USC women’s basketball – Page 21

USC women’s basketball NCAA Tournament resume: zero bad losses, few quality wins

USC has the huge win over Stanford, but a look at the Trojans’ resume shows they need to collect more high-end wins to feel safe for the NCAA Tournament.

NCAA Tournament resumes come in all shapes and sizes. Some teams lose a bunch of games but have several huge wins which offset the losses. Some teams load up in nonconference play and make the NCAA Tournament with a .500 record in their conference. Some teams struggle in non-con play but catch fire once they step inside their conference. Some teams simply avoid bad losses the whole season and have just enough good wins to get in.

The USC women’s basketball team is currently an example of that last NCAA Tournament profile. The Trojans are projected to be in the NCAA Tournament right now (Wednesday, January 18) due to their enormous win over Stanford. However, they’re just inside the cut line, hardly safe in a larger context. Why aren’t they a much more secure NCAA Tournament selection? Why are they still on the bubble with a 13-4 record which has losses only to ranked teams (No. 9 UCLA twice, No. 23 Oregon once, No. 25 Texas once)?

One might think that since USC has zero bad losses, the Trojans should be in better shape relative to the bubble than they actually are.

The problem is that the nonconference schedule was soft.

To be clear, this is not a criticism of Lindsay Gottlieb for scheduling a soft nonconference slate. USC entered this season as a program in a building phase. When USC becomes a national powerhouse (the way Stanford is in the Pac-12), it should and very probably will schedule a bunch of top teams.

The point remains that USC has some very soft wins on its schedule. Merrimack, Utah State, and San Jose State are bad teams. That will unavoidably reduce USC’s standing in the NET rankings and other metrics.

So, USC — despite the absence of bad losses — will need to grab a few more high-value wins to feel safe for the NCAA Tournament, while also avoiding any bad losses to teams in the bottom tier of the Pac-12: Washington, Cal, Oregon State, and Arizona State. The Trojans play each of those teams in the coming weeks, Washington twice.

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Meet USC’s best defensive coordinator

It’s obviously not Alex Grinch. It’s Beth Burns, a great defensive coach who has been an essential part of #USC WBB’s rise under Lindsay Gottlieb.

USC can really use a good defensive coordinator in football. In women’s basketball, it has a great one.

Basketball doesn’t officially have coordinators the way football does, but on some staffs, head coaches have assistants who heavily teach or plan one side of the ball. For example, on the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics, head coach Doc Rivers had assistant Tom Thibodeau serve as his defensive coordinator. Thibs developed defensive plans which maximized the talents of Kevin Garnett and the rest of that Boston roster. The Celtics defeated Kobe Bryant and the Lakers to win the 2008 NBA Finals.

USC has an elite defensive tactician on its staff. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb made a brilliant offseason hire when she brought aboard Beth Burns, the former head coach at San Diego State and Ohio State who was previously a USC assistant. Burns more recently served as an assistant to Jeff Walz, the highly successful coach at Louisville, which is an annual Final Four contender.

Beth Burns has helped Gottlieb create a defense which has allowed more than 62 points — or an average of 15.5 points allowed per quarter — only once in 17 games this season. USC is shooting under 40 percent from the field, under 34 percent from 3-point range, and only 72 percent at the line, all underwhelming numbers. Yet, the Trojans are 13-4 because their defense is so good.

That’s Lindsay Gottlieb, but it’s also Beth Burns, USC’s elite defensive coordinator.

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USC women’s basketball and USC football draw fascinating comparisons and contrasts

#USC women’s basketball and USC football have superstar head coaches hired by Mike Bohn. The big difference: Unlike football, USC WBB has a dynamic, strong defense.

USC women’s basketball is the talk of the town in Los Angeles after the huge season-changing, program-catapulting upset of No. 2 Stanford on Sunday. That equation-shifting result against the Pac-12 favorite and a national college basketball colossus has marked the true arrival of USC women’s hoops under head coach Lindsay Gottlieb.

USC now has a great chance to make the 2023 Women’s NCAA Tournament, though a lot of work remains to be done. The bigger point is that with No. 1 national recruit Juju Watkins coming aboard next season, the Trojans are well on their way toward becoming a big-time program once again. Given the depth of quality in the Pac-12 in women’s basketball, USC was not expected to become a factor in Year 1 under Gottlieb. Getting the program to this point in the middle of Year 2 is ahead of schedule for Gottlieb. It’s a very exciting development which certainly warrants attention.

As we develop and deepen our coverage of women’s basketball here at Trojans Wire, let’s bring you up to speed on this team if you haven’t been following it very closely.

The one detail about this team which might amuse or frustrate you — depending on your frame of mind — is that unlike the football team, USC women’s basketball plays amazing defense.

Yes, defense. USC knows how to play defense in roundball. It just hasn’t been able to do the same on the gridiron.

How good has USC been at the defensive end of the floor? Get this: The Trojans — 13-4 on the season — have allowed more than 62 points just once in 17 games this season. Even in two games against UCLA — a top-15 team — the Trojans didn’t allow more than 61 points. In 10 of USC’s 17 games — a majority — USC has not allowed more than 50 points.

Women’s college basketball games are divided into quarters. Giving up 20 points in a quarter is a bad defensive quarter for any team. USC has allowed just six of those quarters through 17 games, or 68 quarters. USC basically plays a bad defensive quarter once out of every 11 or 12 quarters it plays, and for every 20-point quarter USC has allowed, it has produced a far larger number of sub-10-point quarters, which represents an excellent defensive performance.

USC has produced 14 quarters out of 68 in which it has allowed fewer than 10 points. That’s more than double the amount of 20-point quarters USC has conceded. USC simply has few defensive lapses and wins games at that end of the floor.

If an opponent scores 15 points in a quarter — which translates to 30 in a half and 60 in a full game — it has done better than most USC opponents have fared so far this season. Whoa. That gives you a sense of how good USC is at the defensive end of the floor.

Maybe Lincoln Riley should take notes.

USC women’s basketball and USC football are similar in that they have programs which are imbalanced, and rely so much on one side of the ball for their production and success. If USC — which scores an average of 66.6 points per game, shoots under 40 percent from the field, under 34 percent on 3-pointers, and only 72 percent from the free throw line — can even modestly improve those ordinary shooting numbers, the Trojans would raise their ceiling significantly. A two-percent increase in field goals, 3-pointers, and free throws would have meant victory in two razor-close losses to UCLA. Imagine if USC was 15-2 and not 13-4. The Trojans would be an NCAA Tournament lock, and they would be the higher-seeded team in a potential first-round game. As is, if they can make that two-percent increase in the coming weeks, they will be in very good shape.

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USC women’s basketball moves into projected NCAA Tournament field after huge win over Stanford

ESPN women’s bracketologist Charlie Creme moved #USC into his projected NCAA Tournament field. Catch up with all the news and notes after USC beat Stanford.

This is how you know something big has happened, and that the game has changed for USC women’s basketball.

The Trojans are now a projected NCAA Tournament team after taking down No. 2 Stanford and dealing the Cardinal their second loss of the season. Stanford’s only other loss was to No. 1 South Carolina, the defending national champion.

All jokes aside about Stanford being unable to beat USC — either the one in Columbia, South Carolina, or the one in Los Angeles — the Trojans did vault past a lot of bubble teams and moved into the field with a win over a projected No. 1 seed. Stanford is still a No. 1 seed and would need to lose at least one more game, probably two, to risk losing that seeding position.

Beating a No. 1 seed is as good a bubble win as it gets. USC’s projection as an NCAA Tournament team, which you will see below from an ESPN bracketologist, is not an overreaction to the win over Stanford.

The other really good sign for USC’s NCAA tourney prospects: The Pac-12 is so deep in women’s basketball that USC will have other chances to notch high-value wins and keep moving up the board. As long as the Trojans win the games they are supposed to win, merely picking off two or three more high-end wins should be enough to get them into the field.

Here’s the ESPN projection below, accompanied by a lot of other news items, statistics, notes, and team reactions:

As in college football, USC women’s basketball quickly remade itself in the transfer portal

This #USC women’s basketball team, which has thrust itself onto the national radar screen, is loaded with transfers who carried the Trojans to their shocker over Stanford.

Just like football.

USC, a football school, gained national notice on Sunday for its feat on the hardwood. The Trojan women’s basketball team dealt mighty Stanford its first Pac-12 Conference loss since January of 2021. Stanford — still in first place in the Pac-12, still a juggernaut, still widely expected to make the Final Four — could not solve USC’s defense. The Women of Troy allowed only 10 free throw attempts. They forced Stanford to take 3-pointers. The Cardinal made only 4 of 21. Stanford couldn’t rebound enough missed shots to get easy layups and putbacks near the rim. USC outfought Stanford thanks to a remarkable defensive display.

The three players who led the charge were all transfers.

Destiny Littleton came to USC from South Carolina. Taylor Bigby came to the Trojans from Oregon. Okako Adika transferred to USC from TCU.

Those three players played 119 total minutes. Bigby rested for only one minute. Littleton and Adika went wire to wire, locking down Stanford despite getting no rest (except for timeouts). That’s 119 minutes of elite defense, rebounding, and low-mistake basketball.

The transfer portal transformed USC women’s basketball in a short period of time, much as the transfer portal changed USC football in a short period of time.

The transfer portal makes large-scale change easier — and quicker — to come by in college sports.

Just like — and in addition to — football.

USC women’s basketball is living proof of that reality.

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Now at USC, Lindsay Gottlieb calls upon her experience vs Tara VanDerveer to foil Stanford

Let’s remember that Lindsay Gottlieb took Cal to the 2013 Women’s Final Four and has coached vs Stanford many times before. That working knowledge mattered for #USC.

This is the big-stage experience USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn coveted when he hired Lindsay Gottlieb as the Trojans’ women’s basketball coach.

Gottlieb was the head coach at California for eight consecutive seasons (2012-2019). She went up against Stanford icon Tara VanDerveer at least twice every season, three times when Cal and Stanford would meet in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Gottlieb has been on the short ends of games against VanDerveer and Stanford. She has seen the precise, fluid, structured Stanford halfcourt offense dissect her defenses. She has seen how disciplined and strong the Cardinal regularly are. Gottlieb knew that the difficult but realistic path to victory against Stanford is to turn a game into a street fight, not give the Cardinal easy baskets or free throws, and make them hit jump shots.

Defend without fouling. Rebound. Minimize turnovers. That’s the formula against Stanford.

Gottlieb got her players to hold Stanford to 31-percent shooting, just 4 of 21 on 3-pointers. Rebounds were nearly even (40-36 Stanford), and USC was plus-16 in free throw attempts (26-10) and plus-nine in makes (17-8). USC was plus-seven in turnovers, forcing 14 Stanford giveaways while coughing up the ball just seven times.

It was a complete defense-first, toughness-first game plan, the only way for the Trojans or anyone else to beat Stanford.

What made the win even more amazing: USC hit just 27 percent of its shots. The Trojans, when they get more elite talent on the recruiting trail in future seasons, will have the high-end scorers who will give USC more margin for error on offense. Beating Stanford in Year 2 of her tenure shows that Lindsay Gottlieb has USC women’s basketball ahead of schedule.

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Seismic USC win over Stanford had many heroes, but three Trojans stood tallest versus the Trees

If you didn’t know their names before, here are the Women of Troy who were central to the big #USC upset of Stanford: Destiny Littleton, Okako Adika, and Taylor Bigby.

The USC Trojans made national news in the college basketball world on Sunday. They got everyone’s attention. Dealing the Stanford Cardinal — 2021 national champion, 2022 Final Four semifinalist, reigning Pac-12 champion, and annual national colossus — their first Pac-12 loss in two years will open eyes and generate headlines.

USC was flying below the radar as a women’s basketball program.

Was.

Not anymore.

The Trojans are now on the national map, and we’re naturally going to follow this journey, which just became a lot more dramatic and special.

So, how did USC beat Stanford by nine points? There are many reasons, but in this piece, we’ll focus on the three players who did the especially heavy lifting for the Women of Troy: Destiny Littleton, Okako Adika, and Taylor Bigby.

All seven USC players contributed to the win. Coach Lindsay Gottlieb went with a seven-player rotation, a conscious decision to win not with depth, but with her best warriors on the floor.

The three ultimate warriors were Littleton, Adika, and Bigby, who played 119 of a possible 120 minutes. Littleton and Adika played all 40 minutes, Bigby 39. No rest, no breaks. This is on a Sunday afternoon after playing a Friday night game against Cal. Three starters went wall to wall against a team which is leading the Pac-12, favored to make the Final Four, and has a great chance to play another USC team — the University of South Carolina — in April for the national championship.

Littleton, Adika, and Bigby contained Stanford’s offense, leading a remarkable effort which limited the Cardinal to 31-percent shooting from the field, 4 of 21 3-pointers, and only 10 free throw attempts all game.

Littleton, Adika, and Bigby combined to score 38 of USC’s 55 points, grab 17 of USC’s 36 rebounds, hand out 8 assists against just 3 turnovers, and commit a combined total of only 3 fouls.

They were tough, they were smart, and despite being asked to play the full game by Gottlieb, they never truly flinched or weakened.

Is USC a team of destiny? Destiny Littleton transferred to this USC (the Trojans) from the other USC (South Carolina). At South Carolina, Littleton faced Stanford in the Final Four and in the regular season. She knows the Cardinal well, and she relishes going up against them. Gottlieb trusted her with all 40 minutes and was rewarded.

Taylor Bigby transferred to USC from Oregon, where our friends at Ducks Wire chronicled her time in Eugene. Bigby also had a working knowledge of Stanford and a burning desire to beat the Cardinal.

Okako Adika transferred to USC from TCU. Before playing for the Horned Frogs, she played for Odessa College in the JUCO ranks and then for Butler University. She is an experienced, battle-tested player who certainly was ready for a 40-minute street fight against the Pac-12’s top team.

Get to know these USC Women of Troy. They just made a huge statement, and they have gained fresh respect and attention from the rest of the Pac-12 and the nation.

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USC women’s basketball stuns No. 2 Stanford, gives Cardinal first Pac-12 loss of 2023

TIM-BERRRRRR! #USC chops down the tall Trees of Tara VanDerveer, giving Stanford its first #Pac12 loss since January 22, 2021. Lindsay Gottlieb had the perfect plan.

The USC women’s basketball team came achingly close to beating UCLA twice in recent weeks. The Trojans lost twice to the Bruins by a combined total of four points. In one of the two losses, they had a double-digit lead heading into the fourth quarter but couldn’t hold on. A program in a building and transition phase, with players learning how to win, needed to get the statement victory which enables everyone in the locker room to see that success can be achieved.

No moral victories, no almosts, no “good job, good effort” participation trophies. USC needed to finish the job against an elite team in order to know that this program is on its way back to the top, on its way to greateness, on its way to restoring the stature and national relvance USC women’s basketball possessed in its 1980s glory days under Cheryl Miller.

Sunday afternoon in the Galen Center, the Women of Troy got the job done. They finished what they started, and they did it against the really big fish in women’s Pac-12 college basketball.

The Trojans toppled the big, tall Trees of Tara VanDerveer and Stanford, shocking the Cardinal in a 55-46 defensive masterpiece.

The Cardinal, No. 2 in the country and previously unbeaten in Pac-12 play, are a Final Four and national championship contender for a reason. They played a typically strong, tough game on Friday night to beat No. 8 UCLA on the road. Stanford has lots of high-end wins on its resume. That comes from having superstars such as Cameron Brink and Haley Jones plus role players such as Hannah Jump. Stanford has two primary scoring options but also size and length on the glass which can put back misses, and capable supporting-cast players who can hit shots when open.

To beat Stanford, a team needs to be extremely tough, very attentive, able to play initial defense but also tend to the glass and then minimize mistakes on offense to avoid giving the Cardinal cheap points on fast breaks before the defense can set up.

USC checked every box on Sunday.

It starts with forcing tough shots and not letting Stanford’s power get to the rim for layups and easy finishes. USC held Cameron Brink to 3-of-14 shooting, Haley Jones to 3-of-13 shooting. That doesn’t happen if those two stars are getting to the rim. USC simply won the territorial battle and would not concede any real estate near the basket.

Stanford hit just 4 of 21 3-pointers, exhibiting a lack of an ability to work the ball for close-in attempts. The Cardinal couldn’t hit shots when the USC defense packed the paint and clogged driving lanes. That’s how to beat Stanford. Teams must make the Trees hit threes, and that did not happen.

Let’s also check the boards: Stanford outrebounded USC by only four, 40-36. USC held its own against a very powerful and physically gifted team.

The other essential piece of the puzzle: turnovers. Stanford committed 14, USC only 7. Points off turnovers were even, 4-4.

That is the core of any winning plan and successful effort against Stanford. Make the game ugly and difficult. Force Stanford to hit 3-pointers. Don’t give the Cardinal anything cheap or easy.

One more testament to how physically strong USC was in this game: 26 free throw attempts to just 10 for Stanford. USC made nine more foul shots in a game decided by nine points. USC beat Stanford by nine despite shooting only 27 percent from the field (15-55).

Just stop and imagine what USC would have done if it had shot the ball well.

Coach Lindsay Gottlieb created the perfect defensive game plan. Her players could not have done a better job of implementing it.

USC basketball made a major national statement. Now — with a victory which was real and complete, not merely a moral one — the Trojans can truly say, with total confidence and certain knowledge, they are on the road back to greatness.

It’s not wishing and hoping. It’s not coming close and thinking the good times are just around the corner. No, it’s real. When a team beats Stanford despite hitting only 27 percent from the field, it’s clear that the right mentality, the right identity, and the right culture exist. With future recruiting classes coming in, and with transfer portal prospects taking notice, USC basketball is poised to take a big leap forward under Lindsay Gottlieb.

The future just came a lot closer at USC, and that future looks very bright.

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USC women’s basketball loses late lead to UCLA, as growing pains underscore difficulty of winning

It was a painful week for USC sports: Lose by 1 in the Cotton Bowl, lose by 2 to UCLA in men’s basketball, lose by 1 to UCLA in women’s hoops. #FightOn

The USC Trojans women’s basketball team is learning about the small margins between excellence and second-tier status. It’s true that no one expected USC to reach the top tier of the Pac-12 this season, and to be sure, USC’s program is definitely on the right track under head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. Yet, a positive long-term outlook doesn’t offer complete consolation for this season’s team and this season’s group of players. They really wanted to beat the UCLA Bruins, an established program under head coach Cori Close. They had a 12-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

They lost by one point. That stings, and it should. Optimism about the future shouldn’t erase the pain of this particular game. It was right there for the taking. The Women of Troy played so well for three quarters.

In their first game against UCLA this season, they held the Bruins to four points in the fourth quarter and lost by three, falling just short in a failed comeback attempt. This time, USC lost a lead and enabled UCLA to complete a comeback.

UCLA — having beaten USC 59-56 in the first meeting — rallied from a 52-40 deficit to claim a 61-60 win in the rematch on Sunday. The Bruins, who barely scored in the fourth quarter in the first meeting, posted 21 points in the fourth quarter of this game.

USC competed extremely well in two games against an NCAA Tournament-level team, but all the Trojans have to show for it is two losses by a combined four points.

When USC brings in top-tier recruits for next season and beyond, the contours of this rivalry — like USC’s overall standing within the Pac-12 — should change in ways which help the Trojans. In the present moment, however, all USC can point to is a moral victory. The Trojans are getting a first-class education in the difference between a moral victory and a scoreboard triumph. Becoming a winner means translating these almosts into actualized conquests. It will be fascinating to see how Gottlieb brings this team along in the coming weeks.

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USC women’s basketball loses to UCLA but shows that progress is real under Lindsay Gottlieb

#USC is 9-1 after losing a close one to UCLA, but in defeat, the Trojans might have made more progress than they did in their 9 early wins under Lindsay Gottlieb.

The USC Trojans entered Thursday night’s women’s basketball game against UCLA with an unbeaten record. However, that 9-0 mark came against a series of very manageable opponents. The Trojans did not play any of the elite teams in college basketball. They played a schedule which was conducive to piling up wins. They didn’t opt for a murderer’s row-type schedule which would severely test them.

This scheduling approach is good for a developing program. When USC gets better and becomes a top-flight program, the Trojans will obviously want to play the “take on all comers” schedule we see from Stanford, South Carolina, UConn, Texas, Tennessee, and the other big names in the sport. For now, though, building a winning identity — and scheduling a more manageable nonconference slate — makes sense.

The key point to emphasize is that after nine preliminary games, USC got its first really big test of the season on Thursday against UCLA. The Bruins, under veteran coach Cori Close, were ranked No. 10 and had a 9-1 record. How USC fared against UCLA would offer the first true and substantial measurement of where coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s program stood, both this season and in a larger evolutionary context.

This is only Year 2 of Gottlieb’s tenure at USC. A quick fix was not the job description. Getting the program back on track was seen as a project which would take at least three or four years.

After this game against UCLA, the Trojans have to be optimistic about where they are headed.

The Women of Troy didn’t beat the Bruins, but they came close. They held UCLA to only four points in the fourth quarter, but UCLA’s defense was strong enough to fend off USC in a 59-56 street fight.

USC belonged on the same court as the Bruins, who have been a Sweet 16-level program under Cori Close and have established themselves as a contender in the Pac-12 over several years. Being this competitive with UCLA shows that even in defeat, USC validated its solid start to the season. The Trojans have every reason to expect that they can finish in the upper half of the Pac-12 after finishing 10th last season.

Progress is real in Los Angeles. Lindsay Gottlieb has this program moving in the right direction.

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