No. 6 USC women find right defensive recipe against No. 1 UCLA

LOS ANGELES — Juju Watkins approached teammate Clarice Akunwafo after UCLA rattled off a 10-0 scoring run to close the first half. Akunwafo was guarding 6-foot-7 Bruins center Lauren Betts, who had scored nine points in the second quarter.

“Ju came up to me and said, ‘She’s going to score. She’s a great player. But I’ve got your back,’” Akunwafo recalled. “And she did have my back.”

Both the USC and UCLA women’s basketball teams were tasked with guarding players who are often unguardable. For the Trojans, that meant neutralizing Betts. For the Bruins, Watkins was the one.

USC cracked the code on Betts by choosing the right moments for one-on-one battles and knowing when to send in a double-team, which helped the sixth-ranked Trojans (22-2 overall, 12-1 Big Ten) secure a 71-60 victory, handing the top-ranked Bruins (23-1, 11-1) their first loss of the season.

Akunwafo and Kiki Iriafen went up against Betts in the post, but what was happening away from that action was just as important.

“I do my best to shield her and play great post defense,” Akunwafo told reporters, “but honestly the biggest thing is ball pressure and the guards do a great job of being involved. So even if – let’s say one second Betts is open, they can’t pass to her because the ball pressure.”

The Trojans additionally deployed Watkins, who had a career-best eight blocked shots, when that wasn’t enough. Betts still managed to score 18 points, which is slightly below her season average of 19.6 per game.

“I’ve got to be better, period,” Betts said. “I think towards the end, I was just forcing a lot of tough shots. I’ve got to be better for my team, so I think just getting deeper seals. And I know how to do that.”

Students had waited outside Galen Center since 1:30 in the afternoon to secure spots to watch the offensive show that Watkins put on. She glided around defenders, slipping into overlooked corners for catch-and-shoot opportunities to finish the game with 38 points.

UCLA used its grittiest defenders against Watkins, starting with Gabriela Jaquez – who didn’t utter the name of USC or any of its players when she addressed reporters earlier in the week.

Janiah Barker tried her hand next, midway through the opening quarter. The 6-4 forward asserted her dominance by throwing down a dunk during warm-ups, but she couldn’t follow that with a defensive performance strong enough to contain Watkins.

Londynn Jones came in and helped hold her to just five points in the third quarter, despite standing nearly a foot shorter.

“We had Londynn Jones just got right up underneath her,” said UCLA head coach Cori Close, whose team turned it over 20 times. “When we didn’t get rebounds and didn’t get quality shots, then they started getting out in transition and then it was hard for us to set our defense.”

Watkins stayed hot on both sides of the court and her teammates followed suit on defense. Kennedy Smith went head-to-head with Kiki Rice and only allowed her to score two points in the third frame.

Smith stood in front of Rice at midcourt, clapping her hands while holding eye contact with the point guard.

“She really gives us the energy that we need on defense,” Watkins said of Smith. “She rattles the other players so much to where their minds are scrambled.”

Smith only scored four points and Akunwafo had none. The spotlight wasn’t on their stats, but they forcefully brought attention to USC’s defense.

“‘C’ makes (Betts) work to get to spots. But then she also can get deflections and get around to make it tough without lunging and giving her something easy,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.

“We’ve seen it for a couple years now and it’s just as important as any other piece of our team and our accountability. She stays ready for when her name is called.”