Sun bracing to go without Thomas
Connecticut’s road to the WNBA Finals just became a bit more dauting.
The Sun are still awaiting the status of forward Alyssa Thomas, who hurt her right shoulder during the first quarter of their Game 2 loss to Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Thomas, a two-time All-Star, underwent an MRI on Wednesday to determine the severity of her injury. Head coach Curt Miller didn’t have the results as of his afternoon Zoom call, but said the Sun are “planning on moving ahead without her.”
“We’re planning to not have her. If we have her, that would be an absolute bonus,” Miller said.
Thomas was battling for position in the paint with Aces MVP forward A’ja Wilson when she collapsed to the floor in pain. The seventh-year vet remained down for a brief period before walking off favoring her right arm. Following an evaluation by medical personnel, Thomas returned to the Sun bench in the fourth quarter wearing a sling. Miller said afterward that Thomas may have dislocated her shoulder, but he couldn’t confirm it.
She’s already been ruled out for Thursday’s pivotal Game 3 (9:30 p.m., ESPN2) at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. The bestof-five series is tied at one game apiece.
“We have to move ahead with the game plan without her,” Miller said. “If she’s able to play — we’ve played with her, and she plays so many minutes on the floor — it’s easy to go back and establish what we want to do with her.”
The 28-year-old Thomas has been one of the WNBA’s most durable players. Despite playing with a torn labrum in each shoulder, she appeared in all but one game during the regular season. She was fifth in the league in average minutes (32.8), living up to her nickname, “The Engine.”
ferent jurisdictions — 10 different states and the District of Columbia (Georgetown) — making it more tricky to work out logistical plans, such as travel.
The league is expected to try to start conference play within a Dec. 12-21 window, though some schools (including UConn) will be in the midst of exams at the time. Everything is still on the table as to where and how the games are played, from individual on-campus games to on-campus “minibubbles” to bubble settings (which the coaches don’t appear to be a big fan of).
Playing games in a Mohegan Sun bubble is still a possibility, but it’s not the only one. One proposal that still has some legs is playing several games in a bubble out in Omaha, Neb., at Creighton, which has Hilton and Marriott hotels right across the street from the arena, as well as a convention center attached to the arena where extra practice courts could be added.
There has also been talk of UConn staging a minibubble at Storrs, involving a few other teams.
It appears UConn could be playing a pair of nonconference games at Mohegan Sun on Dec. 2-3. Per Matt Norlander of CBS
Sports, the Legends Classic (which is slated to feature UConn, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and USC) is scheduled to be held at Mohegan Sun on those dates (or possibly Dec. 3-4).
Katsouleas also noted that the UConn football team, which became the
first FBS team to cancel its season last month, continues to train and is “looking forward to next season, or perhaps even a regional game or two this spring.”