In the season following Caitlin Clark’s departure from women’s college hoops, JuJu Watkins of USC women’s basketball is the next big thing. The sophomore finished second in scoring behind Clark last season as a freshman. JuJu has picked up right where she left off this year, averaging 21.3 points per game to start the season.
On Friday, behind a 22-point performance in an 81-50 throttling of Santa Clara, Watkins became the fourth-fastest player to reach 1,000 career points in Division I history, passing none other than Clark. She also made USC history by becoming the fastest Trojan to reach 1,000. It took her only 38 games.
Off the court, JuJu is making history with her NIL deals. Watkins has inked a deal with Gatorade and a multiyear extension with Nike, but she also became the first student-athlete to sign a deal with Funko Pop! collectibles. On top of that, it was recently announced that she would star in and executive produce her own show on NBC and Peacock.
We are still in the early stages of Watkins’ career. She is already turning heads night in and night out and etching her name in the record books. The 1,000-point mark is just the beginning of what we will see from her this season, as it becomes clearer that USC has one of the top players in women’s basketball, and maybe the best of them all.
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