USC’s JuJu Watkins went down with a season-ending knee injury five minutes into her team’s NCAA Tournament victory over Mississippi State on Monday night. The top-seeded Trojans kept going without their star player, pummeling Mississippi State 96-59 to reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight year, but the injury cast a shadow over the entire evening as one of college basketball’s biggest stars was left in serious distress.
Watkins was streaking to the basket chased by two defenders when her knee bent awkwardly as she planted her right leg, the non-contact injury causing her to crumple to the floor. The crowd went silent as she writhed in pain and clutched her knee while her teammates looked on helplessly and USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb rushed to her side. ESPN reported that the 19-year-old has torn her ACL and will undergo surgery. Watkins was averaging 24.6 points this season for USC.
“I’d be lying if I told you that I wasn’t rattled seeing JuJu on the floor crying,” Gottlieb said. “This is a human game and so I obviously tried my best to be what I need to be for the team, but internally it’s a lot.”
Watkins’s teammates were terrific in her absence. They kept their poise while building leads of 28-8 after one quarter, 50-27 at halftime and 75-42 after three. The Trojans hit buzzer-beaters to end each of the first three quarters and they celebrated by jumping around on the court.
Kiki Iriafen scored a season-high 36 points on 16-of-22 shooting for USC and grabbed nine rebounds. She left with 6:29 remaining and the crowd chanting, “Kiki! Kiki!” Freshman Avery Howell added 18 points, hitting four three-pointers.
“What a performance by this group,” Gottlieb said. “You never want anyone to go down, especially someone like JuJu that we all lean on in so many ways, but this team rallied. They rallied for her, they rallied for each other, our fans had our back. I’m just really proud and I think we showed what kind of team we are.”
The Bulldogs were led by Jerkaila Jordan with 17 points. “My prayers and thoughts are with JuJu,” MSU coach Sam Purcell said. “I’m hoping the best for her because she’s special.”
The Trojans were up 34 points in the third. Their fans loved it, getting on their feet and roaring, especially when Iriafen waved both arms in the air, urging them on.
“It’s hard when you have such a key player not with you,” Iriafen said. “For us, it was just making sure we got the job done. We want our season to be extended.”
The Bulldogs had more than just the Trojans to contend with. The home crowd, angered by the loss of one of the game’s biggest stars, booed every time MSU touched the ball and their cheerleaders heard it, too, getting jeered during a halftime routine.
“You can’t tell me that the energy of the crowd and how angry they were with the other team and how much they were for our team is so much about what JuJu has given to this arena, to this program, to this city.”
The victory keeps the Trojans on a potential collision course with Paige Bueckers and UConn in the regional final in Spokane, Washington. They were knocked out by the Huskies in last year’s Elite Eight.