March Madness: USC women again lose against Uconn in Elite Eight

Spokane, Washington – The answers had exhausted. The worst case had caught up with the USC.

There was no longer any screening for reality that had benefited from all this NCAA tournament, and not with Bueckers at the height of its powers and the total weight of the Connecticut assault that rains on them. Without Juju Watkins, there were only Trojan horses could not go there. And once again, it was the Huskies that slammed the door, ending the USC season again in the elite eight with a 78-64 victory, just as they did last March.

The fact that their season ended in the same place, at the door of their first Final Four in almost four decades, was no less painful to swallow for Trojan horses, which will have to watch their competitors at Crosstown, UCLA, face the Connecticut next weekend with a national berth on the line.

But while she was standing in front of her players, pushing tears, coach Lindsay Gottlieb returned to the speech she delivered in the losing changing rooms a year earlier.

She then told them that the standard had been raised to the USC. Expectations would soon be soaked. It was up to them to meet them.

His words have proven to be premonitory, because this season has proven to be a completely different challenge. And although on paper, it may seem that the program did not come further, Gottlieb, at the end of its fourth campaign as a coach, knew that it was not true.

“Even if we have lost at the same point and at the same stadium, I think our team delivered 100% to increase this bar and increase this standard,” said Gottlieb. “This is where we wanted to be, and we have now disappointed not having done this stage this year, but obviously, there are circumstances that make it really difficult at this point to win it. It was the most difficult to win.”

An end -of -season injury to Watkins a week earlier made these circumstances exponentially more difficult. However, on each turn through this tournament, Trojan horses seemed to find an answer to the absence of their superstar, scratching and making their way through two towers. In the 32 -year -old round, Kiki Iriafen came to life in his place. In Sweet 16, it was a pair of first -year students at Avery Howell and Kennedy Smith who went on occasion.

On Monday, this projector was rightly reserved for Rayah Marshall, the senior striker who signed with Gottlieb and USC well before Eight Runs felt consecutive. In the first season of Marshall, the USC finished barely 12-16. But Gottlieb promised in Marshall when one day, they would rethink these lean years from the mountain top.

“I just looked at the coach G working his magic in front of my eyes,” said Marshall.

At the end of her senior season, Trojan horses were where Gottlieb promised, and a large part of this was because of Marshall, whose teammates unanimously describe her as the “heart and soul” of the program. She played this role no doubt as well as she ever had on Monday, finishing with 23 points – her third most at the USC – and 15 rebounds.

When Connecticut’s head went up to 19 points in the third quarter, Marshall joined the team to keep the faith, said teammates. The USC ended the quarter on a 9-0 race, reducing Connecticut to only five.

“She gave this match everything she had,” said Talia von Oelhoffen.

But with Watkins at home, watching on television, and his Funko Pop figurine has placed the touchline by reminding everyone of his absence, the daring race of Trojan horses in the tournament will forever be tinged with questions of what could have been.

“Uconnn made us difficult for us,” said Gottlieb. “We always get used to not having someone on the ground that can attract three people suddenly.”

In December, USC beat the Huskies on their own land. But the Trojan horses then had their star – Watkins led all the scorers with 25 points – and the Huskies lost one more match leading to Monday.

The USC was not out of this section either either. The 31 victories of the Trojans this season would match the 1985-86 team, which lost in the match for the national title, and the 1982-1983 team, which won, for the most in the history of the school. With this came a certain confidence that even Watkins’ injury could not shake.

“We always had our hopes in a national championship,” said Iriafen. “We have never had any doubt. Our confidence never hesitated. “

But belief could only carry them so far. Especially since everything that seemed to work in the second round and Sweet 16 suddenly did not do it. After having nourished it at the start of the painting, Iriafen experienced difficulties in the last three quarters, marking only 10 points out of three of the 15 shots on the ground. First -year students also took their songs, while Smith and Howell combined to shoot four out of 15.

For a certain time, the Trojan horses were able to slow down Bueckers, which marked 40 in its previous exit, by continuing it with Smith, their defender on the most tenacious ball. The recruit Sarah Strong would intervene in its place for the Huskies, marking 10 of their first 12. She finished with 22 points and 17 rebounds, surprisingly similar to her Stat line in the December match.

But whatever the answers that Gottlieb mentioned to keep the drums at a distance were thematic for a long time. When the final buzzer struck, its stat – 31 points line, six assists, four interceptions – seemed even more impressive than last season.

“She was coming to her place,” said Smith, her eyes tears. “It is on our side. It is not really to follow our mission.”

At this stage, so very little in this tournament went as planned for Gottlieb and its Trojan horses, starting with the most cruel of fate that the basketball gods could write. However, while others crossed them, they kept the faith.

For their coach, it meant something.

“It was not until this evening a week ago that one of the best players in university basketball fell,” said Gottlieb, “and I am so proud of the way everyone joined.”