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Photo by: John McGillen / USC Athletics
No. 10 USC’s Rayah Marshall and JuJu Watkins Earn Spots On Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List
November 14, 2023 | Women's Basketball
Watkins also picks up USBWA Tamika Catchings Freshman of the Week national honors.
LOS ANGELES — Another round of high national honors go to USC's Rayah Marshall and JuJu Watkins, who were selected to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List today (Nov. 14). That follows a recent announcement of the pair's place on the prestigious Jersey Mike's Naismith Watch List. USC's last Wooden Award Watch List honorees were Ebony Hoffman (2003-04), Shay Murphy (2006-07) and Cassie Harberts (2013-14). Watkins is the only freshman on the Wooden Watch List, and she was also today named USBWA Tamika Catchings Freshman of the Week for her standout performances in USC's opening games — 50 points in USC's first two wins, including a USC record 32-point freshman debut in the Trojans' upset win over No. 7 Ohio State.
Also named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team with Marshall, Watkins is the only freshman on the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List as well as the 2023-24 Jersey Mike's Naismith Watch List. She has scored 75 points in USC's first three games, bettering the marks of Cheryl Miller and Lisa Leslie through their first three games as Trojans. Her 35-point outing on Monday (Nov. 13) was the second highest scoring total in a game by a USC freshman.
Named the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year in back-to-back years and tabbed as USA Today's 2022-23 Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Watkins comes off a storied high school career at Sierra Canyon High School. She became just the second Trojan to win the Gatorade National award, following in the footsteps of 1990 honoree Lisa Leslie — another Los Angeles native. A 6-2 guard, Watkins won the 2023 Jersey Mike's Naismith High School Trophy this year alongside USC men's basketball signee Isaiah Collier, marking the first time in history that the Naismith's top high school basketball awards have both gone to athletes signed on to attend to the same university. Lisa Leslie also was the last USC female to win that award.
Marshall, who also recently earned a place on the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Preseason Watch List, is coming off a sophomore campaign in which she averaged a double-double and set a program record in single-season blocks with 98 stuffs tallied in 2022-23. She currently ranks No. 4 all-time in career blocks with a total of 173 to date and opened her junior campaign with a double-double in USC's season-opening upset win over No. 7 Ohio State.
Last season, Marshall delivered 14 double-doubles for the Trojans — the most by a Trojan in a season since at least 1999 — and averaged 3.5 blocks per game to rank No. 2 in the nation overall. She finished out the season as USC's third leading scorer with 12.7 points per game, and top rebounder with 11.5 boards per game, and was the first Trojan to average a double-double in an entire season since Tina Thompson in 1996-97. A 2023 All-Pac-12 Team & Pac-12 All-Defensive Team selection, Marshall also was named a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year in her sophomore season. After scoring a career-high 33 points in a win at Oregon State, she was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Jan. 2, 2023. Marshall has now earned Pac-12 Preseason Honorable Mention as a sophomore. This past summer, Marshall earned a silver medal with Team USA at the FIBA Women's AmeriCup in Leon, Mexico.
Marshall, Watkins and the Women of Troy shove off for the Bahamas next to set up for action at the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship in Nassau next week. The Trojans will face Seton Hall on Nov. 20 and take on Penn State on Nov. 22.
About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing The Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All America Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), Tim Duncan ('97), Kevin Durant ('07), Candace Parker ('07; '08), Maya Moore ('09; '11), Breanna Stewart ('15; '16), and last year's recipients, Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Zach Edey of Purdue.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities' general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.
The Legends of Coaching Award presented by Principal will be presented to University of Kentucky coach John Calipari, along with the Wooden Award Men's and Women's Players of the Year on April 12, 2024. For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.
Also named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team with Marshall, Watkins is the only freshman on the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List as well as the 2023-24 Jersey Mike's Naismith Watch List. She has scored 75 points in USC's first three games, bettering the marks of Cheryl Miller and Lisa Leslie through their first three games as Trojans. Her 35-point outing on Monday (Nov. 13) was the second highest scoring total in a game by a USC freshman.
Named the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year in back-to-back years and tabbed as USA Today's 2022-23 Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Watkins comes off a storied high school career at Sierra Canyon High School. She became just the second Trojan to win the Gatorade National award, following in the footsteps of 1990 honoree Lisa Leslie — another Los Angeles native. A 6-2 guard, Watkins won the 2023 Jersey Mike's Naismith High School Trophy this year alongside USC men's basketball signee Isaiah Collier, marking the first time in history that the Naismith's top high school basketball awards have both gone to athletes signed on to attend to the same university. Lisa Leslie also was the last USC female to win that award.
Marshall, who also recently earned a place on the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Preseason Watch List, is coming off a sophomore campaign in which she averaged a double-double and set a program record in single-season blocks with 98 stuffs tallied in 2022-23. She currently ranks No. 4 all-time in career blocks with a total of 173 to date and opened her junior campaign with a double-double in USC's season-opening upset win over No. 7 Ohio State.
Last season, Marshall delivered 14 double-doubles for the Trojans — the most by a Trojan in a season since at least 1999 — and averaged 3.5 blocks per game to rank No. 2 in the nation overall. She finished out the season as USC's third leading scorer with 12.7 points per game, and top rebounder with 11.5 boards per game, and was the first Trojan to average a double-double in an entire season since Tina Thompson in 1996-97. A 2023 All-Pac-12 Team & Pac-12 All-Defensive Team selection, Marshall also was named a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year in her sophomore season. After scoring a career-high 33 points in a win at Oregon State, she was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Jan. 2, 2023. Marshall has now earned Pac-12 Preseason Honorable Mention as a sophomore. This past summer, Marshall earned a silver medal with Team USA at the FIBA Women's AmeriCup in Leon, Mexico.
Marshall, Watkins and the Women of Troy shove off for the Bahamas next to set up for action at the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship in Nassau next week. The Trojans will face Seton Hall on Nov. 20 and take on Penn State on Nov. 22.
About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing The Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All America Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), Tim Duncan ('97), Kevin Durant ('07), Candace Parker ('07; '08), Maya Moore ('09; '11), Breanna Stewart ('15; '16), and last year's recipients, Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Zach Edey of Purdue.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities' general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.
The Legends of Coaching Award presented by Principal will be presented to University of Kentucky coach John Calipari, along with the Wooden Award Men's and Women's Players of the Year on April 12, 2024. For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.
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