HONOLULU – The Arizona Wildcats (2-1), who are coming off a thumping of Seattle on Friday will take on the Portland Pilots (3-0) on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. MST in the final game of their trip to Honolulu. The Wildcats will feature Aari McDonald, the second leading scorer in the nation at 28.7 points per game.
 
Sunday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. MST (noon HST).
Live Stream: None
Radio: 1400 AM (Derrick Palmer)
Twitter: @ArizonaWBB
#MadeForIt
 
FROM THE TIP

• The Arizona Wildcats wrap up their trip to Honolulu on Sunday afternoon with a matchup against the Portland Pilots, who are coming off a win over Hawaii. The Wildcats knocked off Seattle U by 30 points on Friday.
   
• Aari McDonald, who is the second-leading scorer in the nation at 28.7 ppg, tied the single-game school record on Tuesday night scoring a career-high 39 points in just her second game at Arizona. She tied Davellyn Whyte, who scored 39 against Oregon on Jan. 16, 2010.
   
• Cate Reese became the first freshman to record a double-double in her collegiate debut since Shawntinice Polk in 2002. She is also the first freshman to score at least 20 points in her debut since Davellyn Whyte in 2009 and has two games of 21 points this season.
   
• Arizona shot 52% from the field on Friday, the highest percentage since Feb. 9, 2014 when the Wildcats shot 55% against Arizona State.

Series vs. Portland
11/16/07: at Arizona 78, Portland 71
 
Scouting the Pilots
Portland has yet to lose a game and are coming off a victory over Hawaii by a score of 72-65 on Friday. The Pilots returned their five top scorers from a year ago and they brought back 78 percent of their scoring from the 2017-18 season. Ten letterwinners and redshirt-freshman Erika Kankfelt are back for the Pilots, who feature an experienced roster. Leading the returners is senior guard Darian Slaga, who led the team last year in scoring with a 12.6 points per game mark. Slaga earned All-West Coast Conference Honorable Mention as a junior, and she poured in a career-best 27 points against Saint Francis, which was the most points scored by a Pilot since 2015.
 
Aar it Out
After all the anticipation, redshirt sophomore guard Aari McDonald is finally eligible to put on the block A and represent the Wildcats on the court after transferring from Washington back in 2017. She has stormed onto the scene just two games into her Arizona career, tying the single-game record with 39 points against Loyola Marymount (11/13) and is currently the second-leading scorer in the nation at 28.7 points per game. She also broke both free throw records against LMU, going 20-23 from the charity stripe. During her freshman season in 2016-17, McDonald was a two-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week and was named Pac-12 All-Freshman after averaging just under 10 points per game while shooting 47% from the field in 24.1 minutes per game. She started in 21 games for the Huskies, who would advance to the Sweet 16. McDonald averaged 13.7 points per game in the three NCAA Tournament games.
 
Sam I Am
Sam Thomas had a typical Sam Thomas game in the opener, scoring 15 points, bringing down nine rebounds and swiping four steals. She also showed improvement from three as well, knocking down three of her four attempts. Last year, Thomas was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team after leading all Pac-12 freshmen in rebounding (7 rpg), steals (1.5 spg), blocks (1.3 bpg) and minutes (36.3 mpg), making her the first Wildcat to be named First Team All-Freshman since Davellyn Whyte in the 2009-10 season. She also finished third in scoring (10.2 ppg) and third in three-point percentage (37%). Thomas led the Wildcats in field goal percentage, rebounds, blocks and steals. The sophomore scored in double-figures in 17 games last season, including a career-high 22 points to go along with a career-high five three-pointers against USC on Feb. 11. Her 209 total rebounds was the fourth-most among Arizona freshman and finished scoring the 10th-most points any freshman has scored in Arizona history.
 
Reese's Buckets
Cate Reese entered the season with lofty expectations, and she surely lived up to those expectations in the first game. The freshman became the first Wildcat since Shawntinice Polk in 2002 to record a double-double in her collegiate debut and became the first freshman to score at least 20 in her first career game since Davellyn Whyte in 2008 after scoring 21 points and bringing down 10 rebounds in the opener on Nov. 9 against Idaho State. Reese had another good game against Seattle, scoring 21 points for the second time this season. Coming in as Arizona's first McDonald's All-American that headlined the No. 5 class in the country, Reese will be looked upon to shoulder a heavy load in the paint. As a senior at Cypress Woods High School, Reese averaged 30.6 points and 15.3 rebounds per game and was also named an honorable mention All-American by the Naismith Trophy.
 
It's Her Destiny
Destiny Graham is the lone four-year senior on the team who started her career at Arizona. Not only that, she is the only player on the roster who played for former head coach Niya Butts. She didn't miss a shot from the field against Seattle, shooting 4-4 for 10 points off the bench. Graham is poised for a big senior year after having a career year in 2017-18, averaging career highs in both points (8.1 ppg) and rebounds (6.4 rpg). Graham was the first off the bench in the opener and played 24 minutes while grabbing six boards.
 
Buenos Dias, Lucia
Junior guard Lucia Alonso returns to the court for year three with a ton of experience, playing 1,088 minutes last season to go along with 887 minutes the year before. The only player in Arizona history that played more minutes in their first two years was Arizona Ring of Honor inductee Davellyn Whyte, who played 2,095 in her first two seasons. The junior Speniard tied her career-high with nine assists against Seattle with just one turnover. Last year, Alonso finished the season third in minutes per game (36.3), 10th in three-point percentage (39.1%) and 14th in the Pac-12 in assists per game (3.1). Known as a knockdown three-point shooter, Alonso is the only player in Arizona history to shoot at least 40% from three with at least 50 made threes.
 
Old Man Dominique
Ask anyone to characterize redshirt junior Dominique McBryde's game and they will all say "old man game." McBryde, who transferred from Purdue after the 2016-17 season is poised to have a big year for the Wildcats after sitting out the 2017-18 season. While at Purdue, McBryde was named honorable mention All-Big-Ten in 2017, averaging 6.7 points and 6.3 rebounds while making 25 starts.
 
It's Been a While
In just the first game of the season, Arizona reached a few marks that have not been seen with regularity. The Wildcats grabbed 45 rebounds against Idaho State, something Arizona had not done since Dec. 7, 2016. They also had two players with double-doubles (McDonald & Reese), which hasn't happened since Feb. 26, 2017 when Dejza James and Breanna Workman each posted a double-double against USC. Against Seattle, Arizona scored 84 points for the first time since Feb. 10, 2013 at California. They scored those points on 52% (37-71) shooting, the best percentage the Cats have shot since Feb. 9, 2014 against ASU when they shot 55%. The last time Arizona made at least 52% of their shots with at least 70 attempts was on Dec. 31, 2010 when UA shot 65% (46-71) against Oregon.
 
Bringing Energy off the Bench
Destiny Graham and Tee Tee Starks were the first two Wildcats off the bench in the opener against Idaho State and they made sure that Arizona's level of play did not drop. In fact, when Graham and Starks played with Aari McDonald, Lucia Alonso and Cate Reese, Arizona outscored Idaho State 17-1, the largest score differential of any lineup Arizona. Against Seattle, the Arizona bench outscored the Redhawks' bench 26-15.
 
Dominating the Paint
Arizona owned the painted area against Seattle, outscoring the Redhawks 62-20 in the paint.
 
An Upward Trend
Destiny Graham and Lucia Alonso are Arizona's two longest tenured players. Graham is Arizona's lone four-year senior and Alonso is entering her third season as a Wildcat. During their time here, both have upped their scoring numbers from the prior year, with Graham more than doubling her points per game average.
 
Graham
2015-16: 3.3 ppg
2016-17: 3.8 ppg
2017-18: 8.1 ppg
 
Alonso
2016-17: 5.3 ppg
2017-18: 7.9 ppg
 
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