Los Angeles, CA – JuJu Watkins was already having an early off shooting night, missing her first few jumpers and a free throw, before going down in between two Mississippi State defenders while dribble driving hard in transition. Immediately once she planted her right foot and collapsed to her right side onto the floor, she grabbed her knee in a curled up fetal position, silencing the arena except an emotional cry out, “flagrant, flagrant foul” by JuJu’s mother in the crowd.
Minutes later after reviewing the play, officials deemed it a common foul following USC trainers carrying out Watkins as her head coach looked onward to the rest of her team and coaching staff while the crowd cheered them on the remainder of the game.
Midway through the first quarter, USC led 13-2, en route to punching their ticket for their consecutive second sweet 16 round, yet uncertain of their superstar leading scorer status.
The Women of Troy remained focus, sustaining their lead for the entire game, despite Watkins not returning, they rallied in another convincingly win over the Bulldogs, 96-59.
Shortly after the game after 10:30pm, a team spokesperson said Watkins succumbed to a season-ending injury and would undergo surgery then begin rehabilitation.
At the time of the postgame press conference USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said this in part: “I’m feeling a lot of emotions right now, but the biggest one is pride.”
Coach Gottlieb continued, “you never want anyone to go down especially someone like JuJu whom we all lean on in so many ways but this team rallied for her, they rallied for each other and for our fans whom had our back.”
The sea of USC fans spread across Galen Center showing immense support after their brief startled silence before shifting into ongoing crowd roaring boos towards Mississippi State team as well as their cheerleaders during halftime.
“Just shows how ride or die our fans are and we really appreciate them,” senior KiKi Iriafen said. “As a number one seed that is what you’re most grateful for, having your fans behind you because it can be the edge tipping when you’re in close games.”
Iriafen whom came close to posting another career double-double, led and carried her team with scoring a season- high 36 points, shooting 73 percent from the field and grabbing 9 rebounds.
Without Watkins now, freshmen Kennedy Smith, Kayleigh Heckel and Avery Howell stepped up as the other dominant scoring options for USC. Howell hit one of three buzzer beaters for the game, finishing with 18 points and six assists against a very tough defensive minded team.
“I think we expected the game to be physical,” Howell said. “I think our team came with the mindset that we’re not going to get punked by anyone.”
Jerkaila Jordan led Mississippi State with 17 points. Mississippi State had no answer for USC though they played hard without quitting before USC ran out the clock. After the game, heated words got exchanged among both teams that caused a few student-athletes to be separated and held back by their coaching staff and teammates.
“This is a human game and so I obviously tried my best to be what I need to be for the team, but internally it’s a lot, coach Gottlieb said holding back tears.
USC will seek to avenge their previous season Elite Eight loss in Watkins’ freshman debut against UConn and their star player, Paige Bueckers. But will have to first figure out how to win in a regional final against Kansas State in Spokane, Washington, without Watkins.
