In the aftermath of USC star JuJu Watkins’ season-ending knee injury in Monday night’s NCAA Tournament victory, coach Lindsay Gottlieb said she wasn’t sure what the next few hours would bring. Still, she told her players she was proud of their continued resilience and how they rallied around each other to beat Mississippi State and advance to the Sweet 16.
“You guys had my back. You had each other’s back. You had Ju’s back. The fans had your back. We were a team,” Gottlieb said in the locker room.
She applauded the fact that USC was moving on to the regionals for a consecutive season, and just the second time since 1994.
But with just a few days between Watkins’ injury and a matchup with No. 5 seed Kansas State on Saturday in Spokane, Gottlieb can’t be expected to reimagine top-seeded USC’s offense entirely. Watkins, a two-time All-American sophomore, ranked second nationally pre-injury with 24.6 points per game and averaged nearly 34 minutes per game.
How the Trojans continue to respond in Watkins’ absence will determine how far their season extends.
Here’s who and what to watch as USC tries to find a path forward.
The new centerpiece: Forward Kiki Iriafen
USC’s offense will now run through Iriafen, a 6-foot-3 forward who joined the Trojans from Stanford…
