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Connecticut Sun rookies take lessons from WNBA debuts into preseason home opener vs. New York Liberty
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- Connecticut Sun rookies take lessons from WNBA debuts into preseason home opener vs. New York Liberty
UNCASVILLE — In her preseason debut with the Connecticut Sun against the Toronto Tempo on Wednesday night, rookie center Raegan Beers realized she was really playing WNBA basketball the first time a jump ball was called.
The NCAA rule is muscle memory for Beers, who was a two-time All-SEC first-team selection at Oklahoma. In college, possession is awarded to one team or the other based on an alternating possession arrow, but at the pro level the players involved in the call actually have to play out the jump to resume the game.
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"Obviously it's a very big learning curve, and there are different nuances to different rules that, I've watched the W for a couple years now, so I knew them, but experiencing them for the first time was definitely something a little different," Beers said with a laugh. "I forgot on a jump ball that you actually do the jump. The first time it happened I was like, 'Why are they all walking to the center?'"
The Sun had four players, including Beers, make their WNBA debuts in the 83-78 win over the Tempo , and all of them held their own despite some jitters. Second-round pick Charlisse Leger-Walker was a standout putting up eight points and a team-high four assists plus a steal and a block. She said she was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable she felt handling the intensity.
"Honestly, it was probably not as physical as I expected, which was the most surprising thing, because I went in with such a mindset of like, 'I'm gonna come out with bruises, maybe a slight concussion,'" she joked. "But I went in there, and it wasn't as bad as I thought, so maybe just the preparation that I've had coming in and everyone talking to me about it kind of prepped me."
What we learned from the Connecticut Sun's comeback win vs. Toronto Tempo in preseason opener
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The matchup against Toronto was a perfect first experience for the rookies, because the Tempo are also an inexperienced team working to establish a foundation as an expansion franchise. But the Sun face a completely different animal on Sunday in their second preseason game, against the New York Liberty . The Liberty, who won the 2024 WNBA championship, are led by a trio of veteran superstars in two-time MVP Breanna Stewart , 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones and four-time All-Star Sabrina Ionescu , players that most of Connecticut's young talent grew up idolizing.
"I look at their roster and I'm like, I'm going to be playing Stewie, Sabrina, like these legends of the game," Leger-Walker said. "As much as I'm like, 'Whoa,' I also have to stay in the moment, go out and play basketball. … I've played a lot of international basketball and played a lot of WNBA players in my past experiences, so I'm just leaning on that and enjoying the moment. I'm always going to respect the players I'm playing against, but at the end of the day when we step on the court, I'm a competitor."
While it's easy to be intimidated — and starstruck — by the big names on New York's roster, Beers said it's also an invaluable opportunity to share the court and compete on the same level with some of women's basketball's all-time greats.
" Jonquel Jones , I've admired her for years now, and it's like, 'Okay, now I'm actually gonna go and play against her,' but it's such a cool experience to be able to say you did that," Beers said. "It's been my dream to play in the W for a couple years now. That was something I wanted to do once I knew I could, so it's just cool to see that happening in real life, playing the girls that I've admired for years."
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The preseason matchup with the Liberty will give the Sun an early taste of its regular-season opener, scheduled for May 8 against New York at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But head coach Rachid Meziane said the team is more focused on its internal development than on its opponent, especially as he works to implement his system with newcomers making up the vast majority of the roster.
The Sun coach's biggest frustration coming out of the Toronto game was with his team's ball security: Connecticut gave up 26 turnovers including 14 on steals, and the Tempo scored 27 points off the lost possessions. Meziane said the priorities in practice entering Sunday's preseason matchup are strengthening the offensive connection and communication as well as focusing on one-on-one defense to prevent some of the easy layups and transition opportunities they allowed in Toronto.
While there's still a long way to go before the Sun are ready to truly contend with the best teams in the league, Meziane said the group is much farther along now than they were at this time last season. The team's chemistry has come together effortlessly during training camp, and Meziane said it's a positive sign that they are already starting to hone in on making nuanced adjustments rather than spending more time establishing big-picture concepts.
"The energy is there, the desire to play together, to defend together, you can feel it," Meziane said. "But we still have to fix some stuff … Offensively it's about just taking more care of the ball than what we are doing right now, because (26) turnovers is too much, and we have to reduce that … We had a couple of moving screens, so guards have to be better at beating the defender on the screen, working the opposite side before then playing the ball screen. All these are small details, but at the end of the day they are very important."
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How to watch
Site:Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville
Time/date:5 p.m., Sunday
TV:ION
Streaming:WNBA LeaguePass
