This was a game that should have been competitive. The Arizona Wildcats and Cincinnati Bearcats came in bringing up the bottom quarter of the Big 12 standings. The initial player availability reports suggested that problems lay ahead for the Wildcats, though. Those problems came to full fruition in a 77-61 loss to Cincinnati.
The Bearcats came into the game missing a few players. However, stars Mya Perry and Caliyah DeVillasee were in the starting lineups after showing up on the first availability
report as “probable.” Both were highly effective and joined two teammates to give UC four in double figures.
Cincinnati led took a 7-6 lead with seven minutes on the first-quarter clock and never looked back. The Bearcats’ biggest lead was 25 after Joya Crawford hit a 3-point shot with 6:56 left in the third quarter. Arizona never got closer than 16 from that point.
Arizona was already missing Montaya Dew and Micky Perdue heading into the road trip to West Virginia and Cincinnati. It was no surprise when both appeared as “out” for Arizona on the availability reports posted Tuesday evening.
The first availability reports also listed starting point guard Lani Cornfield and occasional starting forward Nora Francois as “questionable.” That was a major surprise, but was assumed to be an injury that happened some time between the game at West Virginia and Tuesday afternoon. By the time the final availability report came out, they had joined Dew and Perdue as “out.”
The absence of Cornfield and Francois was even more intriguing when the Cincinnati broadcast crew used the term “coach’s decision” to describe the absence on several occasions. The pair was also missing from the Arizona bench.
Burke backed that up after the game.
“That’s just a coach’s decision,” Burke said firmly.
When asked if they were expected back for the Arizona State game on Saturday, Burke did not dismiss the idea but she also wasn’t upbeat about it.
“I’ll re-evaluate when we get back to Tucson,” she said.
While it was the first time for Francois, Cornfield has been held out due to a “coach’s decision” on several occasions. In most instances, it has been a matter of being taken out for some time in the middle of the game. On one occasion, Cornfield did not start due to a “coach’s decision.” Burke has typically chalked these decisions up to Cornfield’s “competitiveness” and noted that everyone is held to the same standard.
The effect of Cornfield’s absence on her team was clear. The offense did not function well. Arizona had just 11 assists as a team. Those were paired with 16 turnovers. Only three players had any assists at all.
Then came the foul trouble. Kamryn Kitchen picked up two in the first quarter. Blessing ‘Adde’ Adebanjo had three before halftime. Daniah Trammell picked up her third in the third quarter, and Sumayah Sugapong picked up her fourth early in the final quarter. Achol Magot had four in just 14 minutes.
Magot scored eight points and had two blocks in her 14 minutes. Burke was pleased about that, but the fouls from her big continue to be a concern.
“She was actually, I think, the only one in the plus, in the plus/minus in the box score,” Burke said. “So her efficiency over her, I think, was 13 minutes or so was good. But again, she could have played a lot more if she just was a little bit more disciplined with her fouling and her body. She gets punished a lot of times for how big she is in terms of fouls. So she’s got to clean that up. But that’s something we’ve been talking about for months now. You know, it’s a matter of like, are you going to do it or not?”
That defensive discipline wasn’t confined to the Arizona center. Burke was concerned about it across the board.
“What I’m coaching defensively and what’s happening…doesn’t always go hand in hand,” Burke said. “We have a fouling problem. We’ve had it all year. I mean, it’s a them problem at this point. And I’m going to keep trying to coach them through and keep helping them out, but, I mean, it’s just undisciplined. It’s just, it’s not acceptable, and it’s going to keep happening if they don’t fix it. I mean, they’re in the bonus with four minutes left in the first quarter. We just come out swinging, and it’s absolutely unacceptable. So again, this is what we have, this is what we’re coaching, but they need to really show some growth.”
Whatever was going on behind the scenes, Sugapong showed the heart that Arizona fans have learned more about since the injury to Perdue in early January. The junior guard had 20 points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Her biggest struggle was turnovers. After committing 10 at West Virginia last Saturday, she had five against Cincinnati.
Despite the turnovers, Sugapong was critical to Arizona’s effort. The upperclassmen took a lot on her shoulders with four of her teammates sitting out for various reasons.
“I just think she’s been really good the last month, and really mature and just really aggressive,” Burke said. “She’s not out there tonight, we would be in major trouble. So just thought she’s handled the adversity well, stepped up to the plate, done what we’ve asked her to do. And she’s trying to do a lot by herself right now, which is not sustainable.”
Trammell got a start in front of her friends and family on the return to her hometown. Although the freshman fouled out with 5:02 left in the game, she scored 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting. She added three rebounds, one block, and two steals.
“[She] handled it well for a freshman coming home and playing in front of a ton of people,” Burke said.
Tanyuel Welch also had some familiar people in the arena. The former Memphis guard was recruited to that program by Cincinnati head coach Katrina Merriweather. She wasn’t flashy against her former head coach, but she had some positive contributions.
Welch ended just short of double digits with nine points, good for third on the team. She led Arizona with seven rebounds and six assists. She also had one steal. She played every one of the 40 minutes in the game.
While she didn’t find a lot of positives to take from the loss of a game she considered “winnable,” Burke acknowledged that they need to search for them to keep the players from getting too down. With ASU coming to town, the Wildcats have the opportunity to grab half a point in the Territorial Cup series and extract some revenge against the Sun Devils.
“We’re gonna have to,” Burke said. “I mean, I’m not gonna beat them down…we won the second half. Unfortunately, it took them getting their butts kicked in the first half to wake up and figure out that they need to get back to the game plan and get back to flowing and rhythm offensively. So, yeah, I will try to bill that as a positive, because we have to do something going into the ASU game…to feel good about ourselves.”
