Helena Pueyo has a knack for stepping up in a big moment.
Call it a natural ability — maybe a sixth sense. But one thing is for sure: she seems to be in the right position and ready to help her Wildcat teammates.
One moment that encompasses who Pueyo is — ask a coach or a teammate, and it’s one of the first that comes to mind — happened in her second year as a Wildcat.
In the Arizona women’s basketball program’s tight matchup against Indiana in the Elite Eight of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Pueyo knocked down a 3-point dagger that gave UA a 57-50 lead with 3:13 left.
And while that was key, the legend of Pueyo was built on what happened with 1:10 left to secure the victory and give Arizona its first-ever spot in the Final Four.
On the ESPN broadcast, Beth Mowins and Deb Antonelli called it ‘bowling’ or a ‘tip.’ But it was really more like a roll.
Here’s what was in the Star at the time: UA was bringing the ball up against full-court pressure. Sam Thomas’ pass was deflected, and the ball was on the ground. Pueyo corralled the ball, then rolled it to Bendu Yeaney — who was alone near the basket. Yeaney scored, was fouled, and hit the ensuing free throw to give Arizona a 10-point lead.
Arizona’s Helena Pueyo (13) gets hit from all sides driving into the lane against West Texas A&M’s Bree Brattain (3), left, and Karley Motschenbacher (23) in the second quarter of the teams’ exhibition matchup Oct. 25.
In watching back that play, the normally “sure-handed” Thomas couldn’t hang onto the ball in the backcourt; it darted out past the half-court line. Most would have tried to pick the ball up, but instead Pueyo, who said at the time that she saw Yeaney “almost under the basket,” and just thought, “OK, I have to pass the ball like that.”
She said she was lucky; others who know said it was just Pueyo being Pueyo.
“What she did with that ball — the roll on the floor — that went through the hands of Sam Thomas and went to Bendu Yeaney — we don’t practice that, trust me,” UA assistant coach Salvo Coppa said with a laugh.
“We practice passing drills, but we don’t practice let the ball roll on the floor and stuff like that. This is something that is her pure talent.”
Thomas, who somehow couldn’t hang onto that ball, said that she “forever owes her life to Helena.”
“Indiana could have easily gotten that ball and scored,” Thomas said. “She just saved me and I was like, ‘how did she do that?’ I really think that’s just Helena. She knew where the ball was going to go and saw that happening even before I messed up. She helped me; she saved the team. It was a great thing to watch.”
Arizona fifth-year guard Helena Pueyo’s calling card has always been her defense — like she demonstrates against Maryland guard Shyanne Sellers during the second half of the Wildcats’ second-round NCAA Tournament matchup with the Terrapins on March 19, in College Park, Maryland. But her offensive abilities, while not noticed as much in her first four years in Tucson, are impressive, too.
Pueyo, the ultimate team player, shrugs when she thinks about that moment — and others like it — saying she is always trying to anticipate things; she tries to think and act quickly.
But she does add that she thinks it’s what separates her from others.
It was during that magical 2021 run to the national championship game Pueyo really started to find her role as a Wildcat.
In that same Elite Eight matchup, she caught an inbounds pass just passed the half-court line from Thomas as Indiana’s press was tightening up.
In the Sweet 16 game against Texas A&M, late in the third quarter, the Aggies tried to catch the Wildcats sleeping on an inbounds pass, but not with Pueyo on the court.
She caught up and swatted the shot from behind her opponent.
There were more three-pointers, deflections, steals and blocks. And then there are her passes. Pueyo’s court vision and dishes to teammates have always been ahead of the curve.
Carrying a legacy
Pueyo is the only Wildcat who is still playing from that 2021 team that put Arizona back on the map. As she has progressed throughout her career, the fifth-year senior has developed into one of the best defensive players in the nation — earning a spot on the Pac-12’s All-Defensive team last season and the Naismith’s Defensive Player of the Year Midseason Watchlist; she collected 73 steals and blocked 21 shots.
Her rate of 2.3 steals per game was second in the Pac-12.
On the offensive side, she led the Pac-12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.6 and shot 51% from the field.
In addition, she can play four positions — both guards and small and power forwards comfortably. She could play the five if really stretched, but at only 6-0, Pueyo gives up a lot of inches against some of the taller centers in the league (UCLA’s Lauren Betts at 6-7 is exhibit A on that front).
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer is one of the Pac-12 coaches who has seen Pueyo’s evolution into the player she is today. She said, “I enjoy watching her play when she’s playing against other people.”
Over Pueyo’s collegiate career, Stanford has faced off against Arizona seven times (one win) — including the 2021 national championship game, where the Wildcats came up just short of victory, falling 54-53. In those matchups, Pueyo’s best performances came last season. On Jan. 2, at Stanford, she scored 10 points, picked four steals and had two blocks. At home in McKale Center on Feb. 9, Pueyo scored six points and had three steals.
For Pueyo, it’s always been the little things that make her difficult for her opponent to scout; and even then, how do they actually prepare for things like “the roll?” Even VanDerveer doesn’t quite have an answer for that one.
“She’s a poised player; she doesn’t change her demeanor,” VanDerveer said. “She plays hard. She has the longest arms and the best anticipation getting all those steals and deflections. She’s a very heady player.
“She really understands the game and plays good angles. I am very impressed with her — her style and just the way she plays. She makes good things happen.”
Arizona guard Helena Pueyo (13) is cheered on as she walks our for senior day last season at McKale Center on Feb. 19. That could have been Pueyo’s last home game as a Wildcat, but she turned down an offer to play professionally in Spain to return for a fifth year in Tucson.
How it all started
Pueyo was highly recruited out of Palma de Mallorca, Spain. She played for the Spanish National team’s U16, U17 and U18 squads. She led Segle XXI in Spain’s Liga Feminina 2 in scoring – 13 points per game, shooting 51% from the floor – and assists, with three. As the story goes – from both Pueyo and UA coach Adia Barnes — that Pueyo didn’t play defense, somehow, she averaged two steals per game.
Pueyo was drawn to Arizona by the family environment and the European style of play. She also gravitated to Barnes’ message that to be a complete player, you have to play both sides of the court and have that defensive mindset.
It also helped that while Pueyo came to Tucson not speaking English, Coppa, who is from Italy, speaks multiple languages, including Spanish. She also had a teammate, Lucia Alonso — Barnes’ first recruit – who was from Leon, Spain. As Pueyo learned English, she grew more comfortable on and off the court.
“Looking back at her freshman year, I don’t think she ever would have thought that she was going to be a leader five years from (then), but we all knew that she was going to be really special for this program,” Thomas said.
Her teammates saw every day what she was doing in practice. It just took time for her comfort level and confidence to grow. She’s even been named captain for the second consecutive year.
When Barnes speaks about Pueyo, her face lights up. It’s no secret Pueyo — more than transfers or high schoolers — was Barnes’ No. 1 recruit for this season. Keeping her was a priority, although Pueyo had an offer on the table to play professionally in Spain.
But Pueyo wanted to come back to help the program win and have time to learn even more from Barnes.
Throughout the years, Pueyo has worked hard and hasn’t complained about playing time or other issues. Pueyo has been patient in learning and growing within the system.
“She’s doing everything right,” Barnes said. “She’s coachable, she’s positive, she’s spending time with her teammates. She’s doing everything a leader does, and she stepped outside her comfort zone to do stuff and I’m proud of her.
“She’s made a conscious effort to make some changes. Like she’s not a really talkative person. She’s come out of her shell. When she talks it’s very powerful. People follow her and I think she understands that now.”
Arizona guard Helena Pueyo listens to UA coach Adia Barnes during the second half of Arizona’s 79-71 win last season over Oregon on Jan. 8 at McKale Center.
One series of events that may have helped in her growth was the basketball aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Wildcats spent that 2020-21 season quarantined together and focused on perfecting their crafts on the court with no distractions. When they were in San Antonio for the NCAA Tournament for the entire three-week run, Arizona took over an entire hotel floor. Each Wildcat had their own room, but they would congregate in the snack room.
“At random points of the day we would just all go in there and hang out, talk, grab some food and just really kind of like, level our heads and realize, ‘OK, we’re in this for each other and with each other,’” Thomas said. “I feel like Helena felt that sense of connectedness with us and really trusted us because she did help us so much in that tournament.”
Gaining notice
Pueyo has never been one to be flashy, which may be one reason she has been overlooked.
Even with earning her rightful place on the Pac-12’s All-Defensive team, all-conference team last season was out of reach.
Coppa, who is Pueyo’s position coach, said that “defense is really hard to judge.”
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of things on defense where numbers don’t tell the story,” Coppa continued. “Helena is always in the right position. She deflects passes. She’s on the help side when she needs to be on the help side. She knows this is big and unfortunately, it’s not in the stats. She knows when to be aggressive and when to contain because you can’t be aggressive every time or you’re going to get layups. You can’t be in containment defense every time or you’re going to get three points shots passed to the post. This is her basketball IQ. That is huge. Trust me. Her basketball IQ is huge.”
Some of her numbers last season on offense were stellar — shooting 51% from the field and having the best assist-to-turnover ratio.
Barnes calls her one of the most underrated players in the country.
Coppa wanted to make it clear that Pueyo, who has played alongside Aari McDonald, Thomas, Cate Reese, Trinity Baptiste and Shaina Pellington, has been one of the Wildcats’ top players since her sophomore year.
So, how does a player who has all these tangibles and intangibles not get recognized in her own conference?
Barnes said it’s simple, “it’s the scoring.”
“If Helena takes 10 more shots she can average 20 points per game, but she’s just so unselfish she doesn’t take bad shots,” Barnes said.
She only attempted 132 shots and averaged 5.3 points per game last season.
If Pueyo has a flaw in her game, this is it. She said she’s up for the challenge of letting it fly more.
But Pueyo isn’t doing this for the recognition, although that would be nice. It’s always been to help her team.
After all, that’s why she turned down a lucrative three-year contract to play professionally. Staying at Arizona to finish what she started is just Pueyo being Pueyo.
