PISCATAWAY — New Jersey fans of USC guard JuJu Watkins, who’s become the next big thing in women’s college basketball after Caitlin Clark, got to see the sophomore up close and personal on Sunday night.
They loved what they saw.
No. 4 USC blew out the Rutgers 92-42 in front of 7,356, the largest crowd at Rutgers Athletic Center for women’s basketball since a Clark visit with Iowa last year drew a sellout crowd of 8,000. The previous sellout occurred in 2006.
The 50-point margin for a loss is the second-largest in program history for Rutgers.
Watkins had 23 points and 14 rebounds, using her athletic ability to get by defenders, grab rebounds, knock down three three-pointers and dish out four assists.
Every dribbling move and tight handle by Watkins drew reaction from the crowd. Fans cheered for Watkins and wore t-shirts with her face on them.
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“It’s really cool,” Watkins about her Garden State fans. “I’m always grateful for supporters anywhere. I was actually surprised that I had this many fans on the East Coast, just ’cause I’m from the West Coast and we don’t really visit here often so it’s always just a blessing to see. Always grateful for the crowd.”
Rutgers shorthanded with Kiyomi Miller benching
Rutgers played without star freshman Kiyomi McMiller, who was benched but got ahead of the announcement of the “coach’s decision” in an Instagram post hours before the game – while appearing to undermine head coach Coquese Washington.
Washington said matters with McMiller will be handled “internally.”
The Trojans jumped out to 7-0 lead with Watkins draining three-pointer at the top of the key for the first basket of the game. USC never let go of the lead. After USC went into halftime leading 37-14, a 12-0 run to start the third quarter made the game out of hand.
The Big 10 Conference matchup was the third straight ranked opponent that the Scarlet Knights faced in one week. Rutgers also lost to No. 8 Maryland and No. 10 Ohio State.
Stars out to see Rutgers-USC
Rutgers’ men’s basketball freshmen duo Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey were seen court side taking in the action. Former alumni and celebrities also attended the game and were shown on the Jumbotron.
“It’s nice to bring our team to the East Coast,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “It’s obviously such a nice media market. We appreciate all the coverage out here, great crowd. I thought our players came out here and did what we asked them to do. We made it difficult on Rutgers to score, we turned up the heat in the second half. We took care of the ball and I think we’re still a work in progress.”
For Rutgers, graduate forward JoJo Lacey led the team in scoring with 14 points. Manchester native and senior Destiny Adams had to carry more of the load Sunday. Adams finished with a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds), but got much of the USC players’ attention when she touched the ball. Rutgers turned the ball over a staggering 27 times.
