JuJu Watkins played one of the best games of basketball we’ve seen in a long time. And no, it wasn’t just about USC taking down the only undefeated team in the country—though, yeah, that’s a big deal. It was the way she did it. The way she dominated. The way she made history while barely catching a breath. Literally. The freshman phenom played 39 out of 40 minutes. But you know while fans were in awe of her performance, they weren’t exactly singing praises for her teammates. And well, the numbers kind of back that up. 

In 71-60 win, while the sophomore guard put 35 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks, five assists, and a steal, the team collectively had 33 points in the bag. Just let that sink in. 

But Watkins was everywhere—on offense, on defense, blocking shots, running the floor, setting up plays. And she didn’t just fill up the stat sheet; she put on a show. Her shot-making was far from usual. Now, the sophomore is the first player in 20 years to have 35 points, 5 blocks, and 5 assists in a single game. First. In. Twenty. Years. 

And she’s the only player this entire century—across men’s and women’s college basketball and the NBA—to do it with 10 rebounds. She was lethal shooting-wise. 12-of-26 from the field, a 6-of-9 from deep, and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. 

But even after a night like that, she wasn’t out here hyping herself up. Instead, she kept it humble. “It has been a tough couple of weeks for me,” Watkins admitted after the game. Leading up to this, she had been in a bit of a slump, shooting just 33% over her last six games. But instead of dwelling on it, she took the lesson from it. “There’s a lesson in everything, and I think that is to always stay joyful on the court,” she said.

But talking about other Trojans or rather, the lack of production from them, only Kiki Iriafen managed to hit double digits with 13 points. That’s it. And well, fans noticed. Social media wasn’t exactly kind, with many pointing out that this was a one-woman show.

But even with all the outside noise, the USC prodigy made sure to mention them. “I have the greatest teammates,” she said in the postgame press conference. 

JuJu Watkins vs. UCLA: A one-man show?

“LMAOOOO Juju really said “I have the greatest teammates” in her postgame interview. Girl, you don’t have to lie like that—we watched the game 😭” one wrote. Since the game began, there was this common feeling floating around on Twitter that the Trojans were just kinda… there. Not really helping JuJu Watkins on defense, not really stepping up offensively. Even  Iriafen, the only other USC player to hit double digits, went 4-14 from the field. 

Another agreed saying, “i thought the same thing bruh like that game was juju v ucla for the whole 40 minutes 😭.” The 19-year-old barely sat out—literally just 43.6 seconds. She was everywhere, doing everything, and at some point, it basically became JuJu vs. UCLA.

And you know what? This was as giving, one fan put it, classic “one person does the entire group project while everyone else gets an A” energy. Like, some of these players were out there for almost 30 minutes and somehow still didn’t manage to contribute much. 

“Whole group gets the A on the project but she was putting the whole thing together the night before 😭😭😭😭,” fan joked.Then came the final moments of the game, where USC missed like five shots in a row. Sure, they kept grabbing rebounds, and good for them, but at some point, you gotta actually make the shots. 

As one fan put it, “At the end of the game when they missed like 5 shots in a row like good for you for rebounding but holy brick.” And honestly, those offensive boards? All JuJu.

And then there’s the inevitable Caitlin Clark comparison.  Some people are even saying USC’s supporting cast is worse than Clark’s teammates. Comparatively, CC, during her time at Iowa, had her fair share of issues with teammates not keeping up with her fast-paced style, sometimes leading to high turnover numbers. 

But somehow, this felt worse. “They’re worse than Caitlin Clark’s teammates,” one fan flat-out declared.

But while this can totally be called The JuJu Show, let’s not forget that the Trojans have had games where they delivered real team efforts. So, let’s not be too harsh—yet. Let’s see how, when, and if they give us their best.