SPOKANE, Wash. — The answers had run out. The worst case had caught up to USC, at the worst time.
There was no more outrunning the reality looming over this entire NCAA tournament, not with Paige Bueckers at the height of her powers and the full weight of the Connecticut onslaught raining down on them. Without JuJu Watkins, there was no further the Trojans could go. And once again, it was Connecticut which slammed the door, ending USC’s season in the Elite Eight once again with a 78-64 victory.
The Huskies will face UCLA next weekend in the Final Four, while the Trojans are left to wonder where they go next without Watkins.
At every turn, until Monday, USC found an answer for her absence, scratching and clawing their way through two tournament rounds. In the round of 32, it was Kiki Iriafen who came alive in her stead. In the Sweet 16, it was a pair of freshmen in Avery Howell and Kennedy Smith who rose to the occasion.
But this trip, without Watkins, will be tinged forever with questions of what could have been.
There is no way to know how far USC might have gone if Watkins’ right knee didn’t buckle beneath her a week ago. But USC did all it could to keep that unlikely journey going.
Rayah Marshall, playing in her final game at USC, finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds, playing the game of her life when it mattered most.
But all that worked in the previous two rounds suddenly came up short. Iriafen struggled, scoring just 10 points. The freshmen did, too, as Smith and Howell combined to shoot four of 15 from the field.
Back in December, USC had bested the Huskies on their home court in an early-season classic. But the Trojans had their star then — Watkins led all scorers with 25 — and the Huskies lost just one more game before Monday.
The matchup closely resembled last year’s Elite Eight loss, as Bueckers went off for 31 points, two more than she had against the Trojans last March.
USC tried to work the ball inside early, in hopes of getting Iriafen off to a good start. Fresh off her worst game of the season, Iriafen delivered six quick points in the game’s first six minutes, and USC took control early. Marshall took over from there on the inside, as the pair combined for 16 of USC’s first 17 points.
But turnovers began to pile up, and the Trojans’ promising start dissolved in a four-minute scoreless drought at the end of the quarter, just as Connecticut freshman Sarah Strong found her stride. While USC zeroed in on Bueckers, Strong scored 10 of the Huskies’ first 12 points.
For a while, the Trojans slowed Bueckers, who scored 40 in her previous outing, by chasing her with Smith, their most tenacious on-ball defender.
But Bueckers kept patient, and eventually broke loose. In the final 38 seconds of the half, she knocked down one three-pointer, then another, giving the Huskies a 39-25 lead at the break.
The barrage continued from there. Iriafen went cold after her strong start, failing to score again until late in the third quarter. The freshmen who carried USC in the last round stayed quiet. Connecticut pushed its lead to 19, threatening to bury USC.
The Trojans would unleash their suffocating press on defense, sparking an 11-0 run to end the third quarter. They cut Connecticut’s lead to just five.
But that was as close as USC would get. And now it will have all offseason to wonder what might have been.
