{"id":681310,"date":"2026-06-03T05:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/681310\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T05:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:55:09","slug":"sophie-cunningham-reveals-whats-hurting-indiana-fever-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/681310\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophie Cunningham reveals what’s ‘hurting’ Indiana Fever right now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham cited the team\u2019s lack of toughness on the defensive end as the main reason behind their uneven start to their 2026 WNBA <\/a>campaign.<\/p>\n

The Fever dropped to 4-4 on the season after back-to-back losses to the Golden State Valkyries and the Portland Fire. Their loss to the Fire<\/a> last weekend was one of their worst performances in a while, as no one from the Fever recorded at least 20 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one wants to do it, but the good defensive teams, they are the teams that win, and we have the personnel to do it,\u201d Cunningham told reporters.<\/a> \u201cI think that\u2019s something that\u2019s hurting us right now is we\u2019re only playing one defensive scheme, and in this league, it\u2019s too good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t (just have one defensive scheme). People are going to pick us apart, and so we\u2019ve got to dial in. We got to focus. Your IQ has to be on point. You have to know what schemes we\u2019re doing. If you can\u2019t do that, then you can\u2019t play, and that\u2019s the point where we\u2019re at right now,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

MORE: Sophie Cunningham\u2019s pregame outfit for Indiana Fever game is a must-see<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MayMay 30, 2026; Portland, Oregon, USA; Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) and guard Caitlin Clark (22) stand next to each other during the second half against the Portland Fire at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Sophie Cunningham shared that the Indiana Fever had a team meeting amid their struggles<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Sophie Cunningham disclosed that the Indiana Fever held a team meeting that lasted almost two hours on Monday to address their on-court frustrations. Perhaps this could be what the doctor ordered for the Fever, who have been through a lot in the past few days. <\/p>\n

On top of their lackluster recent form, franchise cornerstone Caitlin Clark has been rather inconsistent thus far. She only tallied six points on 1-for-7 shooting from the field and had five personal fouls during the Fever\u2019s blowout defeat against the Portland Fire, where she got into a verbal altercation with her head coach, Stephanie White, at one point.<\/p>\n

The Fever are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 4-4 record. They will take on the top-seeded Atlanta Dream on Thursday night, looking to return to winning ways and be one game over the .500 mark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham cited the team\u2019s lack of toughness on the defensive end as the main…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2839,4805,99,434],"class_list":["post-681310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-indiana-fever","tag-sophie-cunningham","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}