After a rough offensive showing in its season opener, the Chicago Sky looks to regroup
The Chicago Sky’s first game of the 2025 season quickly went off script.
In a 93-58 loss to Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, the Sky shot just 29% from the field and 22% from 3-point range. In the fourth quarter the Sky made just 6 of its 18 shots, while the Fever converted 11 of 19 field goals.
“Obviously we’ve got to make some shots,” Sky point guard Courtney Vandersloot said. “We just let our shooting percentage and our lack of making shots affect what we did. Then we started forcing some things, we didn’t trust the next pass, and we kind of got out of rhythm.”
Under first-year coach Tyler Marsh, the Sky has begun running a more spread-out offense this season. After the team took over 20 3-pointers just four times last season, the Sky took 27 3-pointers Saturday, the team’s highest mark since Sept. 5, 2023. Even though the scoreline doesn’t reflect it, Marsh was fairly happy with how the offense looked.
“I think we saw the potential of what it could be throughout the preseason. There’s going to be days where you’re not hitting shots and the offense looks a little worse than it may be,” Marsh said. “It’s just working through those moments … we’re far from a finished product, but we’re trending in the right direction.”
Vandersloot has been a major cause of that trend. She had a team-high 5 assists in the opening game, but she knows there’s still a long way to go before the offense is firing on all cylinders.
“I think you’ll see ebbs and flows … things that look good some days and then maybe take some steps back,” Vandersloot said. “That’s part of the process when you’re building a new roster and a new system.”
The next team on the slate for the Sky already has a proven system. The defending champion New York Liberty, whom Vandersloot played for a season ago, is coming to Chicago on Thursday night. After having watched a championship team operate from inside the locker room, Vandersloot knows just how difficult those teams are to beat.
“It’s hard to find weaknesses on a team like that. I think we have to embrace that, knowing that this is a really big challenge for us,” Vandersloot said. “We have to make them uncomfortable and make things a little bit difficult for them. You’ve gotta be close to perfect.”
Vandersloot has experience with that perfection, and she also has experience with two-big lineups. After playing with the Liberty’s Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones, she knows exactly how to handle Chicago’s dynamic duo of Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso.
“She’s someone who spent a lot of time in her past … with two bigs, so she kind of understands what that spacing looks like and how to communicate it to our post players,” Marsh said. “Obviously that vet experience is super valuable for us. She’s helped tremendously.”
And Vandersloot will have a chance to continue helping run the offense in a clash with the champs on Thursday night. The season opener might have been a poor performance, but Vandersloot is confident the offense will get to a high level soon.
“We had a good week of practice, we’re in a good space, and we’re feeling confident with what we are building,” Vandersloot said