LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Gottlieb may have a quarrel with the NCAA women’s basketball selection committee, but she’s not letting that disrupt her process. Not with the NCAA Tournament lurking. Not when the ultimate goal for the USC women’s basketball team is in touching distance.
“We have some really good teams coming here to Galen,” Gottlieb said Sunday. “You gotta take it one game at a time.”
Gottlieb understands that each game is important because it serves as an opportunity to play in the next one. Therefore, that short-sighted mindset is the only to have at this time of the year. It’s a business-like approach from a Trojans’ team that was just happy to be a No. 1 seed last year, but is on a business trip this year.
That expedition starts Saturday when USC hosts UNC Greensboro at noon in the Galen Center. The Trojans are the top seed in the Spokane 2 region and the Spartans are the No. 16 seed. The Spartans have won 14 consecutive games dating to Jan. 16 and captured the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament titles.
Senior guard Jayde Campbell does it all for them as she leads the Spartans (25-6) in points (11.8), assists (2.6) and steals (2.1) per game. Senior forward Khalis Cain averages a team-high 8.9 rebounds to go with 8.0 points per game.
While the Trojans (28-3) couldn’t capture the duo of regular-season and postseason titles like the Spartans did, they enter the NCAA Tournament with momentum for a deep run. The Trojans had won nine games in a row before dropping the Big Ten Tournament title game to UCLA.
Leading scorer JuJu Watkins is averaging 26.4 points over the last 10 games and is motivated by the loss to the Bruins, as well as coming up short of an NCAA championship last year.
“We have a chip on our shoulder,” Watkins said Sunday. “(The NCAA Tournament) is just a new season, so we’re wiping the slate clean and we know what we need to do.”
In 2024, USC lost to the UConn Huskies in the Elite 8. The Huskies may stand in the way again as they are the No. 2 seed in the Spokane 2 region, but this is a different Trojans team, and not just evidenced by its 72-70 victory over the Huskies on Dec. 21 in Hartford, Conn.
The Trojans average 81.5 points per game, a 6.6-point improvement from last season, and concede less points, too – 59.8 in comparison to 62.5 last season.
This is the product of Watkins taking her defense up a notch, as she and freshman Kennedy Smith make for one of the peskiest perimeter duos. And the Trojans added an offensive-oriented forward in Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen, who has taken some of the weight off Watkins.
Behind its potent offense and sturdy defense, USC is ready to make another run at the national title. It’s those strengths that the Trojans can focus on, rather than worrying about where the committee’s placed them. Once the ball is tipped, the positioning of the No. 1 seeds doesn’t matter.
“It’s time to lock in on what the plan is, and that’s to win a national championship,” Smith said.
NCAA TOURNAMENT
Who: No. 16 UNC Greensboro (25-6) at No. 1 USC (28-3)
When: Noon Saturday
Where: Galen Center
TV/radio: KABC (Ch. 7)/ESPN 710