JuJu Watkins' Feisty Exchange With Michigan Star During USC Win Turns Heads
The USC Trojans women's basketball team advanced to the Big Ten Tournament championship game after defeating the Michigan Wolverines in the tournament semifinal by a score of 82-70 on Saturday.
The Trojans' superstar duo of JuJu Watkins and Kiki Iriafen stole the show against Michigan. They combined for 45 of USC's points (25 from Iriafen and 20 from Watkins) while both players grabbed 11 rebounds. Watkins also tallied three steals.
As for the Wolverines, star freshman Syla Swords led the game in scoring with 26 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 3 steals. She also amassed two fouls — one of which clearly irked the USC star it was on.
With less than a minute remaining in the game, JuJu Watkins and Swords were battling for a rebound when both fell to the floor. Almost immediately after (during which a foul was called on Swords), Watkins sprung up and headed toward Swords, seemingly upset about the exchange.
She was ultimately restrained by one of her USC teammates and a Michigan player before holding up her hands, as if to say she wasn't going to do anything.
X user @ShowCaseShabazz posted a video of this interaction with the caption, "JuJu 🤣".
JuJu 🤣 pic.twitter.com/yjfvU0SaNi
— Basketball Scout (@ShowCaseShabazz) March 8, 2025
It was very apparent that Swords didn't want any smoke with Watkins, either. Ultimately cooler heads prevailed, and USC now needs to await the winner of UCLA's game against Ohio State to see who they'll be playing against in the Big Ten Championship Game on Sunday.
Recommended Reading:
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
Follow GrvntYoung