How Arizona’s Super Senior Duo Is Pushing Them to March Madness

After a tough loss to Southern California in mid-February, their second game of the grueling trip to face the Los Angeles schools, the Arizona Wildcats dropped to 12-12 on the 2023-24 season. Starting off the season 9-4 while playing a gauntlet December schedule including 3 games versus ranked teams out of conference, Arizona went 1-4 to open up January, beating Utah, but dropped the other 4 games by a combined 8 points. That's just how the Pac has been all season, competitive, grinding, and unforgiving. That record that turned into 10-8 could've been 13-5 in the blink of an eye.

By the time the Wildcats hit that February 12th matchup with the Trojans, they'd lost even more players to injury, and down to .500 on the year as a whole, it looked like any shot of carrying over into March Madness was unlikely for Adia Barnes' squad.

That's the beautiful part of college basketball: What do I know!?

The Cats closed out the regular season 4-2, and an extremely impactful 4-2. They ousted other Pac-12 teams on the Tournament Bubble in Washington, Washington State, and Cal. They also picked up their biggest win of the year, beating Stanford at Maples Pavilion, lifting them up as a potential team to make the field.

Leading scorer Kailyn Gilbert stepped away from the program prior to that Stanford game and Arizona has played with just 7 rotation/roster players since.

Now, coming off a win over Washington last night in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament, the Wildcats take on USC again after taking them deep into double overtime at McKale just over a week ago.

Every player has chipped in for the Wildcats.

Freshman Jada Williams has found her groove and continued to improve across the board, thriving in spite of how much responsibility has been thrust on her shoulders. Williams' freshman partner Breya Cunningham has done the same holding down the fort in the middle. Another freshman in Skylar Jones has shown bright flashes as a slasher and energetic defender. Isis Beh and Courtney Blakely have both produced in big moments as off the bench depth in Tucson.

5th year seniors Esmery Martinez and Helena Pueyo have been the heart and soul all season long, but particularly over this late season stretch.

To add some context, here are the stats for Martinez and Pueyo over the last 7 games (when the 7 player rotation started, Wildcats 5-2).

While the numbers stand out for both, the actual play on court itself cannot be stated sheerly through the numbers.

Over their last 5 games, Arizona ranks in the 91st percentile in the country in adjusted defensive rating, per CBB Analytics, accounting for opposition and difficulty.

They've gritted out games with a slowed down pace, understandable given their lack of bodies. They've forced turnovers at a ridiculously high rate, ending defensive possessions with a steal on 18% of their plays, 3rd in the country in steal percentage over this 5 game stretch.

Martinez is the ultimate utility forward, capable of doing seemingly everything at an above average level. Although her shot from deep can run hot and cold, she just makes good things happen on the court. 

She's adept operating in the high low game, which has been pivotal in the Arizona offense of late. She finds cutters at a high level. She doesn't stop the ball often, routinely making quick plays with touch passes in the halfcourt and in transition.

Martinez can face-up and drive, she can post-up effectively, she screens well, she rolls hard, she moves her body. She does all the things necessary to keep the ball moving and space the floor even though she's not a strong shooter herself. She's aggressive on the glass, can play through contact, and again... she just makes good plays regularly.

On top of her offensive exploits, she's excellent defensively, capable of switching and defending smaller players on the perimeter or holding her own against posts in the paint. She stands 6'2, but has a lengthy wingspan and plays with great strength that offsets most size differentials. While her defensive event creation numbers are lower, that's a product of her needing to play with more verticality principles to avoid foul trouble on a team that's so thin on the bench.

Part of what's been so fun in watching the Cats is that Martinez and Pueyo feed off of each other so well on both ends of the court. Pueyo is a tremendous cutter and fluid off-ball mover, always seeming to appear in the spots that Martinez finds her best once she draws the defense. They play well together in DHO actions and any sort of high post read and move actions as well. 

Pueyo is a phenomenal shooter pulling up inside the arc, crafty with her footwork, ball fakes, and quickness in decision-making. She makes fantastic reads as a playmaker, and although she's not the burstiest guard, she can carry and offense for stretches with her savvy.

Defensively, however, is where she makes her name.

She has wildly impressive instincts and hands, most of her steals coming with backtaps, sleight of hand, and blowing up passing lanes. Pueyo moves very well laterally and uses her frame well, excelling guarding bigger guards and wings while being a pest off the ball.

She guarded JuJu Watkins better than anyone I watched this season. The Wildcats will need another phenomenal performance from her tonight on either end to survive and advance in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Both Pueyo and Martinez have willed this team on and deserve the praise that comes along with that. Both in their final years of collegiate eligibility, they each deserve mention is legitimate prospects for the upcoming WNBA Draft.

While team fit and availability make a difference in whether or not they will go higher, each have shown skill sets that should be valued in the pros, even if that means in Europe first. For now, finishing the season strong is front of mind, and the play of Arizona's veterans has them in a much better position than they were a month ago.