Tamika Nurse has done this before.
She has showed the potential of a guard who can dominate a game and carry Oregon to a win. But she has also struggled, never more evidently than the start of this season.
In big games this season, Nurse’s performances have been mixed.
She had two points and three turnovers against Marquette. At New Mexico, she had seven points, four rebounds and three turnovers. She had a point, three rebounds and a turnover at Baylor. Oregon began Pacific-10 Conference play and in an early match-up with Arizona State, Nurse had nine points, but six turnovers.
All of the above efforts have been ordinary – nothing spectacular or worthy of praise.
I was all set to criticize Nurse’s play with this column. But then, she had two performances against the Washington schools that were undeniably praiseworthy.
She set up her teammates. She shot well. She provided leadership. She clinched the two-win weekend with a 17-point, eight-rebound and six-assist performance that left fans buzzing and her name always on the tip of the announcer’s tongue.
It makes you wonder why, as a junior, she doesn’t have these types of performances more often. If she did, she would be talked about as one of the best point guards in the Pac-10, if not the nation.
As a freshman and sophomore, Nurse flashed signs of greatness as she made the transition from shooting guard to point guard.
She has quickness that allows her to get by almost any defender. That ability to blow by opponents draws defenders and allows Nurse to either go for the bucket or dish it out for wide-open looks along the perimeter. She showed glimpses of her shooting range as a sophomore where she’d make the occasional open three-pointer.
Everyone has seen her ability to perform in big games, just look back to last season’s two game home stand against UCLA and USC when Oregon’s season teetered between irrelevance and postseason play.
She posted a near-perfect game on the Bruins with 22 points, 10-of-10 free throws, five assists and only two turnovers in a 76-60 win. Two nights later, even with her shot off, Nurse made 14 of 16 throws in a 16-point, six-rebound and four-assist effort in a 73-63 win against USC.
All she has done to make fans excited about her potential is matched by play that at times leaves you scratching your head – the wild forays through the key, missed lay-ups and careless turnovers.
But it’s her tantalizing potential that keeps you interested.
Nurse had started 40 of 41 career games at Oregon before coach Bev Smith, mindful of her struggles to start this season, switched guard Micaela Cocks into the starting lineup in December.
Cocks is a sophomore in title only. The extensive international experience she’s had with the New Zealand national team makes her a poised, trustworthy option. She lacks the flash and pizzazz of Nurse, yet makes it up with her solid, fundamental play and with longer shooting range.
Nurse’s pair of weekend performances leaves coach Bev Smith with a decision this week on who will start next week in Los Angeles.
“I think we’re going to start people who come in and get us going and get the production up,” Smith said. “Tamika will always have that chance and we’ll look at that this week because obviously she’s doing exactly what we want her to do.”
Although Nurse openly says she’d like to start, she is just as quick to say she’s willing to do what’s best for the team. Maybe it’s a sign of maturation for the third-year guard, who says she understands the value of her presence off the bench.
“It’s not so much for me starting the game,” Nurse said. “You deal with where you are and where you start the game and you provide what you can for your team and then you hope that you play enough during the game and you prove yourself during the game so that you can be on the floor at the end of it.”
When discussing Nurse, or any point guard, the supporting cast needs to be part of the discussion. This Oregon team is young, with six freshmen and three sophomores.
Young players make mistakes. They miss easy shots. They make turnovers. As much of a learning process it is for them, it’s just as big for Nurse, who in the last two years had the luxury of playing with the experienced cast of Eleanor Haring, Cicely Oaks, Carolyn Ganes and more.
But as this season progresses, the young players are figuring things out and it’s coinciding with Nurse’s re-emergence.
“I’m having an easier time reading my defense and we’re hitting shots,” Nurse said. “Kids are hitting shots and that’s a bonus. It’s always going to help assists when everyone’s hitting shots, right?”
It sure is, and provided she continues to play this way, why not continue with Nurse as Oregon’s sixth man? Few teams could match that type of production off the bench and she could become Oregon’s version of Chicago’s Ben Gordon.
The most important time to be on the floor is during crunch time. With Nurse coming off the bench in Oregon’s last two wins and having an impact, the Ducks may have found a winning combination.
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