It had been a forgettable afternoon for JuJu Watkins when she found herself confronted by a double team on the low block early in the fourth quarter.
To that point, the USC superstar had missed more shots than she had made. Her most memorable moment might have been when she slammed the ball off the court in frustration after getting called for charging in the first half.
With her team tied with Michigan late in this Big Ten tournament semifinal, Watkins was running out of time to assert herself in her team’s biggest game of the season. She contemplated the double team and squeezed her body through the defenders for a leaning jumper that fell through the net.
The shot seemed to revive her team, the Trojans making a flurry of plays. There was a Malia Samuels driving layup in which she was fouled, leading to a three-point play. Avery Howell added a three-pointer and an old-fashioned three-point play after getting fouled on a layup.
Before Michigan finally countered, top-seeded USC had rolled off 14 consecutive points and was well on its way to an 82-70 victory over the fifth-seeded Wolverines on Saturday inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Forward Kiki Iriafen offset Watkins’ shooting struggles with a double-double, her 25 points and 11 rebounds ensuring the Trojans (28-2) would advance to the championship on Sunday against either second-seeded UCLA or third-seeded Ohio State.
Watkins more than salvaged what was shaping up as a subpar day, finishing with 20 points on seven-for-17 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and three steals.
“I thought she showed a lot of poise,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “It was probably frustrating. She was getting trapped and doubled when she’s with the ball in her hands. Tried to get her some looks kind of underneath the defense, but there were a lot of bodies there.”
Forward Rayah Marshall supplied nine points and a savvy prediction in her return from the illness that forced her out of USC’s quarterfinal victory over Indiana.
“I just heard Rayah during our timeout saying, ‘This group is going to get a run, this group is going to get a run,’” Samuels said. “So I think that really helped us get it going.”
Freshman guard Syla Swords scored 26 points for the Wolverines (22-10), who shot 38.5% to the Trojans’ 44.6% and were outrebounded by nine.
The third quarter was a story of redemption for the Trojans.
After Kennedy Smith missed a free throw, Watkins took a few steps toward her teammate in the lane and gestured with her arms, as if to tell Smith she’s got this. Smith went on to make the next free throw.
Things were trending in Michigan’s direction after Swords’ two free throws gave the Wolverines a seven-point lead. But a Samuels corner three-pointer sparked a 7-0 run for the Trojans and they entered the fourth quarter leading by a point.
Gottlieb credited her team’s late scoring burst to strength and conditioning coach Kelly Dormandy keeping players in top shape, as well as those players’ determination.
“With JuJu and Kiki in particular,” Gottlieb said, “it’s not just their talent, they just have a fierce, kind of competitive will about them and [they] go ahead and make plays that you can’t really script.
“I would say many people are like that on our team — Ken and Rayah and really our team — and the confidence we’ve grown to know that with that burst of intensity and competitiveness, we still now have all the players that we need to make plays. You can’t sell out on one player on our team or take away one thing.”
Deep into the game, it looked like the Wolverines might have a chance.
Her shot continually betraying her, Watkins’ frustrations bubbled over early in the second quarter when she knocked over Michigan’s Jordan Hobbs and got called for charging. It was Watkins’ second foul, prompting her to slam the ball off the court and sending her to the bench. That opened the door for the Wolverines to extend their lead to 27-18 after back-to-back three-pointers from Hobbs.
The Trojans recovered by scoring the final six points of the first half to pull within 31-29. The big takeaway at that point was they were so close despite playing so poorly, Watkins making just two of nine shots and her team converting only three of 12 three-pointers.
By halftime, Swords had upstaged Watkins by scoring 14 points and pulling down four rebounds, easily outpacing Watkins’ four points, five rebounds and three turnovers.
Fortunately for Watkins and her team, there was another half of basketball left to play.
“We say not her best day because she’s got three and four bodies on her all the time, and to still end up with 20 and 11,” Gottlieb said of Watkins, her voice trailing off.
There was nothing else that needed to be said.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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