Jonquel Jones speaks on not being able to ‘seal the deal’ with Connecticut Sun before homecoming game
The Liberty start a three-game road trip with another homecoming game for one of their stars.
First, Breanna Stewart went back to Seattle for an emotional game at Climate Pledge Arena. Then, Courtney Vandersloot played in front of the same Chicago Sky fans that cheered her on while winning the 2021 WNBA Finals.
On Tuesday, Jonquel Jones played her first regular season game as a visiting player at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Liberty played against the Sun in the preseason, when Sandy Brondello’s team were handed a six-point loss. Jones acknowledged that Tuesday’s matchup is different. She didn’t play in that preseason game and Tuesday’s most recent matchup will now be counted for the Commissioner’s Cup and overall standings.
“I was there for preseason, but it’s a little bit different,” Jones said pregame. “Obviously still kind of feels a little bit weird but the love that I get from everybody here always warms my heart and makes me feel good.”
Jones spent the first six seasons of her career with the Sun organization. The Los Angeles Sparks selected the center sixth overall in the 2016 WNBA Draft and she was then dealt to the Sun on draft night. She quickly produced in the league, as she got selected to the All-Star team in her second season and won the MVP Award in 2021. That year, she averaged 14.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and a block. She was also a First-Team All-Defense selection.
She made two Finals appearances, but lost both times. The Las Vegas Aces eliminated the Sun in four games in the Finals last season. In 2019, the Sun came within one game of hoisting the title, but were defeated by Finals MVP Emma Meesseman and the Washington Mystics.
“I feel like I think about it a lot. And there’s times where I can look at it and really appreciate what we were able to do,” Jones said. “And then there’s times like, dang, maybe this or maybe that. You kind of just — when you’re reminiscing, you kind of think about things that you could probably do to get over the hump.
“Obviously, it’s in the books now. There’s nothing we can do to change it but there’s times where it’s bitter and times where it’s sweet, literally. I’m happy that we were able to accomplish what we were able to accomplish. But I still have a sore feeling of not being able to just finish it and seal the deal.”
The Sun are still in the upper echelon of the WNBA without the 6-6 star, but Jones didn’t get another chance to “seal the deal” with the franchise after requesting a trade in the offseason. The Liberty eventually landed Jones in New York after a three-team deal that included the Dallas Wings.
Stephanie White’s squad in Connecticut have done well without Jones, entering Tuesday with a 12-3 record atop the Eastern Conference. They’re led by MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas, who was just awarded Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 14.0 points, 11.7 rebounds and 8.7 assists in a three-game span. The Sun won all three of those games despite losing two-time All-Star Brionna Jones to a season-ending Achilles injury in a win against the Seattle Storm on June 21.
Connecticut being without the Maryland product leaves a void in the lineup but the former Sun big believes the team is well-equipped to make another championship run.
“[The Sun] is a team with a lot of great players. It’s not one person that defines the organization. You have so many people who can step in and fill those roles. When you play good teams, you stop one thing and they have counters and you have to be able to kind of win that chess match.”
