On December 3, sophomore guard JuJu Watkins made a career-high nine 3-pointers in a single game, setting a new USC record. However, her achievement was witnessed only by 2,489 people.
Watkins is changing the game for women’s college basketball, but USC’s Galen Center isn’t filling up the way one might expect for a generational talent.
Watkins, who broke numerous USC and Pac-12 records during her freshman season, continues to dominate on the court, but attendance at USC women’s basketball games is still significantly behind men’s. Last season, the women’s team drew 75,162 fans across home games, averaging 4,421 per game. The men’s team, however, had a total attendance of 94,525 and averaged 6,302 fans per game.
Watkins, a Los Angeles native and USC’s sixth First Team All-American, put up impressive numbers in her freshman and ongoing sophomore season. She became the all-time national freshman scoring leader with 920 points, averaging 27.1 points per game — second in the nation — and dropped a USC record-breaking 51 points against Stanford. Her performance earned her national recognition, including Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and an ESPY for Best Breakthrough Athlete.
Some students admitted a lack of awareness of women’s sports.
“No, I’m not familiar, really,” said Lexy Jensen, a graduate student in the Thornton School of Music, when asked about Watkins and the women’s team. “I think that if there was more coverage, it would probably get more interest.”
Other students also said they don’t hear about women’s basketball games as often as men’s.
“The publicity aspect of it also limits the viewership, I would say,” Sofia Valle, a freshman majoring in aerospace engineering, said.
Others suggest that men’s basketball still has a stronger influence on the community.
“I’ve been more focused on the men’s team recently,” said Sean Patton, a freshman studying occupational therapy. “It’s higher-level basketball.”
However, women’s basketball continues to gain viewership and approximately quadrupled its per-game average attendance between the 2013-14 and 2023-24 season.
“Given a chance, I would love to go,” said Shreya Kamath, a computer science graduate student.
Watkins and the women’s basketball team will play at Galen Center again on January 30 at 7 p.m., where they will take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers.