
McKale magic or McKale madness? Maybe a little of both?
Whatever it was, the Arizona Wildcats (14-8, 5-4 Big 12) dominated the No. 16 West Virginia Mountaineers (16-4, 6-3) in a 77-62 win on Saturday night — Arizona’s first win over a ranked team this season.
“We beat a really good West Virginia team that is phenomenal defensively. Very hard to play against the three dynamic scoring guards. They’re some of the best in the country. There’s a reason why they’re 16th. And I am proud of our group, very young group, a lot younger than their backcourt, and I thought we did a really good job handling their pressure,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said.
“Credit Arizona, I thought they worked a little harder, had a little more energy maybe a little more effort than we did, especially early,” said West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg.
Containing the Mountaineer guards
The recipe for beating a very good West Virginia team? Contain their stable of talented guards.
Arizona accepted the challenge and succeeded, locking down junior guard Jordan Harrison, limiting her to seven points and no assists. Harrison averages 14 points per game and leads the Mountaineers in assists at 5.3 per game.
Dynamic senior guard JJ Quinerly, who averages 19 points per game, ended Saturdays matchup with 26 points and was the main contributor for the Mountaineers on offense.
Arizona held junior guard Sydney Shaw to 10 points, 2.5 points below her average.
Shaw was the only other Mountaineer to score in double digits.
Breya Cunningham’s career night
Arizona sophomore forward Breya Cunningham hit two career milestones in the Wildcats’ win over West Virginia with 500 career points and 100 career blocks.
Cunningham had 18 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and three steals missing a double-double by one rebound.
“I always miss the double-double, I always do that” Cunningham said. “I’m either eight rebound, nine rebounds. It’s the rebounds, man. I just can’t do it.”
On hitting her milestones and getting the win over the Mountaineers, Cunningham said, “Playing West Virginia and beating this great team makes me feel better. I’m doing what I need to do for my team.”
Skylar Jones embracing her new “Sixth Man” role
Skylar Jones was in the starting lineup when the season started but was struggling in all facets of her game. Barnes benched Jones while she worked through those struggles.
In golf, having an unexpected loss of skill is called getting the “yips.” While basketball doesn’t use this term, the cause is universal across all sports of losing mental focus.
It is safe to say Jones is no longer suffering from the loss of mental focus.
The last two games Jones has shown that she has conquered the proverbial “yips,” contributing a combined 33 points to help the Wildcats in their wins over Cincinnati and West Virginia.
In Saturday’s win, Jones came off the bench adding intensity and excitement to both sides of the ball, scoring 16 points and getting three steals. The stats don’t do justice to the havoc Jones caused on defense.
“She was huge. If she doesn’t do what she does, we don’t win the game. She came in had some huge plays another three her foot was on the line. Defensively, offensively that spark is a momentum shifter and that is important” Barnes said.
“Being in a good place mentally,” Jones said of her improved play. “So I’ve just been being positive. I’ve had some practices and stuff this week with good energy. I’ve just got to keep that moving on forward so I can keep doing what I need to do.”
Sahnya Jah’s return to the court
After being suspended, coaches decision, for three games, many weren’t sure if we would see Sahnya Jah play in another Arizona game. She was dressed for the Wildcats’ game against Cincinnati, but didn’t see any playing time.
Her first minutes back on the floor since the Baylor game on Jan. 8 came mid second quarter Saturday.
Jah contributed six points and a rebound in seven minutes on the floor.
The talent and ability are there for Jah to be a huge factor for the Wildcats down the stretch.
Underdogs at home
How did finding out that Arizona had a 12.8 percent chance by ESPN of beating West Virginia sit with Arizona?
It added fuel to their fire.
In the words of Pualina Paris, “Like Skylar was saying before, they gave us a 12 percent chance of winning at home, and that’s just disrespectful.”
Jones was quick to correct Paris “twelve-point-eight”
Arizona made sure no money was made on that potential bet.
“Some people lost some money in Vegas, good job,” Barnes joked.
Arizona next travels to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Utes on Friday. The Wildcats will try to avenge the 69-48 loss to Utah at McKale Center on New Year’s Eve. Friday’s game, at 6:30 p.m., is on FS1.














