The Trojans run LA. At least that has been the case lately.
It was as competitive of a game as you will see in a matchup where one team never trailed for the entire night. Part 2 of USC’s rematch with No. 2 UCLA played out Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion, and the fourth-ranked Trojans again controlled the game early to eventually earn a comfortable 80-67 win and the regular season Big Ten title.
The season sweep of the Bruins came thanks to contributions from all over the floor as USC's star leaned on her teammates a bit more than the 71-60 victory back on Feb. 13 at Galen Center where JuJu Watkins filled the stat sheet with one of her most well-rounded performances.
In the first meeting, Watkins was key on both ends of the floor as a scorer and shot blocker in the lane. She again impacted the game in a variety of ways Saturday night to lead USC to its first regular season conference title since 1994, but the Trojans' supporting cast played an even bigger role in Saturday's victory.
Watkins scored 23 points in the opening half in what ended as her fourth consecutive matchup against the Bruins with at least 30 points. However, in the third quarter she was held to just 2 for 6 from the field and was kept without a field goal in the fourth.
Still, the USC star found a way to impact the game in other ways by distributing the ball and again buckling down on the defensive end of the floor. Watkins finished with 30 points in the win but it was the group around her that helped secure the victory and the Big Ten regular season crown in USC's first season in its new conference.
"JuJu was so good in the first game, I think in the second and third quarter the rest of our team was like 0 for 25, and we have a really good team," USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after Saturday's victory. "We have I think learned to appreciate the greatness of our stars and also value what everyone else does. I knew we could be better on offense whether or not she did the same thing again.
"Obviously, she came out and was pretty hot to start, but ... I just knew we could do a lot better on offense, which we did."
The key stretch in the second half came over a 1:58 span in the third quarter that featured just one basket from Watkins. The Trojans (26-2, 16-1) answered a 10-2 UCLA (27-2, 15-2) run led by Kiki Rice with a 7-0 run to end the quarter capped by a basket from Kiki Iriafen on an assist from Watkins to make it a 64-51 lead for USC.
That momentum carried over into fourth as the Trojans broke off a 12-3 run that was highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Avery Howell on assists from Watkins to push the lead up to 76-56 with 6:30 to play.
While the offense was good for the Trojans as a whole, it's defense was better. Like it did in the first matchup, USC was able to make life difficult on UCLA star center Lauren Betts and frustrate the Bruins on offense for several long stretches throughout the game.
The Trojans held their rival to just 12 points in the second quarter and limited Betts to just 11 points on the night to go with a game-high 5 turnovers.
"Defensively, we wanted to get Lauren to dribble a little bit more," Gottlieb said. "Like, push her out, not let her get anything easy. We adjusted where we doubled from at times, we gave up some looks that I thought we could take away. They're really good, so it was just minor adjustments but it was doubling down on what we do well that they can't stop and also making a couple adjustments.
"But, I just knew if we could unleash our offense it would be just more balanced in that sense. I'm just really glad that our entire team came ready to play. We needed everybody."
USC forced 16 turnovers in the game and benefitted with 25-8 edge in points off those takeaways against the Bruins.
The Trojans likely solidified their standing as a No. 1-seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament with the victory Saturday and will now have two byes entering the Big Ten Tournament.
There are bigger goals in play, but it certainly meant a lot to Watkins and the rest of the Trojans to earn a win over the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion and secure the regular season title.
"I think I would be remiss to say that playing against UCLA doesn't motivate me extra," Watkins, an LA native said. "So, that's an aspect for this. I've never won regular season, so just another thing to tick off the list. But, I think when you play with players like Kiki and the team we have and our seniors, you want to do your best. You don't want to let anybody down. I don't want to let coach down.
"So, whatever I have to do to do that and just have fun. I'm just out there playing really."
