Perth Wildcats call on import Terrico White to lift amid slump

Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson has urged import Terrico White to become more creative on court in a bid to end his scoring drought late in games.

White hasn’t scored during the final quarter from his last five matches, despite having plenty of shots throughout that time. His drop off in form has coincided with Perth losing four matches in a row.

Gleeson said White, who has averaged 15 points per game this season, needed to find different ways to score instead of relying on his jump shot.

“We need him to score, without a question. He’s got to score in the fourth quarter,” Gleeson said.

“You do that in a number of ways — stealing, fast breaks, foul line. You don’t live and die by the jump shot. I think he was relying on the jump shot too much. Hopefully that’ll change up soon.”

The Wildcats have the chance to end their losing run against last-placed Cairns in Queensland tomorrow.

The Taipans have lost 13 games in a row and were thrashed by the Wildcats 94-72 at RAC Arena earlier this month.

But Cairns gave Perth headaches when they last played them at home and it took until overtime for the Wildcats to claim victory.

The Taipans have also led New Zealand during the final quarter and been just two points down against Adelaide during the last period in their last three games.

Gleeson said it wouldn’t be an easy game.

“It’s a tough place to play,” he said. “We know it’s going to be a grand final-like atmosphere. New Year’s Eve up there is packed all the time.

“They’re going to come and bring it. We know that much. They’re not far off. Hopefully we’re not far off playing our best either.”

Gleeson called on his leaders to step up and set the tone for the rest of the team.

He said captain Damian Martin, vice-captain Greg Hire and veteran Jesse Wagstaff could help to drive the standards throughout the team as they attempt to return to the style of basketball that took them to the top of the NBL ladder.

“It’s (about) our leadership taking the bull by the horns and saying this is the way we’ve got to do it, and it’s the other guys to follow through on that,” Gleeson said.

“We’ve been a little bit disjointed with two guys playing well and three guys haven’t been playing well. We’ve got to get back to playing some Wildcats basketball.”