Lindsay Gottlieb calls JuJu Watkins' showing vs. UCLA 'historic'

No. 6 USC got a top 10, in-city victory over No. 1 UCLA last night behind an all-time outing from guard JuJu Watkins.

Lindsay Gottlieb applauded the performance from Watkins following the 71-60 win for the Trojans over the Bruins in LA to end their undefeated season to this point. She said, as good of a coach as she may be, she didn’t show Watkins how to do any of that after she posted a huge double-double, and almost a triple-double, on Thursday.

“I know you’re going to ask me a million questions. I didn’t teach JuJu any of that,” Gottlieb said. “Just try to put her in situations to be her best self and she does most of that work. I think this is a historic Galen performance that we should appreciate from JuJu and her team.”

Watkins finished the win with 38 points (12/26 FG, 6-9 3PT), 11 rebounds, eight blocks, five assists, and a steal with a stat line that filled the box score. That was the fourth-most points in her career to this point as she accounted for over half of the Trojans’ scoring output on the night.

It was also by far a career-high in blocks while being her sixth double-double this season, and fifteenth in his career, with 11 boards. Those numbers were as impressive as the points for Gottlieb considering how Watkins decided to play defensively.

“What I was so impressed with tonight, obviously, was just the mentality she came out with. Obviously, the ball going through the net helps,” Gottlieb said. “But, when we changed our coverages in the second half and said, ‘You can’t just go one-on-one with Betts. We have to double but the double has got to be good. You know, she ends up with eight blocks as well.”

Watkins carried the Trojans with that to their biggest win of the season, and their second one against the top 10 in the past week, to move to 22-2 overall and into first place in the Big Ten. She’ll have to keep doing it, too, with four games to go, including a rematch in the season finale with UCLA, with ‘SC heading into the postseason with hopes of being a No. 1 seed.