Mohegan — The Connecticut Sun continue to be defensive.

Defense was a foundation of Connecticut’s success during its franchise-record 2021 season with four of its starters earning WNBA All-Defensive Team honors — Briann January, Jasmine Thomas and Brionna and Jonquel Jones.

Only the Joneses remain from that group, but the Sun have continued to play well defensively this season. They’ll need to continue that Friday night when they host the defending champion Chicago Sky (7, Mohegan Sun Arena, NESN).

“Philosophically, we are who we are,” Connecticut head coach and general manager Curt Miller said. “We just have a little bit different personnel.”

The Sun (10-3) used the combination of defense, grit and deliberate pace to tie the single season franchise record for most wins in a season (26). Their 26-6 record set a single-season franchise record for winning percentage (.813). They were also first in defensive field goal percentage (40.9).

Connecticut was going to take a step back in defensive efficiency this season when it opted to sign guard Courtney Williams in free agency, meaning that it wouldn’t have the cap space to keep January, who later signed with the Seattle Storm.

Thomas, the team’s longtime starting point guard, suffered a season-ending ACL injury in her right knee in the first quarter of the Sun’s fourth game of the season (May 22 at the Indiana Fever).

Connecticut ranks fifth out of 12 teams in defensive field goal percentage (42.8) this season while holding opponents to a league-low 64.5 field goal attempts per game.

The Indiana Fever shot 37.5-percent against the Sun on Wednesday night (Connecticut won, 88-69).

Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell was shooting 44.7-percent prior to Wednesday and was the league’s third-leading scorer (19.5 ppg).

Mitchell shot 3 of 13 for nine points in 32 minutes on Wednesday. She missed 10 of 12 shots and scored five in a 92-70 home loss to Connecticut on May 22.

“At times (we) could turn Briann January loose on star players in the league (the previous two seasons) and know that she was going to hold them under their (scoring) averages or make them take more attempts,” Miller said. “Now we may need to give Courtney some help or other people help (but) philosophically it’s the same way (as before). We look for disruption. We’re a heavy scout team and we take pride to take away strengths of teams and find ways to cause some disruption.”

Connecticut has also benefitted from a tall frontcourt featuring some of the league’s best defenders. Jonquel Jones (6-foot-6, 215 pounds) was 2021 All-Defensive first team pick, and Brionna Jones (6-3, 210) was second team. Alyssa Thomas (6-2, 190) has earned All-Defensive team honors in 2017 and 2019 and DeWanna Bonner is 6-4.

“We try to shrink the floor,” Miller said. “You hear us screaming “congestion” all game. We just try to make the floor as congested (as possible).”

Friday is the first time the Sun have played Chicago since the latter eliminated it from the playoffs during last season’s league semifinals (79-69, Oct 6).

The Sky (7-4) are third in the overall standings and defensive field goal percentage (41.3). They made one of the biggest offseason moves in free agency by signing forward Emma Meesseman, who earned MVP honors when the Washington Mystics beat the Sun in the 2019 WNBA Finals.

Kahleah Copper, last year’s Finals MVP, has averaged a team-high 13.6 points for Chicago while Candace Parker has averaged 12.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

Connecticut’s toughest defensive matchup is arguably point guard Courtney Vandersloot (10.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, league-high 6.9 apg). She has led the league in total assists the previous four seasons and is a savant at dissecting defenses.

• Former pro golfer and media personality Tisha Alyn will co-host Connecticut’s PRIDE night tonight. She will take part in in-game activities and talk with Sun host Jenna Lemoncelli about her experiences as an openly-gay person in golf and using her platform to help the LGBTQ+ community.

n.griffen@theday.com