Finally healthy, Erin Wilson surges for UTEP basketball team

When Erin Wilson entered the transfer portal two years ago after a productive start to her career at Jacksonville University in Florida, she had reasons and she had goals for where she wanted to go next.

She also had a torn Achilles tendon, suffered eight games into her sophomore campaign in 2020-21.

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In the end of a quick recruiting process, Wilson came to UTEP because no one else wanted her. More specifically, no one else wanted to work her through rehab, though a long road back to health and all the variables and uncertainties that implied. Not even for a sophomore averaging 15.8 points a game at the time of her injury.

'I believe in you'

"I wanted a coach who believed in me," said Wilson, who is now a starter for a UTEP team that takes on No. 21 Middle Tennessee on Thursday at the Don Haskins Center. "I contacted a number of other schools, everybody rejected me, everybody denied me coming off an Achilles injury. (UTEP coach Kevin) Baker was the one coach who said, 'I believe in you.'"

What Baker firmly believed in was an investment. He knew his program would have to put a lot into Wilson to get value out of her, but he could see the return on that.

"We knew what we were getting when we got her here," he said. "We knew we were getting an injured player. When you have as talented a player as her and she wants to come here you can't tell her, 'No, we don't want you because you're hurt.'

"We said, 'We want you, you're a great player, we'll nurse you back to health.' You're better on one foot than most players are on two. Our training staff did that and now she's all the way back. She feels good and we're finally seeing the results of all that hard work."

Becoming a starter

There were flashes of that last season when Wilson started four games and played big minutes off the bench. She was reprising a sixth-player role this season when a concussion to N'Yah Boyd thrust Wilson into the starting lineup.

In the last two games, her first two as a starter this year, Wilson scored 15 and 12 points respectively, her two biggest outputs of the season and her way of rising to the moment.

"I wouldn't necessarily say pressure because I've been in this position before," Wilson said. "What I live by is just to stay ready, if one player goes down, I'm ready. Even on the bench when my number is called, I'm ready to produce and ready to give my team what it needs.

"I feel like there has been more trust to allow me to start games. I approach games the same, the same routine I've done before. The one thing that has changed is I have to be locked in a lot sooner. Coming off the bench I got to see the game, get the feel for what my team needed. As a starter, I wouldn't say it's pressure but I do need to be ready a lot sooner."

What Baker sees in Wilson is the vision of the player he recruited.

"The biggest thing that has happened to Erin Wilson is the simplest thing: She's healthy for the first time in probably three years," he said. "She was hurt all year last year, rehabbing the torn Achilles. Every time she took a step forward she took two steps back.

"Now she's fully healthy. She feels great. She's playing like the Erin Wilson we always knew she could be, she's a great player. As long as she stays healthy she's going to continue to play as well as she's been playing."

'Patience'

For Wilson, the road to health was about work and time.

"The whole process was based on patience," she said. "Going from playing a lot to sitting down, then going through rehab, trying to catch back up with everyone, it was tough. I think I handled it well. It was a growing process and now I'm here."

The path here was interesting. She started college not too far from her home of Auburndale, Fla. and was doing well at Jacksonville University of the Atlantic Sun Conference (not to be confused with future C-USA member Jacksonville State in Alabama) before her injury.

By then Wilson decided she wanted a new challenge, other than just the rehab.

Jacksonville "was my first offer coming out of high school, being a first-generation student, I committed and I stayed committed," Wilson said. "I didn't know much about the recruiting process, but being at Jacksonville, it opened my eyes, it expanded my mind: I want to learn more, I want to grow more, I want to go somewhere else to get uncomfortable and learn things.

"I recently had a conversation with coach Baker, letting him know the things I've learned since I've been here. That was why I came here, to learn and grow. As I've been here I've learned more defensively, more offensively, my basketball IQ has improved."

Wilson has also emerged as a vocal leader for a team that doesn't have many of those.

As to her leadership philosophy, "I talk to myself before I talk to the team, to get the vibes and figure out what's going on," she said. "Once I read the room, read the energy, I feel what they need to hear then I talk it through myself, then tell it to the team."

That resonates.

"Erin is the energy of the team," sophomore Grace Alvarez said. "When you're down you can always talk to Erin, she'll make you smile. I love Erin.

"Last year she was in pain, she was still in there working. If we were having a bad day she was still trying to pick us up, give us energy."

Said Baker: "All season long she's been a vocal leader for our team, and boy I'll tell you, we needed a vocal leader on this team. When N'Yah comes back, whenever that is, she'll go back to doing what she did before: giving us big-time minutes. Whether Erin Wilson starts or doesn't start, she's going to play a big role in what we do. She's always going to get big minutes."

Wilson is eager for that.

"I feel like I'm getting into the groove," she said. "Starting or not starting, I'm going to bring what this team needs. I'm going to bring the juice that we need.

"I'll continue to stay ready."

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

No. 21 Middle Tennessee at UTEP

What, when, where: 7 p.m. Thursday night, Don Haskins Center

Records: UTEP is 13-6 overall, 6-4 in Conference USA; MTSU is 18-2, 11-0.

TV: CUSAtv

Tickets: $12 and $8

Special ticket promotion: $4 or $6 tickets Thursday on UTEPMiners.com/tickets, depending on whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow ($4 if he doesn't). Part of a groundhog day promotion.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Erin Wilson surges for UTEP women's basketball team