Connecticut Sun to host New York Liberty for lone WNBA preseason game: How to watch, what to know
As she watched her Connecticut Sun run through offensive sets against their practice players on Wednesday, coach Stephanie White couldn’t hold back a satisfied smile. Even after an open three-point attempt clunked off of the rim, White was thrilled by the looks her team was finding in their barely installed offense.
“Nobody can guard all of that,” the Sun coach quipped at the end of the drill.
That assertion will be put to the test for the first time on Thursday when Connecticut hosts the New York Liberty for its first and only preseason game at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Liberty, the 2023 WNBA runners-up, had a disastrous outing in their 101-53 preseason loss to the Chicago Sky on Tuesday, but eight-year veteran Rachel Banham said the Sun are trying to focus within themselves rather than on a true scout for the first matchup.
“I really want to see good pace out of us, like pushing on both ends and making good reads, playing off of each other well,” Banham said. “Defensively I want to see us making sure we’re communicating and playing our schemes. … In these games, you’re gonna scout a little bit, but you’re really focused on trying to figure out what looks good for us.”
Star forward DeWanna Bonner said the Sun are still adding new plays daily, so there is still a long way to go before the team is fully comfortable with the system. However, the state of the positionless, read-based offense that White champions will be easier to evaluate against a defense actually making unpredictable moves rather than the team’s own practice squad.
Banham signed with the Sun as a free agent this year after three seasons with the Minnesota Lynx, and said she feels a sense of relief while learning some of the motions that she hated defending when Minnesota played the Sun.
“There’s probably gonna be some crusty moments where we’re like, ‘What was that?'” But there’s gonna be some beautiful moments too, which we’ve kind of seen the last couple of days,” Banham said with a laugh. “It’s just funny, because we’re putting in plays and I’m like yep, I remember trying to guard that last year, or trying to figure out how to stop DB. Do we push it to the three or do we push it to the basket? Either way, you’re probably screwed.”
The team must make final roster cuts by May 13, the day before the Sun open the 2024 season against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever at Mohegan Sun. White said the preseason game will also be key for those evaluations as the staff attempts to whittle down to 11 players. Connecticut can’t carry a full roster of 12 because of its cap space that includes seven protected veteran contracts plus Bonner’s one-year deal.
“It gets a little easier to really take things up another level every time you start to trim down your roster. Your rotation gets a little tighter, players who are gonna be out there start to learn each other a little better,” White said. “We have three starters that we know, but after that it just kind of depends. … For us every day it’s been a different lineup, so we’re really starting to try to see who can play with each other and makes each other better.”
Predicting the first starting lineup
The Sun’s front court starters have been locked in since the season began. Center Brionna Jones will return to the court Thursday for the first time since her season-ending Achilles rupture last June, alongside Alyssa Thomas and Bonner, both coming off All-Star seasons in 2023. Thomas averaged a near triple-double and finished second in MVP voting last year, but Bonner said the Sun’s stars still feel underestimated entering 2024.
“I don’t think we have the attention right now, but I like it that way,” Bonner said. “It’s a marathon, so we don’t want to be at our best basketball right now. … The fact that the attention is elsewhere, that’s perfect, because it lets us go at our own pace and our own time. We’re in the middle of Connecticut, in the middle of nowhere, and we like it that way.”
Fourth-year guard Dijonai Carrington and veteran point guard Tyasha Harris have taken the overwhelming majority of first-string reps in practice, and the duo makes perfect sense in the back court as a complement to the star power from the forwards. Banham describes Carrington as an elite cutter, and the 5-foot-11 guard is also a relentless defender and rebounder, bringing down nearly three per game in 2023. Harris is a high-IQ facilitator and a major threat from 3-point range after hitting 46.4% beyond the arc to lead Connecticut last season.
“Nai is our dirty-work player. You need one of those on your team who goes out there with you and you can throw on somebody who’s hot right now,” Bonner said. “She plays with great speed. … And we expect a lot out of Ty as our point guard. It’s the same with her: It’s her year to thrive and shine, so we put a lot of pressure on her.”
Players with something to prove
The Sun traded for Queen Egbo from the Washington Mystics on Tuesday after recognizing they lacked a dominant rebounder and defensive presence in the post. The late move indicates the Sun are hoping to see her on the final roster, but the expectations have to be moderated considering the 6-4 center got only a single day of practice in Connecticut. Her flight from D.C. landed after 6 p.m. Tuesday night and she will tip off her first game in a Sun jersey almost exactly 48 hours later on Thursday.
“It’s been a quick turnaround, but this is the love of the game. I’m happy to be here and happy that they took a chance on me,” Egbo said. “(The offense) is very different just because there’s a lot of movement on the backside. … They like to space the floor and get it to their post players, and they give you the freedom to make reads. Everybody does a lot, and I like that.”
If Egbo is penciled into a roster spot, that likely leaves just one available for the remaining four players in training camp. Sydney Weise has looked like a frontrunner during the team’s open-practice periods, and she was the only player on a training camp contract to take reps with the second string on Wednesday. Weise, a first-round draft pick in 2017, has been out of the WNBA for two years since a single-season stint with the Mystics in 2021 but fits well with White’s system as a versatile guard with above-average size.
Jocelyn Willoughby is the Sun’s other veteran option, and she’ll go head-to-head with her former team on Thursday. The 6-foot guard spent the last three seasons in New York but averaged a career-low 6.6 minutes per game in 2023. She offers Connecticut yet another outside threat after shooting above 40% from 3-point range twice in three years as a professional, and she logged the best assist-to-turnover ratio of her career last season.
Rookies Helena Pueyo and Taiyanna Jackson seem like longshots at this stage simply because of how many experienced options Connecticut has. Pueyo fills a similar role to Weise, and the Sun don’t need Jackson’s length and rim protection as much after adding Egbo. It would likely take a statement showing against the Liberty for either to jump past the veterans.
How to watch
Site: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville
Time: 7 p.m., Thursday
Last meeting: Oct. 1, 2023; New York 87, Connecticut 84 in WNBA semifinals
Live stream: YouTube
