How JuJu Watkins' historic start ranks among USC greats and potential NCAA records
JuJu Watkins isn’t done with her first fall semester of college at USC. She still hasn’t played a conference game in the Pac-12. And yet, the 6-foot-2 freshman guard is already overtaking program and college basketball legends in the record books with more on the horizon.
She’s not merely a leading Freshman of the Year candidate. She has easily inserted herself into National Player of the Year conversations.
JuJu Watkins’ record-breaking start
Watkins, the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2023 class, has four 30-point outings in six games. It’s more 30-point games than any freshman in USC history, pushing her past Paula McGee (1980) and WNBA Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie (1990). Each had three. This is a program that also features Cynthia Cooper, Tina Thompson and Pamela McGee as alumni.
For modern comparison sake, Caitlin Clark has three games this season of at least 30 points in eight contests. She had 12 as a freshman at Iowa and only three were in the first month of the season. The reigning Naismith and Wooden Player of the Year is averaging a Division I-best 29.6 ppg, followed by Watkins’ 26.2 ppg.
In six games, Watkins has totaled 161 points, 45 rebounds, 19 assists, 14 steals, eight blocks and six team victories. In the past 20 years, the only other NBA, WNBA or Division I basketball player to reach all of those numbers in any six-game span was LeBron James, according to OptaSTATS. He’s done it three times. Watkins is also shooting an efficient 50.4% overall and 48.3% from 3-point range.
And she has the Trojans ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. It’s their highest ranking since 1994, when Leslie won the Naismith Award for the nation’s best player as a senior.
“We had a challenging schedule early, and we met those challenges,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb told the Associated Press. “Obviously JuJu is so phenomenal, to see her adapt to the college game and adapt as quickly is so impressive.”
Watkins isn’t walking all over D-I cupcakes. She opened her collegiate career with 32 points in 31 minutes against Ohio State (5-1), an Elite Eight team that upset powerhouse UConn to end the Huskies’ Final Four streak. The Trojans faced four teams ranked NET 70 or better in the final 2022-23 rankings, including a strong Penn State squad that received votes in national polls this week. She had 31 points and 12 rebounds against the Nittany Lions.
She’s averaging 26.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 3.2 apg, 2.3 spg, 1.3 bpg and shooting 50.4 FG%/48.3 3FG%/71.7 FT%.
Watkins’ place in USC history
Watkins’ passing of USC legends in the freshman history book is impressive, but the game has changed in the 30 to 40 years since they played at the school. Teams and individuals are scoring more across the board. Loaded individual performances are more of the norm.
Seven of the 10 career leaders in points played in the 2010s and Clark could overtake the record this season. If she does, the mark stood for only five seasons after Kelsey Plum set it in 2017 with Washington. Of the top 15 players with the most games in double digits, all but two played after 2000. One played in the 1990s and a second in the 1980s.
Watkins hasn’t scored fewer than 15 points in a game so far. It was also the only time she shot worse than 42% from the floor.
What will be more impressive is if she joins the legends in awards and titles at a younger age. Miller won the Naismith three straight years from 1984 to ’86, but did not as a freshman. Anne Donovan of Old Dominion won the inaugural women’s Naismith in 1983.
Miller, a 6-foot-2 forward, led USC to back-to-back national championships in 1983 and ’84, and won the Wade Trophy in 1985. The Wooden Award was not introduced on the women’s side until 2004.
Leslie won the Naismith award in 1994 as a senior and led USC to its second Pac-10 title. The conference didn’t sponsor women’s basketball until 1986-87, when the Trojans won their first conference title. The tournament wasn’t instituted until 2001-02 and USC won it in 2013-14.
Watkins’ potential in NCAA history
For all of the young talent and top recruits who have played well their first years, it wasn’t until 2021 that a freshman won the major National Player of the Year awards.
UConn guard Paige Bueckers won it averaging 20 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 5.8 apg and 2.3 spg. She was 52.4% overall and 46.4% from 3-point range. Her 20 ppg ranked 30th in the country, but she was (and is) a dynamic scorer and creator who can take over games.
She was the first player in UConn program history to have three straight 30-point games, something not even Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore or Breanna Stewart did in their entire careers. Her 14 assists were a single-game program record until Nika Mühl broke it last year.
Much like Bueckers, Watkins is leading the charge for USC and knocking down record marks by the icons before her.
