What Arizona’s Becky Burke, players said at 2026 Big 12 Basketball Media Days

TUCSON, AZ - FEBRUARY 04: Arizona Wildcats guard Sumayah Sugapong (3) dribbles the ball during the first quarter of a women's basketball game between the Kansas State Wildcats and the Arizona Wildcats on February 4, 2026, at McKale Center in Tucson, AZ. (Photo by Christopher Hook/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images It’s a busy week for Arizona women’s basketball head coach Becky Burke and players Sumayah Sugapong, Gerda Raulušaitytė, and Aliyahna ‘Puff’ Morris. Burke, Sugapong, and Raulušaitytė met with the local media in Tucson on Tuesday morning. Morris then joined them as they flew to Kansas City, MO for the 2026 Big 12 Basketball Media Days. They all return home to host Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) in their first exhibition on Thursday evening.Below are comments made by the quartet during their time in Kansas City and at local media availability heading into their first public competition.On what they want to gain from their exhibition gamesBurke: We want to make sure that we’re working on us. Obviously, it’s more important that every game that we play, we feel like at the end of the 40 minutes that we’ve improved. We’ve had two closed scrimmages, and those have been the exact same thing. We’ve approached those like real games. We’ve played those as if they were 40 minute games, and the important thing in those scrimmages was that we started the game and ended the game and felt like we improved throughout those 40 minutes. So two exhibitions now with actually open doors and eyes on us is going to be really good to get a feel for the environment and just feel for how these guys play with people in the arena and people watching them. A little bit more pressure, if you will.On the health of the squad heading into the seasonBurke: I believe we still have one that will not be available to play on Thursday, but everybody else is healthy and available…[Anastasiia Semnova] is not quite ready yet. Our post player from Boston University, and we expect her to be ready within a few weeks, but she’s not ready at this moment.On the closed scrimmagesBurke: I think it’s going to be a really balanced attack with any given night, us being able to have a 20 point plus score. But I really feel in our first couple scrimmages we had five in double figures. I mean we scored almost 90 in our second scrimmage this year, and I think it took us probably the entire season last year to almost score 90. So we’re miles ahead from an offensive standpoint while still trying to keep our blue collar defensive mentality.On the different expectations going into the 2nd year of Burke’s tenure at ArizonaBurke: I think obviously we knew that we had a talent deficit, and we addressed that in the off season with recruiting our freshman class, the returners that we brought back, but also the transfer portal class that we brought in. So we really feel like we’ve narrowed that gap. We understand how hard we have to play in this league every single night to give ourselves a chance. We understand how prepared we have to be every single night. And I think we did those two things last year. I think we played extremely hard, and I think we were very well prepared. So now that we feel like we’ve done a great job elevating our talent, we feel like we have a great opportunity to move the bar this year.Sugapong: I think comfortability is a big piece, and then confidence coming with that. Just knowing what Coach Burke wants and being comfortable with the system, and just the coaching staff, and my relationship with them has given me more confidence this year. So, yeah, I’m feeling good.On the end goalBurke: Our goal at the end of the season is to be an NCAA tournament team, and we’re not afraid to say that. And we feel like we’ve got a great opportunity if everything goes well, we get a little bit lucky, that we can do that at the end of the season.Sugapong: It just makes you excited when you have that high of a goal for your season and for where we want to end up. But yeah, I mean, this is my senior year as well, and I would love to make it to the tournament and just be in that atmosphere…Everyone wants to play in March Madness. I think we’re gonna take care of business this season and hopefully end up where we want to.On the scheduleBurke: I believe that we put together quite literally the perfect schedule to challenge us, to give us teams that might kick our butt, to give us teams that it’s a 50/50 coin toss, and to give us teams that we’re going to win, all while doing what we need to do from a resume standpoint to be impressive to the NCAA at the end of the year. It is better to go play Connecticut and get beat by 50 than it is to beat a mid-major school, like to the NCAA for your for your tournament hopes. Does it feel good in your locker room? Absolutely not, right? But it is more beneficial to you sometimes to take a loss than it is to win a game, and that’s the kind of hard thing to wrap your mind around.Sugapong: I’m really, really excited for [Stanford and UCLA]…UCLA will be a really fun one. Hopefully I have a lot of family there. And just to play in that gym at UCLA, and them coming off a national championship. So that’s gonna be amazing. And then opening with Stanford, I played them like my sophomore year and got smacked, so I’m hoping to go in there and get a different result this time.Raulušaitytė: I’m really excited as well. I’ve never played against Stanford, so it will be new experience for me. And yeah, against UCLA, played last year a few times. Of course, it will be different experience, but we also lost both of these times. So I really hope that we will take this one.On post play and what Raulušaitytė brings to the teamBurke: It’s been really nice to have her. Like I said, she was probably one of the pleasant surprises because when I watched her on film, I loved her, but I love her even more in person. Just her versatility, both offensively and defensively, and her IQ. And she’s savvy and smart. She’s got that European kind of just flow to her. She knows how to make plays. I don’t have to micromanage her on the court. I trust her to slip out of screens when she wants to. I trust her to rim run or space or trail. Like she’s just very smart because she’s got a ton of experience. But the versatility piece I think is huge. She’s not the biggest. She’s probably 6-2, 6-3, but she’ll bang with 6-4, 6-5 because of her grittiness and her toughness down there. But she can also switch onto a guard on the perimeter and have no problems keeping them in front. So that versatility is critical on the defensive end, and then she also gives us the ability to stretch the floor, shoot the 3, and finish in the paint, and also finish off of movement, off of a screen and roll, off of just a catch and rip.Burke: [Breanna] Williams has come on these last couple weeks, and these two have been giving us a really, really nice one-two punch. So between our one-two punch with Gerda and Bre, it’s a massive step up from what we had in the post last year.Raulušaitytė: I think just my experience. I mean, I played in Lithuania also in a high level for many years, so I feel like I have this experience. I can stay calm in stressful situations I feel like. And also just my energy. Yeah, I mean all of these things, and I just know that I will be there for my teammates also, even if I’m not on the floor. On what Morris brings to the teamMorris: I think just playing in the ACC and having a few starts under my belt, I’ll bring experience to this new team. And every time I hit the floor, I want the fans to know I’m gonna play hard, as hard as I can, and I won’t leave anything out there.On the team’s identitySugapong: We’re a little undersized in the conference and in general, so we just have to be really gritty this year, defensively especially, but offensively as well. Just be annoying and gritty towards the other team.Up next for Arizona women’s basketballWho: Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) Eagles @ Arizona Wildcats (EXH)When: Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026Where: Tucson, Ariz.