It was another victory for USC over UCLA in the battle for Los Angeles, only this win came with hardware in the form of the Big Ten regular season trophy in the Trojans first year in the conference.
Behind clutch shooting, sharp passing and a meddlesome defense, No. 4 USC (27-2, 16-1) cruised a 80-67 win over No. 2 UCLA (28-2, 15-2) in the Bruins’ house Saturday night. The Trojans also defeated their crosstown rivals on Feb. 13, 71-60, giving them the season sweep and their first regular season title since 1994.
USC legend Cheryl Miller was in attendance at Pauley Pavilion and celebrated with JuJu Watkins, who lifted her team to victory with her sixth 30-point performance of the season and 20th of her career.
“It means so much just knowing the history of it all,” Watkins said during her televised postgame interview. “This is a really historic building … When we come here, we make sure we seize the opportunity.”
As a team, the Trojans shot 48% from the field, but it was Watkins and Kiki Iriafen (17 points) who led the way. They set the tone early with a 9-0 start and never trailed. UCLA made a serious comeback attempt in the third quarter, but the Trojans ratcheted up their defense and never allowed the Bruins to get comfortable.
Here is a closer look at how USC took down UCLA for the second time this season:
JuJu Watkins shines again
Watkins’ offense was key in the first half. The Trojans entered the break with a 46-32 advantage with Watkins scoring half of those points. She went 8 of 13 in those first two quarters, including four 3-pointers. The rest of her team was 10 of 25 at halftime.
Scoring certainly helps, but Watkins is one of the top candidates to win national Player of the Year because she does a lot of impactful things on both sides of the court. Besides her 30 points, she also contributed with three rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals. One of her blocks even earned her a dap from Cheryl Miller, who was sitting courtside beside her brother former Bruin Reggie Miller.
Coach Lindsay Gottlieb got emotional postgame when talking about how Watkins has been so vital for the program. “This is the best player in the country and it’s because of the things you all don’t see,” she said. “The poise, the leadership. Oh my gosh, unreal.”
Kiki Iriafen’s second half performance
Iriafen has been the Trojans’ second-leading scorer this season, but she only played seven minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. Going into intermission, she had racked up more fouls fouls (three) than points (two) to go along with two rebounds and three assists.
Despite USC having a 46-32 lead at the break, the Trojans were going to need all the star power they could get because UCLA has had some strong second-half performances this season. Iriafen stepped up when the team needed her the most and managed not to pick up another foul the rest of the way.
She finished the game with 17 points, on an efficient 8 of 13 from the field. She also contributed with nine rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Iriafen was not the only player who struggled to stay on the floor. Talia von Oelffen fouled out in the fourth quarter.
USC wins the turnover battle again
The Bruins have one of the top 20 scoring offenses in the nation, and are top six in field-goal percentage. On Saturday, USC held UCLA to just 36% from the field. The second quarter was a particularly rough one for the Bruins as they had eight turnovers and just four field goals.
The Bruins average around 15 turnovers per game, but the USC defense gave them a lot of trouble. The Trojans picked up 25 points off the Bruins’ 16 turnovers. This wasn’t too surprising as a similar story in their previous meeting last month when USC scored 21 points off 20 UCLA turnovers.
During her postgame press conference, UCLA coach Cori Close talked about the disappointment of knowing her team can be the most efficient team in the Big Ten, but turnovers really hurt them.
“Just really pissed off we didn’t show up and do our jobs. Credit to USC — they were tougher,” Close said. “They were tougher, and did their jobs. We weren’t tough, and we didn’t do our jobs. We’re going to have to do some real hard looks in the mirror.”
