It’s JuJu’s world and we’re just living in it
Watkins’ historic 51 piece against Stanford set a slew of WBB scoring records.
By LEILA MACKENZIE
JuJu Watkins is the next … JuJu Watkins.
There’s no comparison to be made; she’s in a league of her own. Friday night, the freshman guard was everything and more for the Trojans when she erupted for 51 points to deliver No. 15 USC (16-4, 6-4 Pac-12) the 67-58 upset victory over No. 4 Stanford (20-3, 9-2) at Maples Pavilion.
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Watkins produced 76% of the Trojans’ points, the highest percentage scored by a player in the last 25 years, and her 51 points came off shooting 14/26 from the field, 6/11 from beyond the arc and 17/19 from the line (while on the road). Moreover, she wrestled down a team high 11 rebounds and poked away a game high four steals.
With 17 seconds left in the game, Watkins’ final free throw propelled her past Cherie Nelson’s record for the most single game points in USC history. Watkins’ scoring output also marked the most points in a single game by any Division I basketball player this season, the most points by a freshman since 2010, the most points against a top-five team in over 25 years and the second-most points ever in Pac-12 history. She is also the first freshman to pile up more than 50 points and 10 rebounds in over 25 years.
@dailytrojanJuJu Watkins is the next … JuJu Watkins. There’s no comparison to be made; she’s in a league of her own, sports editor Leila MacKenzie argues. Read more at the link in our bio. Video: Henry Kofman / Daily Trojan Photo: Ethan Thai / Daily Trojan
“We just saw something that I’ve never seen before in my life,” Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “It’s unbelievable.”
The time and place for Watkins’ absurd performance could not have been more perfect: It came after the Trojans dropped three of their last four games, including a disheartening 3-point home loss to Washington (13-8, 3-7) the game before, in which Watkins was in a sort of slump. She hadn’t made over two 3s in her last eight games and watched her shooting percentage drop over 10% since entering Pac-12 play.
On a mission to resurrect the Trojans, Watkins was anchored to the gym all week. Hours after falling to the Huskies, Gottlieb received a call from a nighttime security guard inquiring whether to kick Watkins out of the gym.
“No,” Gottlieb replied. “Let Ju be Ju.”
Watkins clearly found herself. She single-handedly hoisted USC over the No. 4 team in the county that boasts Tara VanDerveer, the winningest coach in college basketball history; senior forward Cameron Brink, a projected top-five pick in this year’s WNBA Draft; and three national titles.
And remember, Watkins did all of this on the Cardinal’s home floor — a venue which the Trojans hadn’t won at since 2001. Interestingly enough, Maples could have easily been Watkins’ home court, as she’d been heavily recruited by Stanford throughout high school.
“It is never lost on me,” Gottlieb said Saturday. “Like, it is never not something that I think about, because I do think she’s different. She had a courage that I don’t think many people would have had. She had a belief in herself, and us, and in [Los Angeles] and USC.”
Watkins obviously elected to stay in her hometown of Los Angeles, but by the end of Friday’s game, Maples sounded like a home crowd.
“By the time I scored, all I heard was, ‘Oooooh,’” Watkins said. “It wasn’t even like a boo. I was like, ‘All right.’ It was crazy.”
Watkins’ performance has landed her as the front-runner for freshman of the year and her name is beginning to surface in player of the year conversations as well.
After the game, athletic and Hollywood stars such as LeBron James, Michael B. Jordan, Kevin Durant, Aliyah Boston, Caleb Williams, Chelsea Gray and DeMar DeRozan paid respects to Watkins’ historic night on social media.
Perhaps two-time WNBA MVP and back-to-back champion A’ja Wilson put Watkins’ epic game in perspective best.
“Watching Ju grow over these next years is about to be so exciting,“ Wilson wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Love this for her!”
The win over Stanford was just Watkins’ 19th game as an NCAA player and her collegiate career is expected to continue for at least three more seasons. Sunday afternoon, Watkins had already moved onto the next challenge as she posted 29 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals in the Trojans’ 79-69 triumph over UC Berkeley at Haas Pavilion.
