The USC women’s basketball team beat Oregon earlier this month in Big Ten play but then played a few tune-up games to work on overall cohesion and figure out lineup combinations. The Trojans know that they need to be on the same page and very well connected when they face the UConn Huskies this coming Saturday in one of the biggest college basketball games of the regular season.
Sunday’s game against Elon in the Galen Center was not going to answer every question or prove every point. What it did reinforce: USC plays superb defense every week.
The Trojans scored 88 points against Elon, but the eye-opening number was the 30 points USC allowed. USC’s defense is there in every game. The Trojans have not had a bad defensive game yet this season. If they are going to beat UConn, that defense will need to show up.
USC is without Kennedy Smith, a starter at the beginning of the season who is out for an extended period of time with an injury. USC’s offense, minus Smith, got shredded by Notre Dame’s defense on Nov. 23. The subsequent weeks have needed to give USC more cohesion and continuity on offense. One can only hope this game against Elon gave the Trojans more of an understanding of how to play together on offense. USC’s offense will need to be reasonably good against an elite opponent.
UConn awaits. We will find out on Saturday how much this team has evolved.