INDIANAPOLIS – After four days of training camp practice, the Indiana Fever are ready to go up against a team other than themselves. The Fever will play their preseason opener on the road against the Dallas Wings on Friday; it’ll be the first chance to see how this year’s team performs.

With new additions like No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark, free-agent wing Katie Lou Samuelson, and subsequent draftees Celeste Taylor and Leilani Correa, the Fever’s preseason outings will reveal a lot about the team. Although the game doesn’t count on the record, the Fever want to start the 2024 season off right.

“I mean, we're all competitors, right?” Fever head coach Christie Sides said. “We want to win. If it comes down to it, we're playing to win the game. But we're also going to make sure that we're playing to figure out what's best for our team right now.”

The Fever will head into Friday’s game with predetermined alignments and rotations for the first half. As the game progresses into the second half, the team plans to toggle its lineups based on what seems to be working on the floor.

Much of the Fever’s two weeks of training camp and two preseason games will be about figuring out who will make the final roster. The Fever’s roster currently stands at 15 spots, including Brazilian forward Damiris Dantas who’s not currently with the team due to visa complications. Sides and the organization have to trim the roster to 12 by the regular season opener on May 14. Seeing how everyone plays together in true game action could decide who the team keeps.

“We're gonna run different rotations, we want to look at different lineups,” Sides said. “We want to go in there to win, but we also gotta get something out of it.”

College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, has sold out for the Fever. As has become common when Clark visits, the arena will be packed. That means the first game in the careers of Indiana’s three rookies will have an added pressure to them.

“I'm kind of one to not pay attention to the crowd,” Taylor said. “It's kind of hard when they're so loud, but when I'm on the court and I'm focused on the game, that's what I’m focused on, that’s what my attention is towards. It's another game. The nerves are going to be there, so it's just about playing through them.”

Sides understands that starting Friday, her team will be playing in front of large crowds all season long. Whether it be the fans in the stands or the intensity other teams bring against the Fever, every game will have its challenges. The Fever spent this week preparing for it.

“This week was about mental toughness,” Sides said. “We wanted to make sure that those guys felt it. It had to be hard this week, and I really liked how they responded to that.”

With Clark being the first overall pick and a point guard, opponents will do all they can to limit her effectiveness. As Fever All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell recovers from an ankle injury, Clark will likely draw the Wings’ toughest defensive player.

The coaching staff wants to keep Clark calm with the high expectations surrounding her. Through a week of practice, her emotions haven’t been much of an issue.

“She's just even keeled,” Sides said. “I mean, she's a competitor. She's really upset about how she shot the ball the other day in our scrimmage, so I've seen her in the gym working on that.”

Sides wants to see the entire team improve from how they’ve shot the ball this week in practice. After a 13-27 season in Side’s first year at the helm, she’s tasked with trying to get the franchise back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

While it won’t truly count, the Fever’s Friday night matchup against the Wings will be the first chance for the franchise to turn the page in 2024.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever open 2024 preseason on the road against the Dallas Wings