Although JuJu Watkins will be on the opposing bench on Sunday, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has been cheering on the USC superstar in her return from a torn ACL.
"I want JuJu to come back and have a great year," Staley told CBS Sports ahead of the season. "I think our game needs her. Our game missed her the past college season. So, looking forward for her to just keep bringing eyeballs to our game and keep doing JuJu type things."
Sunday will be one of the most anticipated games of the regular season with two AP Top 3 teams going head-to-head and plenty of star power on both rosters. However, the spotlight will be brightest on Watkins, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2027 WNBA Draft.
This matchup will be on the same day as the WNBA Draft Lottery and there will be plenty of scouts watching closely. While the high expectations could feel like a lot of pressure for a player returning from a long pause, Staley had some advice for Watkins.
"If you had asked me a year ago, I think with sitting out for a long time it plays on your mentals," Staley said. "So strengthening your mentals. Just imagining and visualizing yourself back on the court, doing the things that you've done that create the buzz around your name is what you need to focus on.
"Even the good, the bad days, you always have setbacks. Whether you have an injury or not. You really always have a setback. Ju is strong. Ju is mentally tough. She is somebody that little girls should look up to, and little boys should look up to."
This will be the first time in her career that Watkins plays against Staley's team, and earlier this week she shared that Nov. 15 been circled on her calendar.
Watkins -- who holds the Division I freshman scoring record and was named the 2025 Naismith Player of the Year -- missed 588 days after tearing her ACL during the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Her comeback season is off to a strong start as she averaged 24.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 3.7 steals and 1 block per contest through the first three games. This will be the first time she faces a ranked opponent since her return, and it just so happens to be against the No. 1 team in the nation. Her strategy? Focus on the details.
"I think whenever you are playing a super tough team, it comes down to the small things," Watkins said earlier this week. "Whether that's O boards, 50/50 balls, small things like that. So just making sure that we are leading in those categories and I think we'll be in a pretty good spot."
The USC senior is a three-level scorer but she will have to work harder against South Carolina, a program that is consistently good on defense. The Gamecocks are limiting opponents to 58.7 points per game early in their 2026-27 campaign, which includes holding then-No. 12 North Carolina to just 39 points on Nov. 8.
Returners such as senior forward Ashlyn Watkins and two-way star Joyce Edwards were already going to be a threat, and this summer Staley also added Jordan Lee -- who played her first two college basketball seasons at Texas under Vic Schaefer, another coach known for his defense-first mentality.
USC went 0-2 against South Carolina last season, including a 101-61 lopsided result during the second round of the NCAA Tournament. However, Watkins was not on the court and the Trojans also didn't have the top freshman in the nation, Saniyah Hall. With last season's Freshman of the Year Jazzy Davidson returning, Lindsay Gottlieb's squad has a three-headed monster that could give South Carolina some issues this time around. USC as a whole is averaging 107.7 points per game with those three averaging over 19 points per contest.
Watkins shared this week that defense has been the majority of the Trojans' practices so far, which has translated into USC holding opponents to 50.7 points per contest. However, the Trojans have not faced ranked opponents yet, so it's hard to compare their stats against the Gamecocks this early in the season. Regardless, USC and South Carolina do share some similarities when it comes to length and versatility. Sunday will be a well-rounded test for Watkins, but overall it will also be a great litmus test for both teams.
