Women's Fastbreak On SI

Women's Basketball World Praying for USC Star JuJu Watkins After Apparent Knee Injury

Several NCAA and WNBA superstars are showing JuJu Watkins love after the USC star suffered a knee injury in the NCAA Tournament.

Grant Young

Mar 24, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins during pregame warmup before an NCAA Tournament second round game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
Mar 24, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins during pregame warmup before an NCAA Tournament second round game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

The women's basketball community is holding its collective breath right now after what happened to USC superstar sophomore JuJu Watkins during her team's second-round NCAA Tournament game against Mississippi State on Monday.

Just a few minutes into the game, Watkins was driving down the court while being guarded by two players. Right before going up for a layup, Watkins went down to the floor awkwardly and immediately began clutching her right knee.

Watkins was rolling around on the ground for a few moments and visibly grimacing in pain in front of USC's Galen Center crowd that was eerily silent.

Soon after being attended to by members of USC's training staff, Watkins was carried off of the court and into the locker room without being able to put any weight on her knee.

Various members of the women's basketball community have flocked to social media in order to send prayers and show Watkins support.

Chicago Sky superstar Angel Reese wrote, "Prayers for Juju! 🥺🙏🏽".

Indiana Fever center and former South Carolina Gamecocks standout Aliyah Boston added, "Prayers up🙏🏽🙏🏽".

LSU Tigers star Flau'jae Johnson (who produced an impressive NCAA Tournament win earlier today) added, "I pray juju okay 🙏 hate to see it".

Former UConn Huskies legend and current New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart simply posted, "🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻".

It's still way too early to tell the severity of Watkins' injury. But any time an athlete suffers a non-contact knee injury, the immediate fear is that it has to do with the ACL.

Time will tell what Watkins is dealing with.

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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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