Spokane, Washington – Seven days before the USC took the court in the elite eight, the Trojan horses lost their superstar Juju Watkins.
His end -of -season ACL tear was not the way their tournament takes place – what they hoped to lead in the Final Four – was supposed to happen, said USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb.
But with the Trojans season ending Monday evening in a 78-64 defeat against Uconn, they are faced with the readjustment of their program without knowing when Watkins will be able to return.
“We don’t know what Juju will do. Will she take all year round and the red shirt? Will she try to come back at some point,” Gottlieb told Espn. “These are not conversations at the moment, but I think we will dive in how to stay an elite team whatever these circumstances?”
“We will have time to understand how to be great, even if Juju is not there,” she said.
Time was one thing that Trojan horses did not have after Watkins suffered his injury in the first quarter of his second round tournament match a week ago.
“Losing Juju was so incredibly difficult, especially at this stage of the season. We were doing everything on the fly,” Senior striker Kiki Iriafen told ESPN. “Uconn is a big team … But I think that if we just had more time, maybe things could have been different.”
After Watkins fell in the first quarter against the Mississippi State, the team played the rest of the match without knowing if they could come back. No one talked about it. They just played – they had to do it.
Gottlieb and its staff informed the team of the Watkins prognosis in the locker room after the match when they learned the news, Gottlieb told Espn.
The team took on Tuesday, but when Trojan horses returned to training on Wednesday – in which Watkins – Gottlieb estimated that she had to set a tone.
“The emotions around our friend and our teammate, a great player, injuring himself real and we can feel them, but at the same time the competitive spirit of us and what are our goals do not change,” said Gottlieb.
After that, the team did not spend much time talking about their emotions, rather to treat them in private. The team decided to wear all the Nike shirts with Watkins’ face on them before Sweet 16, and during the match, a Watkins Funko was sitting on the ground in front of their bench. Subsequently, Watkins billed his team in the locker room.
All of this was done to make sure that she always felt connected to the team, and vice versa. But the emotions of all this were still not completely unpacked.
“I think at some point, the emotions of the last seven days will start more,” said Gottlieb. “It was not until this evening a week ago that one of the best players in university basketball … fell … I am disappointed for all the people involved in our program, but I think that when I take a little time and – like, I will always be so, like, crushed for Juju and the game because it was simply not supposed to happen like that.”
Gottlieb continued: “But I have no doubt that her return will be legendary, and I have no doubt that the strength of the program is not in doubt, and I think we have proven it.”
