Arizona basketball guard Skylar Jones rewriting the scouting report on her evolving game

The scouting report on Arizona sophomore guard Skylar Jones has always been "she likes to go left."

It's served her well so far, but the 6-foot guard from Chicago has long known that to continue to elevate her game, she has to incorporate the right side as well.

Now, she is rewriting that scout.

"You guys know I am a lefty and I'm really good at looking at the angles on the court," Jones said, "but (now) I've been looking at the angles on the right side of the floor so I can be more dominant.

"People are going to scout me and say, 'Oh just force her right,' she added. "I need to learn how to go right or go right and then figure out where to go back left."

Jones added that it isn't as easy as it sounds. It's about more than just going right.

"My head tilts to the left side; when I say, 'Everything I do is lefty' (it's) everything," Jones said. "It was really (Arizona coach) Adia (Barnes) emphasizing in my head that I would be almost unstoppable if I use that right side of the court. It's so much harder to guard, drive and kick; drive to the right, kick; anything. It just opens up the floor more instead of just staying on one side."

In addition, Jones is now handling the ball with her right hand. For this, she gives credit to her dad, Greg, who always told her when she's watching TV, to grab a ball and dribble. She said, "If I want to go to the next level, I have to be able to use both hands anyway."

For Jones, things really came together toward the end of her rookie season. In the near upset of USC at the end of February (a 95-93 double overtime loss) she played 49 minutes and scored 19 points; she was 5 of 8 from the field, shooting 62.5%. She led the Wildcats shooting 51% in Pac-12 games and in the NCAA Tournament she put up a season-high 24 points, five assists and grabbed three steals against Syracuse. She also started the last 15 games of the season.

Jones took that momentum and carried it into the offseason. She's not only learned to go right and use her right hand dribbling, Jones is also more aggressive on the defensive end and worked on her perimeter shooting.

"I think that's really motivated her," Barnes said. "You could tell she didn't take a lot of time off. You could tell she stayed focused and she wanted to be better, and her game is a lot better.

"She's just ready; I think she's ready to go to the next level."

Jones added that she thinks this group of Wildcats "can do something really special" and that she "can't take a day off because I want to do it for my teammates."

In a way, it's almost like she is paying back those teammates — returning contributors like Isis Beh, Jada Williams, Breya Cunningham, Montaya Dew, Erin Tack and Brooklyn Rhodes; getting better every day is her way of doing this.

As a rookie, Jones had a habit of getting down on herself after making a mistake on the court or missing a shot. As the season wore on, she got better at not showing her frustrations.

It was her teammates who helped her get over this bad, longstanding habit. They let her know that she had to let go quickly and get her head back in the game. Soon she realized that her teammates — and coaches — had confidence in her game and if she got this under control, "my game would take a bigger step."

Beh, who is heading into her sixth collegiate season, has seen Jones growth off the court, too.

"Just becoming more of a woman than a girl. That's really cool to see," Beh said. "With her playing ability, she's someone who needs to be coached a certain way, and Adia knows how to do that.

Additionally, "when she's playing with people that she knows believes in her, she plays so much better," Beh added. "When she plays with a team that she knows believes in her, nobody can stop her."

Contact sports reporter PJ Brown at . On X(Twitter):

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