From beginning as freshman and senior at UConn, Napheesa Collier’s WNBA stardom now rivals Breanna Stewart

NEW YORK — The Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty put on an instant classic in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday at Barclays Center, and a pair of former UConn women’s basketball stars were at the heart of a chaotic final minutes in the overtime thriller.

Breanna Stewart made the game-tying free throw for the New York Liberty that sent the game to overtime, but it only came down to the free throw because Lynx star Napheesa Collier blocked what would have been a game-winning layup seconds before. Collier scored the actual game-winner with one of her signature turnaround fades, and Stewart had a heartbreaking miss on a buzzer-beater layup that clinched the 95-93 win for Minnesota.

Back in Connecticut, Morgan Tuck was watching in awe as her former UConn teammates traded plays down the stretch. Tuck, who won four straight championships alongside Stewart from 2012-16, is now an assistant general manager of the Connecticut Sun and saw Collier’s Lynx eliminate her team with 27 points in Game 5 of the 2024 semifinals, so the showdown in the finals was no surprise to her.

“Obviously I’ve seen them play against each other a lot in my time, but I think when it’s the finals, it’s the biggest stage of the year and what you’ve kind of built up to,” Tuck said. “Knowing both of them and just the people they are, I think it’s amazing to see. You’re literally watching two of the best players in the world, people that have dedicated themselves to the game … They do all the right things.

“Understanding that behind-the-scenes aspect — that they’re doing the work, and how much time they put in — to see it paying off for them, I think that’s the best part.”

Collier and Stewart are the first UConn alumni to meet in the WNBA Finals after both finished top five in the recent MVP voting — Collier was second, Stewart third. Both led their teams in points and blocks during the regular season, and both were starters in for the Team USA squad that brought home an eighth consecutive gold medal from the Paris Olympics this summer.

But Collier, who was already having a career year, has ascended into a new stratosphere since the start of the 2024 playoffs. En route to her first appearance in the WNBA Finals, Collier joined two-time MVP Candace Parker as the only players to log more than 27 points per game over a seven-game postseason stretch, also averaging a near double-double with 9.4 rebounds plus 3.6 assists, 2.5 blocks and two steals.

Tuck remembers meeting Collier for the first time when she took her recruiting visit to UConn alongside classmate Katie Lou Samuelson, back then the shy teenager didn’t make a strong impression — that is, until she got on the basketball court.

“I get it, because it’s like when you’re visiting a potential school usually everyone is a little shy, but she was just really quiet,” Tuck said. “Then seeing her play, I think she didn’t seem as quiet to me in the way that she played. She played, even she was young, with a very even-keel type of vibe, but I feel like you got to see a little bit more of her personality. She came to life a little bit when we got to see her actually play … Right away, I think we knew that she was the type of person that you want on your team.”

UConn’s 2015-16 squad, which featured the senior Stewart and freshman Collier, is still legendary as the first and likely only team in college basketball history to win four consecutive NCAA championships. Stewart was the superstar coming off of back-to-back seasons as the Naismith Player of the Year, and Collier arrived on campus as the No. 6 prospect in the Class of 2015. The stacked roster also included four active WNBA players, plus Tuck who was the No. 3 draft pick in 2016 but medically retired in 2021 after a slew of knee injuries.

“I think the further you get away from it, I think you realize more and more how special (that team) was,” Tuck said. “UConn is known for having really great players and really great teams, but … in 2016, ‘Phee wasn’t a starter; she came off the bench, her minutes weren’t crazy. So I think it just shows that no matter what your role was on the team, that was very special. It did something that was special, that each individual player played a piece, a really big piece, in. I think it’s really cool that, from the same team, we have two people that are out there killing it.”

Stewart anchored the Huskies to a fourth title in four years in 2016, earning unanimous player of the year honors for a third consecutive season. She averaged 19.4, 8.7 rebounds and 3.4 blocks in her senior year and was the No. 1 pick in the draft by the Seattle Storm, leaving Collier and Samuelson to take up the mantle as the next faces of the UConn dynasty. Though Collier never led a team to a title, the Huskies went undefeated until the Final Four in both her sophomore and junior seasons and she was a three-time first-team All-American.

“To see her be a young kid really coming into her own over the course of now 10-plus years has been great to see,” Stewart said. “Just the maturity and the way that she’s grown every single year is amazing.”

Though Collier’s Lynx have a 1-0 lead in the series, Stewart has been here before. She was a two-time WNBA Finals MVP over seven years with the Storm, leading the franchise to titles in 2018 and 2020. She won her second regular-season MVP award after signing with the Liberty as a free agent in 2023 and led the franchise to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2002.

The UConn legend had another elite year in 2024, averaging 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists during the regular season and leading New York back to the Finals as the No. 1 overall seed.

“It’s what you expect Stewie to do, and I think that’s kind of her story in general,” Tuck said. “I don’t know if she’ll ever get the full recognition and appreciation for how great she actually is, because everyone expects her to be great all the time, and what comes with that is people kind of take your greatness for granted. I think Stewie is one of those players. But to me, it looks normal that she’s out there in the finals, because that’s what she does. She wins. She gets to the highest level.”

Dom Amore: How WNBA Finals combatants Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart were primed for success at UConn

Stewart and Collier have gone from senior and freshman to colleagues and business partners over Collier’s five years in the league. The pair founded Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 basketball league based in Miami, to give top WNBA players a stateside alternative to competing overseas during the offseason, and both are slated to compete in the inaugural season beginning in January.

Collier said working on Unrivaled with Stewart has unlocked a new chapter in their friendship, especially because both are now parents. Stewart’s 3-year-old daughter Ruby, and Collier’s 2-year-old Mila were born less than 10 months apart, and watching the toddlers grow up together has brought their mothers closer than ever.

“I feel like it’s kind of coming together again through Unrivaled just getting to re-know Stewie,” Collier said. “I didn’t play with her for years in between that, but it’s really cool especially seeing our kids together, being in Paris together (for the Olympics). Getting to know her that way, it’s been really nice.”