Jose Fernandez Details Dallas Wings’ Keys vs. Las Vegas Aces In Preseason Finale

AUSTIN — The Dallas Wings opened their preseason with a 95-80 win over the Indiana Fever on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Head coach Jose Fernandez spent his postgame remarks identifying the issues he and his roster need to clean up before Sunday’s preseason finale against the Las Vegas Aces at the Moody Center, with the May 9 regular-season opener nine days out.

Turnovers, free throws allowed, and help-side defense surfaced as the recurring themes in every Wings voice that addressed the media after the win. Fernandez, Paige Bueckers, Maddy Siegrist, and Azzi Fudd all returned to the same priorities in their own assessments of the night.

Fernandez carried the same priorities into Sunday morning’s shootaround, where he framed the keys to victory in language that mirrored his Thursday postgame checklist, nearly word for word.

“Hopefully we do a much better job of taking care of the basketball and not giving the other team extra possessions. We’ve got to do a great job defensively, walling up and trusting our help,” Fernandez told Dallas Hoops Journal. “Transition defense is going to be a big test. We’ve got to stop the point of attack, keep the ball in front of us, and make sure we keep it to the side loaded. The open players hurt you in transition, so we’ve got to match up correctly and then get to the matchups we want on ball reversals.”

Sunday is the Wings’ final tune-up before they open the season in Indianapolis against the Fever in a regular-season rematch.

Keep Turnovers Under Control

Dallas finished with 22 turnovers on Thursday, and 21 of Indiana’s 80 points came directly off those sequences, keeping the Fever within striking distance after the Wings led by as many as 23.

Bueckers identified the turnover total and the foul rate as the two specific areas the Wings cannot accept moving forward.

“To win by 15 with 22 turnovers and give up 42 free throws, that’s something we have to clean up,” Bueckers told Dallas Hoops Journal. “We can still do a lot better.”

Siegrist attributed the turnovers to a chemistry-building phase, but separated the unforced miscues from those that Indiana’s defense produced.

“Chemistry. We’ve only been playing together for about a week, so that’s something you kind of forget at times. Some of it was their defense, they did a good job, but a lot of it was unforced,” Siegrist told Dallas Hoops Journal. “Those are things we can clean up going into the next game.”

Fernandez pinpointed the ball-security problem in the Wings’ transition pace, where rushed decisions in the backcourt led to live-ball turnovers that Indiana converted on the other end.

“We want to play fast, but with pace and space, we rushed too much at times and turned it over in our own backcourt. That has to improve,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez has often emphasized generating ball movement, shifting side-to-side, screening, cutting, and pace as the variables that follow once turnovers are limited.

“It starts with not turning the ball over. Then it’s about how we set screens, how we cut, and playing with pace. We’ll run more tonight, we have to,” Fernandez said. “We’ll also look at spacing, where we are on straight-line drives, baseline drives, and drifts, and how we keep the backside occupied.”

Walling Up and Trusting Help

Indiana managed to get to the line for 42 free throw attempts on Thursday compared to the Wings’ 17, with Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell playing a key role. The Fever shot just 28-of-42 (66.7%), but the sheer volume of attempts was unacceptable for the coaching staff.

Fernandez wants the Wings not to extend on straight-line drives and to trust the team’s help defense, as the two issues were driving the foul rate.

“We just fouled and fouled and fouled, we’ve got to be better at that,” Fernandez said. “Offensively, I’m not concerned with how we shared the ball. But the two areas of concern are keeping the ball in front of us on straight-line drives, we’re overextending, and we’ve got to do a better job trusting our help defense. Individually, we need to wall up and make people shoot over us.”

Walling up is a fundamental defensive habit that Fernandez has emphasized through camp. Thursday produced too many possessions where the on-ball defender extended past the point of recovery, forcing reach-in or body contact in the lane.

Help-Side Defense and Defensive Connectivity

Another theme Fernandez and his players emphasized was room for improvement in help-side defense. Fudd, in her own postgame assessment, detailed the difference between Wings stretches that worked and those that did not.

“When our defense was connected, and we had help-side coverage, it helped us get stops, push the ball, and build momentum,” Fudd told Dallas Hoops Journal. “When we weren’t turning the ball over or getting called for offensive fouls, our offense was flowing, the ball was moving, and we were getting great shots and the looks we wanted.”

As the Wings continue to establish strong defensive habits, Fernandez is focused on all players on the floor, making multiple efforts, precise help rotations, and pick-and-roll execution.

“Multiple efforts, helping outside the lane, and executing in pick-and-roll defense, our coverages,” Fernandez said. “Film will tell us a lot about that.”

Fernandez sees the Wings with a lot of room for improvement before they can put together a full game’s worth of the defensive identity he wants.

“We’re a long way from it. But the good thing is the group understands our standard and habits,” Fernandez said. “You’re never going to question their effort. A lot of what we did tonight is fixable, so we’re looking forward to addressing it.”

Shot Selection and Ball Movement

There were clear positives from Thursday’s offensive performance that the Wings will look to carry into Sunday. Fernandez cited shot selection, free-throw efficiency, and the assist-to-made-field-goal ratio as evidence that the offense was generating quality looks within the framework he installed.

“We shot well from the free-throw line, we only missed two. I thought we took good shots, and when you take good shots, your percentages will be pretty good,” Fernandez said. “I looked at our assist-to-made field goal ratio and was very pleased with that. When our wings sprint and we create that inside-out dynamic where defenders have to collapse, it opens up the three-point line. I thought we did a really good job with that.”

The Wings finished Thursday shooting 51.4% from the field, 34.8% from 3, and 88.2% from the free-throw line. Specifically, Bueckers shooting 4-for-6 from beyond the arc in limited minutes was a microcosm of how Dallas wants to play.

Las Vegas Provides a Real Test

Las Vegas, the reigning WNBA champions and Finals winner in 2022 and 2023, will provide a test. The Aces enter Sunday off a 94-78 preseason win over the Japanese National Team on April 26, with newcomer Chennedy Carter leading Las Vegas with 18 points in that game.

Fernandez framed Las Vegas’s defense specifically as a useful preparation test for the Wings’ regular-season opener against Indiana on May 9.

“Vegas does a really good job defensively. They can switch multiple spots and pick their coverages,” Fernandez said. “So this will be good for our group as we prepare for the opener at Indiana.”

Fernandez praised Aces head coach Becky Hammon as a key driver of the Las Vegas standard.

“She’s great. She’s demanding, but you can see how she communicates with her team and the respect she has,” Fernandez said. “From a basketball and X’s-and-O’s standpoint, you already know how talented she is. There’s a reason that organization has been so successful, she’s a huge part of it.”

A Quick Turnaround With Real Stakes

Fernandez identified defending without fouling as the gating skill at a league-quality level, where outscoring opponents is not enough.

“This league is too good to just outscore people,” Fernandez said. “You’ve got to get stops and defend without fouling. Even with a quick turnaround, those are things we have to fix before May 9.”

Alanna Smith will play after initially being listed as questionable with a left quad injury. Arike Ogunbowale is out with a right ankle injury. Rayah Marshall was downgraded to questionable due to the same concussion that kept her out on Thursday. Awak Kuier remains out as her arrival in Texas is set for after Sunday’s game. Jessica Shepard, Costanza Verona, and JJ Quinerly are all set to be available on Sunday after not playing on Thursday.

Up Next

The Wings tip off against the Aces at 6 p.m. CT Sunday at the Moody Center in Austin, with national coverage on ION. Dallas opens the regular season May 9 in Indianapolis against the Fever.

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