Los Angeles, CA- No. 4 USC played for more than a big win against No. 22 Michigan State,83-65, as they donned their special home white and pink uniforms to honor legendary coach Kay Yow’s cancer awareness initiative while supporting teammate and local ambassador, senior Rayah Marshall.
Marshall’s Southern California native teammates, JuJu Watkins and KiKi Iriafen, both acknowledged Marshall as inspiration for scoring big off the court in giving back to help such causes while the dynamic duo scored huge for a combined 52 points to beat another Big Ten nationally ranked conference opponent.
“It’s always a privilege to play for something bigger than yourself,” USC Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “To have this be our play for Kay game is big for us, and if you don’t know, we call it our Ray for Kay game.”
USC (24-2, 14-1) opened with a big lead on a 13-2 run during the first quarter and held a 10-point lead over Michigan State (19-7, 9-6) into halftime, 41-31. The Women of Troy shot 40 percent from the floor and was just as efficient from the free throw line, going 14-of-18 in a physical first half resulting in a free throw fest.
“Kiki and JuJu are the best duo and they played like it tonight,“ Gottlieb acknowledged her big-time star players. “We got great contribution across the board, but turned it over too many times in the fourth.”
The Spartans shot 32.3 percent and ahead on rebounds 21-19 in the first half. However, USC made a big turnaround in the second half to finish out with 45, eight more than Michigan State. Both teams turn their defensive pressure up, forcing turnovers and high-percentage baskets in transition with both teams shooting over 40 percent for the game.
“Who wouldn’t want to play with KiKi when all you have to do is give her the ball and she creates her own shot,” Watkins said about her big partner this season. “She motivates our team to be competitive and gives a lot of energy on both ends of the court.”
Watkins herself got caught into a concerned position after some kind of entanglement with her neck during an altercation near the free throw line that sent her immediately back to their locker room for a brief moment before returning to the game.
“Yeah my neck, I got it tied up,” Watkins described. “I was a little bit shocked but then I was fine.”
Watkins and Iriafen, the team’s dynamic duo, extended their streak of both scoring in double figures. Watkins, ended with 28 points and another double-double from Iriafen, amassing 24 points and 10 boards despite accruing 6 turnovers late in the game. Freshman Kennedy Smith added 13 points, while Marshall grabbed 12 rebounds.
Grace VanSlooten led Michigan State with a season-high, 29 points, and Julia Ayrault scored 16 points plus picked up 10 boards while Theron Hallock gave the Spartans 12 points for three players to show up on the stat sheet in double digits.
USC took a 13-point lead in the first two minutes of the second half, 48-35. Followed up by back-to-back buckets from Iriafen driving to the rim, then an outside corner three from Smith to maintain that 13-point margin midway through the third.
Freshmen backup point Kayleigh Heckel came off the bench for a big spark on offense as well as break down the Spartans’ 2nd half full-court pressure after USC went up 17 points.
Yet Michigan State wasn’t going away that easy forcing the freshmen and a few turnovers to fuel a big run that forced USC to call a quick timeout as coach Gottlieb watched her team unravel a little bit with their lead dwindling down towards the end of the third quarter.
Another USC freshman off the bench, Avery Howell, put a stop to another late run of Michigan State after a set play out of a timeout manifested into a Howell triple, followed by a turnover through a steal and quick transition left-handed layup from Smith. This series of plays built up a bigger lead to make the score, 69-49 before the Spartans again hit a last-second basket entering the fourth.
“For a freshman to come in and be a vocal presence consistently, I think is a special quality,” Coach Gottlieb speaking about Howell. “She gives us huge minutes and we can’t get where we want to go unless everyone is contributing in a way that they can…”
The Spartans eventually kept into their full-court press zone, causing USC problems with scoring for the first five minutes of the fourth, before Marshall stopped the bleeding with a breakaway layup down the middle to put her team up 14, 72-58. The Spartans found another wind, and it was a six-point game at 74-68 with 4:00 left.
USC shot back again with a little shake-n-bake crossover by Smith followed by a nifty move from Watkins to snatch the momentum for good with 2:45 remaining, to go up 78-68. The Spartans made a final push, looking to stretch the game in its final minutes, but the Trojans called it with their big guards stepping up big to battle at the end of the night and making big-time plays on both ends of the court.
“In terms of the fourth quarter, I’ll speak for myself, I was a little frantic under all their pressure, Iriafen said. “Definitely will work on it so I don’t have as many turnovers as I did to not be in a rush or allow the other team to hurry us.”
Watkins came up clutch with a dagger to hold off a nonstop pressuring Spartan team and then a gut knockout from Smith to fight on and get another big victory for a big night full of big game supporters, some are thrivers having survived cancer. Now getting to witness the Women of Troy hand Michigan State another hard-fought loss on their West Coast visit.
