Only a year ago in Dec. 2024, USC won a gritty game against UConn that put them on the national map. Now, almost exactly a year later it seemed unlikely that this team could have ever won that game.
“It’s embarrassing to get beat on your home court,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in her post game press conference.
Gottlieb is right. It is embarrassing, but it may be even more embarrassing when a team loses by 28 points, as USC lost to UConn 79-51.
A horrendous first half for the Trojans where they didn’t score over 10 points in a quarter made it impossible for USC to win. USC’s lack of offensive production and getting bullied in the paint ultimately led to its demise, as the Trojans dropped their third game to a ranked team.
During the first quarter the Trojans looked like they were ready to compete, responding to UConn’s intensity and shots. That was until they reached the five minute mark, where USC became cold from everywhere on the court. The Trojans didn’t make a single shot for the rest of the quarter and were outscored 23-9.
It was the same story in the second quarter, when USC only scored eight points to UConn’s 16. By the end of the first half, the score was 39-17, making it impossible for USC to crawl back.
While the USC team isn’t the same as last year’s, it’s in part because they lost players to the transfer portal like sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel, who is a Husky. She was met with boos from the sold out crowd anytime she did get the ball and only had two points.
Make no mistake, UConn is a national championship contender, especially since they’re still hot off their national championship win last season. But USC didn’t lose because UConn had a dominant showing or a standout player. USC lost because they couldn’t execute the fundamentals of basketball.
“We turned the ball over a lot. And then I just thought… the points in the paint. They put so much pressure on you to guard actions,” Gottlieb said. “And then it just opened it up for some other people just to get to the rim, like we gave up too many points in our paint.”
The Trojans couldn’t withstand the Huskies’ fullcourt press, the wrath of forwards sophomore Sarah Strong and senior Serah Williams or the pure shot of graduate guard Azzi Fudd. UConn won because they did what USC couldn’t: put together a team offensive showing.
There’s no way to sugarcoat it: this loss for USC was, as Gottlieb noted, outright embarrassing. Fortunately for USC they have time for redemption to prove that they can be a competitive team. They take on No. 24 Nebraska next week and they have five top 25 ranked matchups in January, starting the year off with No. 4 rival UCLA.
If USC is taking this abomination of a game as a learning experience, what can they do moving forward to help its tournament chances?
More than anything they need to prioritize offensive consistency. USC’s recent game against Washington felt all too familiar compared to this game. There, USC only scored four points during the first quarter, but the Trojans were able to eventually get the ball going, powered behind freshman guard Jazzy Davidson’s 22 point showing. The difference between Washington and UConn is that the Huskies will take advantage of any faults.
Today, Davidson didn’t have the best showing, and USC can’t be dependent on one player to get things done like they are used to with injured star junior guard JuJu Watkins. Normally USC’s leading scorer, Davidson had 10 points, her second lowest scoring game, the other being her eight point outing against No. 3 South Carolina. With USC’s impending serious matchups and Watkins being out, USC needs to become a much better offense team that doesn’t depend on one player.
Today’s game exposed a problem that has been brewing since the beginning of the season: USC doesn’t have any true bigs. After forward Kiki Iriafen and center Rayah Marshall left the team for the WNBA, no one has been able to fill their shoes getting those paint points and rebounds. Since USC can’t get points in the paint as often anymore, their shooting needs to be on par, but the Trojans shot only 30% from the field against the Huskies.
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma talked about the importance of the post players.
“You know, there’s a difference in your team when you can get really good, solid play from your post players,” Auriemma said. “To score points in the paint, if you don’t have the ability to do that, just makes it really more hard.”
While USC usually prides itself on being a defensive minded team, that didn’t show today as they let UConn score 44 points in the paint and couldn’t protect the ball as the Huskies scored 26 points off turnovers. If USC can’t protect the ball or the paint, they’ll be exposed by the Big Ten conference schedule that they have coming up.
“I think that we competed at times. I’m proud of the fight that we had, but I thought our attention to detail wasn’t good enough to win the game or to compete,” Gottlieb said. “But you know, you play a team like this, because then you know that if you don’t play hard and get it right, it’s not going to be good enough. And we want to play hard and get it right.”
Coach Gottlieb and her team clearly haven’t lost any confidence in their team even though the loss hurts for the Trojans. These losses can be avoided in the future though if USC stops its self-inflicted wounds.
To earn respect, USC has to win its ranked matchups in the coming months. For now, the focus should be a dominate offensive win against Cal Poly on Thursday.