JuJu Watkins is one of the most well-known and decorated players in women's college basketball, a first-team All-American and national player of the year candidate, but anyone who has watched this USC team all season knows that the Trojans have two superstars.
And as Watkins' scary knee injury in the first quarter Monday night left the crowd inside Galen Center tense and dismayed, Kiki Iriafen stayed calm and determined while delivering her best performance of the season when it might well have been needed most, scoring 36 points on 16-of-22 shooting to lead the No. 1-seeded Trojans to a 96-59 win over No. 9-seed Mississippi State.
USC (30-3) advances to a Sweet 16 matchup with No. 5 Kansas State (28-7) on Saturday in Spokane, Washington.
Speaking after the game, Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb hadn't yet received the results of the MRI on Watkins' knee, but the team later tweeted out that the injury is season-ending and that the star guard will have surgery.
The injury was sustained on a fastbreak drive as her right knee buckled after a little bodily contact from the defender. Watkins immediately clutched the knee in obvious pain and had to be carried off the court before being sent to Keck Medical Center.
"The energy of that crowd, how sort of angry they were at the other team and how fired up they were for our team is so much about what JuJu has given to this arena, to this program, to the city, and you just want to give it all back. You want to give it all back and support her however we can, but also the team has become a team and deserves my best and our best to build that belief in them that they can do anything," Gottlieb said. "... As you saw tonight, we're capable of a lot of greatness -- that's what we'll continue to message to our team."
The loss of Watkins will remain the biggest storyline not just for this team but in the sport in the days to follow, but Iriafen deserves her spotlight.
The third-team AP All-American has made her mark throughout her lone season at USC after transferring in from Stanford for her final year of college basketball, averaging 18 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, but this will be the enduring moment of her time with the Trojans. For now, at least.
Iriafen had 15 points at halftime as USC built a 50-27 lead, but she was just getting started at that point. The 6-foot-3 forward then scored 16 in the third quarter alone, including her own 10-0 run to take the lead to 64-34 and put the game out of reach.
"I think as coach mentioned it's hard when you have such a key player not with you, but at the end of the day we have to win the game," Iriafen said. "Respectfully, nobody cares on Mississippi State that we lost her, so I think for us it was just making sure that we got the job done. We wanted our season to be extended."
She also pushed back on the suggestion that Monday night was a defining moment for this team.
"I wouldn't say it's a defining moment -- I think is what we expect for ourselves. We expect to win and lead in this tournament regardless of whether it's going our way, we have people, we don't have people. That's the standard --we expect to win -- so for us it's just keeping that thing the main thing," Iriafen said.
For that matter, though, not only is this team more than just Watkins, Gottlieb has made the point all season that the Trojans have confidence in their full supporting cast, and up and down the roster the team got huge contributions Monday night to help offset the loss of its star.
Senior center Rayah Marshall had 12 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks in her final home game, while the Trojans' talented freshmen contributed in a big way. Avery Howell had 18 points and 6 assists while hitting 4 of 9 3-pointers, Kayleigh Heckel had 13 points and 6 assists and Kennedy Smith had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals.
"I'm feeling a lot of emotions, obviously, but the biggest one is pride," Gottlieb said. "What a performance by this group. When you throw a bunch of talented people on a team, it doesn't become a team until you work through some things and I always thought throughout the year if we had something we had to work on it would be when things didn't go right, right away, we sometimes stressed out. And how about this -- something didn't go right for us. You never want anyone to go down, especially someone like JuJu that we all lean on in so many ways, but this team rallied. They rallied for her, they rallied for each other. Our fans had our back. I'm just really proud, and I think we showed what kind of team we are."
Marshall, who banked in a 3-pointer to end the first half, reached a milestone with her 300th career block, joining legends Cheryl Miller and Lisa Leslie as the only Trojans to reach that mark.
"She came here when there no fans, and I think this crowd getting to see her play with a ton of energy and ... she just anchors us in so many ways, so I'm very happy for her that she got to feel an energy like this in her last game at Galen. She deserves that," Gottlieb said.
Meanwhile, Howell's 18 points matched her season-high.
"I think everyone on our team plays a huge role, our bench especially," Howell said. "... And the way we shared the ball tonight was amazing, and I think it just helped fuel everyone and give energy to everyone's games."
Gottlieb was asked what she told the team immediately after Watkins was carried off the court to refocus them and calm them down for the collectively clutch performance that followed.
"I just tried to look people in the eye and say, 'We can do this. We've got this. We need everybody. Stay focused and locked in on the task at hand.' But they're competitors and that's what they are naturally born to do -- have someone's back," she said. "They had her back and they had each other's back. And like I said, the fans felt really a part of that too. You had to be here to feel that, I think. It was a palpable thing. I think everyone wanted to step up for one another."
