Minus JuJu, USC flexes 'chemistry,' bounces KSU

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Playing for the first time since learning superstar JuJu Watkins will miss the remainder of the NCAA tournament with an ACL tear, the USC Trojans used key contributions from their top-ranked freshman class to defeat the Kansas State Wildcats 67-61 and advance to their second consecutive Elite Eight matchup against the UConn Huskies.

Although she was unable to travel and is back home in Los Angeles, Watkins stayed in contact with her team before and after the win, FaceTiming the group to join the postgame celebration.

"She hit me and just said how proud she was, before this game even, of the coaching staff, of the players, of everything that we are," said USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb. "And then right after, it was hard to hear in the locker room, but there were a lot of smiles, and my daughter was blowing kisses to her and said, 'JuJu's not hurt?'

"And I said, 'No, she's still hurt, but she's happy today and with us.' So, just trying to keep her spirit with us. She's just such an incredible young person, and I think the way the team has responded says a lot about them, but also a lot about her and the true amount of chemistry that they have with each other."

When the Trojans beat Mississippi State on Monday in the game that Watkins suffered the injury early in the first quarter, they relied heavily on senior Kiki Iriafen, the team's second-leading scorer. After scoring 36 points against the Bulldogs, Iriafen was unable to make the same offensive impact on Saturday, missing 10 of her 13 shots and finishing with just seven points.

That set the stage for USC's freshmen to power the team to victory.

"They played remarkably," Iriafen said. "We would not be in this game on Monday without them. I don't want that to be lost at all. Avery [Howell], Kennedy [Smith], [Kayleigh] Heckel, they all stepped up and did not play like freshmen. They had so much confidence. They were so electrifying. And for me, having an off night, they really helped me stay in the game and be there mentally."

Smith got the Trojans off to a strong start, outscoring Kansas State 11-9 all by herself in the opening period. She finished with a team-high 19 points.

"I'm ready for the moment," Smith said. "Even in high school, just the balance with that, I think I was prepared to be in the position I am right now."

The highest-ranked of USC's seven freshmen as No. 6 overall by ESPN HoopGurlz, Smith has been a starter all season. She was joined in the lineup Saturday by Howell, who made just her second career start in place of Watkins.

Howell tied her career high with 18 points, including a team-high seven in the fourth quarter, and added a career-high four steals. Per ESPN Research, Howell and Smith became the first pair of freshmen to score at least 18 points in an NCAA tournament game since Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards did it three times for UConn in 2021 en route to the Final Four.

"Credit to their freshmen," said Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie, "because this is a big stage and they're the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for a reason, and I thought they stepped up."

Heckel finished the game at point guard in place of fifth-year senior Talia von Oelhoffen. Heckel scored eight points, meaning more than two-thirds of USC's 67 points came from the freshman class.

"What can I say about our freshman class? They're winners above everything else," Gottlieb said. "They're incredibly tough, and they are winners. And that's what I told them before the game, and they earned every bit of it. And I'm just proud to be playing in the Elite Eight and proud of our group that they get to experience this."

As devastated as the Trojans were to see Watkins go down with an injury that will sideline her an extended period, Gottlieb was adamant that the team remain focused on "achieving our goals even though the path looks a little different than it did just a few days ago," as she put it on Friday.

USC's freshmen helped ensure that going farther than last season remains achievable heading into a rematch Monday with UConn, a year after the teams met in the same round with a spot in the Final Four on the line.

"We still have the common goal of obviously winning a national championship," Smith said. "With Ju going down, obviously it was a bit of adversity that we had to face, but just having her in our presence. We talked to her before the game. She was still rooting us on, things of that nature, so just keeping her in our hearts and minds and playing for her as well as for each other."