April Wilson wants to gear up for one last run.
With four games remaining in the regular-season, Purdue might need her to, if it wants to rebound from its recent string and bolster its NCAA Tournament résumé.
The senior point guard has been stellar most of the season, but has leveled off of late. And in the fourth quarter of the Boilermakers’ loss to Michigan on Sunday, the seventh in nine games and fourth consecutive, Wilson stayed on the bench.
“Just being a constant leader on the defensive and offensive end and continuing to get the team organized, share the basketball, execute the plays and be able to take over a game like she was,” Coach Sharon Versyp said, when asked what Purdue needs from Wilson. “And (opponents) are obviously are taking some things away, but she’s a good enough player to be able to do a lot of things that she’s shown before. So I think it’s just the mental and emotional focus and bringing that positive, positive energy, because when she plays at a high level our team does, and that’s been two-thirds of the season.”
Since back-to-back games against Nebraska and Iowa in late January, when Wilson combined to score 48 points on 20-of-32 shooting with 17 assists, she’s slowed up offensively. In the following six games, of which Purdue won only one, she scored in single-digits four times; she’d done so only three times in the first 19 outings.
And in the one win, a double-overtime victory at Penn State, Wilson had 22. In the five losses, her high was 12.
“(Opponents) are doing different things, but I’m also not creating my own shot, which I was doing at the very beginning when they were doubling me or hedging hard on screens,” said Wilson, who is averaging a team-high 14.6 per game. “It’s about creating my own shot and taking as many as I was in the beginning (of the season). I haven’t even been taking the same amount of shots.
“It’s a little (frustrating), but it’s on me. I have to make the change.”
Wilson might be worn down. The two 24-point efforts came in 40-minute outings, the end of a seven-game string in which Wilson had averaged 19.4 points in 38 minutes per.
“In hindsight, it probably did really take a toil on me,” she said. “But I was doing everything I needed after the games, recovery-wise.”
Wilson’s struggles might be symptomatic of a larger offensive issue for the Boilermakers. Since Purdue (16-9 overall, 7-7 in the Big Ten) beat Iowa (15-11, 5-9) on Jan. 24 — and they’ll rematch in Iowa City at 8 p.m. Thursday — when the Boilermakers scored 90 points, they’ve been mired in the 60s at best.
Purdue did hit 88 in the double-OT win at Penn State, but in the five post-Iowa losses, the scoring average has been 60.
The Boilermakers would be helped if they rebounded better, givng them more opportunities in transition; it was the formula for success early.
And if Wilson could get going.
“As we always said, (when) she continues to play well our teams does (too),” Versyp said. “But others have to step up too. Other people are missing layups, missing free throws, missing assignments. Everything we do is as a team, so it’s not on one individual, but she is the pulse, so if her pulse isn’t really high and a ton of energy, then it’s a little down.
“It’s a long season, she’s played so hard, done so well, played at an elite level, so we’re just hoping she can get that back, for herself, for her team, but everybody else has to step up to the challenge. Everybody else has to do a little bit more.”
Murphy back?: Purdue might have Tiara Murphy back on Thursday night, after the freshman point guard missed a game with a concussion.
Versyp called her “probable;” Murphy will take a concussion test before noon Thursday.
If she’s back, Purdue will be at full strength for the first time since Jan. 3, the last game Hayden Hamby played before sitting 11 straight. Hamby returned vs. Michigan Sunday and scored eight off the bench.
Also in that stretch, Bridget Perry, Bree Horrocks and Murphy have missed single games.
“That just brings energy, just in of itself,” she said. “You feel like your whole team is here, your whole unit, and that brings energy and confidence.”
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