USC vs UCONN: Who Will Win This Matchup of Top Teams?
On Saturday night, two of the top women’s college basketball teams will meet in Connecticut. USC, led by JuJu Watkins, will face the UConn Huskies, led by Paige Bueckers. This will be a rematch of last year’s thrilling Elite Eight matchup that was won by the Huskies. Both teams are coming in with fresh new veterans and freshmen who have already made impacts on the court. However, the matchup to watch is essentially Watkins vs Bueckers; they are arguably the top two players in the women’s game. Bueckers, the projected number one overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, got the best of Watkins last March. However, whoever comes up big for their team on Saturday will give their team an impressive non-conference win on their resume.
The seventh ranked Trojans are riding a six-game winning streak into this matchup. Watkins has continued to be one of the top scorers in the country. She is averaging 25 points per game and shooting 45 percent from the field while also shooting 34 percent from the three point line. The 19-year-old sophomore has reached “phenom” status due to her NIL endorsements with Gatorade, State Farm, and Nike. She has established herself as one of the top stars in the country, and some experts believe that if the “one and done” rule were applied to women’s games, then Watkins would be one of the young superstars in the WNBA. In last year's matchup against the Huskies, Watkins struggled to find her shot, shooting 36 percent from the field and not getting as much production from her teammates. However, that will probably change this time around because the Trojans were able to secure commitments from two of the top scores in the transfer portal in Kiki Iriafen, the senior from Stanford, and Talia Von Oelhoffen, the senior guard from Oregon State. Iriafen, the projected number two pick in the 2025 WNBA Draf,t is averaging 18 points and nine rebounds and is a consistent scorer in the paint. Von Oelhoffen is shooting 40 percent on the season and is one of the team's best three point shooters. UConn will have to play extremely well on defense in order to stop the Trojans' potent perimeter shooting and stop them from crashing the boards. The Trojans also have Kennedy Smith, the freshman who is one of the best defenders on the team and will probably draw the assignment of trying to stop Beuckers as well.
Beuckers is UConn’s top scorer and the face of the program. The senior from Hopkins, MN, wanted to come back for her senior year after having two years of her career ended due to injuries. She is averaging 20 points and shooting an incredible 58 percent from the field. Coach Geno Auriemma has called her the “most unguardable player in the country.” Bueckers has been impressive all season long. The Huskies are on a two-game winning streak after dropping their first game of the season to Notre Dame. They picked up a big win on Tuesday night against Iowa State and looked to ride that momentum into a victory over the Trojans. If UConn wants to get another big time win, then they will have to get more production from their star freshman, Sarah Strong, who struggled against Notre Dame. Auriemma has described Strong as one of the “most impressive freshmen that we’ve had in a long, long time.” The freshman of the year contender is averaging 17 points and eight rebounds and has shown great poise as a freshman. She will get the assignment of guarding and defending Iriafen from USC. Strong struggled against the bigs from Notre Dame and Iriafen will use her five years of experience against the freshman. Another player to look out for is Azzi Fudd. Fudd, one of the top shooters on the team, has not played since she suffered a sprained knee on December 10th. Auriemma did not give a definite answer as to whether she will play against the Trojans; however, it seems she will be a game-time decision.
This is arguably the most anticipated matchup left at this point in the season. There are superstars on both teams, and this will be a great showcase for women’s college basketball. A game with this amount of talent could happen again in March or April. Both teams have lived up to expectations so far this season, and now fans can hope that this matchup will be better than their last.
