Becky Burke Gives Her Thoughts on Arizona's Recent Loss
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While disappointed with the final score, Burke emphasized growth, resilience, and lessons learned as the Wildcats begin a challenging league schedule.
“If you’re looking for me to sit up here and be happy about a moral victory, that’s not how I feel,” Burke said. “But I am really, really proud of them in a lot of different aspects of this game.”
The Wildcats’ frustration centered on a decisive second quarter that swung the game in Utah’s favor. Arizona was outscored heavily in that stretch, creating a deficit that ultimately proved too large to overcome despite a strong second-half effort. Burke pointed out that outside of that quarter, Arizona more than held its own.
“I think you take away the second quarter and we win by probably close to 20,” Burke said. “It’s frustrating. They know it. It just happened to be our worst scoring quarter of our entire season.”
Statistically, Burke’s point held weight. Arizona held Utah to 63 points, a defensive effort she described as “really, really impressive” overall. Outside of that second-quarter lapse, the Wildcats were essentially even with the Utes across the remaining three quarters, including a strong push after halftime that showcased their toughness and discipline.
“That second quarter wasn’t our best defensive quarter, it wasn’t our best offensive quarter,” Burke said. “So take that thing out, I think we walk away by double digits minimum. Unfortunately, it’s not a 30-minute game. It’s a 40-minute game, so we need to lock in.”
Burke stressed that the loss highlighted how small details can make a major difference, especially for a team still establishing itself in a new conference.
“Everything matters,” she said. “Everything matters. You know, a line violation matters. Everything that we do matters because we’re not a team that has any room for slippage in an area that we can control.”
Despite the disappointment, Burke praised her team’s discipline and toughness, particularly in the second half when Arizona could have easily folded.
“I thought we were really disciplined today. I thought we were a really tough team,” she said. “We showed tremendous, tremendous toughness for 20 minutes out of halftime when they could’ve just called it a day.”
Perhaps most importantly, Burke believes the game proved Arizona belongs in the Big 12 and that the Wildcats will not be an easy out for anyone.
“What we showed today is that we belong in this league,” she said. “We’re not going to be a team that people are excited to play. That’s going to be us every single night.”
The matchup was Arizona’s first true power-conference test of the season, coming against an upper-tier Big 12 opponent. The way the Wildcats responded, Burke said, gives her confidence moving forward.
“That was our first powerful opponent this season,” she said. “The fact that it was an upper-tier Big 12 team and we handled it the way that we did, and we were as resilient as we were, it makes me really happy to be their head coach.”
As the team heads into Christmas break, Burke sees motivation rather than discouragement.
“I told them this gave us a reason to come back motivated after the break,” she said. “I’m really, really excited to come back and continue to get better.”
While the standings show a loss, Burke’s message was clear: Arizona’s Big 12 journey is just beginning and the Wildcats are ready for the fight ahead.
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Matthew is a recent graduate of Michigan State with a bachelor's degree in sports journalism and a minor in sports business management, with a love for all sports.
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