Sahnya Jah brings lessons learned with South Carolina women’s basketball to Arizona

Sometimes it’s worse to keep something quiet than to air it publicly. Such was the case with Arizona forward Sahnya Jah and her suspension while at South Carolina.

Dawn Staley suspended Jah on Feb. 8, 2024, citing “conduct detrimental to the team.” Nothing further was reported in the media about the reason for the suspension, although Staley said that Jah could work herself back onto the team.

As it turns out, it was a relatively inconsequential matter. Jah missed several classes. Staley held her accountable. Both have moved on, but Jah learned some valuable lessons from the legendary head coach that she brings with her to Arizona.

“Everything is not a joke,” Jah said. “She taught me a lot of things, not just on the court, but also off the court—like time management, be on time to things, how you carry yourself—and I really, really do appreciate that.”

She’s drawing on those lessons while she writes a new chapter, but she’s not ruminating on them.

“Don’t let your mistakes define you,” Jah told the fans who joined for the Wildcats’ open practice earlier this month.

Barnes was not concerned about the issues at South Carolina because she has a longstanding relationship with Staley and Arizona assistant coach Bett Shelby has known Jah for years.

“I knew Jah before from recruiting,” Barnes said in June. “I had a really, really good relationship with Dawn, so I talked to Dawn about it, and I just knew it was the right thing to do. And you have to remember even before that, Bett Shelby goes back with Jah like four years. Jah was committed to West Virginia before Bett left. So there is a really longstanding relationship with her, her family, everything, so we’ve known Jah.”

Barnes recruited Jah when she was in high school, but Arizona was a long way to go for the No. 40 player in the 2023 class. Jah is originally from Alexandria, Virginia. She earned WBCA All-American honorable mention her senior season while playing for Montverde Academy in Florida.

“It takes our freshman to go away somewhere and then kind of spread their wings and they’re like, ‘Oh, okay,’” Barnes said.

In addition to the sophomore being more adventurous now, Shelby being on staff was definitely an advantage when recruiting Jah this time around. It wasn’t just about that, though. Jah came back to academics when she talked about her reasons for choosing the Wildcats. It’s a reason that several transfers have given in recent years.

“Honestly, it was the academics and the academic support,” Jah said. “When I came on a visit here and I seen the support system of how they really care about their students, student-athletes, academic wise, it was very trustworthy.”

On the court, Jah gives the Wildcats more depth in the frontcourt. It was a huge issue last year when the team suffered defections and injuries that whittled the roster to three post players and eight players overall. Guards Helena Pueyo and Skylar Jones were often called into frontcourt duties when foul trouble became a problem for the bigs. The loss of Esmery Martinez after last season also needed to be addressed.

Barnes believes Jah’s addition will allow the coaches to be more creative in how they use Montaya Dew.

“She’s gonna really do well here,” Barnes said. “I’m just watching her workouts and we haven’t had an athlete like her and Montaya in that position for a while. The four is a very important position for us. It’s what all of our offense goes through. It’s the top of our press. It’s the person that’s on 90 percent of on-balls. And we lost a good player in Esmery. So getting these young players that we can develop, that can be very special, it’s fun. I think you guys are gonna see that. And I think the size of Jah and Montaya, they can be a three, four, they can switch, they can do a lot of things defensively, I think it’s gonna be a really good combination.”

Jah averaged just over nine minutes per game in the 16 games she played for South Carolina last season. She went for 3.1 points per game on 36.2 percent shooting. She had 2.0 rebounds and 0.6 steals.

The sophomore played mostly with the returning starters during the team’s open practice. She hit several shots from the elbow during the halfcourt scrimmage.

Jah and her teammates will begin their season with an exhibition against West Texas A&M on Friday, Oct. 25. The game will tip off in McKale Center at 6 p.m. MST. Unlike in previous years, both exhibitions will be streamed this season. Steve Quis and Joan Bonvicini will have the call on ESPN+.