USC girls’s basketball famous person JuJu Watkins was all smiles after the Trojans’ 67-61 Candy 16 victory over Kansas State. It has been an emotional week for considered one of this sports activities’ brightest stars. Watkins tore her ACL within the second spherical in opposition to Mississippi State and has an extended street to restoration forward of her. Whereas the two-time, unanimous first-team All-American is now out for the season, the Trojans rallied on Saturday to succeed in their second straight Elite Eight. Similar to final 12 months, this group will face UConn for an opportunity to go to the Remaining 4.
It took a complete group effort to clinch this inspirational victory for its injured famous person. And ESPN girls’s basketball reporter Kendra Andrews revealed over Twitter Watkins’ response to this consequence. “JuJu Watkins FaceTimed the staff simply now within the locker room the place she was yelling and cheering by way of the cellphone and instructed her staff how pleased with them she is, Kiki Iriafen simply instructed me. JuJu despatched her staff a ‘considerate’ textual content pregame after which hosted a watch occasion at her condo.”
The Trojans’ win mirrored the robust tradition this program has constructed over the previous few years
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Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb is in her fourth 12 months in Southern California and has utterly rebuilt this historic program’s tradition. Earlier than Gottlieb’s arrival, the Trojans had solely been to the NCAA Match 3 times this century and had final made the second weekend in 1994. Now, this system is in a second-straight Elite Eight and appears to be resembling these nice groups of the Eighties. The face of this revival has been JuJu Waktins, which makes her harm all of the extra heartbreaking. Nonetheless, of their star guard’s absence, others have stepped up.
On Saturday, freshman guards Kennedy Smith and Avery Howell led the staff with 19 and 18 factors to seal this win over the fifth-seeded Wildcats. And to drag the upset over the second-seeded Huskies, it should be a full staff effort with a number of, sudden gamers rising to the event.
Total, it doesn’t matter what occurs in two days, USC girls’s basketball can maintain its head excessive after this Candy 16 win. It will have been very simple for this group to name it quits and quit with out JuJu Watkins, however the Trojans confirmed their resiliance on Saturday and now get an opportunity to proper a mistaken from final season. It is a tall job for Lindsay Gottlieb’s staff to drag off what could be a monumental upset, however this assortment of gamers ought to by no means be underestimated.