NCCAW: Watkins, Iriafen star in USC’s fifth-straight win

The good times are rolling for USC. They defeated then-No. 1 seed UCLA a week ago and have since won two more games, beating Washington on Sunday and winning against No. 22 Michigan State 83-75 on Wednesday night.

The Trojans won thanks to their dynamic duo of Kiki Iriafen and JuJu Watkins. Iriafen scored 24 points on 7-for-13 shooting and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Watkins contributed a team-high 28 points in the victory, along with eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks. For Michigan State, Grace VanSlooten had a great game, scoring 29 points, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset.

How USC kept Michigan State at bay

It didn’t take long for USC to gain momentum in this game. Midway through the first, the Trojans went a 7-0 run, which resulted in USC leading 17-8. They were dominating inside with Rayah Marshall while Watkins took care of the rest of the floor, scoring nine points in the opening quarter.

Both teams went ice cold to start the second period, but Julia Ayrault ended the drought for the Spartans and Watkins scored on the next Trojan possession. Throughout the rest of the first half, Michigan State could not gain significant ground against USC. Every Spartan basket had an equal or greater Trojan bucket. At the half, USC was up by double figures.

After another seven-point outburst by USC in the third, the advantage ballooned to 17 points. Iriafen had four-straight points during this run and is currently playing some of her best basketball of the year. This recent double-double makes it nine for Iriafen this season.

VanSlooten ended the run with a layup with 4:01 left in the third, but USC didn’t slow down. Avery Howell made a 3-pointer, Kennedy Smith fished strong near the rim and Watkins scored four-straight to give USC a game-high 21-point lead.

With 20 minutes left to play, the Spartans still had some fight left in them. Theryn Hallock converted on an and-1 play followed by VanSlooten and Nyla Hampton scoring in between a tip-in basket by Marshall for USC. Then, Hallock made another field goal to bring MSU back to within 10 points.

Making such a run was admirable, but now the Spartans were competing with not just the Trojans, but the clock. Michigan State got to within six points, but a quick 4-0 run, thanks to back-to-back buckets by Watkins and Smith, extended USC’s lead back up to 10 and all but sealed the game. Both teams exchanged baskets the rest of the way as USC ultimately adds another Big Ten win to their 2024-25 campaign.

Key takeaways

With Iriafen and Watkins in top form, USC is looking like a scary team. With a few more wins, they’ll be peaking at the right time, as March basketball looms. Michigan State dug too big of a hole to get out of, and their 1-for-13 shooting night from 3-point range certainly didn’t help.

The Spartans are still a tough team, but they can’t shoot that poorly and expect to beat a team as good as the Trojans. A few more rebounds also would be ideal. They lost the battle of the boards 45-37.