For Stephanie White and the Indiana Fever, their regular-season opener loss didn’t come without a warning sign. The Fever lost the tightrope game 107-104, dropping their second game against Paige Bueckers and the Wings since the preseason tipoff, prompting an analyst to sound the alarm about what went wrong for White’s team at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, analyst Scott Agness pinpointed a bit of inconsistency for White’s team from the free-throw line, emphasizing that they would have gotten the win if they were even more accurate against the Wings.

“In the three-point loss, missed free throws late gave the Indiana Fever a chance, who, by the way, also struggled at the foul line a little bit,” he said. “That could have won the game if they were perfect. Fever started eight for eight, then missed over some of the remaining halves and finished 17 for 21.”

In a back-and-forth game where every possession and shot mattered, leaving 4 unused points from the line was, of course, going to hurt the Indiana Fever at the end of the game. A perfect record in this regard would have helped the Fever immensely in closing the gap.

Even individual performances add up in this regard. Aliyah Boston missed twice from the line in the game, while Kelsey Mitchell and Mikayla Thompson each missed once. Yet despite that, the Fever were pretty decent, shooting 81% from the line, compared to the Dallas Wings, who shot just 71%.

Odyssey Sims, Paige Bueckers, and Jessica Shepard combined for four 4 missed free throws in the fourth quarter of the game that gave the Fever an opening in the dying minutes of the game. But the free throws that Boston and Mitchell missed under pressure in the fourth quarter would definitely hurt head coach White and the Fever as a result.

Their love-hate relationship with the free-throw line was also prevalent in the preseason game against the Dallas Wings, where they missed 14 free throws.

From a season perspective as well, White will have to make sure her team gets these small moments on their side in a tightrope game. Besides the free throws, Stephanie White’s Indiana Fever also missed a crucial chance to push the game to overtime.

It was after the Fever timeout, with just more than a second remaining, that Mitchell had the ball and was required to make a 31-foot three-point jumper. But the Fever veteran couldn’t connect as Bueckers and the Wings clinched their first win of the season. Agness also shed light on the Fever’s action in these final few possessions.

“But just a one-possession game, and they ended up calling a timeout. Great use of the timeouts by the way. The previous possession did not use it…So they ran that spread four formation. Caitlin absorbed two or three defenders. Kesey Mitchell, who led with 30 points, got the ball. She was great in the second half but missed this open opportunity.”

Even head coach Stephanie White sounded the alarm on how her team fared from the free-throw line and in the final stretches of the game. “I like we got to the free throw line and a part of that is they’re calling it, and we’re going to get there,” White said. “I thought we left some opportunities at the table because we were in the penalty in the fourth quarter and we stopped attacking and we got to be mindful of that.”

Besides these underlying caveats, several positive outliers emerged. For instance, their holy trinity of Kelsey Mitchell, Caitlin Clark, and Aliyah Boston each scored 20+ points, doing most of the heavy lifting for the team. But on the forefront, head coach White has shared an interesting assessment of how her team is fitting together in these opening few nights of the W.

Stehanie White Outlines the Other Aspects of Her Team That She Feels Need to Fall Into Place

The free-throw line was just another metric where the Indiana Fever failed to show consistency, as White’s team also suffered a similar fate in terms of turnovers. The team gave away the ball 14 times in the games, conceding a substantial number of points. But for Stephanie White, these numbers aren’t worrying her, and she’s confident her team will walk through it.

“22 points off turnovers. I think we did defend and have discipline and details on the defensive end,” White said. “We were able to get in transition line. So, I like all of that. We’re going to clean up execution. And it’s going to take some time with some of the pieces we have, but I like those things.”

Overall, the Fever struggled a bit with half-court defense. The team gave away a large number of shots from beyond the arc (52% on 23 shots). It’s something that Stephanie White and the Indiana Fever will have to take notice of going into the season.

In the offensive end, the Indiana Fever looked quite formidable. White’s team scored 52% from the field in comparison to the Wings’ 59%. But in comparison, also took more shots (77) than the Wings (66). The three-point shooting was dismal, though, from the Indiana Fever on the night.

With players like Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Sophie Cunningham, it shouldn’t have been the case for the Fever. But on Saturday, they faced the reckoning as they scored just 29% from beyond the arc. Of course, these are some of the aspects the Indiana Fever will have to consider as the season progresses.

But then again, as White said, it’s just the initial stretch of the season, and the Fever can just delve into these learnings and take notes from it before their next clash in the W against the Phoenix Mercury on May 13.