The Mystics have five players in Miami for Unrivaled’s second season. Shakira Austin and Sug Sutton are members of Rose BC, Sonia Citron is one of the Hive’s stars, Kiki Iriafen is coming off the bench for Phantom, and Emily Engstler is a part of the development pool.
Austin and Sutton are off to the best start with a 3-0 record, but Iriafen also just got her first Unrivaled win over a stacked Mist team. It was Iriafen’s best performance of her young Unrivaled career. She finished the game with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block. Iriafen also saw big minutes in the clutch.
Unrivaled is a great opportunity for players to expand their skill sets. The three-on-three setting grants a lot of space for individual players to go to work, but also requires every player on the court to be active and aggressive. Playing with Aliyah Boston and against bigs like Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas, Dearica Hamby, Azurá Stevens, and Shakira Austin will help Iriafen’s development. Unrivaled’s unique format will also challenge her to do things she hasn’t done much in the WNBA yet. One of those things is expanding her range and shooting threes.
Playing in Unrivaled could help Iriafen become more comfortable from behind the arc
Iriafen wouldn’t be the first big to leave Unrivaled with a more versatile offensive game. Last year, Azurá Stevens vastly expanded her scoring skill set and had her best 3-point shooting season in the WNBA yet.
As a rookie in the WNBA, Iriafen didn’t shoot many threes. She took only eleven threes and made two of them. She was very efficient inside the arc, though, shooting almost 50% on two-point shots. Shakira Austin also isn’t a 3-point shooter. If Iriafen can expand her range and become more of a stretch four, it would make the Mystics’ frontcourt much more versatile.
Over three Unrivaled games, Iriafen has already taken five threes. She only made one, but it is still encouraging to see her try to take the shots when she is open and not get too discouraged by a few misses.
As the season goes on and Iriafen gets more comfortable in the full-court three-on-three setting, we could quickly see more of her long shots falling. Iriafen has already improved notably from game to game. She went 1-10 from the field in her debut, but then scored in double-digits and pretty efficiently for two consecutive games despite limited minutes. Iriafen has also battled on the boards, holding her own against bigs like Dominique Malonga, Cam Brink, Aaliyah Edwards, Breanna Stewart, Li Yueru, and Alanna Smith.