No. 7 USC holds its own against No. 4 UConn after giving up an 18-point lead

The Top 10 showdown between UConn and USC and the Elite Eight rematch between future WNBA stars did not disappoint.

Despite giving up an 18-point lead in the second half, the No. 7 Trojans were able to pull out a wild 72-70 win on the road against the No. 4 Huskies. The win is a measure of revenge for USC for the Huskies knocking them out of the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament last year.

It ended up coming down to one final possession where UConn’s Sarah Strong was fouled with a deficit of 72-69 and 4.5 seconds left. Strong made the first free throw but missed the second, leaving her to miss the third and hope for a rebound.

UConn’s Paige Bueckers got the key, but Strong’s attempt at a game-winning 3-pointer, which was more of a half-court throw than a true shot, was well executed.

As expected, USC’s JuJu Watkins was the star of the show with 25 points on 9 of 16 shooting, six rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Two of these points and one of these blocks occurred on this play:

USC was ahead 51-33 early in the third quarter, but a 14-2 run by UConn made it a game again and brought the Hartford home crowd back into the game. Another quick run in the fourth quarter gave UConn a small lead, but after that USC had answers every step of the way.

Had UConn made the comeback, the glory would have belonged to Bueckers and Strong, who both scored 22 points. Strong also had 13 rebounds, five assists and four steals.

With Watkins and Buuckers, the game featured likely No. 1 picks for two different WNBA drafts, not to mention other top 2025 prospects like USC’s Kiki Iriafen and UConn’s Azzi Fudd. Fudd had returned from three games due to a mild knee sprain, but was still significantly limited and finished the game with zero points on 0 of 4 shooting.

USC also got starter Kennedy Smith back after more than a month’s absence and got nine points and three rebounds out of her. However, with Fudd being limited, UConn can at least say it still wasn’t quite 100%.