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JuJu Watkins passes Caitlin Clark for major NCAA milestone

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•03/09/25
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(Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

JuJu Watkins has already cemented her place as one of the best players in women’s college basketball history. The USC superstar continues to shatter records at every turn. And she recently even passed Caitlin Clark with another impressive feat.

Watkins passed Clark for the second most 20-point games in a player’s first two seasons in Division I-A college basketball history.

Watkins now has 53 games in which she’s poured in 20 or more points. She’s now only two games behind Kelsey Mitchell of Ohio State, who had 55 twenty-point games in her first two seasons. Caitlin Clark had 50 during her first two seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Watkins and the Trojans fell on Sunday in the 2025 Women’s Big Ten Tournament Championship to the UCLA Bruins, 72-67. They’ll now wait for their seeding in the NCAA Tournament bracket.

Watkins has, in his collegiate career, averaged 25.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.2 steals, and 1.8 blocks in doing it all for USC. With that, she has already earned many conference and national honors, including some this last week as Big Ten Player of the Year and a unanimous selection as All-Big Ten First Team.

JuJu Watkins reflected on her historic season as a freshman

Her freshman season, Watkins set the NCAA Division I single-season freshman scoring record with 920 points. That’s a record that Watkins reflected on setting following USC’s Elite Eight loss to UConn.

“It’s definitely an honor. I mean, of course, like I said, not really the terms I would like to end on, on my season,” Watkins said. “I mean, I’m just blessed. This program has offered me a lot. I’m so grateful for it. It’s just been a great season.”

“The record is great. Just the moments that I’ve got to spend with this team have meant everything to me. I’m just excited for next year, yeah.”

Prior to Watkins, Tina Hutchinson of San Diego State held the freshman scoring record with 898 points that she scored in the 1983-84 season.

Watkins’ best offensive game came in one of the most important that USC played all season, against Stanford on the road. That game came in early February when she scored 51 points. It was, in many ways, the game that established JuJu Watkins as a name to watch nationally.

She also stacked up numerous other accolades and honors, including setting the USC single-season scoring record as a freshman. Watkins broke a record that stood for nearly 40 years, passing one of the greatest players in the history of her sport in the process.

Watkins racked up an extensive amount of hardware her freshman year including Pac-12 All Defensive Team honors and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors. She was named first team All-American by multiple different media outlets.

As a high school prospect, Watkins was one of the most decorated players in the country, earning Gatorade National Player of the Year honors and Naismith Prep Player of the Year honors in 2023. She played her final two seasons with Sierra Canyon School (Los Angeles, California).