Isabelle Harrison Talks Fever vs. Liberty, Coco Gauff, and WNBA Tunnel Fits! | Around the W

00:00 – Intro
00:50 – Isabelle Harrison’s Career Rundown
02:00 – Sideline Couture (Tunnel Fits)
10:35 – Sabrina Ionescu Fit
11:30 – Skylar Diggins Fit
12:37 – Rickea Jackson Fit
14:01 – Kamilla Cardoso Fit
14:56 – Jackie Young Fit
15:31 – Dearica Hamby Fit
16:13 – Olivia Nelson Fit
17:05 – Sabrina vs. Caitlin
20:23 – New York Liberty’s Hot Start
21:09 – Dijonai Carrington Incident
23:56 – Phoenix Mercury Highlight Reel
25:50 – Rickea Jackson’s Performance
28:06 – Kelsey Plum on Refs
30:30 – Golden State Valkyries Success
35:26 – Izzy’s Comeback Season
38:23 – Coco Gauff’s Liberty Appearance
42:22 – Swish or Spill
42:55 – Biggest WNBA Trash Talker
43:48 – Toughest Matchup
44:39 – Most Awkward Fan Encounter

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honey I look this good coming to the game i could sit on the bench i was gagged this outfit is insane [Music] what’s going on y’all and welcome back to Around the W presented by Sports Illustrated i’m your host Maria Clifton aka DJ Ria and this is your weekly show yes that’s right about everything around the W everything you need to know on and off the court from fashion to culture to storylines and of course great conversation and today in the building we have some great combo going down with Okay drum roll you know how we do this y’all special guest okay not only is she a former SECC player of the year she is a former Tennessee Lady V under the legendary Pat Summit she is a firstround WNBA draft pick she’s been in the league for almost a decade now doing her thing playing with teams like the Stars okay which now y’all know is the Aces the Wings Chicago Sky and of course now the New York Liberty right making her mark right here in New York bringing the energy leadership and of course buckets to the Barclay Center please welcome the one and only Izzy aka Isabelle Harrison so you know I’m a DJ Izzy you know how we get down we have sound effects it goes crazy but Izzy we are so excited to have you on the show thank you for having me listen we’re going to dive into some amazing conversation get to know more about you get to know about the game fashion everything who you are everything about you girl but first we got first we got to dip into you know one of my favorite segments of the week y’all which is Sideline Couture that’s right where we talk about the tunnel fits you guys all love the tunnel fits i know listen you pulled up you always pull up glammed head to to listen head to toe flawless i mean let’s talk about your look today what did you pull up in today let’s talk about him i got my Jay’s on you know I love wearing my Jordan shout out to my Jordan brand family i got my Jordan pants on just a black tea and some gold accessories i keep it really chill when I’m here in New York actually which I really really love like I’ve adopted this new New York style of fashion so I just come really simple now you really do adapt the New York style of fashion cuz I tell people like I’m wearing actually some more color today just so y’all know but New York you fit in with New York right now cuz I’m a signature black queen like if you ask me I love color my favorite color is blue but if you were to ask me my favorite color I’m going black honey like to wear black you look chic sophisticated plus sometimes I’m messy so I’m like if I get black listen you’ll never know like if I drop some ketchup on me you’ll never know no one’s going to know and you could rock anything add a little like pop of this and you can spice up an outfit just with all black right yeah that’s what I travel in all the time is all black 100 same i got you girl so we gonna talk about some of the amazing fits that you have pulled up in so Izzy let’s talk about one of the signature black let alone Sarsi Crystal Jordan collab that they got going on let’s talk about this look cuz I don’t know if the people know look at this the shoes we have some blinged out shoes on over here okay those are Sarsi Crystals so let’s talk about this look yeah so I was actually approached with this idea and collaboration back in November of last year i was overseas in Prague so I was meeting with the Jordan brand team and Sarovski team for months just deciding what kind of look that I wanted to do for like the first game of the year yes and again I I usually kind of go a different route but again I wanted to do more street wear and I’m all about like pushing boundaries when it comes to fashion so I told him I just wanted to do a bomber jacket i feel like that was very kind of like New York that is New York that’s You just missing some Tims girl you some sparkly swash Tims yeah I should have told him but we had to definitely pair it with the again the AJ wants uh Swavski Jordans and those are like I think $1,000 on goated well listen Flight Club those are over a,000 i mean I don’t even want to talk about the bigger sizes but those are insane like I don’t know what they are now but when they came out they were already a $1,000 it was it’s it’s kind of crazy but and you matched it with this gorgeous piece like blinged out yeah we went with the Soravski choker for the top and I don’t know if you can see it i did a little um on the sleeve there there’s a brooch that I put above the Jordan symbol that you could see and I’m into like a open like rolled down jean as well so those pants actually do button up but I wanted to roll them down and show the Jordan sport uh I think that’s dope i’m stealing that look by the way cuz I got this baggy pants and you know back in the day people were wear with the Calvin Klein and all that but I don’t know if everybody knows she’s sponsored by Jordan she is Queen Jordan izzy is one of the first with Jordan brand so I love that for you and listen I told you I I think that’s amazing now uh this look here yes i mean we we joke Don Stanley you know loves different looks and she commented on your Jordan brand look loved it but I don’t know if Dom would appreciate this look cuz she’d be like “Where is Izzy’s shirt?” I’m sorry but honey this is I’m loving this i mean this is very chic i feel like you might be in Perry on the runway in this talk to us about this look yeah I just I don’t know um I wanted to just come simple this day because also that simple simple this day because the first day obviously was a lot but it was really hot and it’s still kind of like humid right now so I wanted to be able to pair like some shorts with this so this is a meshki two-piece comes with the blazer love Mashki shout out to my family i love Meshki we love you send us some stuff whenever you feel like it yes so they actually sent me this outfit good job um and I parted with the tail feeasy bag right here on the left the beige oh I like that is that snake print it’s like a It’s like a reflection a little bit of like reflective material on it and then I had some guest heels kitten heels that I really like and super cute that’s actually a anklet that I want to I’m big on like gold accessories like that’s my favorite thing to wear so this is actually the anklet I had on that day from Shop versatile anklet bracelet i I switch it up if you can use it anyway that’s what I’m going to do with it and then I did my Lor um glasses that they just released this past like month or two ago so listen if y’all don’t know Izzy is a fashion icon i told her when she came to New York that this would be the best place for her because style everything hello i mean this fits in and you could kill the run tight tunnel fits like let’s talk about this this is one of my favorite looks i know this was last year’s look but I still love it i We had to throw a little something spicy in there so my other favorite color outside of black is pink obviously so my stylist Golden when we were making the outfits mind you I missed last all season so I didn’t get to do any tunnel fits so we said when I came back with Chicago that I was going to do just something different cuz again I don’t wear a lot of color in my outfits so she just got me this really cute you know pink look that I absolutely love i felt so girly and cute in this and it’s the socks and the shoes like that’s the little accent that I love those platforms that’s in that look like and then I added a pink bow at the top to kind of just kind of tie it in tie it in added like heavy blush this game as well i looked crazy but I loved I loved it girl I You look amazing look look at this queen right here i cannot I love you Barbie modern day Barbie now this from that other look completely drastic change but I love once again the versatility Izzy you can rock anything i feel like when you get dressed for example how do you get dressed do you dress how do you feel do you dress from the toe up do you dress from the toe down like what’s your inspiration i feel like I just have to know where I’m going cuz I love a theme i’m a Libra so like when I get into a theme and like I understand the aesthetic for me that’s kind of where I take it but on the road I kind of said this on TikTok I like to dress comfortable and I don’t want to pack too much either yes cuz we travel a lot and I like to travel light so this was an off white men’s suit actually that I put on for the road and it just was simple and again I feel like this year I’m toning it down i’m going with the neutrals i’m just staying really like cool new York you know i mean it’s sexy it’s still chic but it’s still you know what I’m saying i love it and that’s a men’s too this is a men’s suit i got this in the their store in Vegas cuz they don’t have a lot of stores and of course I’m tall so I need to go in the store and try it on but Sav and Stewie said they love this outfit on me no I love this i love wearing some men’s stuff all the time like you got to switch it up i love being girly like tomboy all the time but I love the two like the Jurassic looks and hey for some more tips Izzy said she puts them on Tik Tok so if you need some more of her fashion day tips check her out on Tik Tok y’all yes now this final look right here we are in love with this i know you got to go to the concert too you wore this to the concert so let’s talk about this look you look like Beyonce i tell everybody I know Beyonce in real life because to me you you are Beyonce you and my DJ Carrington in the league are my Beyonce’s you know my baby Beyonce so talk to us about this i mean honestly I knew she was going to be in New York for like four nights so I kind of got some inspo from TikTok honestly I saw what the girls were wearing and I was like “Let me see if I can just put something together.” But this hat if you can zoom in yes the hair is attached to the hat i don’t think anybody knew that no one knew that but I got it from this person on um Tik Tok shop do you see TSH in the corner look at the camera we see you but yeah that’s her in in the mirror but um yeah I put the hat on and honestly that really what that’s really what triggered my inner Beyonce to come out and of course you had to do the cowboy Carter like sash and I had a whole another purse that was like cowboy Carter but I love it you look just like Beyonce listen you couldn’t tell me that’s not Beyonce y’all y’all can’t tell me this ain’t Beyonce it’s twin right here like let alone I need that hookup with that wig cuz I think I mean I might be that for Halloween and I was like how do I get a wig but it’s attached to it mhm it’s attached and I honestly I was like man like I think I might go blonde after this listen blonde would not Listen you could slay that girl you could slay any color see if you went silver it wouldn’t matter like you could go blue and everybody’s going to still love you baby like you are gorgeous so now let’s talk to some fits around the league savvy Savvy your Nescu in the building now this I personally am in love with this look sab is very very all about her business she comes to work very about her business she’s very straight to it gray no in between right there’s black and white with Sab today she brought a little spice it’s summer i who I had to I had to flip back and be like who is this cuz I was like Sab is Sab spicy today i’m loving this i loved it on her honestly because you don’t see this look on Sab a lot at all and we were we’re in film and she was already sitting down and Tasha was like “Tell Sab to stand up.” So I was like “Okay like stand up.” And I saw the shorts i said “Oh yeah you showing out sis.” Yes it’s hot summer ab came hot girl ready with a sad i love it on her yur yeah this is a year this is a y we like this this is a y i love it okay let’s talk about icon queen she is to me besides you and other ladies that run it Skyler always pulls up with something something Gucci i don’t know what she’s ready for p fashion week what do we think of this look like the boots so this is the same blazer I had on yes yes from Meshki Meski you killing it yeah this is the same blazer but I liked how she switched it up honestly I wore it open cuz I wanted shorts but with this look it’s crazy she might have shorts on but it looks like more of a dress to me it looks like a a d a blazer dress yeah to me too and I love how she played with patterns with the boots and again adding the headphones and the red lip the lip i was going to say the lip for me for me I don’t think she gets enough credit for her outfit i love how Skylar dresses i know sometimes she works with Manny Jay that’s one of her stylists shout out to you Manny but like always slays like the stuff she pulls up in i’m like girl how you take that off and then go play a game play a game right i would never I’d be like “Don’t look at me i can’t sweat.” Like I would still have play that she’s She don’t play that she don’t play ass god she’s tough okay our baby Rakia your baby Lady V you know she’s a baby Lady Voic she is so cute she’s the cutest what do we think of this it’s giving me very like clueless Chanel yes with the tweed and the cool girl tweed yes and the socks and the black heels the matching Chanel i love this either no and the funny thing is I know she sometimes works with the stylist as well but it’s 90% of her input so no matter even if she works with a stylist she’s like I want this and that like I love that about her honestly I’ve had a stylist for the past two seasons now not because I can’t I don’t want to do the outfits but it’s a lot on game days girl it’s a lot you have to think especially with your lineups you guys have What do you have to do you have to shoot around you have to get up you have to practice you have all these meetings you have things for game day who has time to be like “Let me pick an outfit.” Especially at my house girl my outfit looks like it’s crazy i have clothes everywhere i don’t know what to do with myself i’m like and it’s a lot and then I have to try them on yes it’s a lot so shout out to the stylist that really like take that off of our plates because we don’t want to think about nothing on game days but the game so yeah my stylist is so cute she sends like outfit bags of the entire outfit all together shoes from head to toe so I don’t even have to think about it so shout out to Golden we love you so much but this Rakia outfit is just it’s just so cute and girly on her i can’t all right look at this juicy couture she’s looking juicy what do we think of this now mind y’all she’s a 6’8 y’all and she’s looking cute and petite and snatched so what do we think of this i saw this outfit on Miller and I know she paired it with Jordan so you know I already loved it but I think this is so cute for Miller cuz she’s she dressed like this last year too and people don’t expect her to put on the girly clothes cuz her height but I’m like she pulls it off so well and to have a Juicy Couture dress is just it’s it’s chic even with your looks Izzy how tall are you 63 i’m 63 so you make it look like you 5’4 52 you know what I’m saying but you all legs you all this people don’t understand it’s very hard to dress for tall people i’m appreciate shout out to all the companies that all like Pretty Little Thing me other companies that are making long stuff for us fashion Novation all of you guys we appreciate you cuz before no one believed in us it was so hard to find clothes is this Jackie jackie Young let me think about our age zero i love this cardigan that she has on actually I missed this outfit but I love this cardigan and the brown leather the brown leather she’s super chocolatey she has amazing skin so I feel like she’s just like she has amazing skin she does i’m surprised she doesn’t have glasses cuz she usually likes to do the glasses but I love She has a like a signature style and I love her style like she always has a crop top cuz she has 20 abs like she is a 26-pack so Jackie’s muscles are insane jackie is insane jackie’s muscles are insane i need the toning we need the toning but she looks good right there we shout out to you Jackie this is my sister of course De’Arra you guys remind me of each other so much my girly girls in the league like you guys are my queen fashion runways you know i love you guys team Lkin you Skyler the whole crew but what about this look what do we love what do we like i don’t I feel like Die’s outfits are just so cute and chic and obviously she’s like mama of two now but she still has the classy like cutesy look to her outfit so she’s pulling out the heels and with the leather burgundy like cherry trench that she has on got the leather got the body yeah everything about business it looks business but then girl you could go to the club in this outfit i would easily wear this too easily right i’m loving this all right Olivia olivia you’re insane for this you’re insane for this cuz you’re not about to go play a basketball game we just said that we were like listen if you going in this you better put a 40 but let alone if I’m leaving in this I don’t care what I put up honey i look this good coming to the game I could sit on the bench i was gagged gagged i said “Girl where’s what?” I was Olivia this outfit is insane insane like look at the face though never decide face card this could be your twin do people confuse you too not really i think I get it more so with D um but this again this outfit was I don’t have no words no notes no comments like I love this outfit she has the body right yeah it looks so good on her now speaking of you being in New York speaking about around the W let’s get into the mix of what’s happening what’s going around the W this week y’all it’s been spicy around the W just so you know there’s been a lot of action there’s been a lot going down i just want to specifically talk to you about the matchup that you guys just had for example against the Fever so it was a showdown i don’t know if y’all know this between Caitlyn Clark and Yanescu they were going back and forth kaylin had 32 shy of her high 35 and then Yanescu had 34 shy of her high 37 it was just I the game besides whatever happened it was a Commissioner Cup by the way so it’s not a regular season game it doesn’t really count but what did you think of the match up between the two of them i mean I honestly didn’t know how Caen was going to respond after being out for I forgot what she was dealing with but she was I believe it was a left quad injury that she’s been out for for a while and they’ve been struggling a little bit they’ve been trying to find their rhythm so I I think she’s the player who like analyzes a lot and you can see like throughout those games she was on the sidelines seeing what they needed to improve and I love that about her because she’s not just a player she’s a really smart player she helps them spots the difference when she was out so I knew she was going to respond but I didn’t know she was going to respond like that you know um but even going with Sab I think uh her mindset into every game is just like so competitive and that’s like one of the things I love i love a lot of things about Sab but that is one thing that I love about Sab because she just brings that inner competitive competitor out of you yes practice game like it does not matter like that girl is ready to go and she’s constantly talking and she’s definitely one of our vocal leaders so I knew Sab was going to go in and go crazy once I saw the outfit i think that Sab you need to wear more of that more of that produces more of that absolutely i’m telling you like the girl looked so good and she played amazing so um I’m I’m here to support Sab and whatever she needs and um get her to her spot so again we’re still learning each other well but it’s been great playing with Sabrina though amazing i mean clicking the chemistry that’s been flowing that game was crazy because both of them were 11 for 20 the fact that they were both the same percentage from the field they were both 11 for 20 from field goal i’m like it was like scoring scoring Kaylin’s team from half court these Sabs hitting from everywhere left layups i was going like this i mean Sab had 22 points just everywhere else besides off the three-point line so I’m going like she was everywhere so I know that was the Commissioners Cup how do you guys feel about the next time you probably see them you know playoff run how do you feel about Caitlyn playoff-wise playoff run Caitlyn yeah i don’t We’ll just have to see i knew that was going to be a game that they were going to throw a lot at us yes so but also at the same time I don’t know if they were prepared to show us everything right right and sorry and neither with you guys because JJ was out john Paul Jones was That’s huge that’s former 2024 MVP of the finals so that’s huge for you guys she’s she is one of the main people in your offense so you guys were without her and I even was seeing that Sandy was saying “Yeah this is fine but this is nowhere near where we are ready for playoffs for that contention.” Like we have a long way to go and I love coach I mean we went on a huge run at the beginning of the season we’re not 9 and0 which is like we never were even franchise record like oh yeah it was the record so yeah we started off really hot and I think everybody was just like ready to do more and more and more but like you’re not going to go the whole season undefeated this league is No one has by the way in the history of the WNBA no one has an undefeated season yeah so like we were never going to to do that but I think we were just focused on being Stewie says this a lot consistently great and hearing that from Stewie I’m just like I love We love Stew York stew York i love I love Stewie and um just hearing her say that it’s just like okay we got out the way we got the loss and credit to Indiana but there was things that obviously we can do better and it was one loss exactly so speaking of teams that are struggling this season one and 11 right now the Dallas Wings we’re speaking of our girl DJ Carrington we love you girl now there was an incident that recently just happened with her and the coach okay okay the team they were up all right this this game just happened i don’t know if you saw heard about it the Vegas game they were up i saw it with about 11 points they were up with about four minutes to go in the fourth in the fourth yeah that’s all that there was this crucial play d Jane asked coach to replay a call that could have probably changed whose possession it was going to be was it off her was it off Chelsea Gray they didn’t know coach didn’t want to listen to Dane he’s like “Nah we got this.” Yeah they go on a 17-2 run the Aces come back and win 88 to 84 mhm and all you see is coach and DJ going at it kind of and I can even see I I’m reading lips i don’t know what coach said Chris but I I don’t know what he said but he goes “Trust me you need to trust me please i got this.” And I was like “I don’t know if I we could trust you my I don’t know if we could trust you my man no shade to them but he has worked with the Suns and Sparks in the past as his first year as head coach right what do you think about that interaction and do you listen to coach does coach listen to you what do you think about that i think DJ is such a a smart defender and she’s a hard defender so on any side of things I think you should have definitely listened to her in that play um but it’s it’s interesting that he came back and said “You need to trust me.” So that kind of lets me know if that is something they’re still working on and it’s still very much early in the season you can kind of tell they’re they’re still working on that aspect um but yeah I I think for that play right there I definitely would have just challenged it just to see like And he had challenges it’s not like he didn’t have challenges yeah but sometimes coaches are a little like hesitant to use the challenge even with us oh I know sometimes I see coach look back and she’s at the looking at the replay team like it’s Stewie or Sad or to saying like you know challenge it let’s see and they either weigh it or not if they can catch it in time should we challenge it or not so I don’t know if their video person didn’t catch it in time and DJ just again had the the she just knew like yeah I didn’t do it I didn’t foul or she was out of l out of bounds um but yeah I just I hope they figure out you know what they got going in Dallas cuz I have a soft spot me too i mean you played for the Wings i have a soft spot for the soft spot for the Wings i do and I want to see them do well and I love Kurt and I love Rick and all the girls down there so I hope I hope they can figure it out and get it together same i love them too they they got a squad they have a very talented squad i think they just need to find their gel and mesh a little bit well and a little bit better speaking of a little bit more clapback uh the Phoenix Mercury for example are clapping back a little bit at the WNBA i don’t know if you know about this but they had a highlight reel um highlighting the Phoenix Mercury won the game but there’s no highlights of them in this 2 minute and like 34 second posted the video the WNBA there’s not one highlight so Phoenix even says “Hey we had to post a twominut four minute reel of all of our Yes of all of our amazing highlights this game just so you guys know because it didn’t look like we won so what what do you think about that what do you think about I mean things just like we won the game you have to put us in in the highlights.” So I don’t know what you know the people in the social side of the W were thinking um I’m sure it wasn’t like ill intent but I see where Phoenix is coming from like yeah you actually have to put our our highlights in there but I believe they’re playing the wings so do you think the WNBA kind of over you know overd does it with their stars type of vibe cuz if I’m looking at it I’m thinking like maybe they Dallas won that game yeah I know that happens a lot honestly if you aren’t able to ever catch a game and you look at highlights sometimes you’re like “But who won the game?” Okay and when the person who actually won it like you don’t you can’t tell from the highlights and sometimes it can be a little tilted towards who’s on that team i’ve definitely seen that before we’ve we’ve seen that before yeah i don’t know if that’s the case here with that and maybe that they’re just trying to push out certain content of certain players i don’t know but I I feel Phoenix on that you got to put my highlights in there you got to do better you got to put the highlights no shade you just got to put the highlights that was Saw’s old team so you got to show Saw playing against her old team come on now that’s why I was like “Is that Shay?” Like “What are y’all doing?” Y’all I don’t know if it was Shane i don’t know i don’t know just do better all right just do better all right now speaking of doing better who’s been killing it and doing her thing rakia Jackson we talked about her you’re also She’s a Tennessee Lady V alumni as well just like our girl Izzy what do you think of Rakia she just had her season high 30 points how did you think of that her performance what do you think of your young lady V i think at the beginning of the season they were still trying to figure out things and I don’t think she was getting as much playing time as I think we’re used to seeing her get um but I know Rakia is just a hard-nosed player and she’s cute but that don’t let that smile fool you that girl will compete against anybody and obviously I know where she gets that from like that’s just the mentality that you have um but yeah I’m I’m glad that I wouldn’t say she was in a slump but I’m glad she got over that whatever was happening at the beginning of the season and now she’s back i also looked at some of the stats she wasn’t playing that much in the beginning i don’t know if it was rotation or what was going on but now I feel like she’s clicking she’s getting more comfortable she’s had a few double double games a few double point games for example but I also feel that other you know with the Unrival League other things I got to see her personally flourish and I feel like that was a good confidence booster cuz I’ve never seen her game attack the way she does the three points the way I’m I’m like and then the game she Exactly she was coming off the dribble attacking slashing i’m like who’s this okay Rakia absolutely so she she was doing her thing i think she left on a high note on her last season yes on her rookie year and um the way she competed and really held it together for that LA team at the time cuz it was that was a a different team for them as well so and they were struggling last year as well right exactly and she was holding them down she definitely was and even seeing her at Unrivaled you can tell like you said like the confidence was growing and she’s just getting more in her bag and I feel like the bag is can even build even from what it is now like that girl is so versatile so facts and that’s this is year two for her so baby she’s a sophomore and she’s going off for 30 her season high last year is 25 who knows what she can go for next 40 whatever but like I’m we’re waiting to see what she got up her sleeve it’s going to be a lot i already know it’s going to be a lot listen and speaking of versatility like she has a lot of different versatility like ways I feel she plays but with that team talking about the ups and the downs of that team Kelsey Plums added to that team yeah I don’t know if you saw she just had a press conference for example talking about the refs the refs the she can’t take it it’s over she’s talked about it this that what do you think about that I mean should she tough it up hey get over it now you’re the star of the team like she didn’t see that much of it last year cuz Asia’s the star and like she didn’t get it and now she’s the attention so you got to step up suck it up what’s going on here or I don’t ever want to say a player has to suck it up because I do probably believe her point in position is very valid cuz she probably is getting fouled a lot she said “I’m getting scratched i’m getting fouled i’m getting hit.” She’s definitely a physical player and you have to do something to stop her especially when she’s going downhill to get to that rim or whatever she’s doing right um but I do feel like a lot of the refereeing this year is getting um more lenient they’re not using their whistle as I’m used to seeing i agree you know I mean I think it helps because it doesn’t slow the game down if you’re not playing you got to stop play i mean we’ve had two games like that this year and it has pissed me off to another level and I mean there’s some games where they swallow their whistle and there’s some games they’re calling everything but it’s not as bad as it was last year so maybe she is you know attracting more light or attention in this LA team now than when she was in Vegas so yeah you’re definitely going to get a lot more attention defensively as well and they don’t want you to get to your spot so they’re probably going to hack you exactly um and I I said this too to somebody to somebody on the bench the other day i was like it’s funny because when you’re playing against New York you feel like they get all the calls but when you’re said that I’m dying laughing yeah but when you’re on the team it’s like the calls we should be getting more calls because like people are actually getting foul you have to foul them to stop them like our team is insane so it’s just interesting to see like the different viewpoints of when you play different teams so I think I think Plum’s seeing that a little bit more like because it’s you don’t have the Asia Jackie Chelsea those pieces around you it’s going to be more focused on you so I think she’s kind of dealing with that right now oh no i definitely agree with that and it’s crazy that you said that with the bumping and all of this that calling these fouls i love it because it doesn’t stop the game it puts more energy into the game it’s flowing fast pace so I mean hey tough it up get a little tougher do do 10 more push-ups before the game girl now we love you Kelsey but I mean we do agree with you as well too and since we on the West West Coast let’s speak of the Valkyries who have been thriving they’re on a three- win streak going on right now they actually are the fastest expansion team in the WNBA to reach five wins so they’ve been doing their thing i know they’ve had trouble jelling cuz you literally took a piece from everybody in the WNBA and said “Hey work together do something culture prior it’s your first year ever as an organization.” So what what do you think of that i think um that front office did a good job of pulling who they pulled because I know a lot of those girls um and you just speak of like players like Veronica Burton yes kayla Thornton yes tiffany Hayes i mean Kate Martin it’s just like you can go Mon’nique Billings like I feel like all of those girls I can see how they’re jelling so well right now truly I really do i think the front office um did a really good job of just pulling good people so I I admire that organization um but I was also thinking too like again they have nothing to lose this is their first year of being in an organization i think they actually lead the league in attendance right now they do people pull up left and right 17,000 plus every game like it’s been insane in there and I mean I love their coach Natalie Nass i love her and I feel like why they’ll do good i just saw something on her and I feel like she’s amazing you know the first Asian-American to play um and be a head coach but also she’s an underdog she’s a walk-on at USC she’s been an underdog she’s she wasn’t like a starter she was an underdog she became captain of the team did her thing that’s what Yeah I relate to that coach men overseas she was one of the head coaches for I think one of the first Asian teams overseas on top of that she was an assistant coach in the NBA for 10 years then coached with Becky Hammond got a chip as the first Asian-American in 2020 uh 2022 and has just been thriving I think ever since but she has this underdog mentality i love that and she says she gets it from her dad but what I love about it is her dad taught her go big or go home type of vibes and you got to leave it all out there and she brings that same mentality I feel to the team cuz I feel like they’re the underdogs in a sense of the league and like if you can build that kremari and everybody and put that battery in everyone’s back right it’s so fun to play just have fun and she says that just have fun and the rest will come because they not to say this in a bad way but they don’t have any expectations but that’s also a positive thing because you can just literally just go out there and play for the love of the game like it’s you’re setting your own records you’re setting your own history just by being the organization that you are so like I said when I see them play it’s like they go all out even when they played against us we played them the first game we did pretty well that second game they responded you You had backto-back games against them the second game was a close game it was a close game it was a very close game y’all smacked her by like 30 the first game and they were like I remember even hear one of the players like “Oh yeah new York will do that.” When they’re on they I heard I was Veronica i overheard her she was like “When New York hits threes and they’re on they’re unstoppable.” Unstoppable and they couldn’t do anything y’all was I think that was one of the games y’all had matched almost your 19 threes we needed one more you y’all needed one more to beat the record we had prior in Chicago so but when we went from that first game to the second game they responded very well and I think it’s a huge part to to Natalie and just the toughness that you can tell she just instills that into them so I I appreciate it as a player i love that and speaking of one of your former teammates oh well technically Liberty but KT now on that team right she’s on that team you see her doing her thing against Skyler Diggins for example i don’t know if you saw her hit the the crazy s face the other day throwing shade at each other i love Skyler like if y’all don’t know Sky is a dog she is a dog i love her to death she is She’ll bring that game you don’t You don’t want no smoke with Sky so I love that so I don’t know if you saw that three when she hit the little SY three and Kayla mocked her i saw at first I was like KT is crazy in itself so I thought it was just her face but then when I saw the side by side I was like “Oh I forgot Skyler did that.” That part but again if you know KT she’s again a dog she likes to compete she has fun when she plays so if anything it just brings more attention to the league and I love that Sky does talk you know trash you saw it a lot in Unrivaled like 100% the girl was talking her ooh ooh and they were the they were the most undefeated team by the way in Unrivaled and I couldn’t believe they couldn’t take the take the chip but yeah why not definitely why not and I just when we I got to be with Skylar like a half a season when we were in Dallas together cuz she just had her baby at that time and even after just having her baby and the way she came in to go into practice was like she was getting ready for a game that’s crazy getting ready for the game but even with KT I was with her in Dallas as well so I just know like they’re both competitors and I’m sure it’s respect on both sides but it’s fun to watch to see things like that and speaking of all the luck you have great luck you have a good season you’re making your mark now in New York let’s talk about you in New York what it’s like this comeback season for you let’s talk about that i mean New York has been a blessing to me i’ve been like it’s like a breath of fresh air here it truly is and I just been so welcome from the city like everybody that sees me they’re like “Welcome to the Liberty.” Like the fans they love me being able to just be supported and being here is just like again it’s a breath of fresh air i knew going into free agency I wanted to be in a place where I felt valued and I felt you know utilized that was huge for me um and I think when I started to do my free agency calls I just remember Sandy saying like I know you as a person i know your character and I think that is what just kind of pushed me to come to New York cuz I just want to be a part of this championship mentality that they have here everything here is elite and you just really have to worry about basketball and that’s all I’ve ever wanted and some teams that’s not always the case and that is the case here in New York and I’m I’m blessed that I get to go and work with the players that I do every single day 100% i mean you speak of eliteness and I feel like you’re a perfect fit New York you came from the legendary Pat Summit from her program so how do you think working with her being coached by her has shaped your game today to be ready for this elite role right here in New York i mean I mean don’t get me wrong this is a completely new system for me as well um so I’m still adjusting to that and a lot of people don’t know the work that goes into making that perfected right it’s a lot of work and a lot of reps so what y’all see all the time is like it’s a work in progress and it looks great right now but there’s still so many things that we can tweak and build on it’s like it’s insane i love playing this way of this style of basketball um but I feel like with with Pat she’s just taught me to appreciate playing basketball period and you know she lost her life to Alzheimer’s early onset Alzheimer’s and I remember when I first did my knee my senior year in 2015 I tore my ACL and she was still going to rehab and obviously I’m like the world’s over i had a draft in like two months that’s hard man yeah i worked so hard to get to that point and I tear my ACL that close to the draft so obviously I’m devastated and Pat just takes her dog up into my Valhall apartment at Tennessee and comes and checks on me in the midst of her you know going through what she went through and it just kind of gave me a different perspective the of the game and when you can play it you play it as hard as you can and you learn as much as you can but you also enjoy the moment like these are memories that I’m going to have for the rest of my life and you can’t play forever but being able to put your best into the now is just what makes it a even sweeter memory so I’m just glad I can put that energy into this New York team and obviously build off of what they had last year and just bring my best all right y’all it’s time for the biggest fan of the week you know this is one of my favorite segments as well and this goes out to a fan celebrity anybody that is a huge supporter one of women and the W and everything that’s going on and this week we got to show love give her her flowers not only for what she does on and off of her court but we love you Coco Golf it goes to the French Open world champion right now Cocoa Golf for killing and doing her thing she pulled up to the New York Liberty game you was there girl talk about it how was the atmosphere i don’t think I’ve ever heard in my life wow the applause the energy the screaming the standing ovation i’ve never heard anything like that they announced her name but I still get I get goosebumps i have goosebumps cuz it was it was insane and by the way that was her first WNBA game so I when So there’s a lot of celebrities that come to the New York Liberty Games period and I’ve never heard anybody cheer as loud as they did as they did for Coco so for her to she came into the locker room afterwards and was like I’ve never felt that embrace before and you you felt that like you felt how much everybody loved and supported that girl and when I tell you like you never know what you expect when you meet a celebrity so when we met her she just feels like your little sis like your friend your cousin yeah like so cool like cool down she be playing you know tennis and like she go home and like get on TikTok like I love that about her speaking of Tik Tok you guys did a Tik Tok with her how did that come about did she ask did you guys How did y’all get down cuz y’all have the cutest Tik Tok ever yeah so the day before see ATL and everyone’s like why why did y’all put ATL by the way she’s from ATL if y’all didn’t know this so go ahead there’s reasons to everything that we do exactly go ahead though but we our um social media manager Charlie the night before she was like “What kind of Tik Toks y’all want to do with Charlie?” So I’m like “Not with Charlie with Coco.” So I sent like five to her cuz I’m like I want to try to get every dance I can with Coco so we get into the locker room and we’re kind of like saying hi but we’re not really sure if the Tik Tok is going to like happen so of course Tosh is like you know Tash go “All right Coco all right Coco we about to take this Tik Tok and I have an idea.” So the way we did the dance that’s not how you do it but Tash was thinking like we went to her to like come out through the back it was so cute and like literally we all stood and we were all on the same page cuz we were so ready to do a TikTok with Coco it was perfect ate that y’all ate that she killed it yeah but she was so sweet she reposted it and she actually did another Tik Tok talking about how much she loved coming to the Liberty game it’s like only the Liberty nah for real you guys killed it y’all did it listen the energy in the arena was insane and Coco we love you you’re welcome back to any game you ever want to come back to in a W but you got to come back to a Liberty game soon cuz the arena loves you you New York loves you the world loves you and we just want to shout you out for showing the W some love and this one goes to you fan of the week Cocoa Queen Golf y’all let me come to the US Open yes let us Can we come to the US Open i’ll hold your back i I’ll be the ball girl whatever you need whatever you need i’ll be the racket girl whatever you need water i don’t care water water girl we’ll be your water girls we will look cute in those little tennis outfits you know what I’m saying we could work it out i really just want to I did tennis when I was in college and I always said like I wanted to play like in my fun like free time for the outfits i love it so you What other sports you play just tennis and basketball oh no i did a lot okay i did a lot i was track softball volleyball okay um and I actually did baton twirling as well you did baton twirling bat flicks so we might have to get you at a Liberty game to do a halftime performance a specialy baton twirling performance can you throw it really high in between your legs type like that i could throw it up do a cartwheel we’re going to have a We’re going to have a Liberty Talent Day show we are going to have a Liberty Talent Day show all right time for Swiss or spill so Izzy here’s how it works you’re going to shoot on the rim if you make it you’re safe if you miss okay we get some spiciness going on we get to ask you a few questions all right so here we go izzy let’s get it rolling you got this boom little bounce pass what we got what we got you calling it off the glass is it bank she’s calling bank oh that is a bank bank all on the rim so here you go Izzy first question it’s the real who is a WNBA player who talks way too much smack way too much way too much talk way too much trash who talks way too much trash way too much that’s like okay that’s a lot yeah that’s a lot like is there someone that irks you maybe or someone that’s annoying like yo I don’t think anybody just shut up i don’t think anybody irks me like that no one irks me like that but I also I’m not a smack I don’t start the smack talk like I’m not You back it up you finish it absolutely yeah i I talk what I need to do um but I feel like so many people talk in the game i don’t know you could say it’s too much i feel like everybody when you get to that level everybody’s going to say what they got to say yeah okay all right one more shot here we go we got best out of three what we got what we got oh another brick don’t worry about that here we go i miss it on purpose though next question what WNBA couple would be the toughest two verse two matchup for you and Cloud T Cloud if you had to choose another couple who would it be couple i mean I feel like D Jane maybe and Alyssa could be tough who could be tough who could be tough who’s another couple maybe at DB and at Cuz me and Tosh can guard but I don’t know if we can guard all that we going to have to try to switch or like I’m going have to take somebody’s knees out i don’t know what we going to have to do that would be a tough That would be a tough I I would pay for that that would be spicy that you know that that would be spicy all right it’s last shot here we go here we go you got to hit one you got to hit one let’s go come on soft touch buckets oh yes okay here we are three for three i’m one okay let’s go okay all right so your most awkward fan encounter let’s go i know you got a good one what do you got what you got i have had a fan um ask me on a date really before after a game they asked me on a date did you go no no never seen this fan again they wanted my contact information and everything and they actually messaged me on uh Instagram afterwards yeah and I had to persistent people are very persistent with me i need a real I need somebody like that in my life okay i need that that type of persistency you need to chase me stalk me like obsess over i have that pensity in my life now but the fans I I can’t do that no sorry well listen Izzy Isabelle Harrison we love you thank you so much for your honesty your energy your amazing good vibes we wish you nothing but the best of luck and we can’t wait to cheer and root you on all season so thank you for stopping around the W presented by Sports Illustrated i’m your host Maria Clifton aka DJ Ria and we’ll be back with you guys next week so tune in bye y’all [Music]