Skylar Jones and Katarina Knežević make it four so far
Skylar Jones was a late-comer to Arizona’s highly-ranked sophomore class. The athletic guard was originally committed to Missouri and joined the Wildcats after decommitting from the Tigers. Katarina Knežević was a latecomer to this year’s freshman class, but that’s the case with many international players. Both will be entering the portal.
Knežević announced her intent to transfer on social media.
Jones’ entry is being reported by BTN Scouting based on word from her agent Alec Small of Rise Sports Marketing.
Jones was Arizona’s most athletic perimeter player this season, something the team was sorely lacking overall. She played through pain all season, including the WBIT game. She said she was going to play hard in the tournament because she wasn’t a “loser” or a “quitter.” She did just that.
In her last game as a Wildcat, Jones played 35 minutes and went 9 for 17 from the floor. She narrowly missed a double-double with 21 points and 9 rebounds. She added one block.
As a freshman, Jones came on late in the season as the team’s bench got shorter and she got more confident. She was one of the major reasons Arizona made the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
As was the case during her sophomore season, when she didn’t play, head coach Adia Barnes noted negative body language as the reason. Jones was definitely hard on herself, regularly showing frustration with missed shots or calls she didn’t agree with.
In her two years at Arizona, Jones had 40 starts in 63 appearances. She averaged 8.9 points and 2.7 rebounds in 24.9 minutes per game.
Her numbers went up across the board in her second season. She shot 49.2 percent from the floor. The 27.7 percent accuracy she had from 3 as a freshman became 35.1 percent as a sophomore. She went from 73.9 percent at the line to 76.3. She grabbed 3.0 rebounds after accounting for 2.3 as a freshman.
Knežević was a latecomer to the game of basketball. She spent most of her youth as a soccer player. After a short stint in Spain with a team that included former Wildcat Jade Loville, she decided to come to the U.S. to get more experience.
Knežević expressed her desire to be a guard when she arrived in Tucson, but her handles weren’t quite where they needed to be to do that in the U.S. Barnes thought she could be great at the four position and that’s where Arizona had the most need.
Knežević played 20 or more minutes in five of the last eight games, but the final game wasn’t one of them. After Arizona’s loss to Colorado in the Big 12 Tournament, she emphatically stated that it was what she deserved. She only played two minutes in the loss to NAU in the WBIT despite Arizona’s short bench.
The Serbian forward appeared in 24 of Arizona’s 33 games. She averaged 2.8 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.7 assists, and 0.5 steals in 11.2 minutes per game. She had 0.7 assists to 1.0 turnovers per game.
Knežević had contradictory shooting numbers. While she shot 50 percent from 3-point distance, she only hit 27.9 percent of her 2-point shots and 50 percent of her free throws.
The pair join Breya Cunningham and Jada Williams in the portal so far this offseason.