When USC and Connecticut met in the Elite Eight, in the immediate wake of JuJu Watkins’ devastating knee injury last March, it didn’t take long to see how much USC missed its superstar. As hard as the Trojans fought, the Huskies were simply too much to handle without Watkins.
That thought, nine months later, hadn’t been given much serious credence at USC through a solid 7-2 start. At least, not until Saturday, when the top-ranked Huskies offered a rude reminder by trouncing the 16th-ranked Trojans, 79-51, in their home arena, where they had yet to lose this season.
“It doesn’t feel good,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “It’s embarrassing to get beat on your home court.”
Granted, Connecticut had yet to lose a game since early last February. Coming into Saturday, it had won its nine games by an average of 39 points, dominating wherever it went.
USC guard Malia Samuels tries to dribble past UConn guard Azzi Fudd at Galen Center on Saturday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
It took all of a few minutes Saturday to see a similar beatdown was in store. When it finally was over, less than two hours later, USC had been outmatched in almost every category. The Huskies shot 18% better from the field. They dominated the paint (44 points to 22) and the boards (41 to 33) and forced seven more turnovers than the Trojans, who struggled to handle the Huskies’ defensive pressure.
“The No. 1 team in the country came in here today,” Gottlieb said, “and they’re really good.”
They certainly were too much for a team still striving to figure itself out like USC. With no presence inside and no consistency on the perimeter, the Trojans had no answers when things clicked into place for the Huskies, whose coach took time to wax poetic after the game about how his team went 11-deep.
The same wasn’t exactly true for the Trojans, who got 30 points from the veteran pair of Kennedy Smith and Londynn Jones and little else.
Watkins, who is sitting out this entire season, could only watch from the end of the bench as the star freshman who stepped up in her absence struggled Saturday. Jazzy Davidson had been nothing short of terrific over the last month as she settled into her new role as the Trojans’ undisputed top weapon.
But the freshman looked anything but settled Saturday, as Connecticut blanketed her early and often. Davidson missed her first five shots and managed to make only three of 13 overall, scoring 10 points, her lowest output since USC’s loss to South Carolina.
“She’s only going to get better for having these experiences early in her career,” Gottlieb said.
By the time Davidson had hit her first jumper of the afternoon, early in the second quarter, the Trojans had already dug a 12-point hole. By the time USC scored another bucket, the Connecticut lead had ballooned to 19.
It was up to 22 as Davidson searched for a final shot in the waning seconds of the first half. When she finally lifted up for a floater, Connecticut forward Serah Williams was waiting. She swatted the shot back into the freshman’s face and Davidson fell to the floor as the buzzer sounded.
It proved to be a fitting image from an afternoon to forget for USC.
It was ugly from the start. Connecticut harassed USC with full-court pressure, forcing turnovers at the Trojans’ own end. When they did make it across half court, the Huskies swarmed the perimeter, leaving USC without many open shots.
The Trojans managed to hold tight with the defending champions for a little while. They led 9-8 at the 5:14 mark of the first quarter. But then Connecticut’s defense ratched up. The shots stop falling. The Huskies went on a 15-0 run to end the first quarter, as USC failed to score for five minutes.
“The game certainly did change,” Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. “It just felt like we were locked in.”
Davidson made a jumper early in the second to put a stop to the slump, only for the Trojans’ offense to go cold again. Connecticut held USC scoreless for six more minutes after that as it ripped off another run, extending its lead to 22 at halftime.
USC guard Juju Watkins, who is recovering from a torn ACL, stands with teammates during the Trojans’ lopsided loss to UConn Saturday at the Galen Center.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Any hope of a miracle comeback was extinguished mere minutes after halftime, as Connecticut once again mounted a run. It was almost five minutes into the third quarter before Londynn Jones finally made the Trojans’ first shot of the half.
By then, there was no more suspense of where Saturday was heading.
The question now is where the blowout loss, the Trojans’ worst since January 2023, leaves them with the bulk of their Big Ten slate beginning in just two weeks’ time. No. 4 UCLA awaits on Jan. 3.
“Games like this are where you learn so much,” Jones said. “We can’t do anything about the past. What are we going to do moving forward?”