Rutgers Star Kiyomi McMiller Cites Coach for Missing Clash With JuJu Watkins and USC
The Rutgers University women's basketball team has the biggest game of their 2024-25 season on Sunday, as they face superstar JuJu Watkins and the No. 4 ranked USC Trojans at home.
However, they will apparently be doing so without their best player, freshman superstar guard Kiyomi McMiller.
News of McMiller's alleged absence from Sunday's USC game came from the freshman herself, as she made an Instagram post earlier in the day that wrote, "To My Fans
"I would like to apologize to my fans. I will not be playing in today's game vs USC, which is #4 in the country. This decision was made by my head coach Coquese Washington. Thank you all for your continued support.
"Godbless all of you~ Kiyomi "The Product" McMiller".
There is currently no further information aside from this post about why McMiller might be missing Sunday's game. What's for sure is that McMiller has not only emerged as Rutgers' best player (her 19.9 points per game leads the team) but also as one of the most exciting players in all of women's college basketball.
Back in December, McMiller produced arguably one of the best individual plays that college basketball has ever seen when she juked out a defender with an extraordinary spinning dribble that went viral on X and must be seen to be believed.
This makes absolutely no sense.. best handles ever in the womens game.. creativity like no other.. what even is this @Kiyomi_McMiller pic.twitter.com/FrQlXw4cvb
— SSN Jay-O (@Jay_3shifty) December 15, 2024
McMiller not playing against USC is clearly detrimental to her team's chances of winning — and nobody would know this better than her head coach. Therefore, one would imagine that her coach had a clear reason to sit McMiller out if she is indeed not suiting up against the Trojans.
But fans will need to wait for further updates until this strange situation becomes clearer.
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.