LSU's Kim Mulkey Comments on USC Trojans Star JuJu Watkins Season-Ending Injury

Kim Mulkey and the No. 3 seeded LSU Tigers are off to the Sweet 16 after taking down the Florida State Seminoles on Monday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

It was a tale of two halves in Baton Rouge with Mulkey's crew dismantling the Seminoles in the final 20 minutes of the Round of 32 contest.

LSU started the second half on an 9-2 run, capped off by a fastbreak layup by Johnson where she drew a foul and forced FSU to take a timeout; Johnson converted the free throw after the break.

Sa'Myah Smith found Mikaylah Williams in the corner in transition for LSU to go up, 64-53 at the 6:30 mark and by the 5:22 mark, LSU stretched its lead to double figures and it did not take to bring it to 20.

LSU ended the quarter on a 22-2 run to take an 81-55 lead into the fourth. Williams scored another 12 points in the third.

“We don’t play to just get to a Sweet 16 at LSU women’s basketball anymore,” LSU Coach Kim Mulkey said. “Not that we take it for granted, but our goal every year is just to make a run and see if you can get to another Final Four and see if you can upset somebody you’re not supposed to upset. We weren’t talked about at all when we won it two years ago. So let’s go see what we can do.”

Despite the Tigers punching their ticket to the Sweet 16, the buzz from Monday night's NCAA Tournament was the awful news of USC Trojans star JuJu Watkins suffering a torn ACL in the Round of 32 matchup against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Watkins went down on a fastbreak and instantly grabbed her knee in agony with the worst feared.

After undergoing testing late Monday night, it was revealed that the star guard had suffered a tear in her ACL.

JuJu Watkins was carried off the court and taken to the locker room after suffering an injury on this play. pic.twitter.com/zFgm8PkVnu
— ESPN (@espn) March 25, 2025

Mulkey addressed the injury to one of college basketball's best during an appearance on ESPN's Off The Bench.

"JuJu Watkins is a star in our game and she went down last night with an ACL injury. Nobody did anything dirty, but it was so sad to watch. I just think about her and her family and the thing I would tell her is this is fixable. Sa'Myah Smith is a great example of that. She's been through two ACL tears.

[Watkins] is such a great ambassador of our game."

Kim Mulkey on JuJu Watkins' injury on @OTB_ESPN:

"JuJu Watkins is a star in our game and she went down last night with an ACL injury. Nobody did anything dirty, but it was so sad to watch. I just think about her and her family and the thing I would tell her is this is fixable.…
— Matthew Brune (@MatthewBrune_) March 25, 2025

For LSU, the Tigers are now set to face North Carolina State this weekend in the Spokane 1 Regional.

The Tigers defeated the Wolfpack back in November, 82-65, in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship.

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