LOS ANGELES — The moment transpired over less than a second. Look away and you might have missed it. JuJu Watkins was dribbling the ball downcourt, full steam ahead on a fast break, ready to make magic happen in one last USC home game this season. Everyone — all 7,808 inside the Galen Center — was watching.
Watkins wedged herself between two Mississippi State defenders, and in a flash, her right knee appeared to give out underneath her. She crumpled to the ground and grabbed her right knee. Anticipatory cheers turned into worried murmurs and soon, the only sound became the squeak of sneakers as coaches and trainers jogged over to check on Watkins, who was in pain and in tears.
“I’ve never heard an arena get so quiet so quickly,” one USC staff member later said.
“She always has a lot of cameras on her, so my first thought was to try to get in front of the one that I saw,” guard Talia Von Oelhoffen said. “Everyone’s zooming in on her, and it’s just not a great moment. So, I was just trying to get…
