 5,400 season tickets for four consecutive seasons, including 2024-25. The
program’s record for season ticket sales was broken in the 2022-23 season when Wildcat fans bought 5,898 season tickets.

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.