With seven out of its 12 non-conference games on the road, the Arizona women’s basketball team has the odds stacked against it.
But so far, the Wildcats have done a solid job.
In four road games, the team is 3-1 with their only loss coming during the Junkanoo Jam tournament to UTEP 64-53. The team has already traveled to California, Las Vegas and the Bahamas. The Wildcats will end the current road-stretch by traveling to Texas, New Mexico and back to the Golden State.
Even with a nice start to the season, Arizona lost to BYU at home, with a score of 62-48.
Regardless of the final score, the main concern for the team is consistency. Right now senior guard Davellyn Whyte is the top performer, putting up double digit scores every game, but even that isn’t enough sometimes.
The only two other players that have double-digit scoring in two or more games are junior transfer forward Alli Gloyd and junior forward Erica Barnes.
To put things into perspective, Whyte scored a total of 83 field goal shots so far this season to Gloyd’s 56 and Barnes 46.
Granted, Whyte is the shooting guard on the team, but when the two forwards combined field goal attempts are only 19 more than the shooting guard, there is an issue.
Beyond consistency with scoring, turnovers have also posed a threat to the Wildcats’ success — a mixture of overpassing, forcing passes and not taking care of the ball.
Arizona averages 22 turnovers a game, with its season-high being 25 turnovers against UTEP on Nov. 23 and against Texas Southern on Nov. 24, and its lowest being 14 against UNLV on Nov. 13.
Transitioning becomes a dominating factor in the game with the turnover numbers this high.
The fact that Arizona has depth at seemingly every position is actually beneficial in these circumstances.
However, even with the depth, putting the right five that work together offensively and shut down opponents defensively on the floor is somewhat of a challenge.
Whyte has played 30-plus minutes in five games, and in one game she has played the entire 40 minutes. Clocking that many minutes will take its toll, especially come Pac-12 play, which is another reason why the forwards need to step up and dominate in the paint.
Between the three forwards with significant playing time, Barnes, Gloyd and Cheshi Poston, what they lack in height and size they make up with aggression — but they still have yet to reach their full potential.
With five games left before conference play begins, it will be very important for the forwards to get into a rhythm of scoring and turning the offense into a three-woman force rather than a lone all-star show.
– Iman Hamdan is a journalism senior. She can be reached via email at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu or via Twitter @WildcatSports or @ImanHamdanDW.
