Rising Lynx rookie Napheesa Collier returns to Connecticut

At least in the basketball sense, Napheesa Collier will be going home Saturday when the Lynx play the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.

Collier, the No. 6 overall pick in this year's WNBA draft, played her college ball at the University of Connecticut, which is located less than an hour away in Storrs; fans of the Huskies make up a big part of the Sun's fan base. And UConn played at least one regular-season game a year at Mohegan Sun, which also played host to the conference tournament.

So, familiar surroundings.

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve just hopes that, with Collier, they are also friendly confines.

"My hope is that Napheesa is different from Maya," Reeve joked, referring to Maya Moore. Back in 2011 Moore — on her way to WNBA Rookie of the Year honors — struggled in her first game back in Connecticut, scoring just two points on 1-for-7 shooting.

"I suspect some of the same challenges will exist," Reeve said. "But Napheesa is not Maya."

But there are similarities. Both grew up in Jefferson City, Mo. Both played power forward at UConn. Moore won two NCAA titles, Collier one. Both were first-round draft picks by the Lynx.

And now Collier is vying to become the team's fourth league Rookie of the Year and the first since Moore in 2011.

"If you look at the body of work," Reeve said, "if you ask me, to this point, Napheesa has impacted the game in so many ways. There has not been a rookie that played better than her."

Asked to move from power forward to small forward in training camp, Collier has been forced by injuries to move back to power forward. The transition from college to the pros is difficult enough without that kind of flip-flop.

But, for a Lynx team that as of Friday morning was 7-6 and in fourth place in the WNBA, Collier has had a broad impact. She is second among WNBA rookies in scoring (11.7 points) and rebounding (5.8), first in steals (1.9) and minutes (32.9) and third with 0.8 blocks per game.

In her past four games — three of them Lynx victories — Collier has averaged 13.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.8 steals.

By her own admission, just 13 games into her pro career she doesn't feel much like a rookie.

"Well, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't," Collier said. "I'm just trying to be aggressive. Sometimes I feel myself getting out of that. That's when I feel like a rookie, so it's just trying to force myself to be aggressive."

Injuries to Karima Christmas-Kelly and Damiris Dantas have forced a lot of the load onto Collier, who Reeve said is still figuring out where her shots are going to come at power forward.

"But anything we ask her to do, Napheesa does it," Reeve said. "Like, anything. I guess we'll just keep taking steps with that."

With Dantas out the past two games, Collier has stepped up, with 18 rebounds. She also has shot 50% her past four games. Now she will try to help the Lynx open a three-game road stretch with a victory in Connecticut.

"It will be awesome to see those fans again," she said. "I'll get to see some of my Connecticut friends. So it will be really fun."