What Connecticut Sun Fans Can Expect From Saniya Rivers at Unrivaled Opener

Three Connecticut Sun players are quickly approaching their Unrivaled openers, marking the start of the second annual Unrivaled seasons. Last year, the league saw great success and started to gain a substantial amount of traction.

The Sun has three players competing in the league: Aaliyah Edwards, Marina Mabrey and Saniya Rivers. Edwards and Mabrey are both competing for the Lunar Owls BC, while Rivers will be playing with the Hive BC.

The Hive was one of two Unrivaled expansion teams, with the other being Breeze BC. Although the season has yet to begin, two expansion teams are a clear sign of the league’s success during its first year.

Rivers will be playing alongside Monique Billings, Natisha Hiedeman, Ezi Magbegor, Sonia Citron and Kelsey Mitchell. Rena Wakama, the Chicago Sky’s assistant coach, will be serving as head coach.

Now, Rivers is one of the younger players on the team at 22 years old, but after watching her perform with the Sun during her rookie year in 2025, there is little to no doubt about her ability on the court.

After being drafted out of NC State as the eighth pick in the first round of the 2025 WNBA draft, Rivers didn’t take long to heat up. In fact, she’s widely considered one of the more promising players on the team at this time.

During her rookie year, she averaged 8.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, shooting 40.7% through 42 games. She was undeniably a major building block for the team, and became the only rookie in Connecticut history to finish a WNBA season with at least 370 points, 115 rebounds, 110 assists and 60 steals — unthinkable numbers for such a young player. To further the matter, the only other player to achieve this feat was none other than Tamika Catchings in 2002.

If Rivers can perform as well with Hive BC as she did with the Sun, this could be a history-making year for Unrivaled. Rivers has cemented herself as a player who is capable of producing numbers on the board, so it wouldn’t be unrealistic to assume that she can translate these abilities to Unrivaled. Of course, during the first game, it could take some time to heat up, but she isn’t known for slow starts.

The Hive will play its opener on Jan. 5 at 1 p.m. EST against Mist BC, with viewing available on TruTV and HBO Max. Not only will this be Rivers’ first matchup in the league, but it’s also the first Unrivaled game of the season. Will Rivers display the same level of momentum that she did during the regular season?