NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - ARIZONA VS MARYLAND

March 18, 2023

Adia Barnes

XFINITY Center

Arizona Wildcats

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined today by the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats, Adia Barnes, and with that, we'll open it up for questions.

Q. I'll start with this one. A few years ago you coached Diamond Miller for Team USA. What's it like for you now to be coaching against her?

ADIA BARNES: Very different. It was great to see her. She was great. I really enjoyed her at my time with USA basketball. She's a really good player, so I don't really love playing against her. I loved coaching her. What really stood out about Diamond to me was she was really high energy. I remember it would be like the beginning of practice, everybody is kind of getting warmed up. Some people are kind of just in relaxed mode. She was always like go, like full go. And she had a motor, and I remember us as a staff talking about it. Like her motor is great. You wanted some other people to have her motor. But just good player, great person, and just a lot of fun, was really actually really funny. Just don't love playing against her.

Q. So yesterday you were saying that you would have to raise it a level against Maryland. What does that look like for Arizona?

ADIA BARNES: I think just in general, I think as you progress through the tournament, you have to raise your game up a notch, just because teams get better, competition is better. I referenced that because we're playing at Maryland. They're a really good team. And they're different, and we're not as familiar with them. So I think when I mean raise it up, it's be more on point on the road defensively. We don't have 15,000 people. We'll have our couple hundred behind us. And everybody is really good in the tournament, and we're seeing a lot of upsets all over the country. We're seeing the verge of some right now. So just for us, we have to play good.

And I think we're playing good, and I think we didn't play our best yesterday, but we did some really good things. So I think just continuing to do that and just stay focused and one game at a time, never look ahead, celebrate your wins really fast and then forget about it and focus. But we're really focused on Maryland. I think it's going to be a good game for women's basketball. I think we play two different styles, and I think it's going to be fun. And Brenda Frese and I are both Arizona alumni. That's a funny connection.

Q. And what do you think that when Maryland is at its best, what do they look like?

ADIA BARNES: They play really fast. They shoot the ball really well. We have to be able to score, and I think so they're not in transition. And I think for us we can't take really fast shots because they're deadly in transition. We know that they're going to play five guards, so we know that we're going to face switching defenses, probably some zone and stuff like that. But we're prepared. But they're good, and I think they score a lot of points, and I think if you look at differences and styles between the PAC-12 and BIG TEN, it's just different. I think a lot more high octane offense, more like Utah, I guess that would be the reference in the PAC-12. But I feel like we play just more pressure defense, like us, UCLA, ASU prior in the PAC-12. So I think it's just two clashing styles, and I think it's going to be good matchups.

Q. So in 2016 you were with another team, Washington, and you came here. At that time you were No. 7 seed. They were a No. 2 seed. Sort of similar, you don't have a Kelsey Plum on your team this year.

ADIA BARNES: Or a Chantel Osahor.

Q. But how do you feel that these two moments are similar, and what are you telling your team about how you then were able to win a game like this?

ADIA BARNES: I think so if you look back at both teams, I think they don't have the players that they had before either. So I think we're both two totally different teams and different styles. And Maryland has played phenomenal this year with five guards. I think they pose a lot of miss matches for people. I reference just -- my reference is more that it doesn't matter what your seeding is. If you talk to most people, they don't feel we're a 7 seed, but with the way we ended the season we probably are. I don't hold any stock in that. I think anybody can win on any given night. And I think for us we have to do what Arizona does and the things we do well, what are our bright spots, what has gotten us this far and how are we successful. And I feel like if we dont those things, we can beat anybody in the country.

I talked about at Washington we did come here because we were underdogs and referencing it to the point that you can win on the road, it doesn't matter. Anything is possible, because when we went to the Final Four we were also on the road. We were in the bubble for a week. So it was different. So I think just keeping us focused and feeling good and controlling what we can control and that's how we play. It's how we defend. And if we do those things, we'll keep on playing. If not, we won't. So anything just to win on the road is hard, but we've done that before. And I talked about it before. The PAC-12 has prepared us for these moments, because we play -- we're lucky we have a conference that is competitive, and we're playing against tough teams every weekend, and I think a lot of other conferences aren't, not top to bottom. If you look at our conference, the 12th place team is beating teams that are in the top four, and I think if you look at other conferences, that doesn't happen as much. So I think that we're prepared and we're confident and we're ready.

Q. And this is the time of year obviously that people have some nagging injuries. One of those people is Shaina. She's had a lot of funky things. She hurt her tailbone earlier this year. She's had some ankle things. She just battles through it. Right. She just comes out and plays every single game. What are you seeing from Shaina and her mindset of what she needs to do, what she did yesterday and what she needs to do against Maryland?

ADIA BARNES: You know, Shaina is our catalyst. We go when Shaina goes, and I think that's because she's a point guard and she's one of our leaders, one of our best players. So Shaina is in a really good place and she's playing good basketball. I think this year hasn't really been abnormal for the type of player she is, the minutes she plays, it's just normal bumps and bruises. It hasn't been anything significant, just like ankle sprain months ago. But she's athletic. She's strong. So she can withhold all that stuff or withstand everything. But I think Shaina being in a good place on offense, attack mode, hitting her jumpers when people go under her. That's when Shaina is at her best, and I think she's playing at a high level and I think that's why we're playing at a high level and why we're pretty confident. But we know we need her to continue to do that for us to be successful and control the tempo, and it's going to be important for Shaina and other people to step up tomorrow more than on Friday. So, yeah, I think if we can do those things and Cate plays inside like she does, Esmery plays inside like she did and then we have a couple more shooters a little bit more hot, which we need to win, I think we can be successful. If not, it's going to be hard.

Q. Do you have any special messages for each one of them because the other day you said you told Esmery she had to get a double-double?

ADIA BARNES: No. I'll probably tell her that again tomorrow. Usually I say, you have to stay out of foul trouble. But she's been doing a great job. I thought she was -- I thought that Cate Reese and I say Esmery Martinez stepped up to the challenge because I challenged them, because we needed them to be big. We thought we had an inside advantage, and they didn't. So I also think we have that tomorrow. So they need to be ready to play. And I think they're playing very well off each other. They're playing good together. We saw some plays yesterday where Mary had an open shot and then she looked, everybody was surprised Cate was wide open. But those are extra passes that are selfless things that we weren't doing before. So I feel like we're playing really well as a team. And Jade started off hot. I feel like Jade is ready to explode. And Maddy usually hits more shots. So we typically shoot the ball better, and I feel like we will. And I feel like we're feeling good. We just missed some looks yesterday.

Q. You could have called Kailyn the X factor yesterday. Who do you think will be -- could be your X factor against Maryland?

ADIA BARNES: I think Kailyn for sure I think because she's feeling good. She was put in a difficult situation, and she responded and she was ready, which is great. And that's hard. If you don't know how many minutes you're playing, you're freshman. These are tight games, so it's not time for me to experiment. It's like you have to rely on people, but we were in a difficult situation; two of our point guards in foul trouble, and she was able to handle that. So I have more confidence in her doing that in those tough situations.

One of the keys tomorrow Jade will be a key for sure because when she makes shots, she spreads out the defense and enables Shaina to go downhill a lot more.

And then Helena is always really important. Helena has an extremely high basketball IQ. I don't remember the last time she's gotten in foul trouble. I honestly can't -- I don't even know. I don't even know has Helena ever fouled out of a game. That's a Haley question. She's going to look it up. But I don't think so. She's a really good defender. I mean in my four years with her, maybe she's fouled out once and I don't remember that. I don't even remember the last time she's had four fouls and had to sit. Probably twice in her career. So she is smart. She really makes our offense flow. Whatever position she's at whether she's at the 4 or she's at the 1, 2 or 3. So she is a very important player tomorrow. I think Paris coming in, Paris doesn't ever go 0 for 4. But Paris coming in doing her things. I think all the players that are in our rotation really have to step up and just show up when we need them. And I think they're all feeling good and ready, and I think they'll have a good showing. Probably never, right? Haley? Not in the first three seasons. So it's been years. But that's because when she first came to Arizona she didn't play defense. She played defense in the last two years. So that's why she didn't her first year. Okay. Never because she didn't play defense her first two years. Okay.

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you very much.