“I like her game,” former Arizona women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes would say when people questioned whether former Wildcat guard Helena Pueyo should shoot more.
Other people like her game, too.
Pueyo has been named to the All-EuroLeauge third team and is a EuoLeague Defensive Player of the Year finalist. EuroLeague is the top level of European professional basketball, comprised of the top teams from the best leagues across the continent. Many of the players in the league also play in the WNBA.
That’s obvious when looking at the graphic for the EuroLeague third team. All five players, including Pueyo, have been drafted by WNBA teams. Three of the five have played in the WNBA regular season with only Pueyo and Juste Jocyte still awaiting their debuts in the league.
Pueyo was drafted by the Connecticut Sun in 2024 draft. They waived her in training camp. Last year, the Phoenix Mercury offered her a training camp contract, but Casademont Zaragoza in Liga Femenina de Baloncesto had advanced into the EuroLeague playoffs. She opted not to come back to the U.S.
Pueyo and her team have been extremely successful the past two years. They were runners-up in last year’s league playoffs and the preseason Super Copa. They were semifinalists in the midseason Copa de la Reina tournament. This year, they won the Super Copa and Pueyo was the MVP. They have been part of EuroLeague the past three years after being in the second-tier EuroCup in 2022-23.
Pueyo’s decision to stay home last year rather than pursue the WNBA is typical of the personality and play she demonstrated over her five years at Arizona. She briefly toyed with turning pro after her senior season, but returned because of the people.
“Five years is a lot, but it’s been really, really special every year,” Pueyo said before her senior day. “I learned so many things from Coach Adia and Salvo (Coppa) and the coaching staff. So I think I just improved not just as a player but also as a person. So I mean, it’s just really special. I’m going to be sad. I don’t want to think about it yet.”
For four years, she let others have the glory while she did the things that helped them shine.
“I like to pass the ball,” she would often say.
When the program was at its best, Barnes always had at least one player like that. For most of that run, she had two.
Pueyo and Sam Thomas epitomized that ethos. People always love the scorers, but without Thomas and Pueyo, there would be no Aari McDonald. Players who couldn’t buy into that didn’t last long at Arizona.
When Arizona needed her the most, Pueyo carried the team. They were down to seven scholarship players due to injuries and defections during her fifth season. They fought through to make the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.
After four years of deferring to others on offense while playing lockdown defense, she displayed all of her offensive skillset in her fifth season while still being the best perimeter (if not overall) defender in the Pac-12. Of the players who played the entire season, she was second on the team with 9.7 points per game.
In conference play, she averaged nearly 40 minutes per game. It was 39.8 mpg, to be exact. She never seemed to flag. It didn’t cause her to reach and commit fouls. It didn’t cause her shot to go off. It didn’t make her prone to turning the ball over.
Of the seven players who played throughout the Pac-12 season, Pueyo led the team with 11.0 ppg, 3.7 apg, and 3.3 spg during conference play. She also grabbed 3.9 rpg, good for third against Pac-12 competition among those who played the entire conference slate She had just 1.6 turnovers and 1.2 personal fouls per game despite being the top ballhandler and perimeter defender.
Pueyo once again lost out on the Defensive Player of the Year award her fifth season, but her defense was key to Arizona winning 18 games, defeating Auburn by 10 in the NCAA Tournament play-in game, and narrowly losing to Syracuse by five in the round of 64.
She played 36.8 minutes per game in her final year, the fifth-most in program history. That led the Pac-12 that year, as did her 3.2 steals per game. Most of her stats actually improved when Pac-12 play rolled around.
Arizona’s two-year captain came to Tucson unable to speak English. She left as a spokeswoman for her team off the court and a star on it.
Now, the fans in her home country get to enjoy her dedication to her team above all else.
