ORLANDO, Fla. ¬ SMU needs Delisha Wills to play well. Head coach Rhonda Rompola pointed out her sub-par play after the Mustangs’ disastrous 0-2 weekend to end the regular season.
“We have to have our girl from Mesquite, D Will,” Rompola said. “We need our gamers to be more consistent.”
The coach’s statement is notable because it shows what a key part of the puzzle the sophomore forward is to the SMU game plan.
A lot of responsibility for a young woman, but Wills hasn’t had the luxury of acting her age this season. The deaths of her grandmother and uncle in a two-week span in January shook up Wills.
“The personal things I went through this season were definitely challenging,” Wills said. “I’m still in the process of getting over it.”
Wills’ grandmother, Louise, was more than family to the player. She was someone who Wills could hang out with and visit just because. Louise’s house was a quick drive from the SMU campus and Wills said she would spend a lot of time there.
Wills’ uncle, Oliver Wills Jr., died the morning of Louise’s funeral.
Wills said both deaths were from natural causes, but that didn’t make the grieving process any easier. She wound up missing both games of a road trip through the conference’s eastern division opponents, East Carolina and Marshall.
Wills leaned on her family who were nearby in Mesquite. One of the reasons Wills picked SMU was the fact so many of her family could see her and she would be able to visit them.
But ultimately Wills spends a majority of her time at SMU with the team practicing. She credits her teammates for rallying around her and the coaches for understanding what she was going through.
“They had my back,” Wills said.
After the funerals she decided to dedicate the rest of the season to her grandmother and uncle.
And while she may have ended the season on a rough note, Wills once again was a factor in SMU’s quarterfinal win over Tulsa. She finished with 12 points and four rebounds with a block on the defensive end.
It was the type of game Rompola expects out of Wills and it’s a performance the forward knows she can deliver.
She does after all, know the stakes.
“You’ve got to play every game like it’s your last,” Wills said. “We’re playing for families, teammates, seniors.”
