Sometimes, the truth hurts. The truth is, Lincoln Riley’s football team makes winning look like a chore. Lindsay Gottlieb’s women’s basketball team makes winning look fun. Opening the season with back-to-back 100-point games, for the first time this century, is definitely fun.
Sunday night’s 118-40 win over Utah State was Juju Watkins’ first game back in the Galen Center since she tore her ACL. How did the senior guard celebrate her return? Exactly how you’d think.
Watkins was a force of nature on the court, immediately reminding everyone in the arena what they were missing last season. She even set a career high in rebounds and steals, and now has the second-most 30-point games in the program’s history. She finished the night with 32 points in 27 minutes and led USC in points, rebounds and assists. It was, not to sound like a broken record, fun to watch.
After a dominant first half, USC held a 33-point lead over Utah State. The Trojans’ Big Three, who you should already know by now, scored 38 of the 55 points in the first two quarters, continuing the dominance that was on display last Monday against UNLV. At the same time, it feels almost unfair to talk about a Big Three when USC’s roster is so deep. Freshman forward Sara Okeke showed up, for example, scoring 12 points, tied for third most on the team with sophomore guard Jazzy Davidson.
And even with a solid lead heading into the half, USC’s star players kept playing hard; by the end of the third, USC led 89-32. During that time, Watkins hit the double-double mark with seven-and-a-half minutes left in the third quarter, a massive achievement considering her limited minutes.
USC scored 29 points in the final ten minutes, showing consistency across four quarters. They fell slightly in the second quarter, scoring 19 points, after scoring 36 in the first quarter and 34 in the third.
It’s hard to ignore that this is an unselfish team. Between Watkins, Davidson and freshman guard Saniyah Hall, it wouldn’t be shocking to see possessions concentrated among them. And yet, all three had the awareness against Utah State to pass the ball when they lacked the best chance to score themselves. Ten of the 12 players scored in Sunday’s matchup, with the bench scoring 35 points.
“It’s really easy to just open the floor more, get everyone else involved, and then when it’s my time I can do my thing too,” Watkins said postgame.
The Trojans have the statistics to prove that they are one of the best women’s basketball teams playing right now. They finished the night at 60% on field goal attempts, 9-for-24 on three-point attempts, and 56 rebounds. The No. 3-ranked team also scored 68% from the free-throw line and, at one point, held an 80-point lead.
But in the modern age of sports, too many experts rely on data to tell them what will happen. It’s hard to argue with the data, and not sound like an old man yelling at a cloud. But the reality is that culture wins games. Culture wins championships. One doesn’t need to spend time behind closed doors to know that the USC women’s basketball team has a strong, healthy culture. This team is in sync. They do the little things, like making the extra pass, crashing the boards and waiting for the right moment to strike. In Sunday’s game, they forced Utah State into 18 turnovers.
The road ahead for them isn’t easy. They head to South Carolina in a week to take on the No. 1 Gamecocks and have 11 other ranked opponents on their schedule. But with a lethal combination of elite on-court play and a strong culture behind the scenes, this team can do wonders.
“This city and this community, I think, loves people that are talented and loves people that have personality,” Gottlieb said in a post-game press conference. “And I think those are two things that we have across the board on our team.”
The point is, it’s not hard to separate the winning teams from everyone else. Let’s stop pretending USC football has what it takes and start paying attention to the team with a real shot at taking home a trophy.
If you’re not watching yet, you’re missing out.
Edited by Brooke Lordino and Adriana Brady