Arizona women's hoops at Stanford: Scouting report, new A.D., Pueyo the X Factor

Arizona (14-12, 6-8) at No. 3 Stanford (23-3, 12-2) | Maples Pavilion; Stanford, California | 8 p.m. Friday | TV: Pac-12 Bay Area | Radio: 1290-AM

She said it

Arizona coach Adia Barnes on the second go-around this season against Stanford: “I think everybody's improved. Everybody has those games where they have lulls, but Stanford is just so good and Tara (VanDerveer) is such a great coach, they just keep getting better and better. We know how good Cameron Brink is. We know how good Kiki (Iriafen) is. We know how good Hannah Jump is, so we're very familiar with them. It doesn’t make it easier.

"I think the benefit for us is we’ve played a lot of Princeton offense since then. Before they beat us on a lot of simple things. I feel like we're not getting beat as much on now. Because we've played now seven more games where people have run similar stuff. Just with a little different people. Cameron Brink wasn’t in that equation. But then there were talented players in most situations. I think just guarding their stuff a little bit better. We have to be able to play better and we have to guard their posts a lot better. We're playing better defense now.”

On the Sidelines

The new boss: Barnes spent time with the new athletic director, Desireé Reed-Francois on Monday and came away jazzed for what’s next.

“I think she's tremendous; I think she's gonna be incredible here,” Barnes said. “Just her leadership, her track record. I've talked to a lot of people that worked with her and for her and she does some really good things. And from a coach's perspective, she's huge because NIL (athletes' name, image, likeness) is so important.

"It's really critical for our success. And I think she gets it. When you come from the SEC, they do it really well there.”

Barnes went on to say that it was also important that Arizona hired a woman and not just any woman, but one that is “capable, can do the job, has done it, has experience. And I think just in a time where there needs to be a lot of change right now. There's it's a perfect opportunity to do something special.”

She even saw the similarities of taking a challenging job at Arizona with this financial crisis to when she took over as the women’s basketball coach. Barnes has said she was told at the time by many not to take the job; but she bet on herself and went home to Tucson, which she equated to what Reed-Francois is doing now.

The X Factor: In the end, the true X Factor for the 2023-34 Wildcats most likely is Helena Pueyo. She is the one who quietly goes about her job, which includes doing a lot of everything on the court. She plays just about every single minute of Arizona's games – most recently typing a Pac-12 record (they started keeping the stat in 1999-2000) with 55 minutes played in Sunday’s 90-82 triple overtime win over Washington.

Pueyo is one of Arizona's top defenders —  not only racking up steals (280 at last count) — but also taking on the toughest assignment of guarding the opponent’s best guard.

“A lot of times that entails her full court pressing and like if you're guarding the best guard, you go into a lot of action, the receiving screens, down screens, on balls,” Barnes said. “That’s even harder. Then, to go and take the scoring load that she has and be aggressive and make big plays. It amazes me more, I think, in the how she's been able to place so well. She's just incredible.”

Barnes said if the right fit presents itself Pueyo could find herself on a WNBA roster. At 6-feet, she would be a point guard in the league and the big question is if she would be aggressive in scoring. Barnes said we saw the proof that she is capable of scoring.

“I think she can do it. I think she can go to the WNBA but if not, she's going to have a 10-year career in Europe making a lot of money,” Barnes said. “If you know basketball, you appreciate how good she is. If you don't know basketball, you would say ‘Oh, she didn't score enough points.’ But if you know basketball, she makes everybody better. And I think if you have a pro team that has a lot of really dynamic scores around her, she's really good. They'll love her … because she's going to set people up. She's smart, she can play defense.

"And teams do like her. I think she'll get into a WNBA camp.”

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Best in the west: Name just about any list, top defensive player, top center, top player and one name is on all of them: Brink.

She is already a two-time All-American and the reigning Pac-12 and WBCA defensive player of the year.

Brink continues to do so many things well. She leads the nation in blocks with 90. She hits 92% of her free throws — and had made 73 straight from the charity strip starting last season and running through most of this season’s non-conference schedule to the end of November. The only player to make more consecutive free throws was North Dakota's Michelle Gaislerova (75 from Dec. 30, 2018, to Feb. 2020).

Brink also averages career-bests 17.8 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. And if you think all she does is score and block shots, think again, as she averages 2.4 assists per game.

When Barnes was asked this week what Isis Beh and Breya Cunningham learned in the first time they faced off against Brink, who had 25 points and 20 rebounds against the Wildcats in Tucson in January, she said, “They learned that she's really good and we have to play a lot better.”

By the numbers

23: The last time Arizona beat Stanford in Maples Pavilion was 23 years ago, on Jan. 6, 2001. UA sealed the 68-65 victory on three free throws from LaKeisha Taylor and Reshea Bristol. Elizabeth Pickney (18), Bristol (12) and Candice Allen (11) led the Wildcats to their fifth consecutive win, and 10th in their last 11 games.

2: Barnes has beaten Stanford twice — once as a player in 1998 (91-90 on a last second shot by Bristol) and once as a coach in 2020 (73-72 in overtime on Aari McDonald’s layup).

2: With two wins this weekend over UA and ASU, Stanford clinches at least a share of the Pac-12 regular season title.

2: Breya Cunningham is second among Pac-12 freshmen in field goal percentage hitting 52.3%.