Arizona star Aari McDonald was in the house for the Wildcats’ 87-76 win over Northern Arizona on Friday evening. In her days as a Wildcat, McDonald was the epitome of what head coach Becky Burke wants
to see from the current team. The Pac-12 Player and Defensive Player of the Year proved something about playing both ends of the court.
“It can be done,” Burke said. “You can be dynamic on offense and also be dynamic on defense. You got to have pride on that end of the floor. It’s got to matter to you just as much when nobody’s necessarily cheering for what you’re doing on the defensive end. It’s a lot easier to get up for making a shot or getting to the rim, but when you’re on the other end, and no one’s necessarily cheering for the less glamorous stuff defensively, you got to be an inward competitor enough that that stuff still matters to you on that end of the floor.”
Burke was not pleased that her team gave up 76 points to NAU because she knows that’s not going to be sustainable as the season progresses. The coach noted that her team is unlikely to be putting up 87 points on a nightly basis, so the defense must be tighter.
“Obviously, I’m thankful for the win, and anytime you can win, we’re appreciative of that, and it’s hard earned, but I’m disappointed in a lot of different ways and a lot of different areas,” Burke said. “It was not a clean game. It was not a pretty game. Not a game that I loved our attention to detail and following the prep and the scout. I just thought some things got loose. I didn’t think we had toughness for a lot of it. Just one of those games where you win, but it doesn’t feel like you won. And I don’t do ugly wins. I want to see our team continue to improve and get better. And we just gave up 76 points to a team that I thought we were going to be able to keep in the 50s.”
The Wildcats gave 28 points to NAU’s Naomi White. It was a season high for the transfer from GCU, who came in averaging 23.8 points per game against a slate that included New Mexico, Utah Tech, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, and NAIA Embry-Riddle. Against Arizona, she went 8 for 17 from the field, including 4 for 9 from 3-point distance. In another game marred by foul trouble for both teams, she went 8 for 11 from the line.
“The game plan was not what you saw,” Burke said. “I mean, the game plan was not to give her 28. I mean, she played she played 10, 11 less minutes than she usually does and hung 28 on us. We didn’t make her catches difficult. We didn’t crowd her. We didn’t switch high on her. Now, don’t get me wrong, she made some tough ones, right? But for the most part, I don’t think she’s leaving this gym like, ‘oh, I had to work for everything I got against Arizona,’ and that was what we said we needed to make her feel coming in.”
White’s 11 free throws were part of a game that included a total of 24 charity shots for NAU and 20 for Arizona. The Lumberjacks had three players end the game with four fouls each. The Wildcats had two. Those two were Lani Cornfield and Sumayah Sugapong, both of whom have struggled with fouls early in their Arizona careers.
It once again led to playing time for some young players. Freshman Molly Ladwig was one beneficiary of the extra time. She played 18 minutes, working primarily as a point guard. She had three assists and some other passes that were smart but her teammates just weren’t able to finish. She ended with 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 steal to go with her assists.
“If I am in a good mood talking about somebody tonight, it is Molly, because she is so coachable, she is so competitive,” Burke said. “She gets straight A’s, she welcomes criticism and feedback and discipline and all those. She’s a great teammate. She’s always in the gym. I mean, she’s a dream. Everybody needs multiple Molly Ladwigs on their team, and we’re better because she’s on our team and she’s going to continue to play more and more and more because, again, I’m going to play the people that do what they’re asked, the people that are tough, hard-nosed and just are coachable.”
Arizona once again got out to a slow start. The Wildcats were fortunate that NAU did, too.
Neither team scored for almost two minutes. NAU finally hit a bucket to go up 2-0 at 8:11 in the first quarter. Arizona answered with a two from Sugapong, but then the lid went back on the bucket for the Wildcats. The Lumberjacks led 9-2 around the six-minute mark.
Arizona finally got things going in the latter half of the opening quarter. Sugapong’s layup with 1:04 left in the frame closed the Lumberjacks’ lead to 15-14.
Arizona started to put some space between themselves and the visitors in the second quarter. As has been the case this season, it happened when Micky Perdue got going offensively.
The sixth-year guard ended the night with 27 points on 9-for-16 shooting, including 4-for-9 from 3-point distance. She added three rebounds and two assists.
It took a while, though. Perdue scored her first bucket of the night with a 3 almost two minutes into the second quarter. She followed that by making a layup off the steal by Daniah Trammell. When Perdue hit her second 3-pointer at the 6:57 mark, her eight points accounted for the entire Wildcat lead.
The Wildcats were up by six when they went into the locker room. NAU got as close as two points early in the third, but Arizona pushed it back out to nine after 30 minutes.
While Arizona controlled the game, it always felt as if the Wildcats “should” be up by more. They were letting an NAU team with an 0-4 record in NCAA games hang around far too closely for comfort.
The Arizona lead hit 11 at the beginning of the fourth, but NAU quickly cut that to four points with eight minutes to go in the game. Burke subbed Cornfield, Sugapong, and Nora Francois back into the game, and the lead was up to 13 at the media timeout.
Arizona had too many horses down the stretch. Even after Cornfield, Sugapong, and Perdue subbed out with just over three minutes to go, the reserves were able to hold down the fort. MJ Jurado was the only starter on the floor when the clock turned to zeros.
McDonald was inducted into Arizona’s Ring of Honor in 2022, so “Aari McDonald Night” was held to connect the current program with its past and engage fans. A season-high 5,613 were in attendance.
McDonald addressed the crowd before tipoff and sat at courtside with her husband throughout the game. At halftime, she was honored by current and former teammates in videos played on the McKale scoreboard. Former Wildcats included Sam Thomas, Cate Reese, Trinity Baptiste, Tee Tee Starks, and Semaj Smith. Current teammates from the Indiana Fever were also included.
Before the game, she met with the media to talk about the impact Arizona has had on her life, what she’s been up to since leaving, what’s on the horizon, and her feelings about the current Wildcats.
