Connecticut fans haven't seen Diana Taurasi since the former UConn star became the WNBA's all-time leading scorer.
That changes Friday night when Taurasi and her Phoenix Mercury visit the Mohegan Sun Arena for the first of three games against the Connecticut Sun on Friday night.
They will do it, however, without league scoring leader Brittney Griner, who continues to be out with a left knee bruise.
It's been some six weeks since Taurasi, in her 13th season in the league, broke Tina Thompson's all-time scoring record, needing four fewer seasons than Thompson to set the record.
She surpassed Thompson with Kobe Bryant among those on hand for the special night in Los Angeles, saying, "Once I got the basket it was pretty cool. I was trying not to think about, wanted it to happen and do it organically. It did. You think about all the great players you played with, all the games."
She comes into Friday night's game averaging 18.7 points per game, as the second half of a 1-2 scoring punch with Griner, who leads the league in scoring at 22.3 points per game and is seventh in rebounding at 8.3.
Taurasi had a team-high 13 points as the Mercury (13-10) won their second straight after a four-game losing streak, which had followed a four-game winning run, Sunday over the San Antonio Stars. They did it without Griner.
The Mercury, in fifth place in the overall WNBA standings, now visit the surprising third-seeded Sun to open a three-game road trip.
The Sun (14-9) lost their first two games at home as part of a dreadful start but have won seven of their last eight games at home and also gone 13-4 since a 1-5 start to the season -- one that began as a rebuilding year after the loss for the season of Chiney Ogwumike.
They went 7-2 in July (8-2 in their last 10 overall), finishing the month tied with the Washington Mystics for first place in the Eastern Conference -- and Sun coach Curt Miller was named coach of the month by the league earlier this week. Miller and his staff also coached the East squad in the All-Star Game in Seattle.
"We've got to do the little things," Miller said on the team's website. "We're not going to talk about end results, not going to talk about wins and losses as much as the process to get us there. We're scout heavy, we're going to focus on other teams' schemes, we're going to focus on our own schemes, and we're going to try to peak at the right time.
"If there's anything I've done as a head coach through my career, it's finding ways to peak at the right time. We finished strong last year. We have an opportunity, if we can get hot in August, that's our goal, because I really feel like you have to try and peak at the right time with the playoffs looming in September."
In the Sun's last game, Jasmine Thomas led five players in double figures with 15 points and the club never trailed, cruising to an 89-73 home victory over the Indiana Fever in the opener of a four-game homestand.
Jonquel Jones, who leads the Sun in scoring (15.6) and rebounding (11.3, also tops in the league), had 14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots in Sunday's win.
Danielle Robinson of the Mercury needs three rebounds to reach 500 for her WNBA career.
