Former UConn star Paige Bueckers returns to Connecticut on Tuesday night when her Dallas Wings visit the Sun in a battle of winless teams.
Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA 2025 Draft, is averaging a team-high 13.0 points for the Wings (0-4) and is 4-for-12 from 3-point range. She can expect a warm reception from the crowd in Uncasville, Conn., after leading the Huskies to a national championship less than two months ago.
Through four games, Bueckers has become the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 50 points and 25 assists since fellow UConn great Sue Bird.
The Wings have lost 13 in a row dating back to last season and are now building for the future around Bueckers and veteran Arike Ogunbowale. The 0-4 start is their worst since opening 0-5 in 2019.
“I am encouraged by our continued fight and how this team isn’t laying down,” first-year Dallas coach Chris Koclanes said after his team’s eight-point loss at Atlanta on Saturday. “There have been times in every game where you see where this game is going … and this group has always fought, and that’s something we can get behind.”
Dallas has four rookies on its roster and doesn’t have a player over 29. They’re allowing 86.5 points a game, the second most in the WNBA.
Connecticut (0-4) is going through a revamp of its own amid rumors of the franchise being sold or relocated. The Sun lost their entire starting five from last year’s WNBA semifinalists through trades and free agency. The 0-4 start is the worst since dropping five straight to begin the 2020 campaign.
The Sun are the lowest-scoring team in the WNBA at 68.0 points per game. They mustered just 55 points in a loss to the Dream on Sunday, the fewest points they’ve scored in a game since 2015. They scored only seven points in the fourth quarter.
“We need to find our fire,” first-year coach Rachid Meziane said after Sunday’s loss. “It’s something that we don’t have. All of our players are good people and good players. We have to stay together. We will not win a game if we have one or two players scoring 20 points — we need more from everyone.”
Tina Charles has been the biggest bright spot for the Sun, returning to the place where she started her career. At age 36, she leads the Sun with 14.5 points, but she’s also searching for answers.
“This is a young team,” Charles said Sunday. “We’re just trying to stay positive and stay optimistic. You can handle missed shots, but it’s about competitiveness and effort at the end of the day.”
There are deep connections between these two franchises. Koclanes was an assistant with the Sun for four years (2019-22). The teams were also involved in a four-team trade in the offseason where the Wings got 2024 WNBA Most Improved Player DiJonai Carrington and the Sun got Jacy Sheldon.
Sheldon has started three of four games and averaged 5.3 points for the Sun. Carrington has averaged 8.8 points for the Wings in four starts.
Connecticut swept all three meetings last season.
–Field Level Media
