Tag: USC women’s basketball

USC women’s basketball delivers epic comeback 2-OT win at Arizona without JuJu Watkins

JuJu Watkins fouled out. USC trailed by 5 with 35 seconds left. Game over, right? Wrong. USC fought on and won.

Some victories for a sports team are simply inspiring. Some victories mean a lot within the course of the season and the stakes involved on a specific night. The USC women’s basketball team achieved a win which was both inspiring and important on Thursday night against the Arizona Wildcats. The Trojans scored a come-from-behind, double-overtime, 95-93 win against a hungry and determined opponent with JuJu Watkins having fouled out late in regulation time. USC then lost Kaitlyn Davis, another centrally important player, in the first overtime.

USC kept losing players. It never lost faith. Down by 10 with five minutes left in regulation, down five with 35 seconds remaining in regulation, the Trojans didn’t quit. The win is huge. The way they scored the win is remarkably impressive.

Let’s look at the highlights of a remarkable night for a special team:

USC has only one path to a No. 1 seed in Women’s NCAA Tournament

USC still has a chance for a No. 1 seed, but the odds are undeniably lower after the loss to Utah.

The USC women’s basketball team isn’t out of the running for a No. 1 seed in the 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament, but the Trojans’ odds took a very big hit due to their loss to Utah on Sunday. Think of it this way: If the Trojans had any margin for error, it is likely gone now.

Is USC finished in terms of having any shot at a top seed? No. USC still has a chance, but it’s a slim one. To be more precise, USC has just one avenue to a No. 1 seed in the Women’s NCAA Tournament. We’ll share that path and walk through some of the other plot points involved:

USC Pac-12 championship hopes receive fatal blow, but Trojans still 2nd in the conference

If you had been told before the season USC would finish 2nd in the Pac-12, you probably would have been elated.

The USC Trojans’ Pac-12 women’s basketball championship hopes lasted about 42 hours. From the end of the Colorado game late Friday night to the end of Sunday afternoon’s loss to Utah, USC harbored realistic aspirations of being able to win a share of the last Pac-12 regular season title in women’s hoops. That dream died with the 74-68 defeat dealt by the Utes in a hard-fought game in the Galen Center.

Is the immediate result disappointing? No question. Yet, the larger picture is that USC made a great run at a conference championship which seemed out of the question for a good portion of the season. Let’s gain some perspective on the current balance of power in the Pac-12, but also on the journey USC took to get to this point:

USC women’s basketball loses to Utah, snapping 7-game winning streak

After seven straight wins, the Trojans had another bad day at the office. Get it out of the system before March.

The USC women’s basketball team had won seven games in a row entering Sunday’s regular-season home finale in the Galen Center against Utah. The Trojans had hoped to continue their winning ways, knowing that if they got through this game, they would play two teams outside the top five in the Pac-12 over the next week. Utah is a top-25 team which was a No. 2 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament. The Utes are really good, and a lot better than the Arizona and Arizona State teams USC will face later this week. Beating Utah would have given USC a path to a possible Pac-12 championship and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Alas, a loss. USC took a big hit with a 74-68 defeat. Let’s hit the main points of this result:

Beth Burns offers a look inside her methods as USC’s defensive coordinator

D’Anton Lynn is good. Beth Burns has been brilliant as the main defensive strategist for USC women’s basketball.

In basketball, we don’t always refer to assistant coaches as “coordinators,” but it’s a very real thing to identify certain assistant coaches as precisely that. Beth Burns of USC qualifies as one such example.

Certain head coaches in basketball — just like football — have a knack for coaching one side of the ball but need help with the other side. There have been examples of “coordinator hires” making a difference for basketball teams in the NBA and college hoops. Doc Rivers hired Tom Thibodeau as his defensive coordinator with the Boston Celtics, a move which helped Boston win the 2008 NBA championship. Michigan head coach John Beilein hired defensive coordinator Luke Yaklich, a move which enabled Michigan to reach the 2018 NCAA national championship game.

USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb develops great offensive sets, but she really wanted help on defense, and that’s where hiring Beth Burns as an assistant came into play. Burns’ performance at USC has been nothing short of spectacular.

Luca Evans of the Orange County Register (subscription required) wrote a very informative piece on Burns’ methods. We’ll include a few short excerpts and add some extra details about Burns’ record at USC:

USC rematch with Utah contains dramatic, powerful storylines

USC tries to stop former Trojan Alissa Pili in a crucial rematch versus Utah.

USC women’s basketball handled Colorado on Friday. Now comes the quick turnaround from Friday night to Sunday afternoon and another very crucial game against Utah.

It’s obviously a big game. The Trojans are competing for the Pac-12 title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It’s Senior Day, always an emotional and personally important for the players who are playing their last home gam in the Galen Center. We don’t need to re-hash those storylines. You know all about them and are aware of them. There are still other storylines attached to this game which are worth following on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Let’s take a look:

USC, JuJu Watkins turned the tables on Colorado and Jaylyn Sherrod

USC didn’t just avenge the Colorado loss from January; the Trojans won the way CU defeated them a month ago.

USC did indeed avenge its loss to Colorado from earlier in the season. The Trojans’ victory on Friday night in Los Angeles enabled the Women of Troy to split the season series against the Buffaloes, who had defeated USC in Boulder on January 21. Winning the game is what mattered most to USC, but the way in which the Trojans won this game had to be particularly satisfying for them. They really did turn the tables on Colorado in an instance of basketball role reversal.

In order to understand this, you need to go back to that January 21 game before returning to Friday night’s action.

Let’s take a look:

JuJu Watkins, Lindsay Gottlieb react to huge USC women’s basketball win over Colorado

JuJu Watkins is enjoying the journey and knows there is more room to grow for herself and this team.

USC women’s basketball continues to rise and improve. The Trojans beat Colorado, 87-81, on Friday night in the Galen Center. They are now 21-4 on the season and just one game out of the lead in the Pac-12 after Stanford got upset by Arizona. USC is in the hunt for a No. 1 seed in the 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament. It has been a really good season for this group, led by superstar JuJu Watkins under the direction of head coach Lindsay Gottlieb.

JuJu and Gottlieb reacted to this important win along with other USC players and the beat writers who cover this team, which will host NCAA Tournament games one month from now:

Kayla Padilla once again answers the call for USC women’s basketball

Kayla Padilla’s unselfishness and efficiency helped USC in a big way against Colorado.

JuJu Watkins is the superstar on this USC women’s basketball team. McKenzie Forbes is the 1-B to JuJu’s 1-A most of the time, and she was very much the main supporting actress in USC’s 87-81 win over Colorado on Friday night in the Galen Center. Yet, as much as USC gained from its premier duo, this win was more the product of three players than two. Kayla Padilla was a central, not peripheral, part of this victory.

Padilla exists in the background partly because of the enormity of JuJu Watkins’ superstardom, but also because her smaller frame makes it harder for her to create her own shot against taller defenders. McKenzie Forbes and JuJu can both play over the top more than Padilla can.

It has been important for USC’s offense to give Padilla opportunities to shoot. Friday we were reminded why that is the case. Let’s go into the details on her performance against Colorado:

McKenzie Forbes dazzles for USC in complete performance versus Colorado

McKenzie Forbes learned a lot from the first USC-Colorado game of the season one month ago.

When JuJu Watkins fouled out against Colorado on January 21 in Boulder, USC had to play the final six minutes of regulation without its best player. McKenzie Forbes had to handle the ball more than she usually does in those final minutes. It was a tough adjustment for the veteran, whose turnovers helped Colorado beat the Trojans, 63-59.

We wrote about that game: 

“USC watched JuJu Watkins foul out with under six minutes left in regulation on a highly questionable foul call. Playing the final five-plus minutes without their superstar player was expectedly rough for the Trojans, but they can certainly learn from the experience. McKenzie Forbes committed multiple turnovers against Colorado’s defensive pressure with JuJu out. Those turnovers led to Colorado baskets and were important in shaping the ultimate four-point final margin for the Buffs.”

McKenzie Forbes has bounced back from that game. She has learned from that game. Given a chance to face Colorado a second time, Forbes played miles better versus the Buffaloes on Friday night. She was instrumental in leading USC to an 87-81 win which has the Trojans in position to contend for the Pac-12 title and a top seed at the 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament. Let’s say a little more about Forbes’ performance below: