JuJu Watkins stars as USC holds off Paige Bueckers, UConn

HARTFORD, Conn. — Eight months in the past in Portland, Oregon, Paige Bueckers and No. 3 seed UConn knocked off JuJu Watkins and No. 1 seed USC for a spot within the 2024 Closing 4, prevailing in an epic showdown between two of the most important stars in ladies’s basketball.

On a cold Saturday evening in Hartford in entrance of a crowd of practically 16,000, USC lastly avenged that loss in one of the vital anticipated matchups of the 2024-25 season.

The No. 7 Trojans warded off a livid comeback from the No. 4 Huskies to return away with a 72-70 victory on the XL Heart, incomes their first marquee win of the season.

“It feels nice to get the dub all the time,” Watkins stated. “I feel it hit a little bit totally different figuring out the historical past of final 12 months and the way they despatched us dwelling.”

She added: “It was simply nice to see all people that got here out. I do not assume I’ve ever performed in entrance of so many individuals.”

USC dominated the primary half and led by as many as 18 early within the third quarter earlier than UConn stormed again, briefly main halfway by the fourth. Neither workforce led by greater than three factors within the last 6:21 of the sport, however Watkins discovered Rayah Marshall for the go-ahead basket with 1:24 to play.

The massive names confirmed out in a recreation that was hyped for its star energy: Standout freshman Sarah Sturdy and Bueckers, the 2021 nationwide participant of the 12 months and presumptive 2025 WNBA No. 1 draft decide, every completed with 22 factors for UConn. Affect switch Kiki Iriafen put up 16 factors, 11 rebounds and 6 assists for USC. Watkins led all scorers with 25 factors, with 15 coming within the first half to assist USC construct its sizable lead.

“It is only a testomony to while you give ladies a platform, we’ll carry out,” Watkins stated. “I feel that tonight was a wonderful recreation. … It was simply lovely to be part of. And I could not think about watching it.”

Watkins’ 25 factors, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and three blocks made her the one participant over the previous 15 seasons with a 25-5-5-3 stat line in opposition to an Related Press top-five opponent on the street. It was additionally her fourth profession 25-point recreation versus an AP top-five workforce, probably the most of any participant over the previous two seasons.

“I feel Coach Lindsay [Gottlieb] stated it greatest,” Iriafen stated. “A whole lot of the issues she does are tremendous onerous, however she makes it look really easy.”

Watkins, final 12 months’s nationwide freshman of the 12 months, has supercharged the revival of the USC program, which received championships in 1983 and 1984. In April, the then-upstart Trojans have been minutes away from returning to the Closing 4 for the primary time since 1986 earlier than the Huskies — winners of 11 nationwide championships and members in 23 Closing Fours — closed out sturdy.

With Iriafen and the No. 1-ranked freshman class now surrounding Watkins, the Trojans are hoping for a special final result this season. Wins comparable to this one could possibly be a step in that course.

“This can be a actually important win, and it is a actually important win due to the stature of UConn’s program and what Geno Auriemma has finished for our sport,” Gottlieb stated after this system’s first victory over UConn. “It does not matter to me that they have not received a championship in a pair years. There’s nonetheless a means that they put together, a means that they play, that makes you higher, and it made us higher.”

The Trojans have only one loss this season — at dwelling in opposition to Notre Dame on Nov. 23, in a recreation that wasn’t as shut within the second half as the ultimate 13-point deficit indicated.

However the workforce caught collectively and used the expertise to make them higher.

“We knew the way it felt to be in such a giant recreation and for it to not go our means. We did not need the identical factor to occur as we speak,” Iriafen stated. “So we have been actually cognizant of placing our foot on the gasoline at halftime. … That is the most important enchancment that we have comprised of the primary recreation, is simply coming collectively, even when issues get onerous, and understanding that we apply day by day, we have finished the work, that we are able to belief that work.”

Freshman Kennedy Smith was again within the fold for USC for the primary time since Nov. 15 after present process an undisclosed process. Her defensive power and skill to knock down 3-pointers made the Trojans “a extra full workforce,” Gottlieb stated. USC shot 9-of-16 from 3-point vary on the evening, with Smith accounting for 3 of the makes, in contrast with UConn’s 6-of-23 clip.

Senior Azzi Fudd (knee sprain) was additionally again for the Huskies and performed eight minutes after lacking the previous three video games, together with UConn’s solely different loss, to Notre Dame.

Auriemma stated he was happy with his workforce’s second-half rally however lamented the best way it performed within the first 20 minutes.

“I assumed the execution half within the first half was simply as unhealthy as I’ve seen in a number of years right here in Connecticut,” he stated.

Sturdy, who completed with 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, drew a foul on a 3-point shot with 5 seconds left within the recreation, giving her a possibility to tie the rating, however she missed her second free throw. After deliberately lacking the third, the Huskies’ last-ditch shot try did not come near falling.

“Some folks run from the flame, and different children run to it. She needs to be in that state of affairs,” Auriemma stated of Sturdy, the front-runner for Freshman of the Yr. “She relishes that state of affairs. No one’s extra disenchanted than she is true now, in that second. However I’d put her in that second each single recreation for the remainder of the season and believe that she’s going to return by.”

ESPN Analysis contributed to this report.