Kiki Iriafen drops truth bomb on USC's 'standard' without JuJu Watkins
03/26/2025 09:54 AM
Despite losing star sophomore JuJu Watkins to a season-ending knee injury in the opening minutes, USC women's basketball advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 with a 96-59 win over Mississippi State on Monday night, led by Kiki Iriafen's 36-point performance.
Watkins went down on a fast break just five minutes into the second-round game at Galen Center, buckling her right knee as she planted. USC later confirmed she would miss the rest of the NCAA Tournament and undergo surgery. The Galen Center crowd of 7,808 fell silent, then turned vocal, booing Mississippi State for much of the game in response.
The top-seeded Trojans, however, responded with a dominant effort, outscoring the Bulldogs by 46 at one point and hitting buzzer-beaters to close each of the first three quarters. Iriafen, a Stanford transfer, shot 16-of-22 from the field and grabbed nine rebounds. After the game, she made clear the team's mindset had not changed despite the loss of its leading scorer.
"I wouldn't say this is our defining moment," Iriafen said, as reported by Beth Harris of the Associated Press. "It's what we expect of ourselves. We expect to win in this tournament regardless if it's going our way, we have people, we don't have people. That's the standard here."
USC had five players score in double figures, including freshmen Avery Howell, Kaleigh Heckel and Kennedy Smith. Howell matched a career-high 18 points with four 3-pointers, while Heckel and sophomore Malia Samuels combined for nine assists and five steals. Smith added 10 points and five steals.
"We have a pretty big role this year," Howell said. "We're prepared for most moments because of the time we're given in games and how hard we work in practice."
USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb praised the Trojans’ maturity and effort following the emotional loss of Watkins, a national player of the year contender who had started every game.
"We will make sure that we're pouring into this team, to JuJu and keeping us together because as you saw we are capable of a lot of greatness," Gottlieb said. "That's what will continue to be the message to our team."
USC women’s basketball (30-3) will face No. 5 seed Kansas State in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Spokane, Washington.
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