Montaya Dew is not having the start she wanted to her freshman campaign as an Arizona Wildcat.
On Friday, the UA announced Dew was undergoing surgery and is expected to miss the entire 2023-24 season.
A UA release Saturday morning didn't specify what type of surgery it is, but said Dew would be out with a left knee injury. The Star has learned that the injury happened a few weeks ago during practice. Dew has been seen wearing a large leg brace around McKale Center.
Dew, who joined the Wildcats in January, sat out as a greyshirt and was planning on joining the rest of the Arizona womenβs basketball programβs Top-10 rated class β that includes Breya Cunningham, Jada Williams and Skylar Jones β on the court at the start of the season.
The 6-2 forward from Las Vegas Centennial High School was the first to commit to UA coach Adia Barnes in December 2021. Barnes was early in recruiting Dew, watching as she climbed up the ESPN HoopGurlz recruiting rankings, all the way to No. 8 overall. That made Dew the highest-rated recruit in program history. Sophomore Maya Nnaji was rated No. 9 in her class.
Earlier in the summer Barnes said Dew would probably play both small and power forward. Yet, her passing skills β ESPN also rated her as the best passer/facilitator in her class β make her even more versatile.
Dew, 19, was called a βa unicornβ by Shane Laflin, who does the ESPN rankings.
He said that Dew βmakes really good decisions, is good in the ball screen, very bouncy (and) can be a defensive stopperβ β and that she does things you canβt teach.
Dew has long arms and plays tenacious defense, just like former Wildcat star Sam Thomas, who also played at Centennial before her turn in Tucson.
Since she arrived on campus she had been working on her strength, learning the Wildcats system and was even close to dunking.
The Arizona Wildcats basketball program will spend part of the summer abroad in Israel and Abu Dhabi. Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said "the more you travel, the better, more well-rounded people you become.β Video by Justin Spears/Arizona Daily Star (July 24, 2023)
