While it doesn’t officially count in the record books, there’s no sugarcoating it, Thursday was a rough start to the Becky Burke in Tucson. After trailing by 15 heading into the fourth quarter, the Wildcats outscored the Buffs 20-8 in the fourth quarter, but could not complete the rally. Here’s everything Arizona head coach Becky Burke said postgame following the 60-57 exhibition loss to West Texas A&M.
Becky Burke:
Burke on her initial thoughts from the loss:
“Obviously not the result that we wanted or that we’re proud of or that is acceptable to us, but obviously needed, I think, in a lot of different ways. I saw a lot of really upset and hurt players in our locker room, which I think is a really good sign as far as our competitiveness goes. And the fact that this thing is real. We knew that this was a really good team with almost everybody returning and a bunch of new pieces they got this year. So I think it was a situation for us where we’re going to take every lesson from this game, apply it to practice this next week. Hopefully have a wakeup call for every single person on our team, which from what I just saw in the locker room, I know will be the case, and move forward and be better for it.
This is about as big of a wakeup call and a sense of urgency call that I think you can have in your first game. So, again, not happy with the outcome. Very happy with our ability to hang in and come back from almost 20 down and stay resilient through the fourth quarter. And kudos to our fans. I’m just so appreciative of everybody that showed up tonight and continue to stay with us and cheer us on and almost had the result we wanted at the end, but we can’t wait. We can’t wait until the last five minutes to have things click and turn it on in a sense.
So, a lot of lessons, a lot of film, a lot of conversations this coming week and we move forward. We get better for it. We get better because of it. And we do not let it happen again. And I will do a much better job myself as well.”
Burke on true freshmen Daniah Trammell and Mireia Jurado stepping up:
“Yeah, I thought Daniah was a really, really bright spot for us today. I thought MJ [Mireia Jurado] was a bright spot for us today. And I think there’s a couple positives we can take from this game and those two are two of them. So again, like I said, there’s a lot of question marks on some positions for us and I think those two answered some of those questions for us today. So it’s good. We’re going to have a lot of things solidified from a lineup standpoint and an effectiveness standpoint after this game. So I think that’s going to be really good.
Like I told the players in the locker room, I don’t ever want to go out against anybody, practice guys, an exhibition game, we never want to lose. But if we can take some valuable information from this, then I think it’s a good thing for us.”
Burke on Arizona’s rebounding struggles:
“That’s 100 percent a toughness category, and a want to, and discipline, and I will own that and that is completely on me as a head coach to get corrected. It is something we talk about it, it is something we practice, it is something that we preach. And so obviously I’ve got to find another way to wake them up if this wasn’t enough, which I believe that this will be. But we can’t lose any category that comes down to toughness or discipline or just a willingness to go get the basketball, which they had from start to finish.”
Burke on Arizona’s runs in the second half to close the lead:
“I think that’s the lineups. When we went on those two runs, it was the same lineup and that’s a good thing for us to find out in a game like this and figure out, okay, we need to play that lineup a little bit more next game because they’re effective in a certain way. So I think those runs were lineups, but I also think those runs were the defensive end when we were getting stops. You know, I mean, we held them to 60. You hold a team to 60, you got to win the game.
Unfortunately, we weren’t very effective on the offensive end tonight. And even on the days when you’re not, because we’re going to have nights where we don’t shoot it well, you need to be elite defensively, and that’s not giving up 16 offensive rebounds and just not finishing possessions like we did today. So, that will absolutely be corrected. But those runs were started on the defensive end of the floor and started with those specific lineups. So, we need more of those runs. We need those runs to last a little bit longer. And we’ll learn from it.”
Burke on the team’s performance in the first half versus the second half:
“They were very similar. Like in the first quarter we gave up 20 and then we buckled down in the second quarter and only gave up 13 on the defensive end. And then in the third quarter we gave up 19. And then in the fourth quarter we buckled down, we held them to eight. But you can’t wait until the fourth quarter to hold them to eight in a quarter. That’s something we should be doing consistently, especially against a team like that, you know. So, it was more of a we think we’re going to outscore you. Our shots will start falling versus a let’s continue to defend, rebound, do all the little things, be disciplined. I think they got away from that mindset.
But I think each half was a little bit similar in terms of the runs and the bright spots. I was just happy with how we finished the fourth, and you know, there was a point where we got down however many we did where you could have, you know, down 18 or whatever the case may be and they could have folded, they could have quit, they could have got pouty with each other, and they stuck to it. So, I was happy and proud of them for that.”
Burke on the score reflecting the newness of the team:
“Yeah, absolutely. I think there’s a lot of fans here tonight. I think some kids got in the game that have never even seen this many people before. Whether it was a true freshman, or transfer, or international kids, it just, you know, some nerves probably a little bit, some wanting so badly to please everybody in this building. So I think a lot of those things, especially in the first half when we just kind of couldn’t get the ball in the hole, but I think they settled in. I think the second half they got much more comfortable offensively obviously, but a little bit too little, too late, unfortunately.”
Burke on the lessons the team learned in its first 40 minutes on the court together:
“We’re still 0-0, right? Unfortunately, a lot of people just watched us lose, but it doesn’t count towards our season or anything like that as this moment. But, this should hurt, this should sting, this should affect them heavily in terms of wanting to get in here tomorrow and get better, but this is our first 40 minutes of basketball together. We’re going to take it, and the next 40 will be better. And the next 40 will be better. And then next 40 will be better. There’s a reason you play these. There’s a reason you have a non-conference and we weren’t at our best tonight, individually or as a team, but that’s why you play these games.”
Burke on needing a tough loss early in the season:
“We needed to get punched in the face, and that’s what happened. Credit to them and just the physicality, the offensive rebounds, the finishing possessions, like all that stuff. You don’t get to win because you wear Arizona across your chest. Like, that’s not how this works. You win because you earn it.”
Burke on positive takeaways from the game:
“The way they finished the fourth quarter, the run they went on, them coming out of half, going on a little run there, Daniah [Trammell], MJ [Mireia Jurado] being really, really positive spots for us. When I look at the stat sheet and see how Micky shot it and how Tany shot it, I think the bright spots are that you’re still in a position to win a game at the end with two people you rely on heavily to score the ball that didn’t do that virtually at all for us today. I thought I saw some really good stuff from my assistants and they were giving me some really good feedback. I’m getting in a flow with them too. We never sat on a sideline together, right? So everything is being evaluated and worked out and sorted through during these games.”