McDonald wills Wildcats to title game
Three years after 6-24 season, senior has program a victory from making history
SAN ANTONIO — As Arizona gathered for one last huddle at the center of the court, coach Adia Barnes thought of everyone who had doubted the Wildcats’ improbable run.
The final buzzer set off an eruption of celebration, but the players had calmed enough for Barnes to deliver her message. Smiling ear to ear, she reminded the Wildcats of what they had proven to the skeptics, capped with an obscene gesture that set off another round of screaming and jumping.
“It was a little bit more of a chosen word, but forget everybody if they don’t believe in us, because we believe in us,” Barnes said. “That is my team, and I believe in them, and I will run through a wall for them. I am just so proud, because they do whatever I ask, they believe, and that’s all I can ask for.”
Arizona, a program that had reached a Sweet 16 just once in its history, will be playing for the national title after knocking off 11time champion Connecticut 69-59 in a Final Four matchup on Friday at the Alamodome.
A No. 3 seed Wildcats team that was 6-24 just three seasons ago eclipsed a top-seeded Huskies program that was appearing in its 13th consecutive Final Four.
Arizona guard Aari McDonald, who chose to delay a shot at the WNBA because she wanted to make history in Barnes’ fifth season this year, said the Wildcats drew confidence from their role as an underdog.
The fire only grew bigger this week when the NCAA released a Final Four highlight video that included every team except Arizona.
“Y’all think it’s the final three? OK, we’re going to show y’all,” McDonald said. “We shocked the world tonight. Keep betting against my teammates and I. We’re going to show you wrong. We’re going to prove you wrong.”
Arizona advances to face Stanford at 5 p.m. Sunday, while Connecticut finishes the year 28-2.
McDonald, a secondteam All-America selection for the second straight year, led the charge with 26 points, including seven in the final four minutes.
She also drew the task of guarding UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who on Wednesday became the first freshman to be named the Associated Press Player of the Year. Bueckers finished with 18 points on 5 of 13 shooting.
“In my mind, (McDonald) should’ve been the national defensive player of the year,” Barnes said.
“There is no other player that impacts the game on both ends of the floor more.”
Before this season, the Wildcats’ deepest run in the NCAA Tournament came in 1998, when Barnes was playing for an Arizona squad that fell to Connecticut in the Sweet 16.
This year, the Wildcats became the first team seeded outside the top two to reach the Final Four since 2016, then led wire to wire against Connecticut.
“I love it. I’ve been an underdog all my life,” Barnes said. “I've been too small to do this, too this to do that, too inexperienced to do this, and we prove it wrong every time. So I don’t care. It just motivates me and my team.”
Arizona played smothering defense Friday, holding Connecticut to 35.7 shooting with 12 turnovers.
UConn made just three shots in the opening quarter and was held scoreless for the game’s first three minutes, allowing Arizona to finish the period with a 16-10 lead.
“My teammates are dogs. I mean, it starts with me,” McDonald said. “We have that mentality that we weren’t scared, and it showed tonight. We just beat a great team. UConn, that’s a powerhouse. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
The margin stretched to 32-22 by halftime and ballooned to as large as 14 points late in the third quarter.
Connecticut cut the gap to 48-41 early in the fourth quarter with a run of seven straight points, then was held scoreless for the next three minutes as Arizona reclaimed a 12-point advantage.
The Huskies continued to chip away, pulling within five when Bueckers hit a 3-pointer with 1:26 to play. But the Wildcats hit 13-of-19 at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to hang on.
“They're elite. We just played a little bit better tonight,” Barnes said. “Would I want to play UConn in a seven-game series? Absolutely not. But I think this time of year, just beating a team once, you just have to get hot.”