The last time Arizona State (8-16, 2-10) beat Arizona (15-10, 6-6) was February 11, 2022 in Tempe. Since then, the Wildcats have won six in a row against the Sun Devils, including a 66-59 victory on Saturday in front of a season-high McKale Center crowd of 8,370.
The rivalry continues in the Big 12
One month after Arizona State beat Arizona in February of 2022, the Sun Devils’ long-time head coach Charli Turner Thorne retired after 25 years and Natasha Adair was hired.
As happens with a coaching change, many of the returning starters left for other schools. Despite having a slim roster her first year, Adair has rebuilt the Sun Devil basketball program into a competitive team, one thatt will make the Arizona and Arizona State rivalry exciting to watch for years to come.
With Jazion Jackson, Kennedy Fauntleroy and Maggie Besselink all out for the duel in McKale, the Sun Devils had to depend on their bench and younger players.
“You go back and you watch film, you gotta keep teaching, and you gotta keep growing” Adair said “I mean, every game we’re just playing harder and harder and getting better. But it’s 38 minutes last game was 37 minutes and it’s just, it has to be 40, but it’s not for a lack of will, want to and fight.
“I keep talking about how scary this team is gonna be, you know, just down the stretching, going into the Big 12 Tournament, because everyone is getting game experience, and we haven’t seen that best, by all players all at the same time, and it’s coming.”
Arizona coach Adia Barnes added: “They’re a good team. They can score. They’ve been in a lot of games and had chances to win, but they’re hard to guard.”
Second half Wildcats
Jada Williams had four points, two rebounds and no assists at halftime.
The third and fourth quarters were another story. Williams had 14 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in the second half. Williams ended the game with a team high 18 points and was named “Bang the Drum” Player of the Game.
Williams on working through the first half shooting slump: “When something’s not working, go to the next thing, I think I’ve grown a lot with that, and so just staying consistent with that is important.”
Breya Cunningham had a similar first half as Williams.
At the half, Cunningham had four points and three rebounds. She also picked up two fouls in the first quarter which limited her minutes to 11 in the half.
Cunningham ended the game with 16 points, a team-high eight rebounds, one assist and one block.
Arizona had three assists at halftime but ended the game with 14 assists.
One of Barnes’ goals during a game is to have more assists than turnovers. That box was checked by one. The Wildcats had 13 turnovers.
“I think we had three assists at halftime, so that wasn’t good,” Barnes said. “Just taking way too many threes. And they were zoning us but that wasn’t working. So when something’s not working, you can’t continue to do it. Like, that’s the definition of insanity. So I said, ‘No, I didn’t want threes unless there was ball movement.’ So we did a better job second half but still kind of living and dying by the three too much.”
Isis Beh surpasses 500 career points
It was a milestone night for Isis Beh surpassing 500 career points and getting a season high five assists.
The fifth-year senior is a big disrupter on defense and sees the floor, feeding her teammates on offense.
In addition to her five assists, Beh had eight points, three rebounds and a steal.
Arizona heads to Stillwater, Okla., to play Oklahoma State on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Cowgirls feature former Arizona guard Anna Gret Asi of Estonia. Ashley Phillips, an assistant under Barnes from 2021 to 2023 at Arizona, is an assistant at Oklahoma State.
The Wildcats are next in McKale next Sunday against TCU and former Wildcat guard Madison Conner. Tip off is at 2:00 p.m.
Bang that drum Jada Williams!!! @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/Q0WUDoaZ2s
— Lori Burkhart (@loriburkhart) February 8, 2025
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