By Tiffany Williams –
This week the Connecticut Sun kicked off their 2024 season with a matchup on Tuesday against the Indiana Fever, and were back on the hardwood court at Mohegan Sun Arena hosting the Washington Mystics in a prime time game Friday night. In both games, the Sun have defeated their opponents to start the season 2-0. Against the Fever, the Sun owned a 92-72 win, and against the Mystics, the Sun grabbed an impressive 84-77 win.
Tyasha Harris, who recently celebrated her 26th birthday on May 1st, has started in both of the Sun’s first two games of the season. Both games combined, Harris has played 54 minutes and has scored 21 points. She made four three-pointers on Tuesday against Indiana, and combined, she’s recorded six assists and two steals.
In the Sun’s preseason matchup with New York Liberty, Harris played 24 minutes and scored four points. She had two defensive rebounds, four assists, and one steal.
Before the start of the 2023 season, Connecticut Sun announced that Harris, who played four varsity seasons at Heritage Christian High School in Indianapolis, Indiana before attending the University of South Carolina, signed a two-year extension.
Sun General Manager Darius Taylor talking about Harris after her signing her two-year extension said, “She is a great fit for our organization and culture as a person and a player. We look forward to her being a part of our franchise for the years to come.”
Harris’ journey to Connecticut came in a three-team trade with the New York Liberty and the Dallas Wings on January 16, 2023. She was originally drafted as the seventh overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft by Dallas, where she spent her first three seasons in the league.
During the 2023 season, Harris showcased her skills in all 40 games for the Sun, demonstrating consistent performance with an average of 5.8 points, 0.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.7 steals per game. Her standout moments included tying her career-high with 18 points against Phoenix on August 31, securing a career-high five rebounds in the season opener against Indiana on May 19, and matching her career-high with four three-point field goals against Phoenix on August 31.
Harris’s exceptional performance during the 2023 season was underscored by her league-leading three-point field goal percentage of 46.4%, highlighting her precision and impact on the court.
During the offseason, Harris says, “I got to stay home for the first time instead of going overseas. I got to be with my family for the holidays, take my nephew, trick-or-treating and stuff like that, but more so just resting and gaining strength in the legs just to have more power on the court.”
I caught up with Harris a couple weeks before the start of the 2024 season, on a Friday afternoon at a Connecticut Sun practice. When I asked Harris about the practice, and what the team was working on, she told me, “Practice has been long, tiring, but it’s been good because we have a lot of people, but it’s everybody here, so we got a better routine. We got to know each other from last year, so it’s kind of just building on that. It was new for everybody last year, but now we got everybody. We can just build and grow.”
When I asked Harris what some of her expectations were coming into this season, she said, “Continue where we left off, honestly. I mean, we were the top three team in last year. Now we’re trying to get into that finals and actually win the finals. So for me personally, just being more aggressive, more assertive, being that leader on the floor, being that PG and just having confidence.”
Following Connecticut Sun’s victory Friday night, I caught up with Harris outside the Sun’s locker room and when I asked her about the Sun’s first game Tuesday night against Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark, Harris said, “It was a big one. I mean, there was a lot of hype, a lot of talk behind it. It was our first game, so I think we was ready, fired up, ready to go, and that’s what translated. Honestly, we was ready to get that dub.”
When I asked Harris about Friday night’s matchup, she said, “For us, honestly, we thought that was a low game. We started off really slow. We didn’t get to ourself until the fourth quarter, but that just goes off of just having an off day and then coming in having one day to prepare, and we just got to be crisp. We got to be better into practice so when we come into the game that everything flows well.”
The Boston Celtics once used to be considered a fourth quarter team, but in the Sun’s first two games of the season, they’ve seemed to become a grab and run fourth quarter team themselves. When I asked Harris if the Sun was taking that title from the Celtics, she replied, “I mean, we had to. I mean, it was a grind the entire game, and the only way we could pull it out was in that fourth quarter, so we had to get to it.”
With one second remaining in Friday night’s game against the Mystics, Harris made a two point shot to lift the Sun to their 84-77 victory. When I asked Harris about that shot and how she felt, Harris said, “It felt great. I mean, I was missing all day long, but my teammates stayed on me. It just helped me to keep being confident and take my shots, and so when it was open, I just took my shot.”
Observing the players of the Connecticut Sun, I’ve noticed that Harris and DiJonai Carrington have this amazingly epic connection with each other. Establishing strong connections with your team members is essential because they comprehend your challenges and experiences on multiple levels, fostering a deeper understanding. These relationships become a valuable asset for everyone, enhancing teamwork and providing a supportive network. As a result, these unbreakable bonds benefit the team in numerous ways, including improved collaboration, a reliable support system, and enhanced success. When I asked Harris about the bond between her and Carrington, she replied, “We are best of friends. I mean, honestly, we stayed here in the offseason, so we got to see each other work out. We worked out with each other, and it was just fun to see everything just play out how it is now because, like, we saw us put in that work, so now that we finally got the opportunity to actually show the world the work that we put in, it’s great.”
Ending our post-game talk on a funny note, I had to ask Harris about her Froot Loops, and she says, “With marshmallows. That’s the key on that. Regular Froot Loops is good, but now if you add the, with marshmallows, it adds a little extra sweetness to it, so yes.”
The Connecticut Sun are on the road Monday night for game two of their four games against Indiana this season. Monday night’s game will be at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN, at 7:00 PM. Next Thursday, the Sun will be back at Mohegan Sun Arena when they host the Minnesota Lynx, and Natisha Hiedeman will return to Mohegan Sun Arena for the first time since being traded to the Lynx.