Geno Auriemma's JuJu Watkins NCAA Tournament Message Has Sad Ending After ACL Injury

UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma was excited to see USC star JuJu Watkins play before her unfortunate NCAA Tournament injury.

Apr 1, 2022; Minneapolis, MN, USA; UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma speaks to the media after defeating the Stanford Cardinal in the Final Four semifinals of the women's college basketball NCAA Tournament at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The UConn Huskies women's basketball team cruised to a 91-57 win over the South Dakota State Jackrabbits during the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 24, in what will be Paige Bueckers' (but not Azzi Fudd's) final home game at UConn's Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in her college career.

Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma was clearly in his feelings about Bueckers' time playing in front of UConn's home crowd coming to an end. However, before Auriemma's sad emotions came to the surface, he expressed excitement about another star player in the tournament: USC superstar JuJu Watkins.

When Auriemma was speaking with the broadcast team for UConn's second-round game, he was asked to answer a question, "In one minute, because we've got to get to JuJu".

This was a way of saying that Watkins' USC team was playing right after the interview, which meant Auriemma had to keep his answer brief.

Auriemmas responded to this one-minute request by saying, "Oh, man. Get off me right now and get to her! I want to watch her play!”

Geno Auriemma was asked to answer a question in one minute so ESPN could “get to JuJu”

Geno: “oh get off me right now and get to her! I want to watch her play!” 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/5wJeSaro2q

— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) March 25, 2025

Moments after his answer, Auriemma said, "Give me some JuJu!... Out to you JuJu, take it over."

Geno counting down the broadcast and then tossing it to JuJu telling her to “takeover” >>>> https://t.co/ErmNJNrp5d pic.twitter.com/A2stO3eH2A

— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) March 25, 2025

While this was an awesome postgame sentiment from Auriemma, it quickly took a depressing turn once Watkins got injured in the first quarter of her game, which ended up being an ACL tear that will require surgery and keep her sidelined for about one year.

Auriemma was certainly not the only person who was excited to see Watkins balling out on Monday. And he's surely now with the rest of the women's basketball community in praying for a healthy and quick recovery in the wake of this injury.