On Sunday evening, USC women’s basketball got brutal, but not stunning news when superstar JuJu Watkins announced that she will miss the entire 2025-2026 season with an ACL injury.
Watkins suffered the injury during an NCAA Tournament game against Mississippi State. She missed the remainder of the tournament, and was projected to be out for the majority of the upcoming season. However, there was some hope that she could potentially return towards the end of the year and for potential postseason games. On Sunday, however, that hope was shut down, as Watkins announced that she will not play for the Trojans this upcoming year.
“These last few months have been filled with a lot of healing, rest and reflection,” Watkins said in a statement. “Recovering from this injury hasn’t been easy, and I want to say thank you — your love, support and kind words have truly lifted me up during one of the most challenging times in my life. Because you’ve been with me every step of the way, I wanted you to hear it from me directly that, following the advice of my doctors and trainers, I will sit out this season and fully focus on continuing to recover so I can come back to the game I love.”
Without Watkins, the Trojans will turn to younger faces like Kennedy Smith and Jazzy Davidson to lead the way. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb now faces the challenge of trying to get the program back to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season without her star to lead the way.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC women’s basketball star JuJu Watkins to miss entire 2025-2026 season with ACL injury
Reporting by Adam Bradford, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
