CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M head women's basketball coach Josh Prock has announced that the Lady Buffs will open up their 2022-23 campaign in Tucson, Arizona against the Arizona Wildcats in exhibition action on Thursday, October 27^th at the historic McKale Center.
 
"We are grateful for the opportunity to play one of the best women's basketball programs in the Country in the University of Arizona. Coach Barnes and her staff year in and year out do as good as job as anyone in the country" said Prock "It will be a tremendous learning experience for our team and will challenge us in a lot of ways. We are looking forward to tipping off the season against the University of Arizona."
 
Prock guided the Lady Buffs to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight during his first season in Maroon & White, finishing the campaign with an overall record of 26-11 as WT claimed the LSC Regular Season and Tournament Titles followed by a run to the South Central Regional Championship at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.
 
The Wildcats finished the 2021-22 campaign with an overall record of 21-8 including a 10-6 mark in the Pac-12 as they made the program's ninth appearance in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, advancing to the second round before falling to fifth-seeded North Carolina, 63-45 in Tucson. 
 
Since returning to her alma mater as head coach in April of 2016, Adia Barnes has built Arizona Women's Basketball into a fixture on the national stage of college basketball. The 2021-22 season was another banner season that saw Barnes become the first coach in program history to win 20 or more games in four consecutive seasons. Arizona hosted and participated in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament in McKale Center for the first time since 1998 while reaching a record-breaking AP national ranking as high as fourth in the nation.
 
In her fifth season, Barnes was a finalist for the WBCA Coach of the Year and was a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year. Heading into the NCAA Tournament, she became the 11th coach to play and coach in the NCAA Tournament at their alma mater. Once the Wildcats reached the 2021 National Championship game, she became the fourth coach to lead her alma mater to the title game.