No. 4 UConn Huskies No. 7 USC Trojans 10-1 10-1
Saturday, December 21st, 2024
Time: 8:00
XL Center
Hartford, Ct.
TV: Fox
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Prior Match ups
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | UCONN
UCONN LEADS 3-0
H: 1-0 | A: 1-0 | N: 1-0
12/07/02 #3 UConn 68, USC 44 Hartford, Conn.
12/07/03 #1 UConn 72, USC 69 Los Angeles, Calif.
04/01/24 #10 UConn 80, #3 USC 73 Portland, Ore.
USC Overview
Southern Cal has had an easy overall schedule prior to taking on the Huskies. They did play two ranked teams in their eleven games and one conference foe. In those games they were 2-1.
They started the season against then No. 20 Ole Miss beat them in a close game 68-66. They lost to Notre Dame 74-61 and then beat conference mate Oregon 66-53.
The other 8 games were against some really bad teams. Here are the scores and current Massey ranking.
Cal Poly 90-35 219
Cal State Northridge 124-39 334
Santa Clara 81-50 143
Seton Hall 84-51 72
Saint Louis 104-65 154
California Baptist 94-52 244
Fresno State 89-40 168
Elon 88-30 230
That's an average score of 94-45. When you look at the comparative team stats below take that into consideration.
Comparative Team Statistics
(leader in bold)
UConn USC
81.0 PPG 86.3
53.4 Defensive PPG 50.5
27.6 Scoring Margin 35.8
51.6 Field Goal % 47.0
36.0 Defensive FG% 33.0
36.9 Three Point % 31.7
32.4 Defensive 3PT% 26.5
68.6 Free Throw % 75.1
37.7 Rebounds/Game 44.7
7.2 Rebounding Margin 13.8
21.8 Assists per game 18.9
10.8 Turnover per game 15.3
2.0 Assists/TO ratio 1.2
10.7 Steals per game 12.7
3.6 Blocks per game 7.2
UCONN
The player and coaches names for both teams
are clickable to see their Bios
are clickable to see their Bios
UConn Starters
UConn Injuries
(In order of expected return)
USC
USC Starters
Transfer from Stanford
Transfer from Oregon State
USC Bench
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Game Analysis
Last season USC began and ended with the amazing freshman JuJu Watkins. The precocious youngster led the team to a losing effort in the Elite Eight game against the Huskies. This year the Trojans have added a Robin to Watkins' Batman. KiKi Iriafan transfered in from Stanford and made an immediate impact on USC. Let's take a look at the lineup.
USC Starters
6'2" sophomore JuJu Watkins is the leading scorer on the team at 24.7 PPG down around 3 PPG. She is a real volume shooter. Last season she averaged 22 shots per game. This year it's down to around 18 per game. Both the scoring and shots taken being down is a direct reflection of the addition to Iriafan. Her shooting percentages are still not good although still better than last season. She is shooting 43% from the field and 34% on threes. She makes her living at the foul line. She gets there 8 times per game. And she is a very good free throw shooter at 82.4%. At 6'2" with a good handle, she is really tough to stop. She can shoot over the defender and get to the rim with her length. Watkins is third on the team in rebounding at 5.8 RPG also down from last year. and in assists with 110 on the season. She is second on USC in blocks with 1.9 per game and leads in steals with 2.8 per game. She is the complete package and future POY winner before her career is over.
KiKi Iriafan, a 6'3" forward is a graduate student who transfered from Stanford. There she was the 2024 Katrina McClain Award winner as the best power forward in the nation. Her stats are a little down from last season but it's still early in 2024-25. She is second on the team in scoring at 18.7 PPG and leads the team in rebounding at 9.2 RPG. I was surprised to see she only has 4 blocks on the season. She has really taken a load off Watkins with her scoring.
Rayah Marshall, the 6'4" senior center is not the double double machine she was last season so far, but is close. She is averaging 8.0 PPG and 8.9 RPG. She is a terrific shot blocker averaging 2.2 BPG. You can bet she will be getting plenty of minutes in this game. Always a decent passer for a center, she is even better this season with 31 assists and only 11 turnovers. She will be a challenge for the UConn center duo.
Talia Vn Oelhoffen is another transfer, this time from Oregon State. The 5'11" grad student guard is averaging 7.7 PPG and 3.5 RPG. She is right behind Watkins in assists with almost 4 per game and steals at 2.0 per game. She's had a tough time offensively. She is shooting 40% from the field and 31% on threes.
Filling out the starting lineup is 5'9" Freshman Guard Kaleigh Heckel. Hoopgurlz No. 13 in the 2024, she was thrown into the starting lineup after the season ending injury to fellow freshman Hoopgurlz No. 6 Kennedy Smith. It's been a tough spot that she has been put into. She is averaging 7.5 PPG, 1.8 RPG and 1.9 APG. On the season she is averaging 18.5 minutes per game, but since starting she is averaging 20 MPG.
USC Bench
The bench doesn't contribute much to the stats for USC. They mostly give the starters a few minutes of rest. And they play less and less as the competition toughens.
USC will only go three deep on the bench and maybe less depending on score and foul issues.
Malia Samuels returns as a 5'6" sophomore guard. She is usually the first player off the bench subbing for Heckel. The speedy guard, in 17.1 MPG is averaging 3.8 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. She handles the ball well with 27 assists and only 11 turnovers on the season.
The second freshman in the regular rotation is 6' guard Avery Howell. She averages 5.5 PPG and 3.8 RPG. She shoots 40% from the field and 32.5% on threes.
Clarice Akunwafo is a 6'6" senior center averaging 1.3 PPG and 2.6 RPG. An indicator on how much she will is is the 3 minutes against Ole Miss and 1 minute against Notre Dame.
As we all know, UConn is coming off a terrific game against Iowa State. Their three point shooting was just out of this world. Ashlynn Shade did her best Seth Curry impression and after her hot start, Bueckers and Strong took over. Of course that was an exception. You can't expect them to shoot 20-34 every game. But I would bet that this will have them shooting 40%+ in most games. And this was without Fudd in the lineup.
Speaking of Fudd, will she be back? It will be two weeks since she first sprained her knee. I'm hopeful.
Final Prediction
I have to admit, I'm a big USC fan, but moslty because of their football team in the late 60's when I was in high school. OJ Simpson was unreal back then. That was when he was just "Juice".
I remember last year when UConn fans were rightfully upset that USC's incoming freshman class was rated higher than UConn's class. It's too bad that Kennedy Smith was injured and out for the season. She is a terrific player. Her absence really impacts USC. Of their other 5 freshmen only two are in the rotation in Heckle and Howell. They get minutes but don't impact the game much.
As I noted in the USC season in review, they have not played a difficult schedule. It makes it difficult to come up with a good prediction. Their top two players are as good as any duo in WCBB. They can dominate a game. However, both players have their warts. Watkins is as I have said before, a volume shooter. Her shooting percentages are better than last season but not really great. And Iriafen for a big really doesn't protect the paint. But if both go off, it will be a difficult game for the Huskies.
I believe that UConn's Buckers and Strong will at the minimum negate the USC duo. And UConn's rotation is so much better than the Trojan's rotation. Especially if Fudd is back.
It's should be a close game but I'm thinking UConn just has too much firepower for USC. I always like to look at Massey after I type my prediction. We are together on this one. Massey has the most likely score 72-63.
I like UConn by 8+.
