TUCSON, Ariz. – The Arizona women's basketball team (2-0) is set to start their three-game L.A. trip with an away game against Loyola Marymount (3-0) on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. MST. The Wildcats are coming off a road win over Utah State last Friday.
 
Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. MST
Radio: 1400 AM (Derrick Palmer)
Twitter: @ArizonaWBB
#MadeForIt
 
QUICK NOTES

• The theme of year two of the Adia Barnes era will certainly be the amount of new faces on the team. After losing nine letterwinners due to graduation and transfer, Barnes and the rest of her staff went out and brought in 10 newcomers. Four freshmen, four transfers and two walk-ons.
   
• Arizona has gotten off to a nice start with a couple of impressive victories, with mainly newcomers on the roster. The Wildcats opened the season with a win over Iona at home and then started off a four-game road trip with a win over Utah State in Logan, Utah.
   
• Barnes won the second-most games in school history for a first-year head coach (14) last season. The record for a second-year head coach is also 14 games. Additionally, Wendy Larry holds the record for most wins by a head coach in the first two seasons with 30, so Arizona will need to win at 17 games to break that record.
   
• The Wildcats will have three transfers sitting out this season (Dominique McBryde, Aarion McDonald and Tee Tee Starks). All three come from power five conferences and will look to make a huge impact in seasons to come. McDonald transferred from Washington, where she played for current Arizona assistant coach Morgan Valley. She was also recruited by Barnes when she was an assistant coach at Washington.

 History with Loyola Marymount
11/15/08: UA 93, LMU 88 (3OT)
11/18/05: at UA 74, LMU 66
 
Thomas Does It All
Freshman forward Sam Thomas has been Arizona's version of Draymond Green through the first two games of her collegiate career as she has averaged 9.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.5 blocks and 2.0 steals per game while being on the floor for 75 of the 80 possible minutes. Against Utah State, she scored nine points on 4-4 shooting, grabbed nine boards, dished out seven assists, blocked four shots, had two steals and just one turnover in 36 minutes. In the season opener, she became the first freshman since at least 1988 to make at least two three-pointers and block three shots in their debut. Through two games, Thomas is second amongst all freshmen in the Pac-12 with eight rebounds per game and fist amongst freshmen with 4.0 assists. The Bloomfield Hills native is also second in the Pac-12 in blocks per game with 3.5. Additionally, while dishing out eight assists in the first two games, she has only turned it over twice while playing 37.5 minutes per game. Since at least 1987, no Wildcat has started their career with 16 rebounds and 7 blocks in their first two career games except for Thomas. 16 rebounds is the most for a freshman to start her career since Erica Barnes grabbed 18 in her first two career games in 2011. Also, there have only been two Wildcats to have seven blocks in the first two games of the season since 1987 (LaBrittney Jones (2016) & Elizabeth Pickney (1999)).
 
It's Her Destiny
Junior Destiny Graham has stepped up her game so far in 2017. Through two games, she is tied for the lead in scoring with 13.5 points per game along with 5.5 rebounds per game, which is second on the team. The junior has done a good job of getting to the line and making her free throws as she is 9-11. Graham scored a career-high 15 points in the opener against Iona and followed that up with 12 points and nine rebounds against Utah State while playing a career-high 35 minutes. For the first time in her career, Graham scored in double-figures in back-to-back games. Prior to this season, Graham had scored in double-figures just three times.
 
We See Ya JaLea
JaLea Bennett is one of the two seniors on the team (Kat Wright) and will be looked upon as a leader for the young group of Wildcats this year. Not only do they look to her for leadership, but Bennett has been a good source of energy during the preseason. Bennett, the leading returning scorer, scored 6.9 points per game last season is certainly looking to up that number this year as she has the athletic ability to get to the rim with the best of them. Along with Destiny Graham, they are the two remaining student-athletes that played for former head coach Niya Butts. Bennett went nuts in the two exhibition games as she scored 35 points, grab 10 rebounds and had four steals against Eastern New Mexico and followed that up with 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals against Western New Mexico. The senior is looking to get going again as she played 24 minutes in the season opener against Iona and scored 10 points and followed that up with seven points and six rebounds (ties a career-high) against Utah State.
 
Buenos Dias, Lucia
It's hard to believe, but Lucia Alonso is already the third-longest tenured Wildcat on the 2017-18 roster as a sophomore. The Leon, Spain native scored 5.3 points, dished out 2.4 assists and shot 43% (25-58) from downtown (top mark on the team) during her freshman campaign. Her 29.6 minutes per game were also second on the team as she started 27 of Arizona's 30 games, which is the fifth-most any UA freshman as started. Alonso played all 40 minutes against Iona in the season opener and scored four points, had four rebounds, dished out four assists and had three steals. Against Utah State, she tied her career highs with 15 points, four made three-pointers and four steals. Alonso ranks third in the Pac-12 with 3.5 steals per game.
 
Your Newest WildKAT
After visiting campus this past April, Kat Wright decided to finish out her college career at the University of Arizona. A transfer from Florida Atlantic University, Wright comes in with 145 career made three-pointers, which would be sixth all-time in Arizona history. Wright was forced to sit out the 2016-17 season due to injury, but during her junior year in 2015-16, Wright lit it up as she made 87 trey balls on 40% shooting while scoring 11.7 points per game. To put that into perspective, only one Wildcat has made more than 82 three-pointers in one season, and that was Lisa Griffith wo made 92 in the 1996-97 season. The highlight of her career came on Jan. 30, 2016 when she drained 11 three-pointers against Charlotte, which is the second-most made three-pointers in NCAA history in a single game. Wright is 381 points away from 1,000 career points, meaning she would need to average about 13 points per game through 30 games to reach that mark. Wright caught fire in the second quarter against Utah State as she made three triples on her way to 14 points. The senior is one of four Pac-12 players to make every free throw this season. 
 
They're Called Free Throws for a Reason
Arizona has done a good job of converting their free throws this season as they are shooting at an 80% clip, which leads the Pac-12. Last season, the Wildcats shot 70% from the charity stripe. Kat Wright has yet to miss a free throw this season (7-7).
 
Lock It Up
Arizona's defense through the first two games of the season has been stifling as they have allowed just 53.5 points per game. Opposing teams are shooting 36% from the field and 27% from downtown. Additionally, Arizona averages 6.5 blocks per game with the help of Sam Thomas' 3.5 per game, which leads the team and is second in the conference. 
 
Lots of New Faces
Of Arizona's 13 players on the roster, 10 of them are newcomers. Those newcomers include Kat Wright, Sam Thomas, Sammy Fatkin, Markee Kyles, Kiana Barkhoff, Ali Reese, Lindsey Malecha, Aarion McDonald, Dominique McBryde and Tee Tee Starks. Thomas, Fatkin, Kyles, Barkhoff and Reese are incoming freshmen, Wright, McDonald, McBryde and Starks are transfer students and Malecha was added as a walk-on, but is an incoming junior. Ten newcomers is the most in the Pac-12 this season. The last time Arizona had at least five freshmen was the 2008-09 season.
 
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