by Justin Whitaker
In this very young Indiana Fever season, one player has emerged as the most improved player of the offseason.
After spending much of last season on the bench, Shay Murphy has started off the season looking like a reborn player.
The third-year pro from USC has appeared in all four of the Fever’s (2-2) game, making an instant impact. She has been the first player to sub in and opened the second half with the starters twice so far this season.
Quite a jump for the player who averaged 7.8 minutes per game last season. Multiple factors contribute to Murphy tripling her minutes this season.
“I’m staying confident and on attack mode no matter when I get in,” Murphy said. “I know there are so many things to work on, but I’m going to continue to work hard and help out.”
Murphy’s biggest splash so far this season came against the Chicago Sky on May 22 when she had her best game as a pro. She had career-highs of 36 minutes, 20 points and six assists on top of her 10 rebounds.
But her performance was not a surprise against the Sky as Murphy’s best games in the WNBA have come against Chicago. Her previous career-high came against the Sky last season when she scored 15 points. It seems to be the Sky brings out the best in Shay Murphy.
“Everyone makes jokes about it all the time,” Murphy said. “ ‘You know if every game was against the Sky you would be the leading scorer in the league‘ but I don’t really think about it. It is just a funny coincidence.”
After an extremely successful overseas season in Italy where Murphy averaged 21.1 points per game, she has played with a swagger never seen out of her.
“Any time you have a good year overseas, you kind of come back with some confidence and some pep in your step,” Murphy said.
That pep has resulted in career-high averages with 11.3 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. She is making the most of her opportunity and is seeing increased playing time because of her solid play.
So what is the reason behind the career 4.5 point scorer’s elevated game?
“It’s just more confidence. Having confidence in my abilities and capabilities,” Murphy said. “Just having the trust of my teammates and coaches that say ‘It’s okay to shoot that ball or it’s okay to attack.’ Just the fact that I know I can do that so it makes it that much better when other people believe that I can also do that too.“
At 5’11”, Murphy is a shooting guard, but she plays much taller. She always finds the cracks in the opponent’s box outs and attacks the glass hard.
Shooting is another strong suit of Murphy’s. Much of last’s year practices saw Murphy constantly shooting jumpers, working on her perimeter game. She left the Lady Trojans the career leader in 3-pointers made.
Her versatility allows for coach Lin Dunn to try different things with her.
“Coach will be able to play me at different positions,” Murphy said. “Have me maybe bring the ball up and help get into the offense. I’m handling the ball more and I’m able to execute a little better.”
The all-around player looks to grow into her role as sixth woman and do whatever it takes for the team to win.
“Whatever the team needs, I’ll do it. I just want to play and help out and hopefully we get the W in the end.”
