CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Inside the Spectrum Center, JuJu Watkins screams and claps, shouts and high-fives, cheers and flexes. She is doing everything she can to cheer on her USC teammates and implore the crowd to rally behind their Trojans.
Because during games this season, that’s the limit of the ways the reigning National Player of the Year can impact her team. After undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL he suffered in the second round of the NCAA tournament in March, Watkins is sidelined for the entire season, unable to dazzle fans or lead the Trojans to victories with his supernatural scoring, strong rebounding or excellent playmaking skills.
Last season, as a sophomore, Watkins led the Trojans in scoring, assists, steals and minutes played. The 6-foot-2 guard was third in rebounds. When the competitions got difficult, USC relied on her. When they needed a bucket, the Trojans waited for her to make a play.
This season, Watkins is not a reliable on-court presence. The expectation that she will save the Trojans can no longer exist. Lindsay Gottlieb will need someone else to step up and do it.
And so, this is where USC found itself Sunday afternoon at the home of the Charlotte Hornets with its back against the wall, trailing No. 9 NC State by 11 points with nine minutes left after Wolfpack guard Zoe Brooks converted an And-1. Watkins was not on the court and was unable to insert himself into the game. Someone else would have to lead the Trojans.
“I kept saying, ‘We can do this,’ and I felt like they believed it,” Gottlieb said. “…We have a lot of different shooters and playmakers. We have some defensive stoppers. We can put people in different spots, and we try to do that throughout the game.”
This time, it ended up being Jazzy Davidson, who is the latest in what seems like an endless line of high-ranking recruits Gottlieb has attracted to Southern Cal. In a nationally televised game in front of thousands of fans in an NBA arena, the 6-foot-1 true freshman guard put USC on her back and said, “Follow me.”
Davidson scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half and came forward crucially when the game was closest. With 8.2 seconds left and the Trojans trailing by a single point, Davidson cut hard to the basket and got ahead of his defender (not unlike a speedy receiver beating a cornerback off the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball) and caught Kennedy Smith’s inbounds pass in stride, then sank the go-ahead layup with relative ease.
Davidson’s first college game winner, or likely many more in his career to come, will be on his list of highlights for a long time. And when women’s college basketball fans think about how USC is reinventing itself this season without Watkins on the court, it will be a notable play.
“I’m really proud of the team togetherness and toughness we showed today. You don’t know exactly what you have until you’re in these situations, which is why we scheduled them,” Gottlieb said. “And I think it’s an opportunity for us to redefine our identity a little bit. That was fully demonstrated today.”
While Davidson’s second half performance was heroic, what also can’t be overlooked is how Londynn Jones led the Trojans offensively in the first half, and how Smith’s defense and tireless attitude resulted in the game-sealing steal when he intercepted Brooks’ desperation pass with less than two seconds left.
To say USC’s 69-68 win over NC State was a declared victory wouldn’t be hyperbolic. He showed everyone that yes, even without Watkins, the Trojans are still capable of competing for a deep run in the NCAA tournament. It showed that yes, USC still has the talent to be a team consistently ranked in the AP Top 25. And yes, there are other players on this roster capable of making game-winning plays that make the crowd roar.
Plus, it was proof of concept that USC can still win meaningful games on big stages without the same cast of players who guided them to back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight over the past two seasons.
“Everyone is playing a new role. And we think it’s a great opportunity. That’s how we want to play,” Gottlieb said. “We want to play fast and fluid. We’re trying to play a more open, pro-style offense where there’s a lot of reads and options and putting people in different spots. We’re always going to play hard and tenaciously on the defensive end… I think that’s what the players have accepted.”
In addition to having an outstanding talent like Watkins out for the year, USC also sent its attack pairing from a season ago, Kiki Iriafen and Rayah Marshall, to the WNBA. Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel then transferred to Washington and UConn, respectively. And Talia von Oelhoffen exhausted her eligibility.
The only player returning to the court for the Trojans this year who started multiple games last season is Smith.
But Gottlieb adjusted and reloaded. Jones, who scored 14 points in the first half against NC State on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, arrived from rival UCLA through the transfer portal. All-ACC standout Kara Dunn arrived the same way from Georgia Tech. Gerda Raulusaityte, a 6-foot-3 forward who was the Most Valuable Player of the Lithuanian Women’s Basketball League, enrolled at USC as a junior. Malia Samuels, who stripped the ball from Brooks on a potential drive to the basket late to win the game, has seen her role grow.
And then, of course, there is Davidson.
Ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the country by ESPN, the Clackamas, Oregon, native began defending her position Sunday as the top freshman in women’s college basketball. After going 1 of 10 from the field in the first half, Davidson seemed to enter the third quarter with a new mindset and renewed swagger. He started the second half by connecting on his first five shot attempts, scoring inside the paint and from behind the arc, showing off his lanky frame, soft touch and confidence.
“When you have a great player like that, knowing that shots are going to fall, you just have to keep her, you know, Jazzy,” the senior Jones said of Davidson. “What he’s done so far has been incredible and he has a lot to look forward to.”
Added NC State coach Wes Moore: “He had a great game. He got us out of the rebound and then if we tried to hold off a little more, he hit some 3-pointers.”
While Jones and Davidson impressed with their shooting, being strong on defense is what USC was counting on against NC State. The Wolfpack made just five 3-pointers, scored just eight second-chance points on 17 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 18 times, which USC then turned into 15 points.
The anchor of the Trojans’ defense appeared to be Smith, whose impact on that end of the floor did not go unnoticed by Gottlieb, even though it doesn’t necessarily show up on the scoreboard. The sophomore finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and a steal in 30 minutes, but was a consistent disruptor against NC State’s offensive attack.
“I think what makes Kennedy an elite player is that she can impact the game without scoring,” Gottlieb said. “She’s unique because she can make other elite players better. … She’s an elite defender. She’s all over the boards and there’s a competitiveness about her that I think other people say, ‘Okay, we can stop him, we can make a play,’ no matter what’s going on on the offensive end.”
USC’s next game is against an even tougher ranked opponent, as No. 2 South Carolina visits Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday for the first of two neutral-site games over the next two years between the Trojans and Gamecocks. And it’s entirely possible that the Trojans lose that game to Dawn Staley, Ta’Niya Latson and company.
But there is also a real possibility that they will win it.
Either way, in the long-term view of this season, with Davidson, Jones and Smith leading the way on the court, with Gottlieb instilling a defensive mentality and putting his best players in positions to succeed, the Trojan Women will be fine as Watkins applauds from the bench.