USC Women's Basketball: JuJu Watkins Achieves Another Stunning Benchmark In Utah Fail
In notching her 12th 30+ point contest of the 2023-24 NCAA season during a 74-68 home defeat against the No. 18-ranked Utah Utes Sunday (she scored 30 points on 10-of-30 shooting from the floor, including 1-of-6 from long range), USC Women of Troy freshman wing JuJu Watkins also notched a major bigger-picture achievement.
As Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times reports, the 6'2" Sierra Canyon School product's season sum is now 705 points, a new USC freshman record, besting previous record-holder Paula McGee.
Through her first 25 contests this season for the 21-5 Trojans, the prolific Watkins is averaging 28.2 points on .416/.348/.861 shooting splits (the second-most in the game, behind only Iowa Hawkeyes superstar senior guard Caitlin Clark), seven rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.6 blocks per bout.
USC is hoping to improve on its 21-10 record in 2022-23 and first round departure in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. That first goal seems all but assured, though it remains to be seen just how far Watkins, a finalist for this year's Naismith College Player of the Year honor, and junior center Rayah Marshall, currently on the shortlist for the 2024 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award, can bring Lindsay Gottlieb's club this season.
