The difference between the 2023 USC women’s basketball team and the 2024 version could be as simple as JuJu Watkins. That’s mostly true, but it’s not entirely true. Of course a team is much better than the year before when it adds a genuine superstar who can throw down 51 points against Stanford and then 29 more points in a Bay Area weekender against Cal. Watkins is reason number one why USC is such a better team this season compared to one year ago.
Yet, it’s not the whole story or explanation. USC’s role players are helping their superstar win games. This was somewhat true against Stanford on Friday. Even though no one shot the ball well other than JuJu, the whole team played great defense and made tough plays at that end of the floor.
Sunday in Berkeley against the California Golden Bears, we saw an even better version of the non-JuJu Trojans. Four non-JuJu USC players scored at least eight points. Five scored at least six points. USC’s defense — shredded in the first and third quarters at Cal — responded with an elite fourth quarter, allowing just eight points to the Bears in a 79-69 win. USC trailed by 13 and won by 10, a massive turnaround for a team which had a huge weekend near the San Francisco Bay. USC bounced back in a big way from its worst performance of the year against Washington one week ago.
As we noted, JuJu Watkins is the main reason this team is what it is. She scored 29 points and also contributed 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocked shots. JuJu was JuJu, doing everything for USC. However, her teammates were ready.
If you recall from Friday, three USC players fouled out. Two of them, Kaitlyn Davis and Rayah Marshall, took advantage of the fact that they did not play extended minutes on Friday against Stanford. They were fresh against Cal, and it really helped the Trojans. Davis played her best game in several weeks, with 10 points and 8 boards. Marshall had 9 points and 6 rebounds in a solid performance of her own.
USC’s defense allowed six made 3-pointers to Cal in the first quarter. The Trojans, who did have to work extremely hard against Stanford late on Friday, had a short turnaround for this game and were vulnerable to a sleepy start, which is exactly what happened. However, after that horrible defensive first quarter and some lapses in the third quarter, the Trojans locked down late, allowing just eight points to Cal in the final 10 minutes. Cal hit just one 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, and the Trojans — helped by six “found money” points from reserve Kayla Williams — pulled away for the closer-than-it-looked 10-point win.
What a difference a year makes for USC. The team which lost at Cal on a Sunday in 2023 was able to conquer Berkeley in 2024. Games that might have been lost last year are turning into wins this year.
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