When Kansas State women’s basketball takes the floor against top-seed USC in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, there will be a noticeable absence in Spokane.
On Monday, USC star guard JuJu Watkins suffered a torn ACL during the Trojans’s 96-59 win over No. 9 seed Mississippi State, the school announced in a statement. The injury will require surgery and end her season.
Watkins suffered the injury in the first quarter after the Trojans forced a steal and attempted to push the tempo. The Big Ten Women’s Player of the Year had to be carried off the floor and could not put any weight on her leg.
“One thing I know about JuJu is that she is resilient,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a statement released by the school. “We are in full support of her and believe that this injury will not shake her drive and dedication to be the best player and person she can be, and to help her teammates shine.”
While USC and the NCAA Tournament will continue despite the shock around Watkins’s injury, the Sweet 16 will look different. Watkins is one of the game’s most popular players, and USC home games have become a who’s who of celebrities, most flocking to the campus to watch her unique talent.
“Just an unfortunate situation for everybody involved, for our game, for the tournament as a whole,” said K-State point guard Serena Sundell. “She’s such a cool player. As soon as we saw it, we were like, ‘Oh, that’s not good.’ We want to play against her as competitors.”
Despite only being a true sophomore, Watkins is one of the top players in women’s college basketball and is currently considered the favorite to win the John R. Wooden Award, given to the nation’s top women’s basketball player.
This season, Watkins averaged 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game, shooting 42.6 percent from the floor and 32.5 percent from three-point range. Watkins scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds against UNC Greensboro in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
With Watkins averaging 35 minutes per game, preparing for USC without her becomes increasingly complicated. Sure, the Wildcats won’t have to prepare for one of the country’s best players, but they will have to solve how the Trojans will look without her.
“There’s not a lot of clips with her not on the floor, I’ll tell you that, but they played well without her,” said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie. “You look at the teams, you look at UConn, they’ve had [Paige] Bueckers and [Azzi] Fudd out at times. So, every team has probably dealt with some of that.
“We’re just [going] to do the best we can in terms of what they run. My guess is they’re not going to get too far away, but somebody’s got to take those minutes, and we’ll take a look at all the rotations that they use.”
K-State is no stranger to operating without their star player, of course. This season, center Ayoka Lee was sidelined for most of the end of the regular season, playing under five minutes in the Wildcats’s win over Kansas.
And this wasn’t Lee’s first injury, either. In past years, Lee has had to rehab and return from multiple injuries to continue to play. Last season, she also missed a large chunk of the regular season with an injury before returning for the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City.
“It’s devastating. I would never wish that upon anybody,” Lee said. “It’s just really hard to watch because you see it happen, and you know. You just know. It sucks. Really [wish] her the best in her recovery.”
Regardless of how K-State prepares for USC without Watkins, one thing remains a constant from K-State’s players and Mittie: the game would be better with her playing.
"It's unfortunate when any player goes down, not just the great players. All players work so much to play in this time of the year. And certainly, JuJu's play inspires a lot of people," Mittie said. "We've been through it with [Ayoka Lee], and it stinks every time you have to go through it and it stinks for the players.
"The good news is that we've seen players come back, as we've seen Ayoka Lee come back," Mittie continued. "That wasn't necessarily the case 20 years ago, so we've come further that way."
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