Watkins scores 32 in USC'S rout of Arizona
With under a month left in the regular season, Juju Watkins has about seen it all from opposing defenses.
The stellar freshman keeps figuring out how to slip past defenders and score or dish off to teammates.
Watkins scored 32 points and No. 10 USC used a dominant third quarter to pull away from Arizona and win 81-64 late on Monday night for its fourth consecutive victory.
Watkins notched her ninth 30-point game of the season, breaking the school record of eight set by Cherie Nelson in 1988-89.
“Juju is so spectacular, people are going to come with all different game plans,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “We showed she’s hard to stop from scoring, but we also have other players. We had contributions from everywhere.”
Kayla Padilla added 15 points on five 3-pointers for the Trojans. Rayah Marshall scored all of her 12 points over the last two quarters and had 10 rebounds.
USC (18-4, 8-4 Pac-12) moved back into a fourth-place tie with ninth-ranked UCLA in league play.
Esmery Martinez scored 13 points to lead Arizona (12-12, 4-8). She fouled out and had to be helped off the floor with 4:11 left in the game after getting hurt.
Watkins was just 9 of 23 from the floor, but made all of her 12 free throws in a rare national television appearance for the guard who is the nation’s second-leading scorer at 27.5 points per game. She also had seven rebounds and four assists in a game-high 38 minutes.
“To be able to play on this platform gave us a lot of added energy,” Watkins said. “My teammates have trust in me which gives me a lot of confidence. I keep reminding myself to just play my game and it will take me very far.”
Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller jokingly jumped into actor Will Ferrell’s lap during a timeout. Ferrell and rapper Fabolous visited the USC locker room after the game.
“I love Will Ferrell. He’s one of the funniest people alive,” Watkins said. “For him to know our names and how we’re doing is insane.”
Next up, USC plays Friday at Oregon.
Men's highlights
Darrion Williams scored a career-high 30 points on 12-of-12 shooting, including four of the Red Raiders’ 10 3-pointers, in the wire-towire rout in Lubbock.
Williams, a sophomore transfer from Nevada, also had 11 rebounds. He made a 3 on the first shot of the game as Texas Tech (18-6, 7-4 Big 12) made 8 of 12 from long range over the first 13 minutes while jumping ahead 27-14.
Jayhawks coach Bill Self was ejected with 5:49 remaining after getting two technical fouls while expressing his displeasure about an offensive foul against Hunter Dickinson.
Warren Washington had 11 points for Tech.
Nicolas Timberlake and Johnny Furphy each had 13 points for Kansas (19-6, 7-5).
Mark Mitchell scored 23 points while star big man Kyle Filipowski posted his first double-double in nearly three weeks as the Blue Devils won in Durham.
Filipowski had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Duke (19-5, 10-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), which repeatedly answered pushes from Wake Forest (16-8, 8-5) that kept them hanging around within two possessions or so for much of the second half.
Freshman guard Jared Mccain from Centennial High, had 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for Duke, which has won six of its last seven.
TEXAS TECH 79, NO. 6 KANSAS 50 >>
NO. 9 DUKE 77, WAKE FOREST 69 >>
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