May 16, 2024
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Connecticut Sun deep dive
By The Next
Speer, Thaqi talk most-watched WNBA game on ESPN of all time
The Connecticut Sun kicked off their season in style, defeating the Indiana Fever 92–71 at home in Mohegan Sun Arena. Sun TV analyst Edona Thaqi joins Gigi Speer on today’s Locked On Women’s Basketball episode to talk about their dominant performance, Caitlin Clark‘s debut and more.
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First, they talked about the game itself, which drew 2.1 million viewers, the most of any WNBA game (regular season or playoffs) on ESPN platforms. Thaqi spoke about what the atmosphere was like at the game, and what contributed to the hype:
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“What really impressed me the most, and not that I’m surprised by any of it, is this game was going up against the Knicks versus Pacers game too,” Thaqi said. “That just shows one, it had competition. And two, it was still getting all these views because of how much excitement was around this game. And it’s not just Caitlin Clark, like yes, she’s the hyped up player right now and rightfully so [with] all that she’s doing. But you had players like Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner going fifth on the all-time scoring list now. So there was just so much happening. And it was just such a fun game to be a part of.”
During the game, Sun forward DeWanna Bonner scored her 6,897th career point, passing Candice Dupree to take the No. 5 spot on the all-time scoring list. The two discussed her impact on the Connecticut Sun overall:
“It’s tough without her because I think she just attracts so much on offense,” Thaqi said. “I love Coach Stephanie White, I think she’s such a great coach and her offense is very free flowing, read and react type of offense, set a bunch of screen staggered screens. If you watch DeWanna Bonner, let’s say she doesn’t get the ball, if she cuts to the basket, she’s already drawing that defense in so much because of her length, her size, and what she can do inside the paint. But by the same token, now that opens up other players.
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“What I loved about that game, [Bonner] and [Thomas] right, those are the two players who are going to have the most attention on the team. But third you had [DiJonai Carrington] and [Tyasha Harris] with 16 points each. So that’s four players right there who have become threats, and what I love is DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas, they were okay with having other players step up and score … This team is going to be really hard to beat as they continue to build that chemistry and grow as a team.”
Tune in to hear more from Speer and Thaqi on the Connecticut Sun, news from around the WNBA, and more. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more!
