LOS ANGELES — The No. 12 has become synonymous around the Galen Center, spawning long lines at merchandise stands and parents clamoring for a jersey for their daughters and sons, USC’s home stands now packed with odes to JuJu Watkins.
No. 32, it appears, is just as good as No. 12.
A few minutes into the fourth quarter of a wild shootout with Colorado, with turnovers adding up and whistles shrieking nonstop, Watkins’ teammates mysteriously huddled around her on the bench. Seconds later, she emerged having shed her already-fabled No. 12, sporting a foreign “32” on her jersey – almost seeming too big for her, spilling out over her shorts the rest of the night. For three quarters, the freshman had scrapped incessantly for buckets, wiping away the memory of a 6-for-32 night the previous weekend at Oregon State with every pull-up jumper and charge to the rim.
And instantly out of the break, 12 becoming 32 in the final minutes of a truly inebriated basketball game, Watkins attacked. She drained a pull-up jumper to put USC ahead by double-digits, her shot in rhythm all night. She drove into Colorado’s star big Aaronette Vonleh, fouling her out, a few minutes after wearing down her primary defender in Jaylyn Sherrod and fouling her out. And after the final buzzer sounded in the seventh-ranked Trojans’ rough-and-tumble 87-81 victory over No. 11 Colorado, Watkins held her hands aloft to the crowd like Maximus to the Coliseum in “Gladiator.”
Forty-two points, 10-of-19 shooting, 18-of-18 from the free-throw line and a seventh consecutive win for USC (21-4 overall, 11-4 in Pac-12 play). It was Watkins’ 11th 30-point game of the year in a season that’s far from over, snapping a USC program record set by Cheryl Miller, who watched in glee from courtside seats at Galen Center.
It was also hardly her prettiest.
When USC lost to Washington in late January, it was Watkins’ approach to the week that followed – after an 8-for-27 shooting night –…
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