Familiar Foes, Stanford stands in way of Arizona Women’s Basketball

SAN ANTONIO, TX – On the biggest stage, two familiar foes will battle as the Arizona Women’s Basketball team (21-5, 13-4) battles the Stanford Cardinal (30-2, 19-2).

It has all boiled down to this! After a tremendous run through the 2021 NCAA Tournament thus far, Pac-12 foe Stanford is the only team left standing in the way of the Arizona Women’s Basketball team winning their first National Championship.

Led by Aari McDonald, Sam Thomas, and a great cast of supporting players, the Wildcats have had a tremendous and improbable run in getting to not only their first Final Four, but now their first title game.

Arizona Wildcats

Sparked by gutsy and inspired play, the Wildcats have been silencing the critics and are playing with a chip on their shoulder. Come Sunday afternoon, they will need a similar performance as they had against UCONN if they hope to come away victorious.

However, getting a win won’t be easy. The Wildcats will undoubtedly have another daunting task ahead of them, trying to topple another legendary head coach in Tara VanDerveer as well as Women’s College Basketball superpower, the Stanford Cardinal.

Already, the two teams have faced each other twice this season, and both times the Wildcats came up empty-handed, losing 81-54 at home and 62-48 on the road. Perhaps the benefit for Arizona here, is that they have been playing extremely well and will be riding high following their win over UCONN. Plus, the pressure is all on Stanford to get another win over the Wildcats.

Led by a slew of talented players, however, the Cardinal mostly relies on the supremely talented trio of Kiana Williams, Haley Jones, and Lexie Hull. Together, they make up nearly 50 percent of the teams’ total offensive production.

The Cardinal have a lot of size, particularly at the guard positions, and they can do it on both ends of the floor, easily filling the stat sheet on the offensive end, as well as holding teams defensively. As a team, they are holding opponents to just 53.8 points per game and just 33 percent shooting (28.3 percent from three).

It is going to be an electric game on Sunday afternoon, and we will see if the Wildcats still have a little bit of the magic left.

Arizona Women’s Basketball is going to have a fight on their hands as they look for the programs’ first National Championship against Stanford.

If the Wildcats are to come away with the victory here, these are the Keys to the Game:

Get the Offense Rolling and Control the Tempo: I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but Arizona is not going to beat many teams solely based on their offense. However, in this tournament, the Wildcats’ offense has been good enough, and at the end of the day, that is all that matters.

Against UCONN, the Wildcats got going early and often, controlling the tempo from the tip and took it to the Huskies. Now facing a Cardinal team in which they haven’t scored more than 55 points against this year, Arizona is going to need to get the offense rolling and try and control the tempo again.

Get everyone involved: The Wildcats did a fantastic job in getting everyone involved in their win over UCONN. Aari can’t do it all by herself, and when the Wildcats get everyone involved, they are a very difficult team to beat.

Against Stanford, Arizona is going to need another complete team effort if they are going to come away victorious. Now, that doesn’t mean they need to have 4-5 different players with double-figure points, however, any impact would be welcomed, and if Arizona can get a repeat performance, they have a good shot here.

Continue to play with a chip on your shoulder: Surprise, surprise, but this is going to be another theme for this game. Arizona has been doubted all tournament long and coming in against Stanford, they are being doubted once again.

Arizona has done well in finding motivation with being doubted. We saw it work on Friday evening as some NCAA social media drama helped fuel the Wildcats in their win against the Huskies!

Despite knocking off the No. 1-seed UCONN Huskies on Friday evening, Arizona opens up as 10-point underdogs. Now, I am not saying a win is going to be easy, but what the hell, not many believe the Wildcats can win, so why not use the doubts one last time and play with a chip on your shoulder?

Game Information:

Date: Sunday, April 4th, 2021

Time: 4:00 PM (Arizona Time)

Location: San Antonio, TX – Alamo Dome (64,000… 0)

Television: ESPN

Radio: 1400 AM Radio – Tucson

Team Records:

• Arizona Wildcats (21-5, 13-4): Arizona is rolling! Knocking off No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 4 Indiana, and No. 1 UCONN to get here, the has all the feelings of being a special season. But do the Wildcats have enough magic to keep it going against Stanford?
• Stanford Cardinal (30-2, 19-2): Stanford has dominated their way into getting here, having won every game by double-figures except their close win over South Carolina on Friday. The Cardinal haven’t lost since January 22 against UCLA, and they are 2-0 against the Wildcats this season. Can Stanford make it win No. 20 in a row and go a perfect 3-0 against Arizona?