Saturday evening is all the things that resembles the continued rise of ladies’s school basketball: No. 4 UConn vs. No. 7 USC. Primtime at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. A sold-out XL Middle in Hartford, Connecticut.
It is a sport between two nice groups, two nice coaches, and sure, two nice celebrity gamers.
Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins.
It is a rematch of final 12 months’s Elite Eight showdown that noticed the Huskies prevail previous the top-seeded Trojans and advance to the Remaining 4. Watkins went for a game-high 29 factors in that matchup, whereas Bueckers stuffed the stat sheet with 28 factors, 10 rebounds and 6 assists.
Beginning a home-and-home sequence with these two big-name applications and the celebrity energy they possess was a no-brainier for Corridor of Famer Geno Auriemma and USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. With a return sport set to happen in Los Angeles subsequent season, the lights will shine vibrant in Hartford on Saturday evening.
Each the Huskies and Trojans are off to 10–1 begins to the season. Bueckers, who’s in her fifth season with this system after a profession that is seen her battle by a number of accidents, is averaging 20.6 factors, 4.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists whereas capturing an eye-popping 58% from the ground and 44% from 3-point land. The query is: How a lot will the Huskies get past Bueckers? Auriemma advised the press Friday that star senior Azzi Fudd, who has missed the final three video games because of a minor knee sprain, may play Saturday, which might be an enormous increase for the Huskies.
As for Watkins, who set the NCAA’s all-time freshman scoring file with 920 factors final 12 months en path to profitable Nationwide Freshman of the 12 months honors, her totals is perhaps barely down this season, nevertheless it has include an increase in effectivity. The 6-foot-2 guard from Los Angeles is averaging 24.7 factors, 5.8 rebounds and three.7 assists per sport whereas capturing 45% from the ground (up from 40%) and 34% from past the arc (up from 32%).
Watkins has the advantage of taking part in alongside a fellow celebrity in Stanford switch Kiki Iriafen, who’s averaging 18.7 factors and 9.2 rebounds per sport whereas capturing 54% from the sphere and 40% from downtown. The matchup between Iriafen and UConn freshman standout Sarah Robust (17.3 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 3.6 APG) may not be the primary headliner with Watkins assembly Bueckers, nevertheless it may find yourself deciding the sport if the 2 superstars negate one another.
FOX Sports activities caught up with Watkins forward of Saturday’s top-10 showdown on FOX.
How excited are you about taking part in in primetime on Saturday evening in a sold-out constructing in opposition to Paige Bueckers and UConn?
“I am so stoked. To get a top-10 matchup, it is at all times a fantastic alternative. And for us to actually showcase what we have been engaged on and our progress for the reason that starting of the season, we’re actually excited for it, and also you simply know it may be a fantastic one.”
How a lot does final 12 months’s Elite Eight loss to UConn drive you and your workforce, and what’s your mindset coming into this sport?
“I might say we’re a very completely different workforce from final 12 months, so I would not say it has been probably the most outstanding motivator for us to get higher, however I would say for me and among the returning gamers, there’s a facet of taking issues personally. They ended our season final 12 months, so, in fact, it is in our nature to make that one of many the explanation why we’re going on the market to play so exhausting.”
You might have a world attain together with your stardom on and off the ground, and what we’re watching proper now in ladies’s sports activities is actually a motion. What does it imply to be a shining mild to younger ladies who look as much as you?
“It is such a fantastic factor, and I am so blessed to be on this place. I am unable to actually even fathom that I’m that to younger ladies. So, I am at all times grateful for the platform that I have been given, and I wish to encourage others to be themselves.”
How particular of a time is it to be in ladies’s basketball?
“It is tremendous particular. Statistics present that there is simply been a lot consideration to this sport and girls’s sports activities generally. I am so glad to be part of that motion, nevertheless it’s additionally about paying homage. It is about paying homage to the ladies that got here earlier than us, so lots of them, that made our sport what it’s immediately. I am tremendous grateful for that and to be on this house proper right here, proper now.”
What is that this USC workforce’s id and in what methods have you ever advanced probably the most as a participant?
“It is exhausting to place it in a single phrase, however I might say that everyone on our workforce is tremendous succesful. Now, it is only a matter of coming collectively and determining one another’s strengths to get higher collectively. However on the finish of the day, everyone on this program has the identical objective: to win. No matter we have now to do to make sure that occurs at USC, we’ll.”
How would you outline Coach Gottlieb?
“Clever. She’s tremendous good. And he or she’s been such a mentor to me each on and off the courtroom. She’s a fantastic determine to have in your life.”
Your favourite Christmas track?
“Final Christmas by WHAM! That is my favourite one.”
John Fanta is a nationwide school basketball broadcaster and author for FOX Sports activities. He covers the game in a wide range of capacities, from calling video games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Community to offering commentary on The Subject of 68 Media Community. Comply with him at @John_Fanta.
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