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/ Women's Basketball
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USC’s JuJu Watkins Named Semifinalist For Naismith Defensive Player of the Year
March 11, 2025 | Women's Basketball
She’s also on the Wooden Award Top 15 Ballot as a candidate for All-America and Most Outstanding Player of the Year honors.
USC sophomore guard JuJu Watkins is in the running for two of the most prestigious women's collegiate basketball awards, named a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and also to the Wooden Award Top 15 ballot as a candidate for the top player in the nation.
Today (March 11), the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced the 10 semifinalists for the 2025 Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year presented by MOLECULE. Also this week, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the 2025 Women's National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Principal®, which was revealed on ESPN College GameDay. Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the National Ballot consists of 15 student-athletes who are candidates for the Wooden Award All-America Team and the Wooden Award Trophy, recognizing the Most Outstanding College Basketball Player in the United States.
As the Trojans await the reveal of the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket on Sunday (March 16), No. 4 USC has posted a 9-2 record against top-25 opponents so far this season. Watkins has gone big in USC's seven games against AP top-10 opponents in particular. Watkins posted her 20th career 30-point game to help propel her Trojans to an 80-67 win over rival No. 2 UCLA to secure the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. After earning a spot on the Big Ten All-Tournament Team, Watkins is averaging 26.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while shooting 35.4 percent from 3-point range against top-10 opponents. That's better than her overall and also impressive season averages of 24.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in USC's push to a 28-3 overall record
Also this season, Watkins became the first basketball player at the Division I collegiate, WNBA and NBA levels since 2000 to score 38 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks and five assists in a single game with her work for the Women of Troy their win over then-No. 1 UCLA at Galen Center. Last week, Watkins was named The Athletic's National Player of the Year and the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year.
Watkins has also earned nods as a 2025 Sullivan Award semifinalist, and is on watch lists for the Wade Trophy and Dawn Staley Award — some of collegiate women's basketball's highest honors.
In the USC record books, Watkins ranks No. 10 all-time in career scoring with 1,684 points — having become the fastest Trojan to score 1,000 career points in program history earlier this season — and with the second-most 30-point games by a Trojan. With 38 points and 30 points vs. USC rival UCLA this season, Watkins now has 21 career 30-point games — four short of Cheryl Miller's career record of 25.
Earlier this season, Watkins collected AP Preseason All-America status along with spots on the Wade Watch List, Naismith Trophy Watch List and Wooden Award Watch List, as well as numerous USBWA Drysdale Player of the Week, AP National Player of the Week and Big Ten Player of the Week selections.
Today (March 11), the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced the 10 semifinalists for the 2025 Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year presented by MOLECULE. Also this week, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the 2025 Women's National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Principal®, which was revealed on ESPN College GameDay. Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the National Ballot consists of 15 student-athletes who are candidates for the Wooden Award All-America Team and the Wooden Award Trophy, recognizing the Most Outstanding College Basketball Player in the United States.
As the Trojans await the reveal of the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket on Sunday (March 16), No. 4 USC has posted a 9-2 record against top-25 opponents so far this season. Watkins has gone big in USC's seven games against AP top-10 opponents in particular. Watkins posted her 20th career 30-point game to help propel her Trojans to an 80-67 win over rival No. 2 UCLA to secure the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. After earning a spot on the Big Ten All-Tournament Team, Watkins is averaging 26.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while shooting 35.4 percent from 3-point range against top-10 opponents. That's better than her overall and also impressive season averages of 24.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in USC's push to a 28-3 overall record
Also this season, Watkins became the first basketball player at the Division I collegiate, WNBA and NBA levels since 2000 to score 38 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks and five assists in a single game with her work for the Women of Troy their win over then-No. 1 UCLA at Galen Center. Last week, Watkins was named The Athletic's National Player of the Year and the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year.
Watkins has also earned nods as a 2025 Sullivan Award semifinalist, and is on watch lists for the Wade Trophy and Dawn Staley Award — some of collegiate women's basketball's highest honors.
In the USC record books, Watkins ranks No. 10 all-time in career scoring with 1,684 points — having become the fastest Trojan to score 1,000 career points in program history earlier this season — and with the second-most 30-point games by a Trojan. With 38 points and 30 points vs. USC rival UCLA this season, Watkins now has 21 career 30-point games — four short of Cheryl Miller's career record of 25.
Earlier this season, Watkins collected AP Preseason All-America status along with spots on the Wade Watch List, Naismith Trophy Watch List and Wooden Award Watch List, as well as numerous USBWA Drysdale Player of the Week, AP National Player of the Week and Big Ten Player of the Week selections.
Women's Basketball Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb Media Availability 9/18/25
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USC WBB's Lindsay Gottlieb, Rayah Marshall and Talia von Oelhoffen | Trojan Press Conference
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