USC star JuJu Watkins shines in long-awaited return for title contender

LAS VEGAS – Five hundred and eighty-eight days later, JuJu Watkins showed why this was worth the wait.Worth the wait for her silky moves.Worth the wait for her commanding presence.Worth the wait for all the ways she can make her team seem unbeatable.Each of those qualities was in abundant supply Monday afternoon in the USC superstar’s first game since she went down in a horrible heap during the 2025 NCAA Tournament, clutching her right knee in anguish.Twenty months later, she soared in her return.It took a little more than two minutes for Watkins to announce her presence during the No.3 Trojans’ 100-68 victory over UNLV at T-Mobile Arena in the Hall of Fame Series.After taking a pass above the free-throw line and making a couple of pump fakes, Watkins drove toward the baseline.She went up for a floating jumper, the ball banking off the backboard and bouncing off the rim once, then twice before falling through the net.Yep, she’s back.“Imagine not playing a game for 580-something days when you love the game as much as she does,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.

“The game is just better with her in it and I think she’ll continue to get even just sharper, more comfortable.”Watkins influenced the game in many other ways besides her 21 points in 25 minutes.She made a steal in the backcourt, zipped a cross-court pass that led to a Sitaya Fagan layup and flipped a ball headed out of bounds back in toward Fagan for another layup.“Obviously, she’s a very, very uniquely talented weapon out there,” Gottlieb said, “and opens things up for other people as well.”USC did not make Watkins available for an interview afterward, with a team spokesperson saying she had conducted TV interviews on the court and the Trojans decided to bring other players who performed well to speak with reporters.

The USC locker room was closed.Fittingly, Watkins was the last USC player introduced before the game, in throaty fashion from the P.A.announcer.“And at guard, a 6...