The Belgian Blueprint: How Pascal Angillis Is Helping the Connecticut Sun Reimagine Basketball Connecticut Sun Assistant Coach Pascal Angillis walks the sideline. Photo: Anthony Price.  The Connecticut Sun players said their goodbyes on the court at Mohegan Sun Arena in September, then disappeared into the fog of the offseason. The 2025, campaign had been a bitter one—an 11-33 finish that left them at the bottom of the WNBA standings. President Jennifer Rizzotti and GM Morgan Tuck now face the task of performing an autopsy on a season billed as a “reset” in the spring—but smelling like rotten fish in the summer heat—punctuated by an 0-5 start and a ten-game losing streak. Their job, along with the coaching staff, is to diagnose what went wrong and craft a plan to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself. There will be no quick fixes. Breakfast Talk The Sun embraced a European basketball philosophy in late 2024 when they hired France’s Rachid Meziane, the first French head coach in WNBA history. The roster stressed youth and optimism over WNBA experience. To discuss the season, I met assistant coach Pascal Angillis—born in Belgium— over breakfast at Diana’s in Uncasville, a small-town diner wrapped in bright red, white and blue Americana. Angillis arrived in a Sun baseball hat, a white Belgium Olympics jacket, dark shorts, and sneakers. At 6-foot-2, he has the height of a guard and the heft of a fullback. He speaks with quiet confidence, not for effect, shaped by years coaching both men’s and women’s basketball. This Belgian is locked into the game. Over the din of patrons in crowded booths, the clang of metal on a hot grill underscored our conversation. The aroma engulfed the dining area—a welcome reprieve from the grind of a WNBA season that runs at full tilt from mid-May to early September.  Blueberry pancakes at Breakfast at Diana's, Uncasville, Connecticut. Photo: Anthony Price So, I was done with basketball. I didn’t want to work in an environment where something happens to my family, I get cut loose. I ordered a towering stack of blueberry pancakes fit for a giant. Angillis went for the 3-egg Farmer’s omelette with Swiss cheese, homemade hash, cinnamon raisin toast, home fries and coffee. “This is going to be great,” he said, eyes wide behind his glasses. Before joining the Sun, Angillis spent 15 years coaching in Belgium’s men’s professional basketball league. But in 2019, his life was upended when his youngest son—then 9 years old—was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the season. Angillis left to care for him through chemotherapy, only to be abruptly terminated by the team. “So, I was done with basketball,” he said. “I didn’t want to work in an environment where something happens to my family, I get cut loose.” (His son is healthy now, celebrating five years since the diagnosis.) To support his family, Angills took a corporate job with a hardware chain of more than 40 stores, serving as the link between the front office and the stores. From 2020 to March 2025, basketball took a back seat, though he stayed close to the game through some freelance TV commentary.  Back in the Game Little did Angillis know that basketball would once again take center stage. Three years into his corporate job, he received a surprise call from the Belgian women’s national basketball team—the Belgian Cats. New York Liberty’s Emma Meesseman, whom Angillis had previously coached, had quietly recommended him to the federation. “I didn’t know anything about it,” Angillis said, still sounding amazed. He has made it a personal rule to never go asking for a coaching job. “She never called me about it, or anything,“ he added. “She’s very humble. So, she says something like, ‘Hey, I want the best people here,’ and taps you on the shoulder, and that’s it.” (It was the first time he’d shared this story in public.) He soon met the team’s new head coach, Rachid Meziane, and the two immediately hit it off. Angillis was hired, and from the outset he knew the team had a chance to win a championship, especially since France was playing without WNBA stars Marine Johannès and Gabby Williams. “We knew our strength—playing as a team at both ends of the floor—would give us a big chance to win,” he said. Belgium proved him right, defeating Spain 64-58 to capture the 2023 FIBA European Championship. They followed it with a fourth-place finish at the Paris Olympics, after losing to Australia in the bronze medal game. Looking back on that championship run, Angillis credits Meziane’s leadership. “Rachid was the right person to coach that team because Rachid was able to make everybody feel good and comfortable on the court.” That’s one of the qualities that make Rachid a special coach, according to Angillis.  Sun's assistant coach Pascal Angillis (Center), Photo: Stephen Joyner Jr. Damn, this is 100 points in two days! Lighting struck twice. Mike Thibault—the former Sun coach and Washington Mystics GM— took over the Belgian national team and invited Angillis to stay on. He accepted, and Belgium went on to repeat as champions. Angillis recalls the lead-up with a laugh. After a 100-52 loss to the New York Liberty in June—the worst in Sun history—he left for Europe the next day. Belgium promptly lost a friendly to France by 50 points. “Damn, this is 100 points in two days!” he said. But the team rebounded, holding off Spain, 67-65, in front of close to 8,000 fans to claim back-to-back EuroBasket titles—becoming only the third team ever to defend its crown. “Honestly, I don’t think it will ever be done again,” Angillis said. “Definitely not for a Belgian team.” Airport Connection A chance encounter in the Brussels airport set Angillis on his path to the WNBA. He ran into Meziane and his team, and Meziane casually mentioned that he was taking the coaching job with the Sun. “I want you to come with me,” he told Angillis. “And I’m like, yeah, whatever,” Angillis recalled. “Well, that’s not going to work.” However, a short time later, he received a call from Sun GM Tuck while he was in California. It was happening. And that’s how he became a WNBA assistant coach. Family was the deciding factor. “If my wife, Thiaba, and kids had not been aligned, I would not have taken the job,” he said. The couple, married for 27 years, are raising five children, ages 15 to 23. Angillis is no stranger to America. As a teenager, he left Belgium to play basketball at Lakewood High School in Long Beach, California, living with coach Tim Sweeney’s family. He went on to play at Long Beach City College and Rockford University before a professional career back home. He lived with the Sweeney family for seven years. “They became my second family, to the point that my kids call them grandma and grandpa. Their sons are like my brothers, and I’m godfather to their kids. They’re godparents to my kids. We’re like family.” Europe vs America Angillis has witnessed the differences between European and American basketball—on and off the court. 1.Playing Style and Mentality According to Angillis, American players often rely on their individual abilities to carry a team, while European teams emphasize collective play. “I think most, most of the European players are team first,” he said. “I don’t feel that’s always the case in America.” But it’s not selfishness—it’s confidence. “They (American players) think, ‘if I can get my stuff, then I’m going to carry the team, and we’re going to win.’” “He believes the difference is largely cultural. European teams historically, haven’t had the same level of athleticism as their American counterparts, forcing them to find other ways to win. “For that, you need to dig deeper into your fundamentals, into your team play, into sacrifice,” he said, sounding like a coach at a clinic. At times, the Sun’s adoption of Meziane’s ball-movement philosophy stalled, especially with a young roster still learning to trust the system. Early losses didn’t help his case.  Pascal Angillis at Sun practice. Photo: Stephen Joyner Jr. 1.Preparation and Practice The structure of the season is another major difference. In Europe basketball, teams hold six-week training camps before league play begins, allowing coaches to install detailed team principles. “In six weeks, you can work on a ton of team principles,” Angillis explained. “In the States, you’ve got 10 days—you have to give them (the players) a couple days off. It’s hard to get those principles in.” The Sun had only about six days of practice before the season started, including two friendly games—hardly enough time to build the kind of cohesive style Meziane wanted. 2.Role Acceptance and Lineups European players also tend to be more flexible about starting roles. “Here, you’ve got to be a starter,” Angillis said. “A lot of times in Europe, coaches bring some of their best players off the bench because what they want is when you start subbing, the weak get better.” He pointed to guard Saniya Rivers as an example. “Saniya, to me, played a lot better when she was coming off the bench than when she was starting. And, okay, I think for certain players, it’s a really hard sell, I mean not starting Marina. That’s like moving heaven and earth, you know? I think maybe later in her career, she would appreciate it.” Throughout his career, Angillis has coached players who embraced coming off the bench and thrived, proving that with the right mindset, the approach can work. That’s like moving heaven and earth, you know?  Marina Mabrey hugs Saniya Rivers after a Sun win. Photo: Brian Davey. Never Stop Improving During the Sun’s ten-game losing streak, the coaching staff never lost focus. They pored over the game videos searching for ways to improve. “We felt like we would eventually turn it around, especially knowing that Leila [Lacan] was going to come in,” Angillis said. It was a brutal stretch, but Meziane never got discouraged. “Rachid always tried to point out some good things, even after all the losses,” Angillis recalled. “He would come in the locker room and still talk about some of the good things, tell everybody to stick together, everybody to keep working.” The calm steadiness set the tone. “He was very serene and calm during that whole process,” Angillis said. The staff never stopped believing. Another key turning point came in practice. “I also think a big thing that helped turn it around—Leila for sure—when we started getting quality guys in practice. The whole first part of the season,” Angillis explained, “we were practicing against ourselves, or we had a couple of guys, you know, they couldn’t play.” Next Year The ghosts of past success will linger over the Connecticut Sun this offseason. The Sun’s front office and coaching staff must lead the way to chart a new course. Complicating matters are league-wide challenges that could delay the 2026 season. The Sun are navigating the expected sale of the franchise—a process entangled in a tug-of-war between the Mohegan Tribe’s wishes and the NBA’s influence over WNBA operations. On top of that, a new collective bargaining agreement must be negotiated, and an expansion draft looms with new teams in Portland and Toronto. The Sun will likely lose at least one key player to other teams, just like Veronica Burton left last season for the Golden State Valkyries. Despite the uncertainty, there are reasons for optimism. With Meziane and his coaching staff expected to return, year two of the European experience should start on firmer footing. All players will be in training camp from day one, the coaching staff will have a better grasp of the American system, and the players will know what to expect from Meziane. Add in the continued growth of young talents like Rivers, Lacan, and Aneesah Morrow, and the Sun have a strong foundation to build on—if the season starts on time. Next year, excuses won’t cut it—the Sun will either rise again or stay stuck in the fog. ### Anthony Price is an entrepreneur, author and publisher of CT Hoops Magazine. Around the Sun is a weekly column about the Connecticut Sun.
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