The CT Sun Have a Healthy Husky Flavor
After winning 28 of their 40 regular-season games and reaching the semifinal round of the WNBA playoffs in 2024, the Connecticut Sun have dropped off mightily to begin 2025.
The Sun are 2-10 through the first 12 games, ranking second-to-last in the league in winning percentage (.167), besting only Paige Bueckers and the 2-11 Dallas Wings (.157). Losers of four straight, Connecticut is currently in last place in the Eastern Conference.
The biggest reason, on paper, for the team’s noticeable decline is the absence of defense. In 2024, the Sun ranked first in the league in opponent scoring, holding teams to 73.6 points on a nightly basis — the best mark of any team last season. In 2025, the Sun flipped that script and now rank dead last in the same category. Opponents are scoring 88.2 points per game against Connecticut, and the team’s inability to generate offense — ranked 13th in ppg with 71.3 — makes it difficult to play winning basketball.
The Sun roster includes three former Huskies: Tina Charles, Bria Hartley, and Olivia Nelson-Odada, all of whom play a large role in the team’s nightly output.
Charles, now 36 years old, is making a statement in her second stint with the Sun. The former No. 1 overall pick in 2010 spent the first four seasons of her career in Connecticut. Among the many accolades she earned during her first tenure with the team are rookie of the year, two all-star nods, and league MVP in 2012. Charles left the Sun in 2014 and went on to play for four different teams before resigning on a one-year deal ahead of the 2025 season — returning to Connecticut as the league’s all-time rebound leader.
Through 12 games, Charles looks much like the MVP Sun fans remember from 2012, averaging 17.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists over 30.6 minutes per game. Her marks in points and minutes per games are both team highs.
Hartley signed a training camp contract in May, returning to the WNBA for the first time since 2022, when she played just three games for the Sun before a season-ending ACL injury derailed any real chance for the former Husky to make an impact.
Three years later, she has regained the opportunity to be a productive weapon for the team. Hartley has played in 11 of the team’s 12 games, averaging 7.1 points and 3.0 assists over 21.4 minutes per game.
Alongside Charles, Nelson-Odada has given the Sun length and production, leading the team in rebounds per game with 6.4. Her 8.1 points per game rank third on the team and her 0.7 blocks per game rank second. In four years with UConn, Nelson-Odada racked up 262 blocks, good for sixth all-time in the program record books.
There is plenty of season left for the Sun to turn around its dreadful start. If head coach Rachid Meziane can look to anybody to pump some championship-caliber DNA into the team, it’s his former Huskies. Charles and Hartley are former national champions, while Nelson-Odada reached the title game in 2021.