In arguably the biggest game of the season in terms of projected viewership and attendance, the Phoenix Mercury are set to host WNBA rookie phenom Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!‘Clark Mania’ heading to Phoenix, Mercury ready
The amount of media and online headlines about Clark’s stardom has swarmed around her since she was in college at Iowa. Clark averaged 28.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.1 rebounds during her four-year (2020-24) collegiate career, instantly becoming a viral sensation due to her elite scoring ability and all-around impact on both ends of the court.
At Iowa, the Hawkeyes lost in the NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Tournament championship to powerhouse South Carolina, 87-75. Imposing her will and trying to put her team on her back, Clark scored 30 points and collected eight rebounds in the defeat.
As one of the most hyped-up players in women’s basketball in general, the Fever selected her as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft in April.
Since then, Clark and 2023 first-overall pick Aliyah Boston have led the resurgent Indiana squad to a 7-12 record thus far after starting the season 1-7. Clark is averaging 16.2 points, 6.6 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game in her rookie year, adapting more and more to the WNBA brand of basketball. For Boston, she has had 12.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game this season, continuing to be one of the more underrated players in the league.
According to Sports Media Watch, 13 WNBA games this season have shattered viewership records and 12 are Fever games. When Indiana went up against the Chicago Sky on June 23, YahooSports reported that it was the highest-viewed WNBA game in 23 years with 2.3 million viewers on ESPN and it peaked at 3.3 million.
Understanding the magnitude of this game and not letting the publicity be a distraction, Mercury icon Diana Taurasi was adamant that her team would be ready from the first tip.
“Indiana is another super talented, young team that’s going to come in here and play well,” Taurasi said. “The beauty about being young is you don’t know any better. You can play carefree and you can just go into these buildings and let it fly. We have to face experience knowing that coming with here the appropriate fear and respect and making sure we play really hard on both ends [offensively and defensively]. I think we have done that for the most part this year.”
Diana Taurasi discussed Phoenix's upcoming matchup against Indiana, and how the Mercury will approach that matchup:
"The beauty about being young is [that] you don't know any better."#ValleyTogether #FeverRising #WNBA pic.twitter.com/pgDxbayBaw
— Burn City Mercury (@BurnCityMercury) June 29, 2024
Combatting the youth and star power that the Fever possesses, the Mercury has the veterans who have been there and done that. Natasha Cloud, Kahleah Copper, Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner are all WNBA champions and know what it takes to be successful in the league.
When talking about the anticipation of the game against the Fever, Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts gave credit to Indiana but knows his team can handle the pressure.
“[They have] a lot of media surrounding them,” Tibbetts said. “They’ve got good, young players trying to figure out how it works, this is a tough league. For us, having such a veteran group, a group that is excited to be around each other. You got a lot of young, up-and-coming teams like Indiana makes it exciting for not only us but the league.”
The Mercury will face the Fever on Sunday at 12 p.m. PT inside Footprint Center.
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
