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Michael Voepel
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Michael Voepel
ESPN Senior Author
- Michael Voepel is a senior author who covers the WNBA, girls’s school basketball and different school sports activities. Voepel started overlaying girls’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
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Paolo Uggetti
Mar 25, 2025, 10:00 AM ET
LOS ANGELES — The instant transpired over lower than a moment. Glance away and you will have overlooked it. JuJu Watkins was once dribbling the ball downcourt, complete steam forward on a quick wreck, in a position to make magic occur in a single final USC house recreation this season. Everybody — all 7,808 within the Galen Middle — was once gazing.
Watkins wedged herself between two Mississippi State defenders, and, in a flash, her proper knee seemed to give out beneath her. She crumpled to the bottom and grabbed her proper knee. Anticipatory cheers changed into frightened murmurs, and shortly the one sound was the squeak of shoes as coaches and running shoes jogged over to test on Watkins, who was once in ache and in tears.
“I have by no means heard an enviornment get so quiet so briefly,” one USC group of workers member later stated.
“She all the time has a large number of cameras on her, so my first concept was once to take a look at to get in entrance of the person who I noticed,” guard Talia von Oelhoffen stated. “Everybody’s zooming in on her, and it is simply no longer an excellent second. So, I used to be simply seeking to get round her to hide up to we will and simply ensure she is aware of that we are all there.”
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After a protracted, silent minute, Watkins was once carried off the court docket throughout the nearest tunnel. As USC athletic director Jen Cohen and different athletic directors briefly adopted Watkins to the locker room, the sight of her being not able to place any weight on her proper leg was once ominous. Quickly, everybody would be told Watkins was once wheeled out of the world to a close-by scientific facility for an MRI. Later, the worst-case state of affairs would end up to be true: The nationwide Participant of the Yr favourite had suffered a torn ACL. Watkins’ season was once over.
Within the second, the unknown of Watkins’ well being hung over all of the enviornment, however there have been nonetheless 35 mins of recreation time to be performed in the second one around of the ladies’s NCAA match. USC avid gamers huddled as much as pray and test in on trainer Lindsay Gottlieb, who was once, as senior Rayah Marshall later put it, “a little bit shook up.”
“I would be mendacity if I instructed you that I wasn’t rattled seeing JuJu at the flooring crying,” Gottlieb admitted after the sport. “It is a human recreation, so I clearly attempted my highest to be what I want to be for the group, however internally it is a lot.”
However for the following hour and a part, Gottlieb and her top-seeded group put all of it apart and stitched in combination a dominant 96-59 win over No. 9 seed Mississippi State. Emboldened through the raucous crowd, which was once resuscitated through their play and booed the Bulldogs each and every time they touched the ball, the Trojans performed with a choice of chips on their shoulders and punched their price tag to the Candy 16.
“It was once emotional,” Gottlieb stated. “You needed to be there to really feel it.”
Whilst they combat surprise and grief, the Trojans will have to now flip their points of interest to Saturday’s regional semifinal (8 p.m. ET, ESPN). In 5 days, they face No. 5 seed Kansas State for a shot at returning to the Elite 8 for the second one consecutive 12 months.
As Gottlieb stated after Monday’s recreation, Watkins’ teammates should compartmentalize now. The Trojans will proceed their match run, however they will have to take action with out their superstar participant, whose harm radically alters no longer most effective USC’s season however the recreation as an entire.
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The most productive of JuJu Watkins at USC
Take a look at one of the height performs from JuJu Watkins’ two outstanding seasons in girls’s school basketball for USC.
How does Watkins’ absence impact the remainder of the ladies’s NCAA match?
When Watkins went down, it solid a pall on March Insanity and adjusted the dynamics of the NCAA championship image. Along with her, USC was once a countrywide identify contender. That turns into much less most probably now.
What lies forward at the Trojans’ attainable trail to the Ultimate 4? As quickly because the bracket got here out, maximum have been expecting a USC-UConn recreation within the Elite 8. It will nonetheless occur, however Watkins’ absence makes the No. 2 seed Huskies the favourite.
The 2 groups met final season within the regional ultimate in Portland, Oregon. UConn received 80-73 in a recreation through which Watkins had 29 issues and 10 rebounds. The groups confronted off once more throughout the common season in December in Hartford, Connecticut, with the Trojans successful 72-70 at the back of Watkins’ 25 issues, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
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However earlier than the Trojans will even consider the opportunity of dealing with the Huskies once more — UConn should get there, too, taking part in No. 3 seed Oklahoma on Saturday (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) within the Candy 16 — USC will have to get previous Kansas State.
Okay-State defeated Kentucky 80-79 in time beyond regulation Sunday to achieve its first Candy 16 since 2002 and is a senior-led group powered through 6-foot-6 middle Ayoka Lee, who averages 15.6 issues in step with recreation and shoots 64.1% from the sector. The Wildcats even have a robust offense round her: They made 15 3-pointers in the second one around and had 25 assists on 29 made baskets, with 14 from level guard Serena Sundell.
If the Trojans get via their area and make the Ultimate 4, they could have to stand archrival UCLA within the nationwide semifinals. They beat the Bruins two times within the common season earlier than dropping to them within the Giant Ten match ultimate.
The opposite No. 1 seeds — UCLA, South Carolina and Texas — are all nonetheless robust identify contenders, as is UConn. No. 3 seeds Notre Dame (2018) and LSU (2023) have received NCAA titles within the fresh previous. The opposite No. 2 seeds — NC State, Duke and TCU — should not be omitted of attention, both. So there are nonetheless a couple of contenders. However USC has taken a large hit. — Michael Voepel
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Stephen A. reacts to JuJu Watkins’ heartbreaking harm
Stephen A. Smith has issues about USC’s identify hopes after JuJu Watkins’ ACL harm.
What changes will USC make with out Watkins?
Enjoying with out Watkins might be new for the Trojans this season. She has no longer simply been the Trojans’ highest participant, she has performed in each and every recreation this season, averaging just about 35 mins in step with recreation.
After Watkins went down Monday night time, Kiki Iriafen was the offensive focal point, and the senior ahead had a season-high 36 issues. Iriafen is greater than able to large video games; final season at Stanford, she had 41 issues within the Cardinal’s second-round NCAA match victory. On Monday, Iriafen didn’t glance rattled when Watkins went out; she was once in a position to step right into a starring function as a result of she has accomplished it earlier than.
“Kiki, I believe, is without doubt one of the highest avid gamers within the nation,” Mississippi State trainer Sam Purcell stated after his group’s loss Monday. “We had our middle on her, a guard on her, we doubled her. We went 2-3, we went man-to-man, we trapped her.
“We by no means stopped her. We threw the entire kitchen sink and the home [at her]. However she was once simply electrical. Elite avid gamers know once they want to upward push to the instance.”
4 different Trojans additionally scored in double figures: senior Rayah Marshall and learners Kennedy Smith, Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel. Possibly the combination of veterans and early life going ahead might be precisely what USC wishes.
Purcell additionally complimented sophomore Malia Samuels, who did not rating Monday however had 3 assists and 3 steals. He stated Samuels’ skill to disrupt the opposing ball handler stood out.
“That child, each and every time I watch tape, adjustments the sport,” Purcell stated.
USC will want everybody contributing. Watkins is not just an All-American at the offensive finish but in addition on protection. The Trojans have to switch her issues and make up for the lack of a powerful, bodily participant who can guard outside and inside.
Additionally, it is something to play on adrenaline after a participant is misplaced throughout a recreation. Now the Trojans will have to face the tough fact that Watkins is out and that their opponent is in a position to strategize figuring out that. — Voepel
“You’ll’t inform me that the power of the gang and the way indignant they have been with the opposite group and what kind of they have been for our group [isn’t] such a lot about what JuJu has given to this enviornment, to this program, to this town,” USC trainer Lindsay Gottlieb stated. Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire
How does Watkins’ harm impact USC and faculty basketball subsequent season?
It is tough to consider 2025-26 within the speedy aftermath, however as with this NCAA match, Watkins’ harm could have a long-term affect. The Trojans might be dropping Iriafen and Marshall to commencement. USC has this season’s robust freshman elegance again and has signed the No. 3 recruit, 6-1 guard Jasmine Davidson, in step with ESPN. And time will inform how the switch portal impacts the Trojans.
ACL harm restoration instances can range, however they in most cases take any place from 9 months to a 12 months. If Watkins’ restoration is at the shorter finish of that period of time, possibly she is going to be capable of play subsequent season. After all, her skilled long run and long-term well being will have to even be regarded as.
Watkins has scored 1,709 collegiate issues, which ranks moment in Department I historical past via two seasons at the back of former Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell (1,762) and forward of former Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (1,662). Clark went directly to set the NCAA D-I scoring file, completing her profession final season with 3,951 issues.
Watkins is on tempo to damage Clark’s file, however it is onerous to understand how the harm may impact that chase. Watkins may no longer play a complete season in 2025-26. There may be additionally an opportunity she’ll leave out all of subsequent 12 months, play in 2026-27 after which go away for the WNBA draft quite than play 4 collegiate seasons. She can be eligible for the draft in 2027, in step with WNBA laws, as she would were in school for 4 years at that time (although she did not play each and every 12 months). Plus, she turns 22 in 2027, which might additionally make her draft-eligible.
Watkins is anticipated to win many — possibly all — of the nationwide participant of the 12 months awards this season; some had already been voted on earlier than her harm. She was once going to be the unquestioned face of girls’s school basketball subsequent season following the departure of UConn’s Paige Bueckers.
Whilst the sport will for sure leave out Watkins’ on-court brilliance and general superstar energy, different height returning avid gamers subsequent season come with Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo and UCLA middle Lauren Betts, who have been within the NPOY race this season, at the side of avid gamers comparable to Texas’ Madison Booker, UConn’s Sarah Sturdy and Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson.
With Watkins, the Trojans may were the country’s No. 1 group heading into 2025-26. That turns out not going now, whether or not she is out for the season or simply misses the beginning of it. — Voepel
