Harry Houdini. David Copperfield. David Blaine.
The USC Trojans women’s basketball team can be added to this list of the greatest magicians after barely escaping the Kansas State Wildcats 67-61 on Saturday in the Sweet 16.
The team struggled, but much like many other games throughout the season, they somehow managed to come away with the victory despite a poor shooting performance. USC shot 38.5% from the field, and 33.3% from behind the arc on a 6-for-18 day.
It came down to the final minute — and a major mistake from the Wildcats — for the Trojans to get ahead by a comfortable margin, and even at that, USC still almost lost to a Kansas State team that beat Kentucky by one in overtime during the Round of 32.
With about 40 seconds to go in the game, USC was leading by a mere two points when graduate forward Kiki Iriafen snagged a rebound to keep the Trojans in the driver’s seat. There was no reason to foul, with Kansas State nearly guaranteed the basketball one more time if they were to get a stop. And yet foul is exactly what they did. As Iriafen passed the basketball to freshman guard Avery Howell, Wildcat senior forward Temira Poindexter ran up to Howell — debatably the most clutch free throw shooter on USC — and grabbed her arm despite her head coach Jeff Mittie screaming so loud not to foul that his face looked as red as a stop sign.
Nonetheless, Howell made both free throws, and USC would move to a four point lead.
From there both teams looked as if they were trying to lose, with a moving screen on one end from Kansas State, two missed free throws on the other for USC, a turnover from the Wildcats, and then a turnover by USC to finish the disastrous series of plays.
Neither team deserved to win that basketball game at all. It was a mess on both sides of the court. Defensively USC looked strong, which was one of only a few positive things that they could take away from the Sweet 16 matchup.
But I guess a win is a win, and USC moves to their second straight Elite 8.
Awaiting them is the team that ended the Trojans season last year, the UConn Huskies. The scouting report for USC on the Huskies hasn’t changed much since last time, with UConn having redshirt senior guard Paige Beckers and sophomore guard Azzi Fudd in the backcourt, and freshman forward Sarah Strong along with redshirt freshman forward Jana El Alfy roaming the post.
The interesting thing, though, is that Strong typically does not stay in the paint nearly as long as USC would like. This gives whoever guards her a much tougher job, and it will likely be Iriafen that is given that responsibility. The issue comes where Iriafen is not an extremely great perimeter defender, but instead excels more inside. This means that Iriafen will either have to guard outside, or someone else on USC will have to d-up the 6-foot-2 forward that is efficient inside and a 36% long-distance shooter who yanks about four per game.
While Strong may cause troubles as a matchup for USC, UConn is basically playing a completely different team than what they originally saw back in December.
In that matchup, USC not only still had their star sophomore guard JuJu Watkins, but they were returning a hurt freshman guard Kennedy Smith who was playing limited minutes. In Saturday’s game against the Wildcats, Smith had 18 points and 11 of the Trojans first 13 points in the first quarter. A healthy Smith with no minute restriction is an extremely dangerous player on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
Another difference is that the USC offense starts in a much different fashion than it normally does. Instead of Watkins controlling the pace and pushing for the Trojans, it seems to be Howell that will do it for the squad. This draws many completely different options for the team which have not been seen — solely based on the fact that offensively they haven’t needed to go that deep in the tool bag yet in the season.
With Howell holding onto the ball, the threat becomes not necessarily the original dribble, but what comes after. The on-ball defender has to keep an eye out for Howell, or else she re-assumes the position of where she normally is as a spot up shooter in the corner. The difference, though, is that last game Howell showed off her skills attacking the basket as well, executing a handoff play to a beautiful layup late in the game.
The numerous threats that Howell is a major positive, and her perimeter defense yesterday shined as well. She had eight rebounds and four steals, taking on the defensive role of Watkins as a reincarnation in herself — something that not a lot of people expected to happen. Her extended minutes in the game might be the most important and she very much could be the difference maker in this game.
Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. between the Trojans and Huskies at Spokane Arena.