Helena Pueyo stuffing the stat sheet; Maya Nnaji finishing strong as UA wins two in San Diego

Helena Pueyo didn’t waste any time — coming out aggressive in both of Arizona’s games over the weekend.

A rebound here, a steal there and even going coast-to-coast for a basket against San Diego on Saturday night.

Pueyo led the Wildcats in the 86-60 win over the Toreros with a career-high 22 points.

Six games into the season, Pueyo is averaging career highs with 8.7 points per game and 72% shooting. Her field-goal percentage leads the Pac-12.

And while it helps No. 15-ranked Arizona (6-0) that her offensive numbers have increased, it’s everything else that the 6-foot senior does that’s even more important.

Just take a look at how she stuffed the stat sheet in the Friday win over Cal Baptist and and the victory over USD in the San Diego Classic: a combined nine rebounds, four assists, seven steals and one block.

“Helena is so valuable — one of our most efficient players,” said UA coach Adia Barnes.

She plays four positions — point guard, shooting guard, small forward and power forward — “Every position I ask her to — which is hard as a player — and does it well. She passes the ball better than anybody on the team. She is just a selfless player — doesn’t care about scoring and cares about distributing the ball and playing for her team,” Barnes said.

When Pueyo was a freshman, Barnes talked about how her long-range shot was beautiful and looked like a layup. Still, Barnes knew when she recruited Pueyo that there was more to her than that 3-point shot.

“She has so many things that are instinctual and natural,” Barnes said. “You can’t teach floor vision. You can help people see things better, but you can’t teach natural floor vision. She’s the most unselfish person I’ve ever coached. The offense flows better when she’s involved at any position. She’s just a really good basketball player.”

Pueyo does so many good things on the court that Barnes has been saying since the season started that, “She is my No. 1 recruit,” for next season. Pueyo can take advantage of the extra year that the NCAA gave for those who participated during the COVID-19 season, 2020-21.

“I definitely love coaching her; she’s a pleasure to coach. I wish I had more players like her. I just love everything about her,” Barnes said.

No more tape

Pueyo played on Friday night, as she always does, with white tape covering a piercing that is on the inside of the side edge of her ear.

On Saturday it was a different story.

There’s a new rule in women’s basketball that apparently few knew about — not officials, not many coaches or players.

Players can no longer put the white tape on their earrings.

Pueyo started the game for Shaina Pellington, who injured her ankle in practice last week, and at the 6:21 mark of the first quarter, she was asked to remove the earring after USD pointed it out. She had difficulty doing this and checked out of the game. Pueyo didn’t come back in until the start of the second quarter.

“She sat for a long time with two points and then sat forever because they couldn’t get the piercing out,” Barnes said. “A doctor had to come remove it. Now the rules are if they aren’t clear or taken out, you can’t play with them. I didn’t even know that was a rule and some of the officials didn’t even know that was a thing. It was crazy. She was out with a doctor on the sideline.”

Big moves from a freshman

Maya Nnaji had been in and out of practice throughout preseason for little nagging things. The 6-foot-4-inch freshman made a splash in her debut in the second game of the season, helping UA crush Cal State Northridge 87-47, putting up 14 points, 3 blocks and 4 rebounds.

Against USD, she kicked it up a notch, inching that career high up to 17 points on 7 for 7 from the field, including a 3-pointer. She also picked a steal and grabbed seven rebounds in 22 minutes of play. She’s now shooting 70.8% from the field.

“Maya finished extremely strong and was able to finish off with contact,” Barnes said. “She’s a great post passer. When she gets doubled she doesn’t force shots. She passes out to a teammate. I thought she played a really good game.

“She got in a little bit of foul trouble. The fouls were being a little out of position, but they were aggressive fouls, so I didn’t mind them. One was a offensive foul, but I thought it was just a physical move. Those are files that I would take.”

Rim shots

There was a noticeable difference with the Wildcats defense between the Cal Baptist and San Diego games, because of adjustments Barnes made.

“With this team being specific and assigning players certain things are better and more effective for the team,” Barnes said. “I think with the starting group our defense is good. I think for some of the freshmen it’s a struggle because they just aren’t there yet. I think the freshmen have a long way to go defensively, which is normal.”

Nnaji and Pueyo weren’t the only Wildcats to reach career-highs this weekend. Kailyn Gilbert scored 25 points and Madi Conner added 22 points against CBU. Barnes said that Gilbert brought energy and felt confident. Conner knocked down shots — 5 of 9 from the 3-point line — and was disruptive on defense, notching three steals.

Barnes said these were two good road wins and she learned a lot about her team.

“I think we are getting better,” Barnes said. “ ... It was meant to be challenging. We were working on things. They were tired this week, which is OK because they also have to be able to fight through adversity and see how we respond.

“I was happy with the way we played. I was happy with the first road trip, two road wins against two good teams. You look across the country there are so many upsets. For us to go on a first road trip with seven new people, I think we accomplished a lot and it was a successful road. And we won the San Diego Tournament.”