Former Trojan Alissa Pili leads Utah women to gritty win over USC
LOS ANGELES – There is nobody on on the USC women’s basketball roster, assistant coach Beth Burns says, who can quite replicate what Kaitlyn Davis does.
That might seem strange, on paper. A quick glance at Davis’ numbers reveal nothing particularly special: five points a game, five rebounds. Ho-hum. But Davis’ defensive impact and grit pops on film, her toughness clicking in a variety of lineups, the glue that Burns calls “Bam-Bam” absolutely vital in a seven-game win stretch for USC.
“She has a uniqueness,” Burns said Wednesday.
And that uniqueness was on display in the third quarter, plain for all to see, Davis dropping in 10 loud points to keep USC in the game at Utah. It was felt too, as soon as she trudged to the bench with her fifth foul, Bam-Bam going just a bit too aggressively after one steal in a fourth-quarter press.
Suddenly, down four with just a few minutes to play, USC had lost its most valuable defender for Utah interior force Alyssa Pili. Davis had largely held her in check offensively. And trying to close against a physical Utah team without Davis proved too tough a task, the Utes taking USC down 74-68 after beating them earlier in January.
“I mean, it’s always frustrating when you pick up that many fouls,” Davis said postgame. “That’s something I’ve been prone to a little bit, and I know I just gotta be smarter moving forward. But, I mean, regardless of the frustration, I have the confidence in my teammates to pick up right where I left off.”
They couldn’t quite get there, not on this night, playing from behind against a Utah team full of shot-makers and anchored by Pili. With USC junior Rayah Marshall checking her, Pili drove to the cup for a tough lefty and-one finish, putting Utah up seven with just a minute to play. And two late Pili free throws closed USC out, the former Trojan authoring an emphatic 23-point performance after transferring to Utah before the 2022-23 season and revitalizing her career.
“She’s been terrific there,” said USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb, who coached Pili her last year at USC, on Wednesday. “I’m genuinely happy for her. I think she got herself in great shape. I think she has a renewed love and passion for what she’s doing.”
Frustration abounded just a few minutes in, the good vibrations emanating from pregame introductions and flower bouquets for USC’s seniors quickly drained away as just one of USC’s first 10 shots dropped in. Utah pressed up on the perimeter, seeming to catch Trojan ballhandlers slightly off-guard in the first quarter, so discombobulated at one point that senior point guard Kayla Padilla and junior big Rayah Marshall ran into each other on an attempted pick-and-roll.
Simply catching the ball was difficult. Watkins took a brief spell on the bench after a 1-for-7 start from the floor, slapping her thigh in dismay. Marshall missed a couple jump hooks, throwing her head back in annoyance. After a Watkins pass to McKenzie Forbes simply flew out of bounds at the end of the frame, USC had scored just six points, a rather shocking sight for a team that had largely hummed offensively across a seven-game winning streak.
They kept the game close through sheer defensive effort and physicality, largely prompted by Davis. Down nine to the Utes in the third quarter, Davis picked the pocket of Utah’s Kennady McQueen, bulldozing her way downcourt and euro-stepping her way to an and-one finish. As Watkins continued to struggle with her jumper, visibly frustrated with body-bumps and swipes at the ball, Davis flew in from the baseline and snagged a pair of Watkins’ misses for putback layups. She scored 10 points in the frame, keeping the game tight.
But USC played catch-up offensively, a difficult task with a group that finished just 4-of-20, Watkins particularly unable to get her shot to fall. freshman star flew defensively, tallying three blocks and a couple steals in the first half, bumping down on Pili and causing chaos. But her jumper was absent, no matter how hard she pressed, at one point her line standing at 4-for-21. At halftime, Gottlieb said postgame, Watkins was so gassed that staff gave her an IV drip for fluids.
“I mean, what else can you say about the kid?” Gottlieb said postgame. “She lays it all out on the line every single day. I think we’ve all never seen anything like it, in terms of the ability to go that hard all the time.”
She caught fire in the fourth, scoring USC’s first 10 points in the frame. But Watkins was frustrated down the stretch, finishing with 30 points but shooting just 10-for-30 and turning the ball over five times.
Utah (20-8, 10-6 Pac-12) closed out USC (21-5, 11-5 Pac-12) in a free-throw battle, the Trojans’ winning streak snapped.