Former Cal Player McKenzie Forbes Helps USC Top Stanford in Final Pac-12 Tourney

The Folsom native, who played one season for the Bears, scored 26 points to counter Stanford's defense on JuJu Watkins.

Cal fans may remember McKenzie Forbes from her only basketball season in Berkeley back in 2018-19. She collected honorable mention all-Pac-12 freshman honors that season, then transferred to Harvard, where she earned a diploma last spring.

On Sunday, the Folsom, California, native played the game of her life, scoring a game-high 26 points to help No. 5 USC knock off top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Stanford 74-51 in the championship game of the final Pac-12 tournament at Las Vegas.

Reunited this season with former Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb, in her second season with the Trojans, Forbes stepped up into the spotlight when Stanford devoted its defensive energy to stop freshman JuJu Watkins, who scored 51 points when the teams met at Maples Pavilion on Feb. 2. Forbes scored 12 points in that one as the Trojans won 67-58.

Forbes was named the tournament's most valuable player.

“We love winning. No one who cares who scores 50 and who scores zero,” Forbes told ESPN’s Holly Rowe after Sunday’s win. “We have people who play their roles . . . it doesn’t matter as long as we win.

“I’m so proud of us,” she added. “We stand on the shoulders of giants . . . the people who came before us, Cheryl (Miller), Lisa (Leslie), Tina (Thompson). We love you guys. They’ve been supporting us all season. This is for you guys.”

Former Cal player McKenzie Forbes / Photo by Katie Chin, USC Athletics

Watkins, who entered the game averaging 27.6 points to rank second nationally, was limited to nine points while missing 14 of her first 15 shots.

But Forbes, a 6-foot wing and USC’s second-leading scorer at 13.1 points per game, rose up with a clutch performance in the Trojans’ first Pac-12 title game appearance in 10 years.

“How good as McKenzie Forbes been?” ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo asked during the broadcast.

“How great has she been?” echoed play-by-play man Eric Frede.

Forbes scored a career-high 36 points against Long Beach State on Dec. 21, had 24 points vs. Colorado and 23 vs. UCLA.

But this was a far bigger stage and Forbes delivered.

She added five rebounds, three steals and two assists. “An incredible championship game by Forbes,” said Lobo, the former UConn star and WNBA star, who said Forbes has a future as a pro.

ESPN’s Charlie Creme projected that with the victory USC (26-5) could join Stanford (28-5) as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Lindsay Gottlieb and son Jordan Martin celebrate USC's victory / Photo by Kirby Lee,USA Today

Forbes was recruited to Cal by Gottlieb and averaged 5.3 points as a freshman. She scored seven points off the bench in the Bears’ win over North Carolina in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA tournament.

But when Gottlieb left to become an assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA, Forbes transferred to Harvard, where her brother Mason Forbes was playing for the men’s team.

Mason Forbes now plays for Saint Mary’s and was at Sunday’s game with their parents in Las Vegas, where the Gaels play in Monday night’s West Coast Conference tournament semifinal against Santa Clara.

Both McKenzie and Mason Forbes transferred after earning their undergrad degrees because graduate players are not eligible to play the Ivy League.

After leaving Cal, McKenzie sat out her first season before the Ivy League canceled the 2020-21 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forbes was a second-team All-Ivy League selection in ’21-22, providing 14.1 points per game. She was Harvard’s team captain a year ago, when she averaged 13.7 points.

Cover photo of McKenzie Forbes celebrating USC's win by Kirby Lee, USC Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo