When the Connecticut Sun took the court for pregame warmups ahead of their game against the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday, there were no signs of fatigue. The mood was light as the players danced and smiled, getting loose before taking on the defending champions.
If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t be able to tell that the Sun had played four games in the eight days prior to this moment.
The Sun (7-1) have youth on their side.
The team just finished a stretch of five games in nine days in five cities, going 4-1 in that span and managing to do it with energy and physicality. Age might bring wisdom and experience, but young bodies capable of quick recovery have been key to the Sun’s survival in early June.
The average age of players on the Sun is 24 (24.75 to be exact), and it’s been their collective youth that’s helped them recover over this taxing period.
“To understand what you go through in playing five games in nine days in five different cities — the wake-up calls, the commercial flights, breakfast and lunch always in the airports,” said coach Curt Miller. “You land and grab your bags and go right to practice. You get checked in and the next day you’re waking up to a shoot-around or a walk-through. For us to go 4-1 in that stretch is simply remarkable and a credit to that locker room.”
The Sun began this stretch with wins in Chicago and DC before suffering their only loss of the season in Atlanta. They quickly bounced back, beating the New York Liberty before coming home to Mohegan Sun Arena and defeating the Lynx 89-75 Saturday.
“When that schedule came out and I saw that stretch — five games in nine days in five different cities — every team goes through it, but for us to go 4-1 and even in the game we lost we gave ourselves a legitimate shot to get to the finish line in Atlanta, is remarkable,” Miller said. “I couldn’t be more proud of that stretch.”
Not only did the Sun win four of those games but they won a majority of them decisively, beating the Chicago Sky by 38, the Washington Mystics by 24 and the Lynx by 14. Despite the wide margin of victory, it hasn’t been easy for the Sun.
“It’s been tough because of the travel,” said point guard Jasmine Thomas. “You don’t have much time to get on the court and actually practice and prepare the way you want to, but the good thing about that is that we’re professionals. We’re used to it. We know what it takes to prepare through video and scout for a team, and we have depth that helps us stay fresh.”
The stretch has been easier for some than others, such as Courtney Williams, who joked that she’s young and “doesn’t have problems like that yet” after scoring a season-high 22 points Saturday against the Lynx.
The difficulty of the schedule has kept Connecticut focused. Their mind-set has been one of persistence — they see the light at the end of the tunnel, and they’re going to push past any fatigue that might come along before they get there.
“It’s hard, especially when you play a lot of minutes,” Alyssa Thomas said. “We just push through it. We know these games are super important right now. Fortunately, we are one of the younger teams so we’re able to recover faster than most. We’ve just got to keep pushing through.”
As a reward for their efforts, the Sun players are finally getting a day off — but only one.
“They’ve earned this day off desperately,” Miller said. “Now, they want more than one day off, but they’ve earned that one day off desperately.”
