Sun @ Sky preview: Staying out of the cellar

No one wants to finish in last place, although for much of this season, it seemed like a foregone conclusion for the Sun, who were just worried about trying to keep things together and losing games by less than 20 points.

But then things began to fall apart for the Chicago Sky, who had high hopes with Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso - the Skyscrapers - leading the way, but then Courtney Vandersloot tore her ACL, Angel Reese got hurt, and things weren’t going very well before either of those things happened.

After? It’s been pretty much an unmitigated disaster, a stretch of 13 losses in 14 games that included 10 by double digits and a couple of 30-burger defeats in there, too. All the while, their numbers and Connecticut’s have been a collision course as the Sun have slowly found their way and morphed into a respectable WNBA team in the final few weeks of the campaign.

The last meeting between Chicago and Connecticut
had three ejections. (Sean D. Elliott / Getty Images)

But just as Connecticut caught and passed Chicago in net rating, and appeared ready to do the same in the standings, the Sky - with Reese finally back - pulled one of the upsets of the season, beating the defending champion Liberty in Brooklyn, 91-85 behind 22 and 15 from Cardoso with 21 and 10 from Reese. 

One look at Chicago’s beautifully ugly shot chart shows exactly how they were successful: jamming the ball down New York’s throat, making only five of their 31 field goals from outside the paint. It’s a wonder the Sky didn’t resort to that earlier in the season, but now that pride has kicked in, maybe it’s better late than never.

Chicago's shot chart Thursday against New York.

Against the old Sun, this would be reason for worry, but the new Sun have forced the most turnovers in the league in the past month and the Sky still don’t have a point guard, leading the WNBA in coughing it up. So that will be the battle Saturday afternoon. Was the Liberty game just an aberration, or is this how Chicago is going to roll for the rest of the season?

Either way, the winner of this one has the inside track to not finish in the WNBA basement in 2025.  

What else do we have to look for on national television at Wintrust Arena?:

 

CHICAGO SKY @ SUN

Time: Wednesday, 7 p.m. EDT

Place: Wintrust Arena; Chicago, Ill.

Records: Connecticut 8-27; Chicago 9-26

TV: CBS Sports Network

Line: Chicago -2.5 (lowest road line of season for the Sun)

Absences: Connecticut- NONE.

Chicago - Angel Reese (probable, back); Ariel Atkins (probable, leg); Courtney Vandersloot (out, season ending knee).

 

History between them: It’s the third meeting between the two teams this season, so there will be one more trip to Chicago. The Sun won the last meeting at Mohegan Sun Arena, but Chicago leads 2-1 in 2025 with Reese getting a triple-double in Chicago’s 78-66 win on June 15. The Sun outlasted the Sky in a thrilling five-game series in the 2022 WNBA semifinals, winning Game 5 on the road with a defensive masterpiece. We talk a lot about the Sun’s complete rebuild, but amazingly not a single player that appeared for either team will be on the floor Sunday (Vandersloot would have been the only one on the roster). The Sky’s starting five? Vandersloot, Candace Parker, Allie Quigley, Kahleah Copper, and Emma Meesseman. The Sun swept the Sky in four games last season, with Marina Mabrey seeing both sides of the rivalry.

What to look for: As was mentioned before, Chicago is going to try to go to Reese and Cardoso early and often, and it will be interesting to see how Rachid Meziane and the Sun tries to counteract that. The most popular lineup lately is Tina Charles at the 5 and Aneesah Morrow at the 4, but that could be a disaster, even if Morrow obviously knows Reese very well. The obvious defensive answer is Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who has played tremendous basketball lately. But the better answer might be Saniya Rivers and Leila Lacan getting five steals each and getting the Sun 16 or 20 points that way.

At the other end, the Sun are pulling away from the Sky in defensive efficiency, as Chicago forces the fewest turnovers in the WNBA. Chicago does not defend the three-point line well, teams shoot the third most threes against them and make the second most. But the Sun are the worst by a wide margin at shooting behind the arc (29.9%), so maybe it’s a day for Marina Mabrey to finally bust out (how many times have we said that this season?). The Sun’s best recent lineup is not a good shooting one, unfortunately.

Key players:  Chicago: Angel Reese - It’s not a back-to-back, but Reese had to play a very physical game Thursday and played 29 minutes. Obviously, the Sun are going to have to keep her off the glass, but also try to turn her over and not let her put on a passing clinic like she did at Mohegan Sun Arena a couple of months ago. It will be interesting to see if Morrow can defend her well.

Connecticut: Marina Mabrey - This is gotta be the game, right, against her former team? Mabrey has shown signs of finally having a big one, but is still at 27.3%, having taken nearly 8 three-pointers a game. The misses (like Tina Charles’) often result in fast breaks the other way, but if she could just hit a couple in a row, it would be huge.

Advanced stat:  20.8% - Rebounding rate for Aneesah Morrow, third in the WNBA behind Reese and Jessica Shepard. Morrow has her flaws, but she is going to get her rebounds, and she’s had some big ones in the last few games, especially on the offensive end.

Tactical spotlight: Rachel Banham is not the quickest guard in the league, but generally doesn’t turn it over much, she had just two in Chicago’s loss to Connecticut last week, but Sevgi Uzun and Hailey Van Lith were huge liabilities, so they didn’t play much in the Liberty win. But New York is not going to pressure as much as Connecticut does, so we shall see. Cardoso still had 24 points and nine rebounds in the last meeting, so Charles and Nelson-Ododa have to deny her the ball.

Lacan and Rivers should have a speed advantage on whomever is guarding them, so hopefully they can use it to their advantage. They’re both still learning how to do so, but you see glimpses of it. Nelson-Ododa and Charles are quicker than Cardoso, so if they can stay consistent on 15-foot jumpers, they should be able to get a lot of them.

Inside the numbers: 3 - Number of ejections the last time these teams met after Rebecca Allen and Bria Hartley got into a scuffle. Going to go under on Saturday’s matchup, but you never know.

Prediction: 82-76 Connecticut