The USC Trojans easily defeated the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders and coach Royce Chadwick in the first round of the Women’s NCAA Tournament on Saturday. An 87-55 win in which USC led 21-2 late in the first quarter would qualify as an easy win. Yet, while the overall game was relatively manageable and the Trojans were never in real danger of losing, it’s not as though the full 40-minute performance was smooth and clean.
USC was very ragged and sloppy in the second quarter and portions of the third. The Trojans, who grabbed a 19-point lead before the end of the first quarter, watched their lead get chopped down to nine points at one point before extending their advantage. A&M-CC was still competitive in this game midway through the third quarter before JuJu Watkins and the Trojans created significant separation. It really was a good effort from the No. 16 seed, which put up a far better fight than the score indicated.
We’re here to praise A&M-CC and Royce Chadwick for their effort, but there is a second purpose to this article: USC has plenty to work on coming out of the A&M-CC game. The Trojans were sloppy in ways which could bite them if they aren’t sharper in future rounds, beginning with Monday against Kansas.
Royce Chadwick’s main tactical achievement against USC was to fluster the Trojans with a zone defense which became a hard, aggressive halfcourt zone trap at times. McKenzie Forbes and other USC players froze on a few occasions against those hard traps, committing turnovers and not rotating the ball quickly when doubled or pressured.
One thing USC coaches have stressed all season was making sure players are prepared for different defensive looks. JuJu Watkins has been exposed to all sorts of defensive configurations. Stanford’s defense against JuJu in the Pac-12 Tournament final was something USC’s coaches said they had never seen before. Exposure to different tactics is something USC’s coaches really value in teaching and adjusting. Yet, there were times on Saturday against A&M-CC that USC seemed like it had never faced a halfcourt zone trap. That could be just the thing to make USC smarter and sharper against Kansas and for the remainder of the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans can’t afford to give away a game with careless turnovers and any other kinds of mistakes.
Thank you, Royce Chadwick, for that reminder.
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