MINNEAPOLIS – On a team with plenty of new faces, the Michigan women’s basketball team is looking for someone to take the lead.
And Laila Phelia is up to the task.
After a dominant sophomore season in which she averaged 16.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, the guard is heading into her junior campaign as a unanimous preseason All-Big Ten selection. But Phelia brings more than just her production on the stat sheet.
“Her scoring obviously is important, but also her playmaking ability to really make others around her better,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said Monday at Big Ten Media Days. “I think she’s taken a huge step in that capacity this offseason. … She guards the other team’s best player. She spends a lot of time in the weight room making sure that her body is at an elite level. I just think she’s committed to excellence and growth in her game.”
That growth in Phelia’s game is in part due to her time with the U.S. Women’s National Basketball team, which she helped secure the silver medal at the FIBA AmeriCup over the summer. While she may not have scored as many points as she did for the Wolverines, Phelia had the second-best plus-minus average on the team at plus-9.6 and was fourth among the Americans in minutes played.
Being teammates with players like reigning national champion Angel Reese of LSU allowed Phelia to adapt to a new playmaking role. But it was the players she competed against that took her defensive skills to another level. Brazil’s Damiris Dantas and Debora Costa, who have played professionally for 13 and 10 years, respectively, pushed Phelia to play with a level of physicality that she was not used to.
Phelia is continuing to develop, and she is looking to bring her experience not just into collegiate play, but into the locker room as well.
“With (Team) USA, my role was defense,” Phelia said. “(Taking) pride in my defense was an eye-opening experience. … Coming back to Michigan, I feel like taking on that leadership role, because we did lose a lot of experience and being able to be that voice and bring in our transfers along with the freshmen.”
Last year, Phelia’s main focus was scoring. But this season, she brings far more in addition to putting the ball in the net. From dishing out the ball to her teammates or working her way out of double teams, she has turned into a weapon at every spot on the floor.
But what Phelia does off the court is possibly even more valuable. With the departure of three starters in Leigha Brown, Emily Kiser, and Maddie Nolan, Phelia now boasts the most minutes in a Michigan uniform. After averaging 33.1 minutes per game last season, Phelia’s experience makes her the Wolverines’ premier leader for both the incoming freshman and graduate transfers.
“The biggest thing for me (has been) really getting to know the players off the court,” Phelia said. “Then transitioning to on the court, starting to understand how they play, along with how they want to be talked to and how they want to be coached. … Building that relationship is going to set the tone for the games.”
As Michigan searches for a leader this season, Phelia can show why she’s more than just a reputable scorer. She can prove she’s a leader, too.