2020 Indiana Fever season

2020 Indiana Fever season
CoachMarianne Stanley
ArenaOriginally: Hinkle Fieldhouse
Rescheduled to: IMG Academy gymnasiums, Bradenton, Florida
Attendance0 per game
Results
Record6–16 (.273)
Place5th (Eastern)
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Team Leaders
PointsKelsey Mitchell – 17.9 ppg
ReboundsTeaira McCowan – 7.3 rpg
AssistsJulie Allemand – 5.8 apg

The 2020 Indiana Fever season was the franchise's 21st season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The regular season tipped off on July 25, 2020, versus the Washington Mystics.[1]

During the off-season the Fever announced that head coach Pokey Chatman would not return for the 2020 season. Chatman was replaced by Marianne Stanley. This will be Stanley's first head coaching job in the WNBA. She was previously an assistant with the Washington Mystics, Los Angeles Sparks, and New York Liberty.[2][3]

Also, it was announced that the Bankers Life Fieldhouse would undergo renovations, which would force the Fever to host home games at the Hinkle Fieldhouse for the 2020 season.[4]

This WNBA season will feature an all-time high 36 regular-season games.[5] However, the plan for expanded games was put on hold on April 3, when the WNBA postponed its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] Under a plan approved on June 15, the league is scheduled to hold a shortened 22-game regular season at IMG Academy, without fans present, starting on July 24.[7][8]

The Fever started the season in a back-and-forth manner. The Fever went 2–2 in their first four games, alternating wins and losses. The season took a downward turn as the Fever lost five of their next seven games to be 4–7 at the halfway mark of the season. The second half started with a win but was marred by an eight-game losing streak. The Fever won the next to last game and lost on the final day of the season to finish 6–16. Their .273 winning percentages was the third worst in franchise history.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2020 WNBA draft

The Fever will make the following selections in the 2020 WNBA draft.

Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country
1 3 Lauren Cox  United States Baylor
2 14 Kathleen Doyle  United States Iowa
3 28 Kamiah Smalls  United States James Madison

Trades and roster changes

Date Details
February 13, 2020 Re-signed G Tiffany Mitchell[9]
February 13, 2020 Re-signed F Betnijah Laney[10]
February 19, 2020 Signed C Bernadett Határ[11]
March 2, 2020 Signed G Julie Allemand[12]
March 6, 2020 Traded G Shenise Johnson and the 16th pick in the 2020 WNBA draft to the Minnesota Lynx in exchange for the 14th pick in the 2020 WNBA draft and Minnesota's second round pick in the 2021 WNBA draft.[13]
April 22, 2020 Released G Paris Key[14]
Released F Erica McCall[14]
August 28, 2020 Acquired C Jantel Lavender and the Chicago Sky's second and third round picks in the 2021 Draft in exchange for F Stephanie Mavunga.[15]

Roster

2020 Indiana Fever roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs
F 11 Canada Achonwa, Natalie 6' 3" (1.91m) 190 lb (86kg) 1992-11-22 Notre Dame 5
G 20 Belgium Allemand, Julie 5' 8" (1.73m) 147 lb (67kg) 1996-07-07 Belgium R
G 8 United States Burke, Kennedy 6' 1" (1.85m) 182 lb (83kg) 1997-02-14 UCLA 1
F 13 United States Cox, Lauren 6' 4" (1.93m) – 1998-04-20 Baylor R
G 2 United States Doyle, Kathleen 5' 9" (1.75m) – 1998-06-11 Iowa R
F 4 United States Dupree, Candice 6' 2" (1.88m) 178 lb (81kg) 1984-09-16 Temple 14
F 7 United States Lavender, Jantel 6' 4" (1.93m) 185 lb (84kg) 1988-11-12 Ohio State 9
C 15 United States McCowan, Teaira 6' 7" (2.01m) 239 lb (108kg) 1996-09-28 Mississippi State 1
G 25 United States Mitchell, Tiffany 5' 9" (1.75m) 152 lb (69kg) 1994-09-23 South Carolina 4
G 0 United States Mitchell, Kelsey 5' 8" (1.73m) 160 lb (73kg) 1995-11-12 Ohio State 2
G 3 United States Smalls, Kamiah 5' 10" (1.78m) – 1998-04-17 James Madison R
G 35 United States Vivians, Victoria 6' 1" (1.85m) 183 lb (83kg) 1994-11-17 Mississippi State 1
G 17 United States Wheeler, Erica 5' 7" (1.7m) 143 lb (65kg) 1991-05-02 Rutgers 5
Head coach
United States Marianne Stanley (Immaculata)
Assistant coaches
United States Steve Smith
:United States April (McDivitt) Schilling
Athletic trainer
United States Garrett Hueber
Strength and conditioning coach
United States Shannon Patterson
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Game log

Regular season

2020 game log
Total: 6–16
July
Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location
Attendance		 Record
1 July 25 Washington Mystics L 76–101 K. Mitchell (25) Achonwa (7) Tied (3) IMG Academy
0 		0–1
2 July 29 Phoenix Mercury W 106–100 T. Mitchell (24) McCowan (13) K. Mitchell (5) IMG Academy
0 		1–1
3 July 31 Dallas Wings L 73–76 Tied (11) Tied (8) Allemand (11) IMG Academy
0 		1–2
August
Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location
Attendance		 Record
4 August 2 Atlanta Dream W 93–77 K. Mitchell (23) Allemand (7) Allemand (9) IMG Academy
0 		2–2
5 August 5 Los Angeles Sparks L 75–86 K. Mitchell (24) Dupree (7) T. Mitchell (5) IMG Academy
0 		2–3
6 August 7 Minnesota Lynx L 80–87 Tied (15) McCowan (12) Allemand (6) IMG Academy
0 		2–4
7 August 9 Washington Mystics W 91–84 K. Mitchell (29) McCowan (11) Allemand (5) IMG Academy
0 		3–4
8 August 11 Las Vegas Aces L 79–98 Dupree (20) McCowan (8) Allemand (6) IMG Academy
0 		3–5
9 August 13 New York Liberty W 86–79 T. Mitchell (19) McCowan (13) Allemand (5) IMG Academy
0 		4–5
10 August 15 Los Angeles Sparks L 76–90 K. Mitchell (25) T. Mitchell (8) Tied (4) IMG Academy
0 		4–6
11 August 18 Connecticut Sun L 62–84 K. Mitchell (15) Allemand (8) Tied (5) IMG Academy
0 		4–7
12 August 20 Seattle Storm W 90–84 Burke (23) McCowan (10) Allemand (6) IMG Academy
0 		5–7
13 August 22 Chicago Sky L 76–87 Dupree (18) Cox (6) Allemand (7) IMG Academy
0 		5–8
14 August 25 Seattle Storm L 74–87 Burke (17) McCowan (11) Tied (5) IMG Academy
0 		5–9
15 August 29 Dallas Wings L 78–82 K. Mitchell (19) Dupree (9) K. Mitchell (4) IMG Academy
0 		5–10
16 August 31 Chicago Sky L 77–100 McCowan (15) McCowan (11) Allemand (10) IMG Academy
0 		5–11
September
Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location
Attendance		 Record
17 September 1 Atlanta Dream L 90–102 Tied (20) Tied (7) Tied (5) IMG Academy
0 		5–12
18 September 3 Phoenix Mercury L 81–105 K. Mitchell (16) Achonwa (10) Dupree (5) IMG Academy
0 		5–13
19 September 5 Connecticut Sun L 77–96 K. Mitchell (16) McCowan (7) Allemand (8) IMG Academy
0 		5–14
20 September 8 Las Vegas Aces L 86–92 K. Mitchell (24) McCowan (9) Allemand (8) IMG Academy
0 		5–15
21 September 10 New York Liberty W 85–75 Dupree (22) Dupree (6) Dupree (7) IMG Academy
0 		6–15
22 September 12 Minnesota Lynx L 86–98 K. Mitchell (20) McCowan (9) Allemand (9) IMG Academy
0 		6–16
2020 season schedule

Awards and honors

Recipient Award Date awarded Ref.
Julie Allemand All-Rookie Team September 27, 2030 [16]

Standings

# Team W L PCT GB Conf.
1 x – Las Vegas Aces 18 4 .818 – 8–2
2 x – Seattle Storm 18 4 .818 – 8–2
3 x – Los Angeles Sparks 15 7 .682 3 5–5
4 x – Minnesota Lynx 14 8 .636 4 4–6
5 x – Phoenix Mercury 13 9 .591 5 4–6
6 x – Chicago Sky 12 10 .545 6 6–4
7 x – Connecticut Sun 10 12 .455 8 7–3
8 x – Washington Mystics 9 13 .409 9 6–4
9 e – Dallas Wings 8 14 .364 10 1–9
10 e – Atlanta Dream 7 15 .318 11 5–5
11 e – Indiana Fever 6 16 .273 12 4–6
12 e – New York Liberty 2 20 .091 16 2–8

Notes

x – Clinched playoff berth
e – Eliminated from playoffs
Home and Away records not shown, as all games played at a neutral location.
Updated to include results from September 13, 2020
Source


Statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage  TO  Turnovers per game
 PF  Fouls per game Team leader League leader

Regular season

Source:[17]

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Kelsey Mitchell 22 22 32.1 44.8 38.9 84.9 2.2 2.8 0.6 0.1 17.9
Tiffany Mitchell 19 11 26.4 34.6 23.3 95.1 3.4 2.6 0.6 0.1 12.7
Candice Dupree 22 22 30.2 46.2 16.7 85.4 5.7 2.5 0.7 0.4 12.5
Teaira McCowan 22 10 21.0 53.6 0 75.0 7.3 0.6 0.3 1.0 10.9
Julie Allemand 22 22 32.5 45.9 47.8 73.3 4.5 5.8 1.1 0.4 8.5
Natalie Achonwa 18 11 20.2 49.6 0 81.3 5.5 1.7 0.5 0.6 7.8
Kennedy Burke 22 11 18.3 44.9 31.3 71.4 1.8 1.1 0.6 0.4 7.2
Victoria Vivians 6 0 14.2 34.5 18.2 87.5 2.3 0.5 0.2 0 4.8
Kamiah Smalls 7 0 14.3 45.0 58.3 100 1.1 2.0 0.1 0.1 3.9
Lauren Cox 14 1 13.1 41.9 50.0 73.3 0.8 1.1 0.4 0 3.6
Kathleen Doyle 18 0 8.6 24.4 23.8 50.0 0.8 1.1 0.4 0 1.5

References

  1. ^ "2020 Indiana Fever Scheudle". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  2. ^ "Pokey Chatman Will Not Return As Head Coach & General Manager". WNBA.com. WNBA. September 9, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  3. ^ "Indiana Fever Announce Marianne Stanley As New Head Coach". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. November 26, 2019. Archived from the original on November 28, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  4. ^ General, Robby (June 24, 2019). "Bankers Life Fieldhouse will gain outdoor plaza with skating, lose Fever for two seasons". Indy Star. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  5. ^ "Atlanta Dream Announce 2020 Schedule - Atlanta Dream". dream.wnba.com. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  6. ^ "WNBA Statement Regarding the Start of the 2020 Regular Season". April 3, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  7. ^ "WNBA Announces Plan To Tip Off 2020 Season". WNBA. June 15, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  8. ^ "WNBA announces plans for 2020 season to start late July in Florida". NBC Sports Washington. June 15, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  9. ^ "Tiffany Mitchell Returns to the Fever". fever.wnba.com. WNBA. February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  10. ^ "Fever Re-Sign Betnijah Laney". fever.wnba.com. WNBA. February 14, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  11. ^ "Fever Sign 6-10 Hungarian Center Bernadett Határ". fever.wnba.com. WNBA. February 19, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  12. ^ "Indiana Fever sign Belgian guard Julie Allemand". fever.wnba.com. WNBA. March 2, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  13. ^ "Fever Acquire Draft Picks in Trade with Minnesota". fever.wnba.com. WNBA. March 6, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  14. ^ a b "Fever release Paris Kea and Erica McCall". fever.wnba.com. WNBA. April 22, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  15. ^ "Fever Acquire Jantel Lavender From Chicago Sky, Trade Stephanie Mavunga". fever.wnba.com. WNBA. August 28, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  16. ^ "Rookie Of The Year Crystal Dangerfield Headlines 2020 WNBA All-Rookie Team". wnba.com. WNBA. September 27, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  17. ^ "Team Stats". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved October 8, 2020.