SPOKANE, Wash. — Thirty six hours after JuJu Watkins’ proper knee buckled beneath her and USC’s season modified within the blink of an eye fixed, Lindsay Gottlieb gathered her group for its first apply since its star sophomore went down.
It was a essential second for USC and its coach. Feelings had been nonetheless uncooked. Hearts had been nonetheless heavy. However whereas the remainder of the basketball world was busy writing off the Trojans, Gottlieb needed her group to know one factor hadn’t modified within the wake of Watkins’ harm.
“We’ve had a lot of emotions, but none of them are doubt,” Gottlieb stated. “The prevailing feeling is that we can still do something together. That’s what JuJu wants us to do. There’s a lot of belief with this team.”
That perception hasn’t wavered whilst the trail ahead with out Watkins appears to be like a lot totally different for the Trojans, who will face Kansas State on Saturday evening within the Candy 16. However nobody, at USC or elsewhere, is beneath the impression that the Trojans can merely plug somebody instead of considered one of school basketball’s brightest stars both.
“None of us can replace JuJu,” USC ahead Kiki Iriafen stated. “Nobody can replace JuJu.”
However the remainder of the season now hinges totally on how USC adjusts to her absence. And whereas Gottlieb and her gamers insist they don’t really feel that strain, loads of different event groups have been swallowed up by it earlier than.
“Anytime you try to make up for it, it usually backfires,” stated Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who’s an in depth good friend of Gottlieb.
Auriemma was one of many first to textual content Gottlieb after the harm on Monday evening. Requested Friday concerning the challenges of regrouping within the wake of an harm, the Connecticut coach harkened again Friday to the Huskies’ 1997 event run, when star freshman Shea Ralph tore her ACL on a breakaway layup. The group was devastated on the time. Gamers wrote Ralph’s identify on their footwear to honor her. The tone, it seems, overtook the remainder of their run.
“It was like someone had passed away,” Auriemma stated, “and we lost a game we probably shouldn’t have lost.”
USC ahead Kiki Iriafen celebrates with teammates after hitting a troublesome shot in opposition to Mississippi State on March 24.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions)
There was no such sentiment at USC this week. Iriafen wouldn’t permit it to be so. The perpetually sunny senior ahead was key in preserving the group’s vitality up in opposition to Mississippi State, all whereas scoring a season-high 36 factors, and she or he has tried to keep up that very same angle shifting via this week.
Her contributions will go a lot additional than that on Saturday. Presumably nobody shall be extra necessary in carrying the scoring load going ahead than the Trojans’ third-team All-American. Although, she doesn’t essentially take a look at it that manner.
“We all have the same sense of doing your role, but maybe doing it a lot more efficiently, doing that extra thing because we do have a lot to pick up,” Iriafen stated. “This isn’t the time or the place for me to try and be like, OK, now you’re going to know me. That’s not what I’m here to do. That’s not what I’m here for.”
The reality is nobody actually is aware of what the Trojans will appear to be with out Watkins. Together with Kansas State, their Candy 16 opponent.
“There’s not many clips out there with her not on the floor,” Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie stated. “That’s been a real challenge. There’s maybe 100 total.”
Iriafen, who Mittie referred to as “a mismatch problem in every area of the floor”, has been a major focus of Kansas State’s game-planning. But when the Trojans intend to maneuver onto the Elite Eight, they’ll probably want a powerful exhibiting out of their trio of freshmen guards — Avery Howell, Kayleigh Heckel and Kennedy Smith — all of whom are greater than able to getting sizzling from three-point vary.
Slowing down Kansas State’s star participant may also be paramount. Ayoka Lee, who averages 15.6 factors and 6.4 rebounds per recreation, has battled via accidents this season. However the Wildcats are 17-1 each time the 6-6 ahead is within the lineup.
USC gained’t have that very same luxurious Saturday. However Gottlieb has spent all season telling her gamers how necessary their roles are. That half doesn’t want to alter. Even with out Watkins main the best way.
“We just need to be the best versions of ourselves,” Gottlieb stated, “and we need to do that together in order to have success. And I don’t think any one person will try to do more than what we know they’re capable of, but I also think they’re capable of a lot, and we’re capable of enormity when we do it together.”
