The good times are rolling for USC. They defeated then-No. 1 seed UCLA a week ago and have since won two more games, beating Washington on Sunday and winning against No. 22 Michigan State 83-75 on Wednesday night.
The Trojans won thanks to their dynamic duo of Kiki Iriafen and JuJu Watkins. Iriafen scored 24 points on 7-for-13 shooting and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Watkins contributed a team-high 28 points in the victory, along with eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks. For Michigan State, Grace VanSlooten had a great game, scoring 29 points, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset.
How USC kept Michigan State at bay
It didn’t take long for USC to gain momentum in this game. Midway through the first, the Trojans went a 7-0 run, which resulted in USC leading 17-8. They were dominating inside with Rayah Marshall while Watkins took care of the rest of the floor, scoring nine points in the opening quarter.
Both teams went ice cold to start the second period, but Julia Ayrault ended the drought for the Spartans and Watkins scored on the next Trojan possession. Throughout the rest of the first half, Michigan State could not gain significant ground against USC. Every Spartan basket had an equal or greater Trojan bucket. At the half, USC was up…
