Brionna Jones will get her chance to shine
Mohegan — Curt Miller has been hyping second-year Connecticut Sun center Brionna Jones a lot during the offseason and preseason. Like Don King levels of hype. Connecticut played the Dallas Wings in a preseason game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday night. The night before, Miller singled out Jones after the Sun routed the New York Liberty 100-66 in their preseason opener.
“She's going to have a monster year off the bench for us in the post,” Miller said.
That's a lot of hype for a player who's averaged 7.8 minutes per-game in her first two seasons.
“I mean, from the first game,” Jones laughed when told what Miller said. “That's alright. Keep it up.
“Playing overseas the past few seasons definitely built my confidence, and my (Sun) teammates, they do a great job of building me up.”
Connecticut picked Jones, a 6-foot-3 center, eighth overall in the 2017 draft. Her minutes have been limited playing behind the likes of All-Stars Jonquel Jones and Chiney Ogwumike.
There are many post minutes that need to be filled this season after Ogwumike was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks last month. Ogwumike averaged 25.5 minutes in 31 games last
last year and led the team in both scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.3).
Brionna Jones is coming off a terrific international season for Russia's Nadezhda Orenburg. She averaged 16.1 points and 9.1 rebounds in 25 games in the Russian Premier League, featuring the likes of Brittney Griner and Breanna Stewart. She also had 16 double-doubles in 22 games playing in FIBA EuroLeague and EuroCup games.
Jones averaged a leaguebest 10.9 rebounds in 16 games playing in the prestigious EuroLeague. She also helped Nadezhda win its first EuroCup in her second year with it.
“I was being more patient, taking my time and making the right reads,” Jones said about her overseas improvements. “I was trying to move to fast before I realized where the defense was.
“I got double-teamed a lot, so that definitely slowed me down. I had to play out of double teams. Now, I think the pace of the game has slowed down and I'm more confident in making decisions.”
Asked how often she's been double teamed in the WNBA, Jones laughed and said, “never.”
Miller said, “She's just incredibly Xs-and-Os smart. She's physical. Such an underrated defender. People have trouble scoring over here length and people think that she's not as agile as she is in short areas.
“I have so much confidence in Bri Jones.”