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USC Women's Basketball: Utes Massacre Trojans, Despite Another Big JuJu Watkins Night

Ex-Trojan Alissa Pili hands her old squad its second loss of the year.

Alex Kirschenbaum

USC Women's Basketball: Utes Massacre Trojans, Despite Another Big JuJu Watkins Night
USC Women's Basketball: Utes Massacre Trojans, Despite Another Big JuJu Watkins Night /
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Your USC Women of Troy just suffered their worst loss of the season, a 78-58 massacre at the hands of ex-Trojans forward Alissa Pili, having a career scoring night, and the rest of her Utah Utes.

Freshman wing JuJu Watkins enjoyed another superb night on offense, but USC could hardly contain Utah on the other end of the hardwood. The Utes capitalized on USC's sloppy ball control, scoring a whopping 27 points off turnovers to USC's 13.

Things looked choppy from the jump. Utah's physical, aggressive defense held the Trojans to a scant 31% shooting from the floor in the opening quarter, leading 19-12 after that first frame. Points off turnovers was already an issue in the first half, as the Utes notched 13 points via seven USC turnovers en route to a 37-28 edge at the break. Pili was singlehandedly responsible for almost half her team's offense, notching 16 points through two quarters. 

That isn't to say there weren't some fun USC moments, including this nifty take from grad student McKenzie Forbes off a slick passing sequence:

A 10-4 start, propelled mostly by Watkins and Forbes, saw USC shrink the Utes' edge to just three points early in the third period. 6'1" sophomore wing Taylor Bigby's triple put the exclamation point on that charge:

A balanced Utah response put the game virtually out of reach. The Utes led 61-44 after three quarters, thanks to a dominant 24-16 frame.

The game was never in doubt after that. Pili finished with 37 points on a hyper-efficient 13-of-16 shooting from the floor and 6-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe. Watkins once again led the Trojans with 26 points on 11-of-22 shooting from the field.

Utah finished with massive advantages in field goal shooting (44.1% to 36.1%), foul shooting (72.7% to 50%), rebounding (43-34), points scored in the paint (30-14, many of those via Pili), and fast break points. The most glaring issue, however, was passing. Utah badly outpaced USC in that respect, with a 19-6 passing edge.

Although USC center Rayah Marshall returned to the lineup following an illness, she still seemed fairly limited, nabbing more fouls (three) and turnovers (two) than she had points (zip, on 0-of-3 shooting), though she did block one shot and grab five boards. Her issues protecting the paint helped ensure that Utah would be a frequent flier there.

USC drops to a 13-2 record on the year, with both losses arriving against Pac-12 competition. Utah rises to 13-5 on the year.

Next up for USC on Sunday is a date with the Colorado Buffaloes, fresh off a close loss to the UCLA Bruins. UCLA, meanwhile, will take on Utah Sunday, in the midst of a criss-crossing Pac-12 road trip.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Tell Alex, were you in the joint the night Wilt scored 100 points? Or when the Celtics won titles back-to-back and didn't give nobody no kind of slack?

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