The USC women’s basketball team took care of Seton Hall 84-51 on Wednesday night. The Trojans scored a 33-point win and were able to put their feet down in the second half. The margin of victory doesn’t necessarily mean that USC is somehow “back” after getting smacked by Notre Dame, but the runaway win is nevertheless important for one key reason: bench development.
With Kennedy Smith out for an extended period of time, USC is missing one of its core players. The Trojans lacked an answer from one of their role players against Notre Dame. The Irish threw bodies at JuJu Watkins. Kiki Iriafen struggled, going 5 of 15 from the field. If JuJu and Kiki are not flourishing, a third scorer has to emerge for this team to be effective and to counter the defensive tactics of opposing teams. USC’s offense has not fared well against elite defensive teams. The Trojans will need those third and fourth options to emerge, and with Smith out, other players are going to get more minutes. They need to be able to develop as quickly as possible.
USC, by blowing out Seton Hall, was able to play bench players for extended minutes. None of USC’s starters except for JuJu (33) played 30 minutes. Avery Howell got 22 minutes off the bench and scored 14 big points. Malia Samuels got 20 bench minutes. Kayleigh Heckel played 18 minutes as a starter. That’s 60 total minutes for younger players who need to come along and provide real reinforcements if JuJu and Kiki are being taken away by quality defensive opponents.
The more Lindsay Gottlieb can develop her freshmen and her underclassmen on the bench, the more USC can learn from the Notre Dame loss and be ready to roll in March.
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