How to watch, what to expect when Arizona hosts Cal on Sunday

Stanford remembered how Arizona defeated them last year according to head coach Tara VanDerveer. The Wildcats also remember something that happened to them that weekend: their defeat at the hands of the California Golden Bears.

“I reminded them in the locker room,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said after the Wildcats’ loss to Stanford.

The Wildcats welcome the Bears back to McKale Center on Sunday and it should be a game that Arizona dominates. The record doesn’t lie. The Golden Bears are not a good basketball team this season. They have fallen to teams like Cal State Bakersfield and San Jose State.

Cal came into the year with a lot of potential. Arizona wasn’t the only ranked team they beat or threatened last season. Then, they brought in the No. 7 class in the country. The combination made it look like they were ready to take the next step.

Things just haven’t gone their way. The Golden Bears are down to seven scholarship players after suffering three season-ending injuries to important contributors. Freshman Alma Elsnitz joined sophomores Jazlyn Green and Cailyn Crocker on the bench for the year with injuries.

The starting lineup hasn’t been stable as a result. At times, Cal has started a walk-on. Most of the starting lineup consists of freshmen. It hasn’t been a winning recipe.

The Golden Bears have yet to win a game this season. They sit at 0-8 overall and 0-5 in the Pac-12. They’re shooting just 17% from 3 and averaged 23 turnovers per game.

But they are showing signs of fighting. They led by as many 11 late in the game and went into the fourth up by one against Arizona State on Friday.

They just couldn’t hold on. The Sun Devils came back to take the 56-53 victory, avenging their loss to Cal in last year’s Pac-12 Tournament.

The Bears’ desperation concerns Barnes.

“To me some of the scariest teams to play are teams that haven’t won games,” she said. “They have nothing to lose, either. So, we have to come back on Sunday with a different mindset, a different mentality, and we have to beat another good team. Pac-12 is tough.”

How to watch or follow the game

• Date/Time: Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021 at 12 p.m. MST
• Location: McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
• TV: Pac-12 Networks (Pac-12, Pac-12 Arizona, Pac-12 Bay Area)
• Radio: Derrick Palmer will have the call on KTUC 1400 AM or online at TuneIn
• Stats: In-game stats are available on Arizona Live Stats
• Twitter: Follow us at @AZDesertSwarm. You can also follow our editor at @RKelapire and our reporter at @KimDoss71 for coverage during the game and throughout the season.

Our coverage this week

• Arizona to play on ESPN for the first time in program history
• That kind of exposure is good for the program says head coach Adia Barnes
• Video from the press conference as Adia Barnes and her players previewed the Stanford game
• As we saw, there’s still a gap considerable gap between Arizona and Stanford. What can Arizona do to close it?
• Friday was not Arizona’s night, as shooting and rebounding woes led to a Stanford romp