Women's Fastbreak On SI

Lakers Coach JJ Redick Makes His Opinion of USC Star JuJu Watkins Extremely Clear

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick got honest about his first time watching USC's JuJu Watkins play live.
Grant Young|
Jan 25, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick talks to media members after defeating the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Jan 25, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick talks to media members after defeating the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

In what was a hectic weekend within the world of women's basketball, the biggest story heading into the postseason centers around USC Trojans sophomore star JuJu Watkins.

After her 30-point, 5-assist, 3-rebound, 3-block, and 2-steal performance against USC's arch-rival UCLA on Saturday (which results in an 80-67 win for the Trojans) Watkins not only asserted herself as the frontrunner for National Player of the Year, but led her team to a Big Ten Conference regular season championship.

Expectations were high for Watkins after she produced the best offensive freshman season in NCAA D-1 women's basketball history last year. And after enduring a midseason scoring slump (relative to her own lofty standards), Watkins has caught fire in time to turn the Trojans into arguably the country's scariest team heading into the postseason.

There were several basketball icons present at Saturday's USC vs. UCLA game. One of them was Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick. And after his team's 108-102 win over the cross-town Clippers on Sunday, Redick spoke about his experience at the game.

"[I] have wanted to go to a [UCLA] game all season, just schedule hadn't allowed it," Redick said, per an X post from Sporting Tribune's Arash Markazi. "My youngest son has a classmate whose dad works for UCLA, so I saw him at school this past week and was like 'Really want to come to the game Saturday.' So he hooked us up, and just really impressed with both teams.

"JuJu Watkins is one-of-one. She's incredible," Redick continued. "First time seeing her play in person, but obviously I've watched her before. But she lived up to the hype."

It's no surprise that a genius basketball mind like Redick was awestruck about what Watkins is doing on the court right now.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

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.

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