The Tamika Nurse era is officially over.
Oregon’s point guard who could capture fans’ attention with her athleticism one moment and frustrate them the next with turnovers has left the women’s basketball program.
Coach Bev Smith announced on Tuesday that the Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario will not be returning to the women’s basketball team for her senior season.
Smith described it as a mutual decision, but said if you talked to Nurse, “I think she would say it was more my decision.”
Nurse was unable to be reached for comment.
The possibility of Nurse leaving came up through end of the season conversations between her and Smith. It was ultimately decided the program would go forward without her. Smith declined to go into too much detail, citing student privacy laws.
“She gave some very good things to our program,” Smith said. “Her athleticism is a gift and her ability to penetrate were some potent weapons for our offensive game.”
Teammate Taylor Lilley says she knew Nurse leaving was a possibility, but that it was still somewhat of a surprise.
“(Coaches and Tamika) were talking about it for a while,” Lilley said. “We didn’t really know much about what was going on.”
Nurse began last season as a starter before being supplanted by guard Micaela Cocks. Nurse eventually regained her spot in the starting lineup, but ended the year with 18 starts compared to 30 as a sophomore.
“She just really picked up the tempo for us,” Lilley said. “Even off the court, she was always trying to be a positive influence for this team.”
Nurse has the option of transferring to another university and using her fourth season of eligibility.
She came to Oregon as a shooting guard and coaches worked at molding her into a point guard. As a freshman, Nurse backed up starter Kaela Chapdelaine, offering a faster contrast to the more methodical, half-court style of play of her teammate.
By the next season, Nurse had been inserted into the starting lineup with Chapdelaine spending time at shooting guard and small forward. Looking back, her sophomore year marked Nurse’s best season in Eugene with averages of 9.2 points, 3.3 assists and 2.0 rebounds a game.
She showed flashes of greatness. Nurse sparked a 76-60 win over UCLA at McArthur Court that season with 22 points, five assists and just two turnovers and followed that with 16 points, including 14 free throws, six rebounds and four assists in a 73-63 win over USC two nights later.
But as much as her athleticism helped her attack the basket and get past defenders during her Oregon career, it also led to turnovers. Her shooting also lacked consistency, evidenced by her .316 shooting percentage overall and .271 percentage from three-point range last season.
The question was raised if Nurse fulfilled her potential while in Eugene.
“If we got there, I think that’s for other people to judge,” Smith said.
Oregon goes into next season with Cocks, who will be a junior, and Nia Jackson, who missed much of the latter half of last season with a sprained left anterior cruciate ligament.
“I think going forward we really feel like we have a group of young women who are committed to what we want to do,” Smith said. “Nia not playing this year was a hard part of our season.”
The Ducks will also have incoming recruit Darriel Gaynor, a combo guard from Las Vegas.
If need be, Smith says she’s willing to shift over last season’s leading scorer in Lilley and allow her to share in the ball-handling responsibilities.
“If we have some struggles, Taylor is always a pretty good option,” Smith said.
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