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 controls Kansas with balanced attack
The Arizona Wildcats dominated every aspect of the game as they defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 74-59 in Phog Allen Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats led wire-to-wire, ending with superior numbers in field goal percentage, 3-point shooting, turnovers, points off turnovers, assists, bench scoring, and total rebounds as five players scored in double figures.
Arizona head coach Adia Barnes moved back to her original starting lineup of Jada Williams, Skylar Jones, Paulina Paris, Isis Beh, and Breya Cunningham for the first time since facing Utah in their second Big 12 contest. She also got big contributions off the bench from Lauryn Swann and Montaya Dew.
Williams had a strong showing as she played less than an hour from her hometown of Kansas City, Mo. The sophomore point guard scored 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting while dishing out five assists and only turning the ball over once in 35 minutes of play. She added four rebounds and a block.
Beh had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. She added three steals and three assists.
Paris matched Williams’ 5-for-12 shooting to gather 11 points. She also had one rebound and one assist.
Swann and Dew were difference-makers off the bench, which outscored the KU bench 32-2. The pair of first-year players accounted for 28 of the 32 points for the Wildcats.
Swann returned to a reserve role last Thursday against Kansas State after starting three games. It seemed to suit her. She had a team-high 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including going 3 for 5 from the 3-point line. She grabbed four boards and one steal in 27 minutes.
Dew showed the kind of offensive aggressiveness she isn’t known for, hitting from outside and in the paint. She scored a career-high 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting. She hit 2 of 3 shots from beyond the arc and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line. She filled the stat sheet with five rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.
The 3-point shooting was on for most of the lineup. The Wildcats went 6-for-14 from outside in the first half to open up a 37-23 lead after 20 minutes. They ended the game 9 for 22 from 3-point range with even Beh connecting on an outside shot. It kept the distance between themselves and a Jayhawks team that was just 2 for 14 from outside.
On Thursday against K-State, Arizona had stretches of moving the ball well but also reverted to old habits of overdribbling and holding onto the ball. After that, Barnes pointed to improvements and said they wanted to see a little more of those gains each game. The Wildcats avoided that against the Jayhawks, leading to 18 assists on 27 made buckets. KU had just six assists.
In their game in Manhattan, the Wildcats started cold as ice. They were down 8-0 before hitting their first bucket with 4:12 left in the opening quarter. They turned that on its head in Lawrence.
UA opened on an 8-2 run in the first four minutes of the first period. It had its first double-digit lead at 19-9 when Dew hit her first 3-point shot at the 1:25 mark.
The Wildcats’ biggest lead of the half came when Paris hit a layup with 26 seconds left in the second quarter to go ahead by 16. They went into the locker room up by 14.
The third quarter started a bit shaky with two straight turnovers, but Arizona settled down. KU got the lead down to 10 a couple of times in the period but could never cut it to single digits. Jayhawks star S’Mya Nichols hit a 3 at the buzzer but the Wildcats still led by 12 going to the final 10 minutes.
The Jayhawks cut the lead to 10 twice to open the fourth quarter, but Williams responded each time with a bucket on the other end. The Arizona lead never dropped below 12 points again. The Wildcats’ largest lead of 17 came on a Paris jumper with 18 seconds to go.
Arizona improved to 12-8 overall and 3-4 in the Big 12. Kansas moved to 12-6 on the year and 2-5 in conference play.
The Wildcats and Colorado are tied with the ninth-best records in the league, half a game behind Arizona’s next opponent. Arizona was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12.
The Cincinnati Bearcats (11-5, 3-3 Big 12) come to McKale Center on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
This story will be updated.
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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