LOS ANGELES — Hearts were in throats throughout Galen Center for a while Wednesday night.
JuJu Watkins – the franchise, as far as the USC women’s basketball team is concerned – lay on the floor at one free-throw line as the play went to the other end. She’d had a layup blocked by Michigan State’s Jocelyn Tate, who grabbed the rebound, pushed it downcourt and ultimately scored on a layup.
It was only after that play, with 3:46 left in the second quarter, that Watkins got to her feet and went to the Trojans’ bench, holding the back of her head, and from there proceeded up the tunnel to the locker room.
You can’t actually hear people holding their breaths, of course. But you could have detected a lot of relieved exhaling a few minutes later when JuJu came back through the tunnel and took a seat on the bench. She worked her neck back and forth for a few moments, and then got up and went to the scorer’s table to check back into the game with 2:53 left in the half.
Crisis averted.
And oh, by the way, Watkins missed just those 53 seconds of playing time, finishing with a 28-point, eight-rebound performance – with three assists, three steals, three blocked shots and a couple of critical plays at the end – in fourth-ranked USC’s 83-75 victory over the No. 22 Spartans.
You can argue all day long whether Watkins or Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers is the most transcendent player in women’s college basketball this season, the inheritor of the mantle passed down by Caitlin Clark. But at USC there is no argument.
JuJu makes things happen on the court – I mean, who else can fake a drive and a stepback 3-pointer not only on the same possession but with the same move?
JuJu also fills seats and lures celebrities; actor Jason Sudeikis was courtside Wednesday night, as was the usual collection of USC women’s basketball alumni headed by the queen, Cheryl Miller.
There are also all of the little girls inspired by the star who stayed home, such as the young girl who held up this sign during a timeout: “I wear No. 12 to be like you, JuJu.”
JuJu has a lot to do with the 24-2 record and No. 4 ranking in both the AP and USA Today polls that the Women of Troy possess, although she has had plenty of help. Wednesday night, Kiki Iriafen added 24 points, 13 of them in the second half, along with 10 rebounds and three blocks, while Rayah Marshall grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked two shots.
Still, you’d have held your breath too when JuJu went down. But, as noted above, it was just a blip.
“I got my neck tied up a little bit,” she said. “But I was fine. It just – I was in a little bit of shock.”
And what was going through Coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s mind when her best player – yes, we said it, the franchise – was lying at the free-throw line?
“I mean, obviously you don’t want to ever see anyone down,” Gottlieb began, then added: “But I think JuJu takes too much contact. You know, I’ll leave it at that so I don’t get myself in trouble.
“But there’s been a lot of times I’ve seen her on the ground and pop right back up. She’s obviously really tough, wants to play through anything. Going to always make sure she’s okay and get the okay from the training staff. But whenever she came back, she said, I’m good to go. And that was that.”
After returning to the game – encompassing the final 2:53 of the first half and the entire second half – Watkins had 14 points, was 4 for 10 from the field, 0 for 2 from 3-point range, 6 for 9 from the foul line, and had four rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block. In other words, all of the assists, all of the steals, half of her rebounds and one of those blocks came after she returned to the game.
And on an evening when Michigan State (19-7 overall, 9-6 in the Big Ten) trailed by 21 late in the third quarter but cut the USC lead to six with 4:01 left, Watkins saved some of her best for when it was needed most. A driving layup interrupted a 17-4 Spartans run, though Watkins missed the and-one opportunity.
And with the Spartans within 76-68 and 2:51 to play, Watkins took a rebound of a Julia Ayarault miss, took it the length of the court and scored with a Eurostep to make it 78-68. Then she put this one to bed when she took the ball to the rim with 1:14 to play, for a layup that made it 80-71.
To digress slightly, the idea that the L.A. schools sit at the top of the Big Ten women’s standings with a week and a half left – with first-place USC (14-1) having clinched a double bye in the 15-team conference tournament and UCLA (12-1) also in a position to do so – might be a surprise to those in the conference’s traditional outposts. But it shouldn’t be to anyone who has watched the growth of the USC and UCLA programs.
Michigan State coach Robyn Fralick – while referencing, of course, the 70-degree temperatures and sunshine that greeted the refugees from the snow belt in L.A. – also made note of just how much of a beast playing UCLA and USC back to back can be.
“It’s a huge challenge,” Fralick said. “They’re the two best teams in the league right now. And you got to play them on the same trip. But that’s the league. That’s the reality of what we got to do.”
Gottlieb called her team’s success to this point a testament to her players.
“I think conference play is the best test of the consistency of excellence,” she said. “You’ve got to win when you don’t have it some nights. You’ve got to win when you’re on the road, when you know someone’s in a slump. You gotta win when the officiating goes a certain way.
“And so to to get this far and with two games to go, to have earned a top-four seed is something that I’m proud of them for. But our goals are bigger than that. And, you know, we have an opportunity here in these next two games to compete for a championship. And that’s even more special than just the double bye.”
As long as JuJu is in position to lead the way, it’s all good.
jalexander@scng.com