Kennedy Smith powers No. 7 USC women past Ohio State

LOS ANGELES – Four minutes in, JuJu Watkins’ fadeaway jumper sailed through air without nicking an inch of iron, and she slid further into slump. Seven seconds later, Kiki Iriafen’s dribble fell from her hand and trickled out of bounds, and USC had begun Saturday’s immense home matchup against Ohio State with its offensive engines sputtering.

Last February, with a different life and a different roster, this USC program wasn’t in a position to win this game. Not when they turned the ball over five times in four minutes against the eighth-ranked team in the nation. Not when interior looks from bigs resulted in layups careening off the rim. Not when Watkins, their superstar, started her night 0-for-11 in a puzzling combination of frustration and passivity.

Last February, though, USC did not have Kennedy Smith.

The freshman snapped the Trojans’ offensive struggles early, snapping the twine on a three for USC’s first points after an 0-for-6 start. She hounded talented Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge, their second-leading scorer finishing with 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting. She scrapped, and yelled, and offered a brief third-quarter arm to Watkins through her struggles. And she put Ohio State away in the fourth quarter, shoving her backside into Ohio State’s Chance Gray and simply overpowering her for an and-one putback, as USC downed the Buckeyes 84-63 in a marquee matchup at the Galen Center.

“I think we’ve only just begun to see what she’s capable of,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said of Smith, postgame. “I don’t know that it’s a surprise to people in our locker room, but I think nationally it’s just going to continue to get more and more known, because she’s just a winner.”

It became well enough known to Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff, who called Smith “great” after a box-score stuffer: 13 points, 13 rebounds, three threes, five assists.

“She might kinda be the unsung hero for this team,” McGuff reflected, postgame. “Obviously JuJu’s an incredible player, and rightly so, gets a lot of attention. And Kiki, the same thing.”

“But I think Kennedy Smith may be, a really important player for them down the backside of the season.”

And Smith filled the gaps beautifully, on Saturday, amid a brutal start that saw Watkins flustered like perhaps never before.

With a few seconds remaining in the first quarter, she caught the ball on the wing, held it for a few seconds – and then passively dropped the ball and strolled away as the buzzer sounded.

With a few seconds remaining in the second quarter, she flung her dribble up the hardwood in a race against the clock – and then stumbled and lost control as the buzzer sounded.

In both circumstances, the outcome was rather shockingly the same: Watkins, the woman with the freedom to create anything she wanted under the lights of Galen, did not take a shot when a shot was available to take.

With Watkins nursing an 0-for-4 line at the start of the second quarter, Gottlieb, who normally spends her time strolling up and down near the scorer’s table, sat next to the sophomore on the bench. The head coach waved her hands, frantically, in a clear effort to explain and instruct.

Watkins simply stared, blankly, rubbing the side of her face.

But this was a USC team (21-2, 11-1 Big Ten) that can win without making threes, as Gottlieb said in late January. Scratch that – they can win without making shots, in general. There was enough length, and heart, and grit, to carry their roster for 40 minutes against Ohio State, and offensive imbalance was overpowered by sheer power for much of the night, the Trojans’ outrebounding Ohio State and holding the Buckeyes to just 29% shooting.

All-world big Iriafen, who feasted with 24 points and 13 rebounds despite the early turnovers, dropped in USC’s first six points of the second half after the Trojans took an eight-point lead in the second half. Steady center Rayah Marshall was tremendous, finishing two third-quarter putback layups and finishing with 10 points and four blocks. And Watkins, her face warping and twisting with every blow she absorbed on her drive through the lane, finished a couple tough layups at the end of the third quarter to break a field-goal drought.

And despite a 5-of-21 ledger, with Watkins shooting just 31% in her last four games, she unlocked her shot in the fourth quarter, splashing a deep three with a minute left to lock up USC’s fifth ranked win of the year.

“I think we all believe she’ll find a rhythm,” Gottlieb said postgame, “and at the same time, lean into all the other things that she’s doing well and the team’s doing well.”