Despite the losses, the Connecticut Sun are finding their fire

The last time the Connecticut Sun scored that many points against an opponent was on July 9 in a win over the No. 8 ranked Seattle Storm. A few weeks later, they tallied 95 points in a win against No. 7 Golden State on July 27, but it was that win against Seattle that proved to be a turning point for the Sun.

 They underwent a complete reset and shifted their perspective—and game plan—towards team-first basketball, and as a result, have found success. The scoring margins have gotten smaller in losses to top-ranked opponents like No. 5 Las Vegas Aces, the No. 9 Los Angeles Sparks and even the No. 3 New York Liberty. The wins, though few (6, to be exact) have started to come, including just last Friday against the Chicago Sky.

In a thrilling matchup against the Indiana Fever on Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena, the Sun showcased what it look when they dial in on the very things Meziane has been emphasizing all season long—”energy,” as he often repeats, as well as ball movement, lockdown defense and consistency on offense—are starting to really come together.

The Sun controlled the tempo from the start of the game and continued to well into the third quarter against Indiana; with 9:40 left in the third, they were even leading by 21 points, which is a testament to just how far they’ve come. Shots were falling for veteran leaders Marina Mabrey and Tina Charles, both of whom had 14 points in the third (Mabrey finished with 27 points, while Charles had 21), while rookie standout Leila Lacan, who had 7 points and 14 assists, was dishing out dimes with ease, forward Aneesah Morrow was holding her own defensively in the paint and finished with a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds, and guard Saniya Rivers, who had 15 points, was hitting step back jumpers and continued to “levitate” in the air to block opponents, a word she used to describe her blocked shots against Sky’s Kamilla Cardoso.

Center Olivia Nelson Ododa — who celebrated her birthday Sunday with a crown, her locker decorated with streamers and told The Next she planned to go out to dinner after the game — was also a key part of the Sun’s defensive efforts.

Going into the fourth quarter, it appeared that the Sun had set themselves up for their first back-to-back wins this season, that is, until Fever star Kelsey Mitchell put on a masterclass 38-point performance and hit key shots beyond the arc that allowed Indiana to bounce back and win in overtime.

After the game, Mabrey was asked what her message to the team would be going forward for the rest of the season, and it was the positives — and the 93 points they scored against Indy— that she focused on, even despite the narrow loss that officially knocked the Sun out of playoff contention.

“Just taking the positives from this game, like we scored 93 points,” Mabrey told the media. “I thought we were pretty efficient offensively. And then just understanding what works for us from one half to the other and understanding that when you’re up by 20 to a team that is a good team in this league and has some experience and veteran experience, they’re not going to come out and guard you the same way as they did the second half. So just being able to slow down, calm down, and see what they’re giving us, I think will be something that we can adjust for the next games coming up in Washington, especially [since] they’re one of the best defensive teams, so they’ll have schemes ready for us.”

How the Sun are finding their identity.

It takes time to for a team to develop their sense of identity. For the Sun, who have a completely new head coach in Meziane and a roster with just two returners in Charles and Nelson-Ododa and newly signed Aaliyah Edwards and Migna Toure, they’ve had to figure out not only how to play together, but what that actually looks like on the court. To do so requires an ability to adjust to different personalities, playing styles and roles on the team, which is something Rivers says the Sun are still “figuring out.”

“I think it’s hard with a whole bunch of pieces that have never played together for real, a whole new coaching staff, the rookies never been this league before, a new state. So I think everybody’s finding their identity and their role every day,” she told The Next before the Sun faced the Fever. “I think once we put the pieces together, we can play really good basketball and win a lot more games.”

Rivers herself has emerged into a rookie sensation on the Sun and is currently leading all rookies in blocks per game; that night, her five blocks would make her the fastest guard in WNBA history to reach 30 career blocks according to Polymarket Hoops. Lacan also inked her name in the history books with her 14 assists, which has tied a league record for the most assists in a game without a turnover.

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What Rivers, Lacan and Morrow bring to the Sun is a youthful tenacity and a willingness to fight for loose balls, for boards in the paint, through screens and against defenders to get open.

It’s a word that’s been used time and time again, and while it isn’t something that’s quantifiable, it’s essential to the Sun’s growth this season. “We fight,” Rivers told the media after the Sun defeated the Sky, 71-62, on August 13. “I think I’ve known that all along. We’ve always had the pieces. We just had to figure out how to put it together.”

Meziane echoed that same sentiment postgame while also pointing out how he’s noticed the team coming together recently. “I saw it before the game, you know, how during the presentation, they were connected, dancing…If we take pleasure to play together, to fight hard, to share the ball, and it’s what we did in the first half, we [had] 14 assists. So, just build on that,” he said.

Looking ahead at the future:

With only a few weeks left in the season, it’s evident that there is progress being made in Connecticut. Not only has Meziane noticed it, but so have the players, including Nelson-Ododa.

“I think despite what’s been happening this season, we’ve been able to pick it up,” she told The Next on Sunday. “I think even some of our losses, something I’ve been able to notice is just even the way with what we can take away from that…I think it’s like, even into the losses are a lot closer. We’re in the game. It’s just more about figuring out how to finish. I think that’s the next step for us…It’s about playing together at a high level and for a full 40 minutes…When we’re able to do that, we’re either right there in the game or we’re winning. So, I think that’s something we kind of learned from the beginning, because we have a whole new staff and players, and then there’s been a lot of change throughout the season, too, for players. So I think it’s just about finding each other, finding our groove, finding our rhythm, and then going off of that.”

Meziane also made it clear that their work isn’t quite finished yet, and in these last few matchups, he expects the Sun to continue playing with that same fire we’ve seen from them as of late: “We still have to develop our young players and evaluate who can be the good pieces for our future, but I don’t want say that we are not going to play our next games without the will to win the game,” he told the media postgame. “So, [we will] try to win, but [also] develop our own players and evaluate, evaluate players. For myself, review, what went well [and] just prepare [for] the future and come back stronger.

But there is a lot of things to do. It’s not because we are not on the race to the playoffs [that] we don’t have to continue to work. I promise you we will continue to work hard.”