Connecticut Sun try to rebound from first loss as they face Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever

The Connecticut Sun were living on a razor-thin margin during their 9-0 start to the season with five wins by single digits, and a close game eventually fell the other way in an 82-75 loss to the New York Liberty on Saturday.

The Sun’s problems against New York were largely the same ones they have faced in every other game: A sluggish start especially on the defensive end, poor 3-point shooting, and a third quarter lead that turned into a fourth-quarter deficit. Connecticut has managed to dig itself out of first-quarter holes and hold off late comebacks time and time again during its undefeated streak, but the Liberty exposed how unsustainable that scenario can be against the most talented teams in the league.

“We’ve been talking the same stuff about our starts and it bites you in the butt a lot, but certainly against a good team who can make you pay,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “They just took advantage of every miscue that we had … and you just don’t have the opportunity against great teams to have those lulls on either side of the floor, those breakdowns.”

The Liberty were missing starting point guard Courtney Vandersloot, out for personal reasons, but the change to forward Kayla Thornton in the lineup presented a difficult look for the Sun. Star shooter Sabrina Ionescu was shifted into a matchup offensively with Connecticut’s Tyasha Harris at point guard rather than against the Sun’s go-to perimeter defender DiJonai Carrington. Despite going 0-for-8 from the field through the second and third quarter, Ionescu hit every look she got when her hand was hot and went a perfect 8-for-8 combined in the first and fourth quarters.

“This is a different New York lineup without Sloot on the floor. They’re bigger,” White said. “They did some things on the offensive end using their size with some of our smaller guards. They did some different things on the defensive end that … probably forced us to go a little bit deeper into our reads than we’ve had to do … so that’s just a natural progression. We haven’t had to do that in a live-game situation, so now we can go to film and watch it.”

The biggest long-term question for the Sun is size, especially after the team waived forward Queen Egbo this week to sign point guard Veronica Burton. Center Brionna Jones, who is supposed to be under a minutes restriction, saw the floor for a season-high 35 minutes against the Liberty to give Connecticut a chance to contend defensively with the 7-foot wingspans of Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart. Olivia Nelson-Ododa has come a long way as a role player for the Sun, but the third-year center isn’t in a place to contribute significant minutes yet against two former league MVPs, and Astou Ndour-Fall didn’t even see the floor against New York.

“We didn’t go to our bench as much tonight, but certainly when you look at the lineup New York has on the floor, you want to try and match it, and they didn’t go to their bench a lot either,” White said. “Their length causes us some problems … Where we typically are able to use our physicality to score, when you have teams that have that extra length it makes it a little bit tougher. They can change up how they defend, guarding really two through five they can switch everything … and they slow us down because of that.”

Connecticut Sun’s season-starting win streak comes to an end in 82-75 loss to New York Liberty

The Indiana Fever are an ideal opponent for the Sun to recover from their first loss of 2024, especially with only a single day of turnaround before the matchup at Mohegan Sun Arena on Monday. Connecticut has already seen the Fever twice this season and come out with two victories, first a 92-71 rout at home on May 14 then a closer 88-84 win in Indiana six days later.

Indiana is coming off the high of an 85-83 win over the Washington Mystics on Friday, where No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark had the best game of her young career. She logged 30 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals, also shooting a season-best 8-for-15. But Connecticut has a strong formula for containing the rookie, spearheaded by the relentless effort from Carrington. Clark gave up a combined 15 turnovers across two games against the Sun, and she struggled to find her signature long-range 3-pointers especially in the first meeting.

The Fever are also without Temi Fagbenle due to a foot injury, and she was electric off the bench in the second game against Connecticut with 11 points shooting 5-for-6. Jones was able to play under 25 minutes in both previous matchups with Indiana, and less forward depth for the Fever means the Sun can also turn to their guard-heavy bench rotation earlier and more often.

“This is a veteran group, so they understand the ebbs and flows of this league,” White said. “We have to continue to stack days. If we had a three or four minute lull in this game, it’s got to be two or three minutes in the next game. … We understand that we’re not playing perfect basketball at this point in the season, but we’ve got to minimize when those things happen.

How to watch Connecticut Sun vs. Indiana Fever

Site: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville

Team records: Sun 9-1; Fever 3-9

Time: 7 p.m., Monday

Last meeting: 88-84, Dallas; Aug. 18, 2023 at Mohegan Sun Arena

TV: NBC Sports Boston (local)

Streaming: WNBA League Pass