Arizona's Helena Pueyo a 'difference-maker' off the bench; Esmery Martinez and Maya Nnaji coming on strong

Exhibitions are a funny thing.

A player can score 40 points in a game that doesn’t count, then — once the season begins — average only 10 points per game.

Other times, a huge exhibition performance could indicate a big season is coming.

Take Arizona guard Helena Pueyo. In Wednesday’s 104-46 win over Cal State Los Angeles, the senior dominated in all aspects of the game. She finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting while adding five steals, seven assists, one block and no turnovers in nearly 28 minutes of action.

Coach Adia Barnes called Pueyo a “difference-maker off the bench.”

“Helena can do this every day, and this is my expectation for her,” Barnes said. “Maybe she won’t be 6 for 8 every game, but she’s capable. But I was just glad she took eight shots. A lot of times it’s hard to get her to take eight shots.”

A native of Spain, Pueyo has always been a top defender — she grabbed 50 steals last season and was an honorable mention All-Pac-12 Defensive Team player. She seems to have taken the defensive intensity up a notch during the two exhibition games. On Wednesday, Pueyo used her long arms to get into the passing lanes. When she didn’t grab the steal herself, she deflected the ball to teammates.

At times during her Wildcat career, Pueyo has been hesitant to take an open shot. Not this year — or at least not yet. Pueyo has put 12 shots in exhibition wins over West Texas A&M and Cal State LA, hitting eight of them.

“I thought she was intentional about shooting when she was open, and that’s what she has to do for our team,” Barnes said. “Helena has earned that right and she needs to do that, and we are better when she does it.”

Scratching the surface

Esmery Martinez put up her first double-double as a Wildcat — 15 points and 12 rebounds — in Wednesday’s win. The transfer from West Virginia added three steals and committed one turnover while playing 23 minutes.

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“I don’t think we’ve seen the best yet,” Barnes said.

“... She’s a great rebounder great nose for the ball, which is instinctual. That’s not something we taught her. She just does that. She has quick hops. She does not box out, so we’ve got to work on her boxing out more. But a really good nose for the ball and finds it. She’s very strong. She doesn’t look like she’d be really strong, but she’s very physical and very strong in the weight room. She’s very strong. So she does a good job of bumping people out of position and getting the ball.”

Martinez continues to work more on going to her left. If it sounds familiar, it should: Senior forward Cate Reese wasn’t comfortable going to her left for much of her career. But after lots of reps, Reese now finishes on both sides. Barnes expects the same for Martinez.

Stepping up early

Reese hit her head and elbow on the court less than one minute into Wednesday’s game, suffering a concussion.

Freshman Maya Nnaji replaced her. In 20 minutes, Nnaji finished with five points, eight rebounds, three steals and a block.

Though she finished without an assist, Nnaji “did a phenomenal job of passing the ball out,” Barnes said.

“There were times that time she was double-teamed, dribbled and turned the ball over, but other times she did a good job of getting the ball and reversing it,” Barnes said, “And she did a phenomenal job outlet-ing the ball. I hadn’t seen that in a while. I didn’t even realize because in practice, I feel like she doesn’t do that as much. She did a good job of finding someone not passing it back to a guard but finding someone up the court that started our break. She was the reason we had a lot of fast breaks. I thought she gave really good minutes. Still have to work on on-the-ball defense, lateral quickness, but that’ll come. She’s a freshman. She’s extremely fundamentally sound and she has a lot of potential to be really special player. So I’m happy the way she played.”

Arizona’s other three freshmen stood out in different areas. Paris Clark grabbed 10 rebounds; Lemyah Hylton was strong on defense while scoring three points; and Kailyn Gilbert scored 14 points, marking her second game in double-figures.

Rim shot

Guard Madi Conner played 13 minutes and had three assists. That’s something new for Conner, who is averaging 0.7 assists per game in her UA career. Conner also did things that didn’t show up in the stat sheet, Barnes said. “I think she was helping people be in the right place,” Barnes said. “Sometimes she’s playing with some younger guards, and she was telling them where to go. So I thought she was really good on the court, really vocal.”