Arizona women's basketball may be down to 6 available players for exhibition matchup

And then there were six … Wildcats, that is, who are available to play in Arizona’s second exhibition game of the 2023-24 season Wednesday night at McKale Center.

That was the case, at least, as of Tuesday afternoon.

Fifth-year leader Helena Pueyo is the latest to go down with a slight injury — a quad strain sustained during weights. The injury isn’t deemed anything major, but Pueyo is being held out of practice and most likely the game, being that Wednesday’s matchup with Point Loma Nazarene is an exhibition and not the regular season (that opens up Monday).

This game is not televised or streamed, but can be listened to on 1290-AM or through The Varsity app.

Pueyo joins redshirt junior Courtney Blakely and freshmen Breya Cunningham and Skylar Jones, who didn’t suit up for last week’s tussle against West Texas A&M. Jones, who is out with a concussion and is day-to-day, has a slim shot at playing in Wednesday’s exhibition. If she’s out, along with Pueyo, this leaves the Wildcats with only two true guards — sophomore Kailyn Gilbert and freshman Jada Williams.

Adia Barnes said her goal for the matchup against Point Loma on Wednesday at 6 p.m. is to “come out without any more injuries.”

Barnes laughed after saying that, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of truth to her statement.

Having only 10 active players on the squad this season — freshman Montaya Dew is out for the season after ACL surgery in August — makes keeping Wildcats healthy even a bigger priority than in most seasons.

Barnes has already used tactics such as less intense practices and said she will continue to do so throughout the season.

Holding these players out now will allow them to heal and be ready for the season.

Had this been a Pac-12 game, the Wildcats would have forfeited since teams must have at least seven players to compete. Both UCLA and ASU had to forfeit games over the last few seasons. ASU forfeited the two games during the trip to Utah and Colorado in the latter half of the 2022-23 season, while UCLA’s missed matchups came the year before.

None of these counted as losses in their overall record as the NCAA does not have a rule like that; it just appears as two fewer games played.

“This is uncharted territory for me,” Barnes said. “I don’t think Skylar is available, but I wish she could (play) just to get the kinks out. I wish Breya could be, because now their first game is going to be a real game, which is OK; they play at a high level. But you want those exhibition games for that. And Courtney hasn’t had a chance to play here, yet I anticipate her being ready by the first game (against New Mexico State).

“But you want them to kind of get the jitters out and have something under their belt before we start and we’re starting on the road. It’s going to be a tough challenge. My main thing is right now getting everybody healthy.”

It may take all of these Wildcats a minute to be at full speed when they step back on the court. While they may be doing cardio, it takes time to get back into basketball shape.

However, they’ll be called on quickly, as the front end of the Wildcats’ nonconference schedule is no joke.

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After the road game Monday night In Las Cruces, Arizona comes home to play three games in five days, then hits the road for the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in the Bahamas with three matchups in three days.

Barnes said having players banged up at this time of year is typical. Everything changes in October from the hours that teams to practice and it’s more intense as games are just around the corner.

For the Wildcats, the injuries have been things that can be considered “fluky” — from Pueyo taking an odd turn while lifting to Jones colliding with Gilbert’s chest and ending up with a concussion and Cunningham making a move and twisting her knee in practice.

With only the possibility of six players, Barnes could have canceled the exhibition. But it gives the fans another opportunity to come to McKale Center and she will still work on some things.

Yet it will look different. The Wildcats won’t be pressing as much, and it will give Barnes a chance to mix up the combinations.

“You might see Esmery (Martinez) playing the three,” Barnes said. “We might play a bigger lineup just because of our personnel. You might see more of Isis (Beh) and Maya (Nnaji) together a little bit more with as Esmery at the three. It could be solid and a line that wouldn’t typically play together. … I think being down some guards, it’ll push Esmery, which is good. I think that’s good experience for Esmery that maybe can help us down the line.”

Walk-ons?

Down to only 10 active players this season, it would seem natural that this might be a good time for Barnes to open up tryouts for walk-ons.

She’s had two in the past — Ali Reese (older sister of former Wildcat Cate Reese) and Lindsey Malecha, who eventually earned a scholarship.

On the men’s side, Tommy Lloyd has five walk-ons this year. And he’s used walk-ons extensively during his tenure, mainly to push his scholarship players in practice.

However, it’s not so easy for women’s basketball. The NCAA has a rule that females can’t be used as practice players for women’s basketball.

Most women, if they are good and competitive, will go for a scholarship to play at smaller schools if they aren’t getting on a Power 5 roster.

Walk-ons have a specific role to fill — and it’s not playing in games. At times, walk-ons forget their role and keep pushing for playing time ahead of scholarship players.

“It’s hard to ask someone to commit to all this time, every day and then just to be a cheerleader at practice and practice some. I think it’s a hard job to fill, which is unfortunate,” Barnes said. “I think on the men’s side there’s so much prestige and so much that comes with the ‘what you get.’ It is a lot more on the men’s side, which is unfortunate to say (than) on the women’s side. … It’s just the reality.”

If Barnes does get around to having tryouts, what are the qualities of her ideal walk-on?

“A really good student-athlete, a really good teammate, someone with great body language, great attitude, energetic,” Barnes said.

Photos: Arizona women's basketball cruises to 103-58 exhibition win over West Texas A&M