There were no illusions among USC basketball players, coaches or fans entering Monday night’s Elite Eight game against UConn. Everyone knew not having JuJu Watkins was likely to matter against the Huskies and their healthy superstar, Paige Bueckers. UConn and iconic coach Geno Auriemma were going to be a handful for USC with JuJu Watkins able to play. Without No. 12 on the court for USC, this was always going to be a distinct uphill battle.
Underdogs in basketball have to play well above average to have any chance. They generally need to play great to have a better-than-even chance. The margins were slim. USC had to thread the needle. The Trojans, without their best player, couldn’t do that. UConn won a matchup of top-two seeds which — everyone would agree — lost some of its blockbuster power as soon as JuJu Watkins tore her ACL one week ago. The Huskies will again go to the Final Four. USC will once again settle for an Elite Eight result. The Trojans didn’t fail so much as the fates dealt them a bad hand this March. This was a great team which lost its greatest player at the most important time of the season. Sports can be cruel, and USC learned that lesson at full force in Spokane.
Let’s talk about this game, which marked the end of another special season from USC women’s basketball. The Trojans did the best they could; we will never get to know how this UConn game would have turned out with JuJu Watkins on the court:
Rayah Marshall with a fitting, forceful finale
Rayah Marshall has given everything to USC, so it was fitting that Marshall scored in double figures in the first half in an inspired final perfomance in a Trojan uniform. Marshall ended with 23 points and 15 rebounds, leaving the court having given her very best to her school and her teammates. Rayah is the heartbeat of USC, a leader and warrior who trusted Lindsay Gottlieb before JuJu Watkins came into the program. It was Marshall who helped USC make the NCAA Tournament in 2023, setting the table and raising expectations in LA so that Gottlieb could land elite recruits and enable this program to take off. Rayah Marshall is easily one of the most special USC players ever. That she played well in her last game as a Trojan is deeply moving, even though it was part of a defeat one stop short of the Final Four.
Kiki Iriafen had no room for error
Kiki Iriafen frankly needed to score 35 points for USC to have a good chance of winning. Naturally, that’s an impossibly high bar to set for her or any player. This was not an expectation for her, just to be very clear. This was an “if USC is going to win as a 14-point underdog, special things will have to happen” type of comment. Iriafen played with great effort and commitment, but she didn’t hit nearly enough shots in another tough night from the field. UConn was just too tough.
Iriafen now prepares for the 2025 WNBA draft. She learned from two great but very different coaches in college, Tara VanDerveer at Stanford and then Lindsay Gottlieb at USC. That’s a graduate school-level basketball education. We will see how this translates for her in the pros. She will need to become a much more consistent mid-range jump shooter if she wants a long WNBA career.
Kennedy Smith, tenacious to the very end
JuJu Watkins is a world-class competitor. Right there alongside her is Kennedy Smith. Those are the two Trojans who hate to lose more than any others — not that the others don’t hate losing too (they do), but JuJu and Kennedy really are in a class by themselves in terms of being offended when they don’t make a good play. They come right back and insist on doing better. It’s what makes them such successful basketball players.
Smith’s energy was once again off the charts, and she helped USC get an early 11-5 lead. However, Smith’s shot — which ran hot and cold this season — was not on target in a game when the Trojans needed to hit 3-pointers. That will be Smith’s number one focus in the offseason: Improve her jump shot.
Freshmen get an education
The USC freshmen this season have been wonderful. Smith, Avery Howell, and Kayleigh Heckel have all made huge contributions to this team. They were part of a No. 1-ranked recruiting class and helped this program win a Big Ten title and earn a No. 1 seed in March Madness. This class lived up to the hype this season. However, against UConn’s experienced guards, the reality of not having been on a stage this big came into focus. The freshmen’s limitations were exposed. That’s not an indictment of them. It’s just how things usually work in college sports. Freshmen typically have to learn how to beat the very best at the highest level. This UConn loss should serve as a huge growth point for Smith, Howell, and Heckel going into the offseason. They didn’t have their A-game against UConn. Building their skill sets so that they will be ready for an Elite Eight game 12 months from now is the goal.
3-point shooting
When a basketball team is an underdog — and even more specifically, when that team is shorthanded (without JuJu Watkins) — it has to compensate for its limitations by hitting a lot of 3-pointers. The 3-point shot is a great equalizer in basketball. A team which isn’t as strong or deep or proven can get hot from 3-point range and shift the competitive balance in its favor. I felt USC needed to hit at least 12 3-pointers to have a real chance without JuJu.
Safe to say, that did not happen. It didn’t come close to happening.
USC’s returning players other than Avery Howell will need to develop their jumpers. Lindsay Gottlieb, in the transfer portal, needs to find a deadeye shooter as well. The Trojans will reach the next level when they become an elite 3-point shooting team.
Painful USC math for JuJu Watkins
At the end of the third quarter, UConn had made seven 3-point shots, while USC was 1 of 9. The Trojans were getting blasted from the 3-point line. Given that pair of stats, one might have thought UConn would be up by 25 to 30 points and running away with the game. No. USC was down only five points in spite of being outshot from the perimeter. Just imagine what this game probably would have looked like with JuJu Watkins on the floor. If she played and had a relatively normal game in terms of statistical averages, USC’s defense and overall effort probably would have been more than good enough to win.
Yet, that’s a hypothetical we will never have the answer to. If, coulda, possibly, maybe — all of those things mean nothing in sports. UConn played the game it was given. So did USC. We knew the absence of the Trojans’ superstar was likely to matter. It did.
First back-to-back Elite Eights since 1984
USC under Lindsay Gottlieb has made consecutive Elite Eights for the first time in 41 years. This team, like last year’s team, achieved so much and left everyone thinking that it maximized its talent and ability. Falling short of the Final Four with JuJu Watkins healthy would have been a different story. This team, by winning the Kansas State game without JuJu, showed everyone it could be a legitimately good and competitive team even without its main leader. That KSU win might be the most defining moment of the season. This was the predictably anticlimactic end against the most successful program in the history of women’s college basketball. Let the Kansas State game, not this game, be the memory you carry into the offseason and next November.
Lindsay Gottlieb
Lindsay Gottlieb coached really well in the NCAA Tournament, just as she had done all season. She guided this team through a very difficult Big Ten schedule and all the long-distance travel. She developed the freshmen around JuJu. She had to work two transfers — who were accustomed to very different systems — into her own structure at USC. She had to get a lot of players to buy into team basketball and coexist with each other. She excelled in all these areas. She had USC ready to play great defense against UConn. She is one of the best coaches in women’s basketball, and she continues to earn more respect and admiration from us, even if couch critics and keyboard warriors refuse to give her full credit.
Transfer portal
All eyes at USC now turn to the transfer portal, where the absence of JuJu Watkins for the first few weeks of the 2025-2026 season (likely, but not confirmed or guaranteed) makes USC a big attraction for a star player who will be able to play alongside JuJu at the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Lindsay Gottlieb and Company need to get a shooter and a post player for sure. Finding a way to bring in another high-end player might depend on how many roster spots open up. If USC wants to maintain its Final Four standard, there will need to be at least one splash in the portal, probably two.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Life isn’t fair and sports are cruel — USC loses in Elite 8 without JuJu Watkins
Reporting by Matt Zemek / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
