Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
Arizona women’s basketball gets first home win in Big 12 play
Cincinnati lives off offensive rebounds. It was no different on Wednesday night against Arizona. It just wasn’t enough as the Wildcats defeated the Bearcats 72-62 to get their first home win in Big 12 conference play.
“We played a super gritty, a good basketball team in Cincinnati that plays a similar style to us, just with athleticism on the wings and hard to guard one-on-one,” said Arizona head coach Adia Barnes. “I think their four, (Jillian) Hayes, is really good. And that was a matchup that I was kind of worried about. But, I mean, they just outmuscled us second half, but we still found a way to come up with a win. So I’m happy about that.”
Arizona started hot in all parts of the game. The Wildcats outscored UC 15-2 in the first quarter, hitting 50 percent of their shots from the field and going 3 for 4 from beyond the arc. They outrebounded the Bearcats 14-6 and held them to two offensive boards. UC hit just 1 of 15 shots.
“They got punched when we first got out here,” said UC head coach Katrina Merriweather. “I do think we had some really open, easy shots in the beginning that we normally make and go down. So to me, it was just to get settled. We have plenty of basketball to go, and don’t let this one quarter define who we are, because we know it doesn’t. But I was pretty burnt up on the inside.”
UC bounced back in the second quarter, outscoring Arizona 20-17. The Bearcats got extra possessions by grabbing four offensive rebounds and turning the Wildcats over four times.
A major turning point came just seconds before the end of the first half. Freshman guard Lauryn Swann lay on the court holding her head. The officials looked at the replay and said there was no foul on the play. There was no replay shown in the arena, but television replay showed she was hit near the ear.
Swann was eventually helped to her feet. She staggered out of the arena with aid from the Arizona training staff. She did not return. Barnes said she would be re-evaluated in the coming days.
Swann was Arizona’s leading scorer with 10 points, one rebound, and two assists in 15 minutes of play before going out.
The Wildcats struggled to get things going early in the second half. Barnes finally sent in sophomore guard Skylar Jones, whose minutes have been limited in some recent games.
“It’s tough when a player comes in the second half and gets 16 points in 16 minutes and is the leading scorer,” Merriweather said. “So I would say we were surprised, but we kind of expected at some point she would come in the game.”
In addition to her 16 points in just over 16.5 minutes, Jones added five rebounds and two assists.
“My coach put a little fire under my butt, and I need a little kick in the butt sometimes to get myself mentally in the right head space because when I’m in a good head space that’s when I play my best,” Jones said. “And I’m glad that my coach knows how to do that, even when I’m mad and I feel like it’s not what I want, I know that she’s doing it for a reason. I was mad when she said, ‘Come on, let’s play,’ in the third quarter.”
Cincinnati cut the Arizona lead to two points with 7:08 left to go in the game. The Bearcats were not able to tie or take the lead.
“I think in that moment, if I could do it again, I’d call a time out,” Merriweather said. “I think it took a lot out of us to get it down to two and probably should have reset the team.”
Arizona ended with four players in double figures. Jada Williams (14) and Paulina Paris (10) joined Jones and Swann. Breya Cunningham came up just short with 9 points but had a career-high 15 rebounds to help Arizona win the overall battle of the boards 41-38.
The Wildcats went 28-56 from the floor, hitting an even 50 percent of their shots. They went 9 for 22 from 3-point distance for the second straight game. UC won the battle for offensive rebounds 18-10. The Bearcats turned Arizona over 17 times while only giving the ball away 10 times on their end.
Arizona improved to 13-8 overall and 4-4 in Big 12 play. Cincinnati moved to 11-6 overall and 3-4 in the conference.
Next up for Arizona is West Virginia, another defensive-oriented team.
In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
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