A 36.6 turnover percentage is a recipe for disaster for just about any basketball team in the world. It certainly was for the Arizona Wildcats against No. 20 West Virginia in Morgantown, WV on Saturday
afternoon. The Wildcats shot 51.7 percent but 29 turnovers doomed them to a 87-68 loss at the hands of the Mountaineers.
Every player who got on the floor for Arizona head coach Becky Burke had at least one turnover except for Molly Ladwig, who played just five minutes. It was especially difficult for guard Sumayah Sugapong, who had 10 of the Wildcats’ 29 giveaways in 23 minutes of play.
Sugapong had turnover issues her first two seasons at UC San Diego, but she has improved greatly in that area under the tutelage of Burke and her staff. She averaged well over five turnovers per 40 minutes in her time with the Tritons. Her best assist-to-turnover ratio came her sophomore year when she averaged 0.86 assists per giveaway.
This season, Sugapong has cut her turnovers per 40 to 2.9. She has improved her assist-to-turnover ratio to 1.20. Still, Burke knew this game might be difficult for her junior guard.
“I think she’s done a good job taking care of it, especially over the last month or so,” Burke said. “You know, I actually told her in prep for this game. I was like, this is a game you got to keep the basketball tight and you got to do a really, really good job, or you can get exposed. And, unfortunately, she was on the other end of it today. When guards are bigger and more physical than her, she usually has that quickness advantage. These guards are her height and more athletic and quicker than she is, and she just got loose with the ball a few times that hurt us.”
Burke saw this as a learning experience for the junior guard.
“That’s not the norm for her, and I think she’s going to be haunted by this one for a while, because I know it’s going to affect her,” Burke said. “But I think it’s going to be a wake up call, as well, for our next game to keep it tighter and really focus and lock in on winning on turnovers, because she had a significant amount today.”
The Wildcats started two bigs again. Blessing ‘Adde’ Adebanjo got her second start, and she had an early impact. The springy, athletic 6-foot-3 forward had six points, five rebounds, and three blocks in 12 minutes during the first half.
Adebanjo wasn’t as effective in the second half, though. She had just one rebound and one block in the second half. She took just one shot and was only on the court for nine minutes.
The Wildcats only got double-digit scoring from Tanyuel Welch and Daniah Trammell. The pair did most of their damage in the second half.
Welch ended with 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting with 13 in the second half. She had four rebounds and two steals. All but one rebound came in the final 20 minutes. Like most of the Wildcats, she also had measure of turnover struggles, ending the game with three.
Trammell added 15 points, four rebounds, one assist, and one block in 27 minutes. She contributed four of the Wildcats’ 29 turnovers.
No one else scored more than seven points for Arizona. MJ Jurado hit that mark on 3-for-3 shooting. She also had two rebounds and one assist. She limited her turnovers to one in 10 minutes of playing time.
As has been Arizona’s tendency, it fell apart in one quarter. Just as against Kansas State, it was the second quarter that got to the Wildcats. They scored nine points in the second 10 minutes after getting 17 in the first.
The Wildcats got cold with about two minutes left in the first quarter. They trailed by just one point when Jurado hit a driving layup with 1:37 to go in the frame. They didn’t score again until Adebanjo got one to go with 7:35 left in the second. By that time, the Mountaineers were up 31-19 and never looked back.
WVU went up by 24 twice in the first half. That was the margin after the first 20 minutes. The Mountaineers’ biggest lead was 34 late in the third quarter.
The Wildcats will stay back East for their game against Cincinnati, which has improved since getting star recruit Dee Alexander back from an injury for conference play. The Bearcats have wins over Iowa State and ASU. They played Texas Tech, West Virginia, and Baylor close, but they also dropped a game to last-place Houston.
Arizona plays the Bearcats on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
