JuJu Watkins winced, shaking her left hand, the collective basketball world holding its breath. The primary 10 minutes of USC’s event debut had been disconcerting sufficient already. Errant passes sailed away. Makeable jumpers clanked away. And No. 16-seed North Carolina Greensboro, having promised to “shock the world,” was on the very least making life troublesome on the top-seeded Trojans.
Then, their star sophomore went up for a rebound early within the second quarter and emerged from underneath the ring wincing with ache, a picture that will inevitably conjure ideas of the worst potential situation.
Watkins ultimately shook away the ache of a jammed finger. A smothering USC press ultimately put a cease to Greensboro’s plucky begin. And the Trojans ultimately rolled by their first-round opponent with a convincing 71-25 win, shifting on to the NCAA event’s second spherical the place they’ll face the winner of California and Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon.
USC ahead Kiki Iriafen makes an attempt a reverse layup towards UNC Greensboro ahead Khalis Cain in the course of the first half of an NCAA event first-round recreation Saturday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Instances)
“We had some rust to get off,” Watkins mentioned. “Hopefully that’s all achieved with.”
Watkins nonetheless scored 22 factors to guide USC, however she battled by extra ache to get there. After touchdown awkwardly within the third quarter, Watkins limped instantly to the locker room, solely to return a couple of minutes later for the fourth.
The matchup was already effectively in hand by then, begging the query of why USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb risked additional damage by enjoying Watkins. Gottlieb, when requested about that call, mentioned she trusted the judgment of Watkins and USC’s trainers, who all mentioned she was good to go.
Watkins limped into the postgame information convention, earlier than reiterating that she was “all good”.
“It’s the top of the season,” she mentioned. “Physique’s somewhat banged up, however on to the following. No person actually cares, so on to the following.”
USC finally didn’t want Watkins at her finest to get previous the Spartans. It wouldn’t want a lot offense in any respect, actually. Not with a dominant protection that allowed simply 4 whole pictures to go in after the primary quarter.
It didn’t begin that approach, although. The Trojans regarded nothing like a No. 1 seed with Ultimate 4 aspirations within the first quarter. They had been sloppy with the ball, drawing three turnovers within the first three minutes. They struggled to take advantage of their important dimension benefit on the within — or knock down a lot of something from the perimeter. Two minutes into the second quarter, their lead stood at two factors.
USC guards JuJu Watkins and Kennedy Smith have fun throughout their rout of UNC Greensboro in an NCAA event first-round recreation Saturday at Galen Heart.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Instances)
“We haven’t performed in two weeks,” Gottlieb mentioned. “You’ve obtained to credit score the opposite crew for that somewhat bit for attempting to take you out of a circulation. And I feel we even have to grasp learn how to get ourselves in a circulation when groups try to take issues away from us.”
USC by no means actually discovered that circulation on offense. Exterior of Watkins, it shot simply 19 of 55 from the sector. Kiki Iriafen, who was named a third-team All-American this week, didn’t rating for the primary 18 minutes and tallied simply 13 factors as Greensboro gave her bother beneath. The Trojans additionally had 17 turnovers.
However their protection was so dominant, from the second quarter on, that the Trojans may have nonetheless received with out scoring a single level within the second half.
“Protection,” Gottlieb mentioned, “was our calling card.”
That swap flipped early within the second quarter, when Gottlieb turned to full-court stress. With 6-foot-4 ahead Rayah Marshall main on the entrance of the press, USC fully suffocated the Greensboro offense, clogging up passing lanes and disrupting each possession. Marshall would end with seven blocks and two steals.
Greensboro didn’t rating a single bucket from the sector within the second quarter, because it struggled to get the ball previous halfcourt. Within the third quarter, it hit a single three-pointer — and nothing else.
By that time, the Trojans had been already emptying their bench and rolling to the second spherical. Their protection would enable solely 11 factors after that irritating first quarter. Greensboro shot a meager 13% from the sector, the worst fee by any USC opponent this season, whereas its 25 factors had been the second-fewest ever in a ladies’s NCAA event recreation, simply 4 away from the all-time file.
Such an uneven effort by USC may not fly going ahead, not with extra gifted groups forward on their path to a potential Ultimate 4. However for one afternoon, a dominant protection was greater than sufficient to maneuver on.