The USC Trojans were tasked with the unthinkable: beating the UConn Huskies without JuJu Watkins and finding a way to contain star redshirt senior guard Paige Buckers, who was coming off a career game. There were moments where it looked like they were going to pull it off, but ultimately fell just short.
“I was very proud of the way we competed tonight,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in her postgame press conference. “I think you saw the heart and character of our team on display.”
In the first quarter of Monday night’s Elite Eight rematch from last season, USC’s stars came to play. Freshman guard Kennedy Smith, coming off a three-steal game against the Kansas State Wildcats, picked up right where she left off and came up with a steal on USC’s second defensive possession. Smith drove the ball down the court, drew a foul and converted one out of two free throws.
If the Trojans were going to stand any chance against the Wildcats, they needed a bounce-back game from graduate forward Kiki Iriafen. Iriafen wasted no time making an impact as she scored her first field goal with 7:51 remaining in the first. Iriafen matched the amount of field goals she made against the Wildcats in the first quarter alone, finishing the period with six points to lead the Trojans.
“UConn is really good,” Gottlieb said. “To me it’s how they do it, nothing but respect and they could obviously win the national championship.”
Senior forward Rayah Marshall also added four points as USC trailed UConn 14-11 after the first quarter. The Trojans were able to hold Bueckers, who was coming off a career-high 40-point performance in the Sweet 16, to just one field goal in the opening frame. However, USC struggled to contain freshman forward Sarah Strong, who led all scorers with 10 points in the quarter on four made field goals.
Strong continued her dominance in the second quarter and that was what allowed the Huskies to begin pulling away from the Trojans. With 7:37 left in the quarter, Strong made a 3-pointer to give UConn a 21-13 lead. From there, the closest the Trojans could get was trailing by five on multiple occasions throughout the quarter. Following a made layup from Marshall with 2:41 left in the half to make the score 28-23, the Huskies rattled off an 11-2 scoring run to close the half. USC trailed UConn 39-25 at halftime.
After her six-point opening quarter, Iriafen was held scoreless in the second quarter and took only two shots in the period. Marshall was the Trojans’ leading scorer at half with 12, as no other player was able to notch double figures in scoring. USC was also 0-5 from the 3-point line at the break and lost the first half turnover battle 11-7. The Trojans also allowed Bueckers to find her footing on offense as she finished the half with 13 points.
The Trojans needed a boost on offense if they were going to get back in the game and that came from graduate guard Talia von Oelhoffen. UConn increased its lead to as high as 19 after a Bueckers free throw with 7:26 left in the quarter, but after a quick eight points from von Oelhoffen and a block, USC cut it down to 49-35 with just under five minutes left in the quarter.
USC refused to quit and trimmed UConn’s lead further to just 11 with 1:59 left in the quarter. In the final 5:18 of the quarter, USC held the Huskies to just two points as the Trojans trimmed the deficit to five.
“I think there was never a point where this team gave up,” von Oelhoffen said. “Coming out of halftime we knew we weren’t out of it, we just needed a good third quarter.”
The quarter was capped off with a buzzer-beating layup through traffic by von Oelhoffen and the Trojans were down 51-46 entering the fourth quarter. In the third, von Oelhoffen had 10 points as the Trojans won the quarter 21-12. After allowing Strong and Bueckers to combine for 28 points in the first half, the Huskies’ duo tallied just 12 combined points in the third quarter.
Despite USC’s lockdown defensive efforts in the third quarter, it was not enough to complete a nearly 20-point comeback. The Huskies’ offense exploded to begin the fourth quarter and Bueckers had everything to do with it, scoring or assisting on the Huskies’ first 15 points of the final frame. The Trojans’ offense also struggled mightily as USC scored just five points through the first 6:33 of the quarter. With 3:27 remaining, the Huskies led the Trojans 66-51.
“I’m disappointed for them that we didn’t get to go to Tampa and get two more games,” Gottlieb said. “But I’m not sad with the way the group represents themselves. And I think our senior class is really special.”
Getting past the Huskies without Watkins proved to be too tall of a task for USC as the Trojans’ season ended exactly how it did last year, at the hands of the Huskies in the Elite Eight. Bueckers proved to be too much for USC as she finished the game with 30 points and six assists. Strong also added a double-double with 20 points and 16 rebounds. For the Trojans, Marshall posted a season-high in scoring with 23 points and also had 15 rebounds. Iriafen and von Oelhoffen both combined for 20 points.
“I went down fighting,” Marshall said. “That’s the culture, to continue to fight on.”
As USC’s season comes to a close, the Trojans and USC basketball fans can only wonder if the result would have been different if Watkins were in the lineup.