Women's Fastbreak On SI

JuJu Watkins Receives Unflattering Caitlin Clark Comparison Amid Narrow USC Win

USC Trojans superstar JuJu Watkins is getting compared to Caitlin Clark on Monday — albeit not for a good reason.

Grant Young

Mar 25, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) gets ready to shoot free-throw during an NCAA Women’s Tournament 2nd round game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
Mar 25, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) gets ready to shoot free-throw during an NCAA Women’s Tournament 2nd round game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

The women's college basketball regular season kicked off on Monday — and it didn't take long for the excitement to commence.

Sophomore superstar JuJu Watkins and the No. 3 ranked USC Trojans took on the No. 20 ranked Ole Miss Rebels as part of the Aflac Oui-Play Event in Paris, France.

After a tightly contested game from beginning to finish, USC eventually outlasted Ole Miss by a score of 68-66.

Despite them securing a tough win, USC was still clearly working off the early-season rust that's to be expected from teams at this point. This was shown by the whopping 26 turnovers they had as a team, which is more than double the number of turnovers (12) they averaged during the 2023-24 season.

While Watkins finished the game 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 blocks, and 3 steals — which is an extremely impressive stat line — she also produced 9 of her team's 26 turnovers.

Watkins often receives comparisons to former Iowa Hawkeye and current Indiana Fever sensation Caitlin Clark for her star power and scoring ability. However, Clark also set the WNBA record for most turnovers in a season as a rookie, with 223.

This is why fans are comparing Watkins' turnover numbers with that of Clark on Monday.

X user @problemsthots posted a photo showing half of Watkins and half of Clark's face with the caption, "juju 4 turnovers in the 1st quarter?"

"6 turnovers juju doin her best cc impersonation come on juju," added another fan.

A third wrote, "Juju has 6 turnovers heading into the 4th….do we only care about turnovers when it’s Da Face orrrrr".

Many fans are noting that because Clark plays point guard and Watkins is a shooting guard, both their assist (which Clark also set the WNBA single-season record for) and their turnover totals should not be compared.

And they have a great point. Regardless, hopefully Watkins can tone her turnovers down as the season progresses.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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