JuJu Watkins’ season-ending injury casts shadow over USC advancing to Sweet 16
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The Galen Center crowd sat in hushed disbelief, every cardinal-and-gold soul struggling to process a scene that seemed ripped straight from their worst nightmares: USC’s superstar lying crumpled on the court, clutching her right knee, her cries rising to the rafters where she hoped a banner would soon hang.
JuJu Watkins, for the better part of two seasons, seemed nothing short of invincible. The sophomore surpassed every sensible expectation with stunning grace, never wavering even as she bore the weight of an entire program. She already captivated the college basketball world, and in the process, dragged the Trojans back from the depths of obscurity to the doorstep of tournament glory, just a few short steps away from a Final Four.
That pursuit felt well within their reach through 30 wins this season and just over five minutes of Monday’s first quarter, before Watkins barreled toward the basket in transition and her right knee buckled inexplicably beneath her. Right away, she fell to the court, writhing in pain. Right away, hope took a sharp turn into dread.
The devastating confirmation from USC wouldn’t come until later, hours after the team stamped its ticket to the Sweet 16 in a bittersweet 96-59 win over Mississippi State: Watkins sustained a season-ending knee injury, and the Trojans were dealt a blow to their championship hopes.
Though, as Watkins lay screaming on the hardwood, clutching her knee, the grim reality seemed plenty clear in the moment. Her teammates surrounded her, doing their best to block her anguish from the view of nearby photographers, before trainers arrived to help her.
But there was little solace anyone could offer, then or in the game’s aftermath.
Watkins was unable to stand on her own, so USC’s trainers carried her to the locker room. She was taken immediately to Keck Medical Center, where an MRI confirmed the worst-case scenario.
Still, there was a game to play and a Sweet 16 bid to secure. As Watkins was carried up the tunnel, coach Lindsay Gottlieb gathered her team to regroup.
But Rayah Marshall, the Trojans’ senior leader, could see that their coach, too, was shaken up. She tried to console her.
“I’d be lying,” Gottlieb said later, “if I said I wasn’t rattled seeing JuJu lying on the floor, crying.”
She steeled herself as best she could in the huddle, knowing how critical the coming hours would be without Watkins.
“I just tried to look people in the eye and say we can do this,” Gottlieb said. “We’ve got this. We need everybody. Stay focused and locked in on the task at hand.”
That refrain will surely become a rallying cry in the coming days, as USC does its best to move forward without Watkins, on whom the Trojans’ entire operation has hinged. But for one night, at least, that cry appeared to resonate.
When the game continued, boos rained down from every corner of the arena whenever Mississippi State touched the ball. An already physical game grew increasingly chippy. With every escalation, the crowd roared on in a raucous crescendo.
“They fed into that,” point guard Talia von Oelhoffen said of the crowd, “and we fed into that. It gave us energy.”
None proved as uplifting as Kiki Iriafen, the bubbly senior forward who transferred to USC knowing she would take on a supporting role behind Watkins. But in her absence, Iriafen looked every bit like a star, scoring a season-high 36 points on 16-for-22 shooting.
She wasn’t the only one who stepped up to fill the void. Marshall added four blocks, as well as an unexpected buzzer-beating three-pointer that left her raising her arms in elation. Kennedy Smith had 10 points and five steals, and backup guards Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel combined for 31 points.
“Respectfully, nobody cares on this big stage that we lost [Watkins],” Iriafen said. “For us, it’s just that we want to make sure we got the job done [and] our season to be extended.”
That part was never really in doubt, as USC will face No. 5 seed Kansas State on Saturday in Spokane, Wash. But as the Trojans continued to increase their lead, even without Watkins, a night that might have otherwise felt like a funeral instead became something different entirely.
“I always thought, throughout the year, that if we had something to work on, which would be when things didn’t go right right away, sometimes we [got] stressed out,” Gottlieb said. “But how about this? Something didn’t go right for us. You never want anyone to go down, especially someone like JuJu, that we all lean on in so many ways.
“But this team rallied. They rallied for her. They rallied for each other.”
