After sweeping the Bay Area schools for the first time since 2001, Adia Barnes’ team will look different for the remainder of the season. Arizona leading scorer Kailyn Gilbert is no longer a member of the Arizona Women’s Basketball roster.
Head coach Adia Barnes told David Kelly of Wildcats 1290 AM on Monday that Gilbert is no longer with the program. She is still enrolled at the University of Arizona and is expected to remain on scholarship for now. Barnes later confirmed the news to PJ Brown of the Arizona Daily Star, stating, “making tough decisions is part of leadership and I had to do what was what is best for the team.”
While Barnes did not comment further, she mentioned Gilbert’s lack of willingness to share the ball, as well as her lack of desire to play defense several times this season. Gilbert reinforced her preference for offense over defense, mentioning it often during post-game interviews and press conferences.
Gilbert averaged 15.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists, while shooting 41.9 percent from the field in 32 games for the Wildcats this season. After starting the first 23 games of the season, she missed three games – vs. Cal, Stanford, and ASU (all at home) – dealing with an undisclosed injury. Upon her return, Gilbert saw her minutes decrease drastically, dropping from over 30 minutes per game pre-injury, down to less than 20 per game after her injury, including just three minutes in Arizona 90-82 3OT win over Washington on February 18.
During the nine game stretch since Gilbert’s injury, the Wildcats are 6-3 and riding a four-game win streak. Last weekend, the Wildcats secured their highest ranked road win in program history with a 68-61 win over No. 3 Stanford. They followed it up with a win at Cal and the program’s first road sweep over the Bay Area schools since 2001.
Kailyn Gilbert is the second player to leave the team this season, joining fellow sophomore Maya Nnaji. Arizona did add walk-on forward, Brooklyn Rhodes, to the roster ahead of last Sunday’s game against Cal.