Henshall vanquishes shooting demons

Ben Henshall has been impacting NBL games this season as a playmaker for the Perth Wildcats, but regaining his shooting touch in Friday night's win made him an ever more dangerous weapon.

Shooters always talk about shaking off missed shots and just worrying about taking the next one, but Henshall found his confidence a little shook after last Friday night's win against the Sydney Kings.

While he still made a significant contribution to the win with 8 assists and with his team outscoring the Kings by 18 points with him on the floor, his tough shooting night had an obvious impact.

But at just 20 and with maturity well beyond his years, Henshall spoke to some of his teammates about his shooting slump, knew that coach John Rillie had his back and then proceeded to knock down 5-of-8 from beyond the arc for a career-best 26 points against Illawarra.

"If I'm being honest, I started feeling good when the first shot went in. I didn’t make one last week so it was good to see the ball finally go through the basket," Henshall said.

"I did (have some worries) which is rare because I'm normally good with that stuff, about just worrying about the next shot.

"But throughout the week when I was missing at practice, I was like what am I doing right now?

"I had a chat to a couple of guys on the team and just said it's basketball, you miss shots and I got my mental together before the game. I did a couple of things off the court before I got in and it showed."

While Henshall hadn't been shooting as well as he would have liked so far this season, his playmaking abilities have been on show.

He had 7 assists at HoopsFest against the South East Melbourne Phoenix, before the 8 dimes against the Kings, and then 6 more against the Hawks to go with his hot shooting performance.

It's no coincidence that in the three games where Henshall has combined for 21 assists, the Wildcats have been victorious.

"I want to be known as a winner. I want to win basketball games and that's all I want to do, so I'm happy that we got the win," Henshall said.

"I played point guard growing up my whole life, so I knew I was capable of doing that, but it's good to get my assists up as well as my points.

"I think the big thing for me was getting my mental right. There's a lot of things you can do on the court to get better, but taking care of that and locking into those small things like the gym, and putting in the work and being detailed with the work you do was the big jump for me."

Henshall's coach is also impressed with the amount of work that he has been putting in.

"What everyone saw was a culmination of hard work over the last 15, 16 months in the time that he's (Henshall) been with us," Rillie said.

"He has a great purpose to his work habits these days and it's not just basketball. It's his lifestyle and that's his diet, making sure he's sleeping and all of that type of stuff.

"For a teenager to come in and understand that and how much it can help you, I think he's just starting to really grasp that.

"The added work in the weight room too and it all gives you confidence, and it's just human nature that when you feel really good your performance usually lifts to that level as well."

The Wildcats defeated Illawarra 113-105 in a high-scoring shootout, with the home team scoring 39 points in the first quarter alone.